Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Just checking in.  We're fine.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish everyone a very happy New Year!  David & Donna 

Merry Christmas!

Ft Wilderness, WDW December 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We're fine going into the last week before Christmas.  Only news of note is my smartphone finally died.  It'd lasted 4 years and 3 months - a record for me.  If our MiFi hotspot makes it to April, it'll be 7 years for it.

As you can see by photos (me practicing with the new phone camera), the water tower is finished.  (OK, the Ft Wilderness pic is from our December

Middle Lake/Beach Mouse boardwalk, Gulf State Park, AL

2011 stay at Walt Disney World.  It's taken with a Nikon D70.)  We're having great weather now, though the weekend is considered a "washout weekend" by the local meteorologists.

Anyway, that gets you up to date.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Eagle Cabin area, Gulf State Park, AL

Lake Shelby/Eagle Cabins, Gulf State Park, AL

Mid-Month Update

We're more-or less back into the swing of things.  Folks-on-Spokes, Gulf Shores are back riding their Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday riding schedule.  The Friday lunches out with what use to be the old Hitchhiker group continue.  We've ordered a lot of stuff online once we got here, and we seem to be visiting the Post Office a lot to pick up the packages.  We've tended to go out for lunch more often than usual for our first two weeks here, but that'll probably slow down.  We've managed to get the trailer washed and hand waxed since we've been here.  We're walking when it's not raining.  So normal stuff.

Couldn't resist the cartoon to stay in the Christmas spirit.  Rest of the pictures are from around the state park.  They're painting the water tower and the curtain is used to protect them in bad weather or high winds.  I think the curtain came off yesterday.  Only the very top needs painting now.  the last two are just from our walks to give you  an idea of how things look.

Along the trail between Middle and Little Lakes

We're told that the two eagle nests apparently have eggs.  I'll get out later with the zoom camera and try to get a picture of the nests (or borrow one of the park's photos).  I think that's pretty much it for us.

We're fine.  (I know - it's a boring update!)  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Canal between Middle and Shelby Lakes

At Gulf Shores State Park

We had another uneventful trip down Sunday to Gulf Shores, AL for our winter stay.  It's nice to have a couple of trips now with nothing out of the ordinary occurring!  State Park not all that crowded this time of year.  Our typical site was "booked" when we called in November of last year, so we're in a site in the Live Oak Circle which is a much better site for us.  As you can guess, the "booked" site is empty.  It's not that great of a site, and we usually get it since it's not that nice of a site & available.  Tire pressures on the truck are holding, too.

We arrived on a warm day.  It's since cooled off some, but still nice weather.  As I write this, Donna's out on a bike ride with the Folk-on-Spokes, Gulf Shores group.  They're out going for ice cream.  I skipped today's ride since I've already have eaten out three times this week and plan to do so, again, tomorrow.  I guess I could have gone with them and not eat ice cream, but that wouldn't happen!

We took a Wednesday trip over to Ft Walton Beach, FL for me to present IDs and be finger printed for a background check for the NPS.  When the NPS gives you the key to a visitor center and asks you to run a cash register & run their equipment, you have to go through a background check.  Donna and I have had these background checks before.  (BTW, these are the background checks that OPM leaked to - supposedly - China a few years ago.)    However, this is the first time the gov't has directed me to a facility (actually, I chose from a list) that did this.  We had a great ride over to Ft Walton Beach and back plus a great meal at the Waterfront Crab Shack.  We'll have to go back and get my ID card (probably a CAC card) when it's ready.  We'll probably stop at the Waterfront Crab Shack, too!  If you're ever in Ft Walton Beach, you should stop at the Waterfront Crab Shack, too.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up for this week.  It's good to be back at the state park.  We plan to leave March 1st and head to Florida for a couple of weeks.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone is having a safe, fun, and a not too disrupted-by-the-weather holiday.  We're fine.  Had an uneventful trip over to Birmingham on Sunday.  We're here for the week to visit Dad & Anna.  They both seem to be doing well. 

Next stop is Gulf State Park (Gulf Shores), AL for the winter.  If all goes as planned, we'll move down on Sunday.  As always, that's the plan!

