We were happy to assist at the Good Samaritan Mission today (5-18-10), after a day spent in Jackson Hole dropping off fliers, looking for new clients. The mission is a homeless shelter that is being remodeled by Habitat for Humanity. After a brief meeting with them this afternoon, we came back to help cook and to serve for the 27 or so people there. We enjoyed a meal ourselves, it was bison and elk stroganoff. We are in wild country for sure! Too many rich people here want to kill animals and not use them so this is the ‘extra’ meat around. It was delicious. We stopped in to the forest service headquarters in the morning, trying to nail down our ‘host’ spot at Atherton Camp Ground. We got the phone number for Todd who is the boss of all the hosts, we called and left a message. He called back later, he couldn’t have been nicer and is happy to have the help. We will meet him tomorrow and work with him, no problem on the place to stay. Great! We need it, the temperature is plummeting quickly. Oh yes, on the way to Jackson this morning, there was a nice little group of Bighorn Sheep right next to the road, not a mile from home. There was even a young one, although not an infant. Just another day in paradise, driving by bald eagles, bison, elk, like it’s just ordinary.
We got up early today (5-19-10) to get to Granite Hot Springs to meet with Todd and work this morning. We were supposed to meet at 8, we left at 7, but the drive was nearly 60 miles one way, and that’s not all highway! We stopped for bison on the way, they were right next to the road, and the 14 miles to the main road from our home is not fast anyway. Then through town, out the other side (behind a school bus) next to the Snake River, and back in to Hoback Canyon on the Hoback River for 12 miles, then on a dirt road following the Hoback River up 10 miles to the hot spring. We saw our first moose of the trip on the way up! It was GORGEOUS up there, but we were in a hurry, we were going to paint the pool they fill nightly for the hot spring. We met Todd and two of his employees, Todd was great, we got along instantly. The paint was no good, so the other guys left and we worked with Todd on some other projects. Cleaning the yard a bit, making it look nice, then a nasty job of cleaning out an old forest service cabin. The hot spring is open in winter for snowmobiles, they are supposed to pack out their garbage but most don’t. So, the bags of garbage get piled in this cabin all winter. Then the local marten (or pine marten in local speak) breaks in and tears it all to shreds. This is a lot of garbage, a full pickup trucks worth. The three of us cleaned it out, filling Todd’s truck with garbage bags. Nasty work, but we’re glad to get it done. It didn’t take too long, so Todd left and told us about the local natural hot spring near the stunning waterfall a bit down river. We hiked to it, but the water is too high in the river and utterly freezing cold, so as soon as the hot water mixes, it’s just too cold. MAN that water was cold! It was a nice hike anyway. We took our time driving out next to the river, stopping for lunch, picking up a little garbage here and there. We hope we can make it back for a swim in the pool, it looks lovely. They drain it, clean it, and fill it again every night. All year long! The winter host just stays there, snowmobile in and out only. Cool gig. Todd was having orientation and a BBQ at his house later that afternoon, so we went there and met the other camp hosts and heard their orientation. It didn’t much apply to us as we’re temps and not on payroll. The BBQ was great with fresh elk burgers and lots of goodies. It was a really nice payoff for just a couples hours of work! However, the drive was really long, it cost a lot of gas for us, we’re trying to stay closer to home. On one of the drives we even got to see some baby bison running with their mothers and aunts! Just awesome. They were crossing the Gros Ventre river. The sunset over the Grand Tetons was breathtaking. WOW, what a place this is! We’re happy we can stay for two weeks. We drove up to the next two campsites, 5-6 miles up further from us to check the bathrooms and take the plastic off the signs. It’s official: We are OPEN for business. It was a long day. We picked up a chainsaw to cut up a pine that fell in one of the upper campgrounds, we may do that tomorrow. But first, a long night’s sleep…..
Happy Birthday Roy Grove (5-20-10)! It was cold and blustery most of today, raining on and off. We worked a bit in the morning, Paul using the chainsaw to cut down a few little trees in the way of the gate and Indigo doing some computer work, sitting outside and hidden from the rain with a plastic tarp. We went to town for a while and visited with the food bank, but just missed the stocking of the shelves, perhaps we can make it there next Monday to actually help. It’s a nice food bank, organized and neat with good community support according to the nice person with whom we spoke there. It’s always great to see a good food bank, ready to help out. The afternoon cleared up so we traveled to the campgrounds further up the road and cut up the tree that had nearly fallen on the water pump, cleaned up the limbs and put the handles on the water pumps for any campers that may come. On the way, there was a small heard of young female bighorn sheep, three hardly left the road for us to pass. Of course we saw pronghorn antelope and elk as well. Just another day in paradise. Have I said that? This place is spectacular.
It’s so cool to hear our friend the ruffed grouse every night. He sits in the same place, seemingly unperturbed by our presence, patiently drumming for a mate. Best of luck my friend, best of luck! We’re pulling for ya… (5-22-10) It snowed all last night and most of this morning. Yes, snow. It covered the trees this morning, but the wind has mostly blown it off from the branches. The ground has some, but the wind and small bouts of rain have mostly kept it cold and miserable but not white and fluffy. There have been times where it was snowing so hard we couldn’t see across the lake. Wow, it’s good to have electricity, it would be dangerous weather to be boon-docking. On and off all day, although the sunny bits in the afternoon allowed us a small hike up into the canyon. We saw lots of animal bones, including a rotting deer skeleton with some hide still attached (no skull though). The sandhill crane was in the wetlands, but off her nest. The eggs were there still. Lots of smaller songbirds were still around in the cold, robins, white crowned sparrows, mountain chickadees, and Paul’s favorite, the wily Clarks nutcracker. The ground in the woods is covered in wild strawberry, many in bloom. There wasn’t much snow left on the ground at that point, just falling from the trees in the wind gusts, then it started falling again so we headed back home. COLD tonight, it is dropping fast.
Last night was a new record for cold for us, it was probably in the high teens. We made it OK though! Today (5-23-10) we spent a little time outside again, it was warm and sunny in the middle of the day. We cleaned out the firepits in the campground, it started snowing again just exactly when we finished. Isn’t it nearly June? We had a nice close visit with the local raven and three local magpies, all coming for the little bits of bread we threw outside. We were hoping to feed “Thunder”, our local ruffed grouse, but perhaps these birds got it all instead. Oh well, at least it fed SOMEbody. There are very few campers here, even on the weekend, just a few people coming to use the boat ramp. It’s an AMAZING camp, it’s surprising that more people don’t come. Oh well, it’s certainly nice to have it mostly to ourselves! We have a really nice chat with the ‘real’ camp host Karen, she and her husband Dave will be staying all summer. We’re glad we can help them out here, they actually have 3 campgrounds to cover, although the other two have only a few sites in them.
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