The Firehole River

I have been here almost two months, yet have only mentioned the Firehole River in passing.  Anglers know it far and wide, for it is one of the most storied trout streams of the West. Geyser watchers know of it too, for its valley is home to the largest collection of geysers and hotsprings in the world.

Firehole River, below Biscuit Basin

This wild river sits atop the continent, untouched and undeveloped by modern times. Yet, it is accessible to hundreds of thousands of Yellowstone visitors to see and enjoy each year as they travel the Grand Loop Road through Yellowstone National Park.

The Firehole is an incredibly beautiful river. Driving along it, panoramas unfold that simply cannot be captured by camera. Fishing along it, underwater habitat and structure tempt cast after cast to an endless combination of trout lies.

Undercut banks like this one held nice trout through mid-June

The Firehole begins high up on the Madison Plateau at 8300 feet elevation very close to the Continental Divide. For the first half of its length, the river flows through backcountry inaccessible except by foot trail. Up there, it is a typical high mountain stream where annual snowpack creates the reservoir of water to spawn this river. 

Things get more interesting once it comes into view just above Old Faithful at 7400 feet elevation. It begins to flow through geyser basins picking up hot spring runoff rich in minerals. It forms wide meadows that attract Yellowstone’s famous wildlife. A short sixteen miles later, it tumbles into a spectacular canyon before joining the Gibbon River. These two rivers then form the Madison River, a headwater river to the Missouri River that begins another hundred miles north of here.

Midway Geyser Basin pouring over a thousand gallons a minute of hot spring runoff into the Firehole

This is an improbable river. Walking the boardwalks through its geyser basins is like no other place on Earth. For here, the Earth speaks. Geysers spout, hot springs bubble, steam vents fume, expanses of heat-loving bacteria form huge palettes of color as these hot waters flow away to the river. Wading the river with flyrod in hand, it is amazing to see its clear waters flowing over sheets and slabs of volcanic lava laid down by Yellowstone’s last eruption 640,000 years ago. 

Slabs of volcanic lava on the Firehole's streambed

Working at the Clinton River Watershed Council made me a student of watersheds, the science of how land and water work together. Being able to walk the Firehole nearly every day is like a graduate course at Oxford in how watersheds are supposed to work. Land, water, gravity, Earth’s heat, and rock’s dissolved minerals all combine to create a river system full of life.

Wild brown and rainbow trout (rivers here have not been stocked since the early 20^th century) hang in its currents.  Bison and elk graze its meadows. Sandhill cranes and ospreys call its riverbanks home. The mineral-rich chemistry of the water from the geysers and hot springs create a lush aquatic life of bright green rooted vegetation. A proliferation of aquatic insects…mayflies, caddis, stoneflies…provide trout with a full diet, and bewilder the angler figuring out what fly will work on any given evening.

Heat-loving bacteria form colorful mats around the river's hot springs

As watersheds go, the Firehole is not large, just 282 square miles. The Clinton River is 760 square miles; the Au Sable River’s drainage at Mio is 1,361 square miles. But, square miles are just two-dimensional, they don’t account for the elevation change of the Firehole’s landscape.  Stretch the surrounding hills and valleys out flat, and you’d get a far larger watershed.

The river’s perimeter, often a hundred yards wide on each side, is boggy, marshy ground; spongy enough in places to bounce trampoline-like to your step. This cushions snowmelt and rain runoff, slowly releasing it back to the river. It is these physical characteristics that give the river its stability. The Firehole virtually never floods out of its banks. Only a few days each spring are lost to fishing due to a muddy river.

Broad meadows line miles of the Firehole

What are lost to anglers, though, are the summer months. The Firehole’s fishing days are numbered as July approaches, when the water becomes too warm from the geothermals for cold-loving trout. They become lethargic or leave to seek cool refuge in small tributaries. It will be time to give the Firehole a rest until September. Then, it’s time to head for Yellowstone cutthroat trout country in the Park’s northeast section.

Old Faithful Through Heidi's Eyes; Work & Play

The 6/2/12 Ranger Talk was about all the dead trees in Yellowstone.  There are lots of them.  They die in fires and get knocked down helter-skelter by the wind.  Then it takes a long time for them to decompose.  There is a group of them by one of the geysers and they are referred to as “ghost trees” because they are whitish and just kind of hang around.  Some of the dead trees still have their roots attached when they fall down, and when the dirt gets washed off the roots, some very interesting root sculptures are revealed.    

Short-lived life of the Lodgepole Pine: shallow soils, winds, fire.