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David 

Stone Mountain, GA

We've been here about a week and visiting Doug & Louise.  They seem to be doing fine.  We had a rainy travel day down to Stone Mountain last Friday and have had a beautiful week until this afternoon when the next cold front brought rain.

We've been able to do a couple of things for Doug & Louise.  We've helped clean out some old clothes and made a few of trips to Goodwill dropping off some of our stuff as well as Doug & Louise's.  Seems I've spent a lot of time waiting at the Snellville Ford dealer and Discounter Tire having the truck serviced, though.

First we go to a planned appointment on Tuesday to have the truck serviced and replace a leaky, numerously-patched, passenger-side, rear inner tire only to find out that the truck lifts are in use and won't be available until mid-afternoon.  No problem.  We wait for a phone call that finally comes late afternoon.  Can we bring the truck back in on Tuesday?  Sure.  Go back Tuesday morning.  Truck goes on the lift, oil is changed, a new tire put back on as a spare and...the lift breaks down.  About an hour and a half passes and the lift is repaired.  Truck's brought back down, released from being a hostage, and we go visiting to see Louise.

We spend about an hour a half with with Doug & Louise.  Go back to the truck, start to pull out and I switched over to the tire pressure screen and lo & behold, the passenger-side, outer rear tire has lost about 6 psi while we were in with Doug and Louise.  We run around a little bit, go out to eat with Doug, the tire continues to lose air pressure, but that seems to stop when we get to the trailer.  Get up the next morning.  Tire has stopped leaking, but we take the truck to Discount Tire to repair this second leaky tire.  They find the leak, repair it, but tell me the tire monitor is reading "funky" and to drive it a day to let the tire pressures settle down, bring it back, and they'd set the tire pressures the way I want them.  No problem. 

Tires seem to be holding pressure just fine, but the air pressures are all over the place.  We go back this morning to have the tire pressures adjusted.  Should be easy as they have a parking spot set up for "express" tire pressure check.  We pull into the spot, but there's a "situation" .  They can't find an air tool that'll put air into the rear dual tires.  (I understand the problem completely.  I can't air up the rear dual tires, either.  Best I can do is just let all the air out!)  They apologize, and we leave.  No problem.  We'll go back to Snellville Ford.  They should be able to air up the rear dual tires.  Get there, and they're happy to help.  What we're not told is that the techs can only air up the rear inner tires if they remove the outer tires.  That means they need a lift and all lifts are full (apparently, only two lifts can handle dual wheel trucks, anyway.)  There's an hour and a half wait for a lift.  Finally it's all done.  All tires are aired up.  Now we get to see which tire goes down next!  So far one afternoon has passed and all tires have stayed inflated.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!

So that's how our week has passed.  It's all good.  Our plans, and it's just that - plans - are to move over to Birmingham Sunday and visit Dad and Anna for Thanksgiving - if we can keep the tires aired up!  We plan to be at Gulf Shores by December 1st, too.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

In-transit to Stone Mountain

Of course this isn't us, but it's how it feels!

We were successful is getting the trailer on Friday afternoon.  We reloaded it and took it down near Indianapolis, IN Saturday to dewinterize it and start using it.  All went well until it came time to get the antifreeze out of the shower. 

Turned on the shower head and nothing came out.  We knew water was on at the manifold, so we searched for a water cutoff valve at the shower head.  Well, visually, there's none there.  We're use to having a slide valve in the shower head.  That didn't exist.  In the navy we had a valve you could twist.  The shower head didn't have one of those, either.  We knew this.  It's a new shower head that was installed in April before leaving for Jackson.  We'd checked for all of this when we got it back in April.

We continued to play with it during the afternoon.  I kept checking it.  You know the drill - do the same thing over and over again hoping for different results.  It was clear we were missing something, but where was the valve we're missing.  I called back to Indiana Interstate Enterprises to see if they knew of a valve we were missing.  They were closed, so no help there.  Everything was working except that stinking shower head.  I called it everything but a shower head.  Finally, in a fit of frustration - we'd been at this for eight and a half hours mind you - I decided to just take the shower head off.  As I start, the shower hand rotates and water runs out.  Eight and a half stinking hours to find out it does have a shut off valve.  What appears as the handle rotating is actually a ring where the shower head attaches to the hose.  Rotate the ring and you open or shut-off the shower head.  Somebody got paid good money to develop this.  Apparently, telling purchasers about it wasn't considered important.

