Yellowstone River flowing in Hayden Valley,
Mt. Washburn in the background

Greetings from my intermittent blog. It seems now that I am back to work, the busy requirements of a "lead" ranger have exhausted me to the point where my motivation, and time seem to be directed to other venues. Today I have a late start and will present my first evening campfire program of the season.

The snow is melting here and some of the valley trails are finally accessible but are, in many case, a bit sloppy. To aggravate this we are getting our usual June rain storms. But, all of this does not keep our more intrepid visitors to the park from getting "out there." And, in fact, on my next days off I will attempt my first hike of the season, a modest 4 miler in the Taggart Lake area.

On a continuously rainy last Friday I again traveled up to Yellowstone to traverse the eastern lower loop (by car). We get a lot of questions about our sister park and I always feel the need to visit to better inform our vistors. I stopped off at Fishing Bridge and Canyon visitor centers in that endeavor. Both of these are my favorites in that park.


Fishing Bridge Visitor Center, Yellowstone

Between the two visitor centers, travelling through the beautiful Hayden Valley, I was able to spot another Grizzly and her cub. It is amazing to me that for my first 7 years as ranger in this area I only ever saw one. It is wonderful to see all of these bears doing well throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecological System.





In addition, we have begun to see black bears as well. The other evening my friends Bob, Ben and myself saw a black bear and her cub take down an elk calf. I know for some of you this seems cruel, but it is the way of the natural world. Remember, even down to the molecular level, everything eats everything else, it's part of the chain/cycle of life.

"Now for something completely different" (credit Monty Python) . . .

Brief movie reviews . . . as mentioned before there are a dearth of good films in late spring and early summer. However, I liked the new "Indiana Jones" film. It was not the best of the series and as many reviewers said you either love or hate it depending on whether you are a fan. I happened to be one and for pure escapism it fills the bill. A truly excellent movie, and winner of the best Foreign Film Oscar this year, is the Austrian flick "The Counterfieters." It is based on the true story of Jewish concentration camp inmates being used by the Nazis to make British and American currency during WWII to flood the market and destroy the economies of their enemies. The acting is wonderful and the script serves the story well.

Jackson, WY with it's fairly mixed population (a lot of wealthy, well educated second home owners, combined with cowboys, river runners and a myriad of outdoor types)) sometimes, surprisingly, brings some nice international and independent films to town. Currently they are quietly having a small spring festival with two a week of their seven screens being taken up with that fare. But as the summer proceeds the larger summer "blockbusters" will take over.

Thats about it for this time from beautiful "downtown" Colter Bay, garden spot of Grand Teton National Park. Catch you all on the "flip side!"