The dormitories have names associated with natural features of the area.  Lupine is occupied by mostly young people and has a reputation for being noisy.  Ours is called Obsidian and is a “24 hour quiet zone” because many of the occupants have gray hair and work weird hours.  The rooms are like motel rooms… nothing fancy.  Two beds, two closets, a desk and a space-saver bathroom with a nice shower head and an unlimited supply of hot water, as well as Catalin’s special soap.  We have lovely teal draperies on a window overlooking a no parking zone and another dark brown dorm about thirty feet away.  The floor is covered with plum colored carpet which has a zigzag pattern of dots and many little bits of the ubiquitous obsidian.  Those little bits of obsidian get stuck in the non-slip channels on the bottom of our shoes every time we step outside and accompany us wherever we go.  I sweep them up at work and see them on the wooden walkways surrounding the geysers.  They are in the visitors’ center and the post office too.  There are numerous books in the gift shops about the geology of the area, but here at Old Faithful we have obsidian, and lots of it.   

Our Own Post Office  Box: Connection to the Outside World

Internet access here is not always available and people complain about it all the time.  That is one reason why you may not hear from us as often as you might like.  We spend half our computer time trying to get online.  Another reason why you might not hear much from me is because sitting makes my back hurt and we don’t have a standup place to use our laptop.  It isn’t as bad as it was after that first plane ride, but it is a limiting factor, so I think I’ll go for a walk now.  Maybe I’ll walk to the clinic. 

Speaking of time, it is an issue.  We are strongly encouraged to leave our watches at home because they are a “health hazard” in the kitchen, and I think there may be other reasons too.  There is a clock in the dining room which we can’t see unless we are dining, and there is of course a time clock in a hallway near where we work.  We are “allowed” to clock in up to five minutes prior to our assigned work time.  We are “allowed” a lunch or supper or breakfast break of “at least 31 minutes” during each work shift, but don’t you dare take more than 35 minutes to eat, or one of your colleagues might not get their break at the assigned time.  We can take bathroom breaks when necessary, but be sure to tell the boss where you are going in case there is a fire drill or something.  Smokers get smoke breaks but they have to hide behind a trailer out back while they smoke.  Non-smokers have to beg for a cookie break or an apple break or a minute to put their feet up.  Our boss is very good at assigning our next chore before we have finished whatever we are working on, so it is hard to find time to ask for a break.  I think I need to practice saying “I need a break” or “gimme a break” or whatever it is that normal people do to maintain their sanity.   

The day I thought was my day off but I ended up working because they changed the schedule, I was so mad I broke a fingernail and had to go to the office to request a (bright blue) bandaid.  The next day, I broke another nail and had to go to the office again for the same reason.  Then I bought myself a little pack of emery boards to keep in my work locker for such emergencies.  Then I forgot to put the little pack of emery boards in my backpack to take to work so I could have it in my locker just in case and guess what… yup, I broke another nail.  So when I got back to our room I filed all my nails down to nothing, and put the little pack of emery boards in my backpack.  Now maybe they won’t poke holes in the flimsy plastic gloves I wear at work either.  Sometimes when I try to put on a fresh pair, they get stuck half way on.  I don’t know if it is because my hands are too wet from wearing gloves or if they are swollen from wearing gloves or what but it is another of many minor annoyances.

Old Faithful Eruption in the Evening Light

A few days ago, as I was passing Old Faithful on my way to work, a guy in a baseball cap asked me how often the geyser blew.  I said I wasn’t sure but thought it was roughly every hour and that there would be a sign at the nearby visitors’ center indicating the most likely time of the next eruption.  He thanked me and we parted ways.  Then his friend, who had been sitting on one of the benches surrounding Old Faithful asked me if I knew who I had been talking to.  I said “no, who?” and the friend said “Bob Newhart.”  So then we had a little chat about television and acting and advertising and stuff like that, with Bob rejoining us after a couple of minutes.  When I asked Bob’s friend what his name was, he said “Lance Sterling.”  I have no way of knowing whether they were real or fake, but that was my interesting story for the day, and they were charming gentlemen.   