Next day - Sunday - was a good trip down to Cave City to ride out the polar express the east was going to experience.  We stayed four nights to let the temps rise and let snow & ice melt off the truck and trailer.  Good idea except we were going have to stay until next June to get the ice off the off-door side slides.  We had about a quarter to three-eights inch thick sheet of ice across roof of those two slides - and they're long slides.  Our trailer (and truck) looked on one side as if it was in a normal, sunny high 30s day after a light dusting of snow.  The other side looked like it was in a glacier.

Truck was easy to clear.  Drive it Walmart and park it so the iced side is in the sun.  Couldn't do that with the trailer.  Closing those slides with iced roofs would have destroyed the seals.  I tried late Wednesday afternoon (that's when the ladder finally cleared of ice and it was safe to climb) to clear ice with a hair dryer.  It worked - just sloooooooow.  This morning after the temp climbed to freezing, I got up on the roof and Donna starts handing me buckets of hot water which I poor on the top of the slides and I start scrapping ice.  Took us about an hour.  I figured we'd be there all morning.  I was surprised it went so fast.  But it worked.  Only two trailers had this issue in the campground - us and one of the work campers for the campground. 

So we're off way earlier this morning than I figured headed to Stone Mountain, GA.  We're currently sitting at the KOA in Manchester, TN for the night.  Despite being under trees, we do have satellite TV.  I guess it helps when the leaves start falling.  Hope to make it to Stone Mountain tomorrow.  Hope to survive Atlanta traffic, too.   We'll see.

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Have Suitcase, Will Travel

If we don't get outta here soon...

We've finished all our doc appointments and have made our way back to the Lagrange, IN area to pick up our trailer when it's finished.  We're hoping it's finished tomorrow (Friday).  Shop hopes it's tomorrow, too.  We've viewed the trailer from a distance, and the new cargo door and paint look fine.  As of noon today, they had four (out of a total of 15) items left to finish tomorrow.  We'd like those items fixed, too.  Two of them are water leaks, so it's important they're repaired.  The other 11 items are completed.  Keep in mind that this shop - Indiana Interstate Enterprises - is working us in among other RVs that have appointments.

Like a lot of people, we're watching the weather reports of that arctic cold air that's on it's way.  The quicker we can get south and the farther south we can get, the better off we'll be.  The trailer is winterized, so we could - in a pinch - just stop at hotels that have trailer parking and spend the nights in hotels.  But if we can leave Saturday, we can at least dewinterize the trailer and begin using it before the subfreezing highs arrive.  If we have to wait until Monday (daytime high of 30), we'll just have to take it day-by day.

(side bar:  The reason dewinterizing will be hard should we leave late is that open campgrounds will not turn on fresh water during the day if the daytime highs stay below freezing.  We need to get freshwater into the trailer to use it.  If there's no opportunity to put freshwater into the freshwater tank, we're outta luck.  If we can get freshwater into the trailer, we can wait out those subfreezing daytime highs while sitting at a campground.)

Goal is to still be at Stone Mountain, GA by Thursday, the 14th.  As always, that's the plan.

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  We're fine.  Everyone stay warm.  Like a colonoscopy, this too, shall pass.  David

Still in the 'burg

We're about halfway through our stay.  Most doc appointments are over.  Donna still got a lot of visiting to do, and I've got one more doc appointment next week.  We seem to be doing fine - at least the docs say so.  We do get out. We tend to walk the paved trails from Old Mill Park or along Lee Drive in the battlefield. 

Plans are to go back to Indiana and pick up the trailer the week of Nov 4th.  Next planned reservation is Nov 14th at Stone Mtn, GA.  That's the plan, anyway!

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  We'll check in when we get back to Indiana.  David

Made it to Fredericksburg

Hey, we made it!  How unusual is that?

We had a nice trip down after leaving the trailer at Indiana Interstate Enterprises on Monday.  Took two days to drive down stopping for an overnight near Cranberry Township, PA.  We've already gotten groceries and Donna a rental car.  She's already out visiting with friends.

