More Weekend Wanderings!




Jefferson River Valley from the trail to the cavern entrance

I'm being bad and throwing out more wanderings instead of being more creative, but it was such a fun wandering this weekend that I can't resist!



The adventures this weekend took me and my friends Laney, Lisa and Chase to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, near Three Forks, MT. In the many years, off and on, that I have lived in this area, it is one of those places that I say "Oh, I really want to go there sometime" every time I drive by the exit sign for it on I-90, but then promptly forget it exists until the next time I drive by the sign. Well, not anymore!

While located near an area passed through by Lewis and Clark, they did not actually discover the caverns, or have any idea they were there...Montana just really loves naming things after them. They were actually discovered by two hunters in the late 1800s who noticed a bare area on the hillside during a February hunt. Upon further exploration(aka, dropping rocks in the hole and not hearing them hit bottom) they decided to come back later when it might be a little safer than mid-February in Montana. It took 6 years, but one of them did return and begin to explore in 1898. Sometime later, a successful prospector took over and began offering tours, utilizing a man-made entrance since the original discovery hole was more overhead to the cavern and descended into a rather large pit within the cavern. To give his tours, he created a walkway throughout with 2000 wooden steps and a 90 foot spiral staircase that often swayed as much as 2 feet from side to side.  

Lisa, me and Laney at the cavern entrance

Eventually the railroad discovered that they actually owned the rights to the land and claimed it, only to turn it over to the federal government in 1908. It was designated a National Monument and then locked up so people could not get in. The prospector, Dan Morrison, deciding that he didn't want to play by those rules, cut the lock, replaced it with his own, and continued his tours. Morrison and the federal government play this back and forth game until Morrison's death in 1932.

Around that point, the newly formed(1929) Montana State Parks system came into play, as they were then 3 years old but still did not have any park sites. With the help of the Civilian Conservation Corp, the rickety spiral staircase and wooden steps(wood in a moist cave does not exactly equal a good pairing) were removed and replaced by asphalt, some areas widened for better access, such as the entrance, and a new section of the cavern was discovered and opened to the public. After the discovery of this new section, an exit tunnel was also created so that visitors no longer had to retrace their steps back to the top of the cavern to get out.





Stalactites on the cavern wall


There are several areas to the cave, both large and small, and you actually spiral down throughout the cavern as you decend with each of the large rooms 100-200 feet below each other. They have intriguing names such as the Cathedral room(named for it's shape), the Sample room(named because of the large quantities of "samples" that Dan Morrison encouraged his guests to break off and take home with them to show their friends) and the Poison room(named for the eerie, venomous colors).

Crystal Pool(it's back there, I promise!)



One mile above sea level



Another neat concept we learned about was the way the cave can change your perception. In the Poison room, our guide pointed out a tall, narrow feature that appeared to be about 20-25 feet away and maybe 2 feet tall, which was actually 62 feet away from us and 6 feet tall....I am still baffled that the little white "stick" she pointed out was actually almost a full foot taller than me! The other was the idea, so kindly labeled for us on the stairs, of being at the one mile above sea level point while underground. That's a fun way to mess with one's mind a little bit!



One of the great illusionary examples

  

Poison Room - 6 foot tall feature is the small white line in the upper left



Weekend Wanderings

A few weeks ago I discovered an iPhone app called Trover that kind of reminds me a "photo" Twitter. You sign in, post photos of your "discoveries"(anything cool or interesting that you'd like to share) and it posts in a running feed. You map and name the location, as well as provide a brief description of why the discovery is "cool", for each photo, which allows other users to see where you took the photo and what it is. This also allows you to seach Discoveries by what is nearby - either nearby to you, or to another discovery you found interesting. This little app has led me to a new goal of the summer(since I have failed miserably at many of my 2011 goals and challenges so far, lol!). Enter, the Weekend Wanderings of Summer 2011.

I have lived in this area off and on since 2002, and thought that I knew it pretty well and had done a good many things. Definitely not the case, as Trover has taught me in the past few weeks! So far, I have discovered enough new places to see and things to do that, combined with my other already set plans this summer, may definitely be enough to leave not a free weekend to be found!

These first photos are the beginnng of the Weekend Wanderings, though not to new places....



Grand Tetons behind (still frozen) Jackson Lake - Grand Teton National Park May 2011

The bottom of Colter Pass as a storm rolls in - Chief Joseph Highway, Wyoming - May 2011



Buffalo Bill's Historic Irma Hotel - Cody, Wyoming - May 2011



Pioneer School near the Wyoming-Montana border on Hwy 120 - This was a new discovery that I just saw a small sign for on the side of the highway! May 2011

The first of the new explorations, less than 2 hours from my house along a very scenic drive!
Natural Bridge Falls - Gallatin National Forest, Montana - June 2011

The weekend wandering to Natural Bridge falls also included the fun of a borrowed pup(a friend was out of town so pupsitting was also involved!) as wel as a fabulous dinner at the Grand Hotel in Big Timber, MT - was expecting to grab so bar grub on the way home and ended up with an AMAZING meal!!