New Job, June 7 

Old Faithful Inn's Bannisters & Railings, All Hand-Chosen to Fit

Today’s interesting story is that I got a new job.  A couple of days ago, I was complaining about having to mop the floors at the end of a strenuous eight hour day.  I had been told that if I wanted to try another job, I could request a transfer, so I did.  The following day was my boss’ day off, so his boss and his boss’ boss interviewed me and asked where I wanted to go.  I had heard that there was an open position in the pantry at the lodge, so I mentioned that.  B and BB said they had a similar position available in our building.  The next step was to talk to my boss.  But he was off the next day too, so nobody talked to him.  Then today, I was scheduled to start work at 7 am, so I got into my uniform, ate a quick breakfast, and clocked in.  The first thing on my list of things to do was wash dishes and after I had been washing them for about an hour and a half, my boss’s boss came and said that I was now “in pantry” and that today was my day off.  But I had already gotten up early and started working and didn’t have any special day off plans, so I offered to keep washing dishes until my replacement showed up.  She never showed up, but my boss did, scratching his head and asking why my name was crossed off the schedule and somebody else’s name was added.  I suggested that he talk to his boss about it, so he did, and I kept on washing dishes.  Then I got to serve lunch and eat lunch and tend to the spilly, slpashy drink line and fix dessert for dinner and finally clock out.  After that I asked if I could follow my new boss around for a while to get a glimpse of my new responsibilities.  She seems bright and lively and cheerful and optimistic.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to do the work.  And it is just at the other end of the kitchen, so I will be able to smile and wave and occasionally rub elbows with my former colleagues.  I’m ready for a new adventure.  

There is a lady who plays the piano and cello (one at a time) in the lobby of the Inn, which is a great big tall wooden space.  I think I’ll go over there tonight and listen.  The first time I heard her play, it was a dark and stormy night, so she played “Raindrops Falling on my Head” among other favorites while the lightning flashed in the windows and the thunder rumbled overhead.  I wonder what she will play tonight.  I think I’ll take a water bottle and a book and my phone with me.  Maybe I’ll even see someone I know.  So that’s it for now.  I hope all my readers are happy and healthy.   

June 15 (Heidi’s Saturday, Dan’s Monday, everybody else’s Friday)



Old Faithful Overlook, Observation Point

Today is the first of my first two whole days off!  WOW!  This morning, Dan and I hiked up to Observation Point, which overlooks Old Faithful, The Inn, The Visitors’ Center, The Lodge, The Snow Lodge, a store, a gas station and our dormitory, among other buildings.  At the overlook, we met people from Sacramento and Pennsylvania and along the trail we heard Germans speaking their native language.  Everybody had a camera and a shirt advertising wherever else they have been.  The view was quite impressive, and worth the effort.  The hike up reminded me of the hike up “Sunshine Mountain” as a kid after school every day, only there was no hot sun beating on our backs, and instead of watching out for rattlesnakes, we were watching out for bears.  We didn’t see any bears, but we did see a marmot on a rock, a chipmunk on the trail, and a squirrel in a tree.  There were lots of pretty flowers among the gazillions of trees.  On the way back, we detoured to see Solitary Geyser, which erupts every five minutes or so.  It did, but its eruption was just a quick blubbety blub, and then it was over.  Years ago, Solitary was just a spring, and Yellowstone decided to pipe the warm water down the hill for heating or bathing or something, but lowering the water level disturbed its delicate balance and caused it to change from a spring to a geyser.

Out for a Walk on the Upper Geyser Basin on Firehole River

Yesterday evening, Dan and I went to town.  We ate at the Three Bear Restaurant in West Yellowstone.  The food was good but the best parts were the soup and salad bar, so next time we will just have that.  On our way to a  gas station after dinner, we noticed the old Union Pacific railroad station which now houses a museum.  Maybe we will go back there some day.   

We had dinner in “West” a couple of nights ago too.  That time we ate at a Chinese restaurant which was very good.  Even the décor was nice.  There were even groups of Chinese people eating there and speaking Chinese.  We interpreted that as an endorsement of the quality of the food. 

Several nights ago, after leaving work at nearly 11pm, I saw a coyote as it was exiting the parking lot.  The next night, after dinner, Dan and I went for a walk down the geyser trail and we saw another coyote.  The night after that, we stopped at a roadside rest area and saw another coyote…three in a row!  And we saw many raggedy looking bison too. They are shedding their winter coats.  One group of bison was “enclosed” in an area surrounded by a log fence.  The bison didn’t care.  They just knocked the logs down and went where they wanted to go.  

Coyote Cruising Midway Geyser Basin Parking Lot for Easy Pickings

On our way back from one of those trips to “West,” we encountered an ambulance going the other way in a hurry.  Apparently, somebody had a medical emergency.  Medical emergencies are not uncommon around here.  People underestimate the dangers, and overestimate their own abilities.  Maybe that is true everywhere.  