Doc appointments start next week.  Other than that, we're just hanging out.  Until next week, David 

Still in Elkhart

Dilbert Oct 02, 2019

Yep, we're still here.  Hydraulics repaired.  We broke two lines (actually pinched two lines) Tuesday last week (Sept 24th) on the way in.  Total RV got us in on Tuesday (this week), got the parts Tuesday afternoon, and finished Wednesday afternoon.  (Obviously, we have high praise for them and their efforts on the trailer!)  They pointed out another plumbing leak for us to have repaired while it's at Indiana Interstate Enterprises (a.k.a. Cross RV).  Just due to the numerous preventative maintenance items that need to be accomplished and items that need to be repaired, we've decided to leave the trailer in Lagrange, IN for repairs (third year in a row - first time it's not planned, though).  We'll travel on to Fredericksburg, VA for doc appointments next week.  Should reach Fredericksburg on the 9th.  As we won't have the trailer with us, much more likely to make that date (see cartoon, above).

So that's the plan.  Tune in next week to see if we made it.  David

P.S. As disappointing as this is, we're probably extremely lucky.  I follow several people, businesses,  and owner's groups on Facebook that have various RVs & trailers.  Two of those families have totaled their 5th wheel trailers in accidents this week.   

Elkhart, IN

How a service rodeo at Elkhart, IN feels

We're setting in Elkhart, IN (Elkhart Campground) awaiting repair (this coming Tuesday) of another catastrophic hydraulic failure.  Second time within six months.  Third time in two years.  Happened Tuesday.  We broke a hydraulic line going to the door-side rear leveling jack.  Break appears to be at or near where the hydraulic line exits the body of the trailer to extend down to fittings on the leveling leg.  Not sure how it occurred.

Of course this leads to canceling a couple of other planned service appointments (just like last April).  If we're fortunate, we maybe able to get a few additional critical items repaired & complete some necessary preventive maintenance before we need to leave for doc appointments in Virginia.  We've discussed leaving the trailer here so work on it can continue and going on to Virginia.  This would be the third row in a year we would do this, and it's getting old.  So the current decision is to stick around and try to get as much done as we can before we absolutely need to leave.  From here on out, the very first service appointment of our service visits will always be with the hydraulic folks when we come to Elkhart.

Otherwise, we're doing fine.  Took a short walk today around the lake at Fidler Park in Goshen, IN.  Used the last of our Smiths (Kroger) fuel points from Jackson, WY to fill the truck with diesel.  Had a nice easy stop at Gallops Truck Stop (Bristol, IN) on US 20 to fill the DEF tank.  Plan to go see the Downton Abbey movie tomorrow.

We'll continue to hang out here until Tuesday when we move next door to a shop (Total RV) that can fix out hydraulics.  Thanks for dropping in and checking in on us.  Until next week, David

Lanesboro, MN

Part of the F-O-S (GS) Rally at an evening campfire.

Part of the trail near Decorah, IA

 We're back in the land of wireless connectivity after eight days at the Folks-on-Spokes (Gulf Shores) rally (Eagle Cliff Campground & Motel, Lanesboro, MN).  Internet connectivity was poor at best, so we're now getting caught up.  The rally was held along the Root River Trail.  As usual, we ate out too much and ate too much at the potlucks.  And then there was pie...

Eagle Cliff Campground

We had a great time visiting with everyone.  Donna got a bunch of bicycle riding in.  I got a few miles in myself.  We also got a tour of the Mayo mansion in Rochester, MN plus a trolley tour of Rochester.  We visited restaurants such as The Ol' Barn (Lanesboro), The Porch (Rochester, MN), Home Sweet Home (Lanesboro, MN), and The Creamery (Rushford, MN).  Pie was at Aroma Pies, Whalan, MN - a must stop.  There were other places, but I can't recall their names.

It takes a lot of effort to set up these rallies and organize the daily activities.  We appreciated everything everyone did to help people like us have a good time.  Eagle Cliff Campground was an excellent place to stay in the area.  We're told the motel was adequate.  It's an easy 0.6 mi ride to the Root River Trail from the campground.  We'll probably go back when we're in the area.

Today we left Lanesboro and followed in the remnants of Imelda to De Forest, WI (Madison KOA) for an over night stop.  Once, again, we're in that "if we're east of the Mississippi River and traveling, it must be raining" mode.  Madison, WI water logged.  Weather forecasters had indicated that Imelda would move into eastern Wisconsin/western Michigan by midday, today, but it slowed just so we could drive in it.  We plan to move a couple of hours south tomorrow before heading into Elkhart, IN on Tuesday.  Trailer service rodeo starts 9 AM Wednesday.

So that's it from us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking in on us.  Until next week, David

P.S. Yep, we had issues traveling along I-90 in eastern South Dakota week before last.  Friday's trip (September 13th) was to be a short hour trip to Sioux Falls, but it took us about three and a half hours to navigate the detours to get to the Sioux Falls KOA.  We left Mitchell, SD that Friday morning traveling west a short bit before heading an hour north, then turning east to I-29 where we turned south for Sioux Falls.   We never really got out of flooding the whole detour, but the roads were open.  Lesson learned:  Flush the GPSs & call highway patrol.

At Mitchell, SD

We're on our way to Lanesboro, MN for the Folks-on-Spokes, Gulf Shores bicycle rally.  We left the hatchery Monday with stops at Dubois, WY; Casper, WY; Hill City, SD; and tonight at Mitchell, SD.

Weather has not been kind to the eastern half of South Dakota.  We'd planned a stop about halfway across South Dakota at Kennebec, but that RV park was soaking wet and closed.  Though they'd let us stay as we had reservations, it was just way too wet for us.  Donna suggested we continue on to Mitchell and after a quick phone call, we started on our way.  Only problem:  that same phone call also warned us that I-90 was closed west of Mitchell.  We stopped at a rest area to get some suggestions, and we continued east.

Now, one would think that with two GPSs and two phones with Google Maps, the detour would be easy to find and follow.  Nope.  All those hundreds of dollars we spent on these "marvels-of-technology" and the annual subscriptions & monthly data to use them were totally useless.  SiriusXM TravelLink for the in-dash nav?  Didn't have a clue (and rarely does, so no surprise there). Garmin RV GPS with links & antenna for local travel info?  Useless.  (and apparently for the first half-hour to hour of use on Wednesday morning, the Garmin couldn't find a single city in South Dakota, either.)

Google Maps should come to the rescue, right?  I mean, we've got two of those darn android phones.  Wrong!  Yep, it knew I-90 was closed from Plankinton to Mitchell.  So off it sent us through Plankinton and a side road to US 281.  Looked good as it would route us around the backup at the actual closure at exit 310.  Only problem:  the main road from the interstate into Plankinton was also flooded!  Try "Turn-around, don't drown" when there's no place to really turn around with a big rig.  (Local news now indicates that Plankinton is pretty much shutdown tomorrow.  Guess someone finally got around to going there and took a look.)  And we wouldn't have been there if the piece of horse manure electronics and app had done it's job.  All the data that Google knows about Donna & I, but it's incapable of following a known detour???  Really???  And this is the technology people are planning to use for navigation on autonomous vehicles???  Really???

Best piece of info:  the map the lady at the visitor center gave Donna with written arrows showing the way around the closed interstate.  Let's see Google (or any of these other companies) use that on their autonomous vehicles!

Oh, and guess what?  As I write this, I-90 - according to local news - is now closed from Mitchell to I-29 in Sioux Falls.  We made be here a little longer than plan!  I mean, Google Maps indicates that I-90 between Mitchell and I-29 at Sioux Falls is closed, but suggested "steps" are - you guessed it - along I-90, anyway.  Yeah, that'll work...  Hooray for technology!

Until next week, David

One last trip into Yellowstone

Osprey, String Lake, GTNP

Horse ride taking a break, String Lake, GTNP

 As the crowds are dwindling down here at the hatchery, we've gotten an extra couple of days off.  We decided to go into Yellowstone, spend a couple of days there, and stay inside the park in one of the lodges.

We started out taking one last walk around String Lake Monday (Labor Day) before going into Yellowstone.  After that, it was a picnic lunch at Colter Bay, then check in at the Elk Lodge at Grant Village.

View from Inspiration Point, YNP

Tuesday was a walk along the north rim trail of the Canyon area, lunch at the Canyon grille, and a stop at Lehardy Rapids (known for trout jumping during spawning season).  Wednesday was a drive along the Madison River with a walk along the board walk at Two Ribbon Trail (shows the regrowth after the 1988 wildfires), a stop at Gibbon Falls, a drive along Firehole Canyon, lunch at the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, and a walk to the Natural Bridge near Bridge Bay.