Ribbons of Color Around Hot Springs, Heat-Loving  Bacteria

A couple of days ago Dan and I drove down the road and walked up to Grand Prismatic Spring.  Sometimes you can see the colors of the spring reflected in the mist rising from it.  While we were there, the mist mingled with rain, sending us back to our car almost as soon as we got there.  But before we left, we saw a coyote, sniffing around the parking lot.  Also while we were there, we saw our friends, the two German guys, who we had met on the deck of the Inn, watching Old Faithful erupt a day or two earlier.  They happily reported that they were still enjoying their visit, and we were happy to hear it.

That’s it for now . . . there is too much to see and do and blog about.

Happy Juggling Day! 

Today is Juggling Day (June 16th), according to my little purse calendar.  I am sure someone must be doing some juggling around here.  I wish we had a big wall calendar.  All the calendars in the gift shops here are for 2013. 

Yesterday I had a nice walk and talk with Ann, one of our girlfriends.  Our destination was Black Sand Basin.  Its name doesn’t do it justice.  It is a beautiful blue pool with copious amounts of steam rising from it and occasional bubbles accompanied by thumping noises and vibrating ground.  Hypnotic.  On our way back, we noticed people gazing in wonderment at something in the sky and it turned out to be an osprey with a fish in its talons, circling above us.  Some of the gazers had seen it grab the fish from the river.  What a sight!  What a place!  There is so much to see and do…  

Black Sand Geyser Basin at Dusk

If you want to come here but you are on a tight budget, let us know.  We get special (ridiculously low) dorm room rates for family and friends.   

This evening, I attended an informal talk about waterfalls.  There are many waterfalls in this park.  The guy who gave the talk is one of the authors of a book about Yellowstone waterfalls.  He has had many interesting, scary, and strenuous adventures hiking to the waterfalls with photographers and others interested in waterfalls.  Something he pointed out in his talk is that Yellowstone’s waterfalls have not all been discovered yet and that the number of waterfalls in Yosemite National Park has been overestimated.   But Yosemite’s waterfalls have not all been documented yet either. 

Fish 1, Dan 0

I have settled into a routine of a couple of hours of fishing every working day, before or after a shift. I feel like a kid again, this is what I came to Yellowstone for. Waders and flyrod stay in the car. Just a ten minute drive and park at a pullout along the Firehole River.

 It’s still streamer fishing, the insect hatches haven’t formed up. Doesn’t bother me at all, I love to fish streamers.  I see other anglers, fishing dry flies, talk to a few of them. Like waiting for Godot. They miss a lot.

 I have been catching two or three nice fish every day. It’s become regular enough I don’t bother to take a photo of every fish. Unhook, let them catch their breath in slack current, send them on their way. No dinks, typically 12-13” rainbows, occasionally a brown trout slightly larger. I also get a chance or two at a big fish just about every trip. Three days ago, had one of those I-thought-I hooked-the-bottom-then-the-bottom-started-to-move strikes. This is a lot of fun!

Brown Trout on a store-bought streamer

As with any sport, fishing improves with this repetition. The reel drag is set properly now. Casting greatly improves with a clean the line and fly line dressing. Get the angle of the cast right makes for a snag-free drift on the sinktip line. Give a little when fighting bigger fish, or they shake the hook with their strength/bulk.

I fished a late afternoon the other day after work. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. As I headed north along the river, the usual turnouts already had a parked car or two. That’s okay, it’s always fun to try a new piece of water. Besides, no need to crowd someone or feel crowded, so I stopped at a new turnout.

Wide, flat stretch; not particularly interesting from a distance

I had been curious about fishing this turnout. From the road, it doesn’t look like it would hold good fish; the river wide, featureless. On the other hand, I had not seen anyone ever fish here. That’s always a plus for a piece of water, lightly fished. It’s about 250 yards across a sloppy marsh to get to the river, enough to deter many anglers. It isn’t meadow water, so you have to watch your backcast.

Where I started casting was knee-deep water, a straight stretch lacking a deep run or trough that holds fish. The bottom here is fishy, cobble and larger. Moving methodically downstream, I swung the streamer through what darker water I could find. Thinking like a fish, ‘where would I be sitting in this river?’ I directed each cast into deeper water, a slack current, an ambush point just off the main flow. 

This wide stretch had one nice thing going for it, very wadeable. I was now standing midstream, able to cast the 30-40 feet to work either bank. That’s good, bigger fish like to lie along the bank where the current slows and concentrates food in the drift.  