We returned to the hatchery today.  Overall, we found Yellowstone still busy (still too many people for our taste), and parking is in very limited supply at the popular sites.  Campgrounds were full, and only the Grant Village Lodges had any rooms available.  Tour buses in full force our two days there.

We had a good time, though.  Now we're looking at coming back over the winter at some point in the future just to see the difference.  We'll see how that works out. 

Duck, Lehardy Rapids, YNP

This is our last weekend to work at the hatchery this season.   The other volunteer couple has left.  Donna mowed one last time as we ran the gas out of the volunteers' lawnmower.  Donna cleaned the hummingbird feeder one last time.  Tonight we're watching football and awaiting thunderstorms to arrive.  Interesting how the weather gets back to raining just when it's time for us to travel.  Oh, well...

Anyway, I've put some highlights from our three-night stay in Yellowstone. 

Ducks, Lehardy Rapids, YNP

Hope you enjoy the pictures.  I'm off to see how many moths I can kill.  Until next week, David

GTNP = Grand Teton Natl Park
YNP = Yellowstone Natl Park

Lehardy Rapids, YNP

Gibbon Falls, YNP

Natural Bridge, Bridge Bay, YNP

Madison River, YNP

Emma Matilda Lake Trail

Happy Labor Day!

This week's trip was a walk around Emma Matilda Lake.  Emma Matilda Lake is shaped like a kidney bean.  The trail is about 9 miles long and takes you through woodlands, wetlands, and sagebrush.  It's not a walk along the lake shore similar to String Lake.  There weren't a lot of views, but those we got were great.   A couple of pictures here to show you what we saw.

Otherwise, we're fine and into our last two weeks here in the Jackson area.  Last day of work is September 8th, and we plan to leave September 9th if all goes well.  Plan is to make it to the Folks-on-Spokes (Gulf Shores) rally at Lanesboro, MN by September 14th.  It's a pretty success-oriented schedule, and we haven't had a lot of success achieving those type of schedules over the last two years.  We're going to give it a shot, though.

In other news, we trapped our 4th mouse this morning.  Peppermint spray appears to be working in the living areas, but we kept it out of the basement storage until we got this 4th mouse that we knew was visiting.  Now that we've caught that mouse, we've put peppermint spray in the storage areas.  We'll see how it works out.

So that's it for this week.  Enjoy the long weekend if you can.  Thanks for dropping by.  Until next week, David

Back to Colter Bay

Heron Pond

This week we spent a day walking from the hatchery down to Jackson - eating ice cream & BBQ while there, and then walking back to the hatchery.  Second outing was an easy walk to Swan Lake & Heron Pond near Colter Bay.  Otherwise, we either talked fish or Donna continued to sand, stain & varnish the bathroom vanity cabinet.  Traffic at the hatchery is beginning to slow.  Even traffic in Jackson is getting lighter.  Weather-wise, overnight temps are beginning to drop into the high 30s at night. 

And, for the first time since owning this trailer, we've managed to have mice decide they want to live in the trailer.  So far we've caught three over the last two weeks.  They're cute, but extremely destructive if left unchecked.  I don't recall any of us having a problem with mice last year, but then we also had a fox hang out around the hatchery's housing  area all summer.  Now it seems as if we all have mice.  Even Liz's cat - an older cat that never catches mice - caught a mouse.  We're keeping traps out and since yesterday, trying a peppermint/cinnamon scented spray to confuse the mice.  Don't know if the spray will work, but the trailer smells like Christmas.

That catches you up for this week.  We're fine.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David



 

String Lake, Leigh Lake, Bear Paw Lake, Trapper Lake

String Lake

Leigh Lake

This week's walks were along the String Lake Loop Trail on Monday.  Wednesday's walk was along the Leigh Lake Trail to Bear Paw & Trapper Lakes.  Sunday & Tuesday were set aside to allow Donna to sand, stain and varnish the kitchen table and start on the bathroom vanity.  We also squeezed in a conference call for next summer's volunteer position (potential position) this past week.  Otherwise, we talked fish.