A deep undercut bank caught my eye, its darker water as good as a signpost reading, Big Fish Lies Here. The streamer landed on the grassy margin of the bank, the current working on the line pulled it softly into the face of the undercut. Perfect. 

The fly didn’t go ten feet before the fish barreled from the cover of the bank and pounced. Fish on!  Strong, heavy, the bulldog fight of a brown trout. Instantly, the warm, tranquil afternoon tingled with excitement. I was into a very nice fish!  

Worked 500 yards of the Firehole River, all to myself.

I got a good look at it on the first jump. Wow, yes, nice fish! Surely 20”, and deep-bodied. Confident in the 8 lb. tippet I was using with the streamer, I put the full flex of the 5 weight rod into him.  Didn’t even budge him. 

An angler’s self-talk kicks into gear in situations like this. Stay calm…let the rod fight the fish…keep a full flex in the rod…be patient because this is going to take a while. 

The fish jumped three more times, and I stayed with it. It moved out toward the middle, then back toward the bank. No worries, no snags in sight. Minutes had passed, this was a good fight. Then, it jumped a fifth time…and threw the hook. Fish 1, Dan 0. 

That’s the best trout I’ve ever had on while wade fishing. The biggest trout since my trip to Argentina with Tom Quail two years back. It had the strength of a steelhead. It took my fly in broad daylight on a bluebird, sunny day.  

Flat stretch continued around bend, concealing a deep run. I'll be back.

I would have liked to put my net under that fish, and seen how far its tail would have stuck out. I would like to have a photo of it to show you. Maybe next time. That’s the thing about this summer…there are going to be many more next times between now and mid-October. They will come on the Firehole, the Madison, the Gallatin, the Gibbon, the Lamar, the Gardner, Soda Butte and Slough Creek. 

Walk back to the turnout. Crowd of one.

This is a lot of fun!

Heidi's First Week; May 26 - June 1

I think I’m gonna like it here.  At least I hope I’m gonna like it here.  I’ll probably know as soon as I get a day off.  Today is my third day here.  I don’t have to report to work until noon.  I got here around 2 pm on Saturday and started working at 3:30.  I worked Sunday from 9am to 5pm.  The work is fun and the food is good.  The weather is nasty though. 

The Luxurious Employee Buses for Employees Arriving Car-less

We got up Saturday morning at 5am at the Bozeman Holiday Inn and were on the road at 6 with breakfast from McDonalds. At McDonalds, we saw the bus that would have been my transportation if Dan hadn’t been escorting me.  It was old and brightly colored but unmistakably The Bus to Yellowstone.  The blueberry oatmeal was very tasty and the hash browns yummy.  It would have been even better if we had gotten the other hash brown we ordered and a spoon for the oatmeal. But Dan found a spoon and somehow managed to keep the car on the road even without hash browns.  He liked the coffee and breakfast burger. 

I-90 Westbound, Approaching Livingston; May 26

We both liked the view.  The mountains are awesome!  On the ride from Bozeman to Gardiner for check-in, we saw cattle, bison, elk, horses, llamas, and the beautiful Gardiner River.  There were flurries in the air and snow all over everything.  It felt like January, but it was May. 

At Gardiner, Dan delivered me to the new employee check-in building where I slopped through the slush to a windowless room full of mostly young people, some of whom remembered each other with hugs and high fives from seasons past.  I stood in line and enjoyed the sights.  There were tattoos, piercings, and all sorts of interesting costumes.  For the unprepared, there were two boxes of jackets.  On the wall above the jackets there was a piece of paper with arrows pointing to the boxes.  One box was labeled “larger jackets” and the other was labeled “smaller jackets.”  The walls were decorated with quotations from famous visitors to Yellowstone.  When I got to the front of the line, I flashed my passport and began the process of having my paperwork reviewed by about ten people, each of whom welcomed me to Yellowstone.  The final stop in the paperwork review process was the photo chair where a very unflattering mug shot was taken and I was given my badge and employee card.    Then I was off through more slush to the uniform room. 

Snowy Welcome at Mammoth Hot Springs at YNP's North Entrance

The uniform room had three or four dressing rooms or changing booths opposite a counter behind which were several uniform clerks.  One of the clerks asked me what size pants I wanted to try on, so I came up with a number and started trying things on.  I needed bigger pants and a smaller shirt than I had estimated, but they were really nice.  The shirts are stark raving white with snaps.  The pants are snazzy black and white checks.  I also got a couple of mushroom hats and some plain white aprons.  From the uniform room, I proceeded to the shoe trailer, where I found a charming woman with a clipboard surrounded by stacks of shoeboxes.  She found some for me to try on, but there was no place to sit, unless I wanted to slop through the slush to the picnic table outside next to the trailer.  After trying on several pair of shoes, I selected the least offensive ones and slopped through the slush again back to the car.  Dan kindly accompanied me through the whole process. He had invested quite a bit of time and effort to get me this far and didn’t want to risk having me back out at this point.