Notice that I used the "walk" in the above paragraph.  The String Lake Loop Trail is a great outing.  It's about 4 miles long.  It has some elevation climb, but otherwise, it's just a nice walk around String Lake.  The walk up along Leigh Lake to Bear Paw & Trapper Lakes is just that - a walk.  There's not a lot of elevation gain.  It's just long.  9+ miles based on our Fitbits.  There's several back country campsites, and this trail is recommended for beginning back packers to get used to hiking and using back country campsites.  All the campsites we saw looked nice.  We recommend it!

So that brings you up to date on us.  We're fine.  Thanks for dropping by!  Until next week, David

Bear Paw Lake

Trapper Lake

Mt Moran

Emma Matilda Lake

We're beginning to strike out on some hikes that really aren't on the "bucket list".  After accomplishing Two Oceans Lake awhile back, Emma Matilda Lake is the next lake on the list for consideration.

A loop trail is the main hike around Emma Matilda Lake, but we decided to do a "walk-by" hiking from Jackson Lake Lodge to Christian Pond, then on to

Lookout Rock by Emma Matilda Lake, then on to the Oxbow Bend Overlook cutoff, and finally back around to Christian Pond and Jackson Lake Lodge.  Total distance is about 3.5 to 4.0 miles.  Most of it is on a horse trail (which appears to be a very popular horse ride from Jackson Lake Lodge.)  It's a very warm trail, not all that shaded, and not overly buggy when we visited this week.

We've also managed to visit Leek's Marina and have a bread sticks & pizza for the 4th time this year.  We still haven't located any beavers, and we're now considering taking a wildlife tour to see if we have better luck.

Otherwise, we're fine.  We're entering our last month here at the hatchery for this season.  The ground squirrels have just about finished their fattening season.  We're seeing fewer and fewer of these squirrels each day.  We still haven't seen the local weasel.  Haven't seen a fox at the hatchery this year, but our neighbor did see a coyote near one of the hatchery gates.

In local news, the East Gros Ventre Butte (the one you sometimes see behind the trailer in our hatchery pictures) experienced a lighting-strike wildfire just above the National Wildlife Museum on Sunday.  It quickly spread up hill leading to evacuations on the residences on top of the butte and preparations to evacuate the local hotels located along US 89 at the bottom of the butte.  Fortunately,

a water-logged thunderstorm followed a couple of hours later and put the fire out.  According to the local paper, 80 acres burned.  Looks weird seeing a burned out section of the butte above the National Wildlife Museum.  From the highway, it looks like only bare rock is left where saga brush once ruled.

Elk Jam below the Jackson Lake Lodge 

So that wraps up this week.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Teton Village Tram - Paint Brush Canyon

That's Snake River down there in the "hole"

Teton Village Tram

We finally got out to Teton Village, Sunday, and rode the tram up Rendezvous Mountain where we ate the $100 waffles at Corbet's Cabin (price includes all day tram rides.)  Took our time enjoying the views.  We eventually came back down for lunch & some shopping at Teton Village.  Monday turned out to be a rain day - very unusual for this part of Wyoming in July. 

On Tuesday we walked into Paint Brush Canyon via the String Lake Loop Trail.  Paint Brush Canyon is the next canyon north of Cascade Canyon.  Incline not quite as steep as Cascade Canyon.  It makes for a a good overnight trip if you work in some of the loop trails in the area.  The trail is mostly wooded with limited views until you get into the lower canyon camping area.  We walked almost to where the trail crosses the creek.  A freshly fallen tree blocked the trail just short of the creek crossing.  We'd been walking over two & a half hours, and the the tree made a good excuse to turn around. 

Leigh Lake (foreground) and Jackson Lake in the back

Other days we're back at the hatchery talking fish.  We've got about five weeks left to go.  Suppose to leave September 9th.  No other bucket lists items that I'm aware of.  We do have reservations to spend three nights in the Grant Village area of Yellowstone the first week of September.  As always, that's the plan.

Thanks for checking in on us.  We're fine.  Just finished a hatchery staff picnic dinner this evening at the pond.  Ate too much (and I had planned to eat too much, too!) 

Paint Brush Canyon on the other side of String Lake

That's it for us this week.  Until next week, David

Another String Lake view