Geyser Steam Hangs Long in the Cold Air

The next stop was the mandatory orientation meeting at Mammoth Hot Springs.  We slopped through more slush, watched a beautiful video, and enjoyed a hearty lunch in the employee dining room, or EDR as they are affectionately called.  After lunch we headed for Old Faithful. 

The road to Old Faithful had been closed, but we watched the gate swing open, passed the big truck with the chains that didn’t fit, and joined the optimistic procession of cars.  I had the camera in hand and kept clicking photos as one beautiful view after another revealed itself.  Along the way, our progress was slowed several times by “jams” of gawkers, but we got to our dorm in due time, and then went for a quick, informal orientation and to find my new boss.  He was “real glad to see me” and asked how soon I would be ready to pitch in.  About a half hour later I was back, in uniform, ready for my next orientation and my first assignment.

The kitchen is a multimillion dollar state of the art shiny new facility.  A few more square inches here and there would have made it even better, but it will do for now.  My first assignment was wielding a clipboard and writing down each employee’s employee number as they lined up for food.  Most of them have their six digit number memorized.  My next assignment was shadowing Miss B, who has been here a couple of weeks and is less than half my age.  She is full of energy, and knows what to do, how to do it, and where to find things.  I helped her tend to the salad bar, tidying and replenishing as needed.  At the end of the day we put everything away and cleaned up everything from the salad bar to the drink bar.  People sure are sloppy!  And whoever designed those drink delivery machines surely never had to clean one of them.

Snow Doesn't Last Long Once the Sun Appears

My second day of work was a full day, not just a few hours.  I think I remembered three people’s names.  I wore a different pair of shoes so my feet wouldn’t hurt, but although they had tiny suction cups all over the bottom, they were definitely not slip resistant.  I kept a-hopping from nine to five thirty, when Dan showed up, hoping to eat with me.  I don’t remember exactly when I had lunch, but my break was “at least thirty minutes,” and I had several unauthorized trips to the ladies room as I need to drink lots of water to acclimate to the altitude.  We are over a mile above sea level.  When we got back to our dorm room, Dan gave me a much-needed foot massage.

On my third day, Dan had to report early, so he went to breakfast by himself, and I stayed in our room to start writing.  When I got to a good stopping point, I checked the schedule posted by the door, and discovered that I had just missed breakfast.  No problem, we have fruit and granola bars in our room, I can have lunch at 10:15, enjoy a leisurely hot shower, and maybe finish unpacking.  Time sure flies. 

Bison Grazing at Elk Meadow on the Gibbon river

Today is my seventh day here.  I have been learning lots of things about how kitchens are run.  We kitchen crew members keep running all day.  So far, most of my work has involved attending to the “salad bar” and the “drink line,” but I have also enjoyed washing dishes, dicing tomatoes, slicing mushrooms, and stuff like that.  Yesterday was the hardest day so far because I thought it was my day off.  But after a leisurely breakfast, my phone rang and I was told that the schedule had been changed and I was a half hour late.  But they are short staffed, they were counting on me, and it was humanly possible for me to be there, so I put on my snazzy pants, my stark raving white shirt, my plain white apron and my silly mushroom hat and reported for work, spitting mad!  People kept asking me how I was doing, and all I could think of to say was that I was “still standing” or that “it wasn’t really me they were talking to, it was just a zombie in a uniform.”  But I lived through the ordeal and today was a better day.  I’ll write more when I have more time, but now I get to go to a ranger talk about Yellowstone.  

The ranger talk was very interesting.  It was all about the mistakes that have been made over the years in the park.  Years ago, hunting was allowed, people put foreign objects in the geysers, and bears were fed and observed at close range.  We don’t do those things anymore.  The population of bison has increased from a low of 24 to several thousand today.  Some of the geysers have been ruined beyond repair.  We are asked to stay at least one hundred yards away from bears and never feed them. 

There was a ranger talk last night too.  It was all about bison.  Bison can weigh as much as a car and move surprisingly fast, even though they look clumsy.  They can jump six feet high too.  They are allowed to go wherever they want in the park.  That’s all for now.