Next weekend, Lewis and Clark Caverns :)

Oi.

Seasonal life strikes again :( As I said in my last post, things have been a little crazy, though not blog appropriate subjects(I'm sorry!)

These times are never fun, but they are usually survived via the support and companionship of friends and significant others. Unless, of course, you live and work in a place where almost all of your friends are seasonal employees. Seasonal means anywhere from 1-8 weeks of built in vacation between each season. Paid. Well, somewhat(thank you State of WY fun-employment fund!). While it can have it's negative moments(occasional boredom, lack of funds) it is typically a great benefit to seasonal jobs. And one that I do miss...a lot sometimes! But what I miss more is my friends.

Of my best friends(well, local best friends...the #1 is I. CO), one is in the valley, one is in Bozeman, and one is in Oregon. While the valley isn't honestly far away...I'm talking basically the 50 mile stretch North of Gardiner, it's still an 80 mile round trip to see my dear Laney. Lisa, in Bozeman and just home from a winter in AZ, is a 150 mile round trip. With today's gas prices(a whole other animal to be discussed....) it's a tough deal compared to having them within a mile of home.

So what does a girl with he blues do when blues? Go to the Blue Goose and have a shot, of course :) I think tonight may call for a good old Saturday night filled with irresponsibility and mini-Irish car bombs...bottoms up!

Sent from my iPhone while driving, applying make up, changing the radio and drinking a cup of coffee...have a great day!

For 'Tis Life - Shiny Happy Photos

As happens in life, just by nature of it being the unpredictable, uncontrollable, baffling roller coaster that it is, I've been feeling a little funky lately. For the entirely self serving purpose of having to look at them and hopefully brighten my world for a fleeting moment, it's about time to impart some happy-thought inspiring photos out to the rest of the world....

March 2011 - Funny, I know. But my car's back door hasn't opened in over a year, and I fixed it myself the other day....quite a happy moment!

May 2007 - My best friend's dog, Arthur, making himself comfy in the back of my car during his very first Yellowstone visit. Other than a brief stop to try and lick some sticky gunk off the Gardiner bridge, he was very well behaved for a puppy on a road trip!

Winter 2010/11 - Photo courtesy of Beth Pratt - Mama Bison and a late-born baby(aka lil red dog...we don't usually see lil guys this red when the snow is around!)

September 2002 - Iris and Colonnade Falls in the Bechler region of the Yellowstone backcountry. My first backpacking trip, almost 10 years ago.

December 2010 - My best friend in world, Jayne Rockford Pond, with her husband Alex and their one year old daughter Reesa. Family ski day in Steamboat Springs! I miss that girl an awful lot....

July 2010 - One of my nearest and dearest, Laney, fishing on Yellowstone Lake on her wedding day

May 2007 - Me on the widow's walk of the Old Faithful Inn...one of my favorite places in the world

May 2004 - My mom and me at an overlook for the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Mom's first trip to Yellowstone, back when I was 21 years old.

November 2008 - My little brother and me(yes, I'm happier than I look....Dad has such great timing for catching terrible faces with the camera!). This was my brother's first visit to Colorado, and the first time I'd seen him in almost 5 years. 

November 2010 - The epic snowstorm that hit Gardiner, MT. This is only a happy picture because it looks pretty, and I got to drive away and leave on vacation about 2 hours later.

November 2010 - Balanced Rock in Arches National Park. Not only is this just cool to look at, but Arches is also one of my favorite National Parks. I also get warm fuzzies because Edward Abbey's trailer house was near here during the time he wrote of in Desert Solitaire, one of my all time favorite books

November 2010 - The wonderful man I love, playing in slot canyons in Arches National Park

October 2008 - My Dad and me on the Fish Creek Falls bridge, Steamboat Springs, Colorado

May 2007 - Arthur and me at the South Entrance to Yellowstone. I have a thing for signs when I visit places, and this is by far my favorite and most photographed....I have no idea why :o)

Summer 2010 - Me, Laney and Tyrene, another of my nearest and dearest. I have known Ty almost my entire duration of time in Yellowstone, and she is a wonderful, kindred, native Oregonian, Portlandian and Oregon Ducks football fan to have around. Plus, she's the reason I even know Laney. I love these girls!

A Girl, a Boy, a Windy Day and No Fish!

Just to the bottom right of this is one of my favorite little fishing pockets...just have to get there!

Most of last week and this weekend, we were graced with sunny skies and temps in the 40s-low 50s(or cursed, considering it's just a tease before the next big, inevitable, snowstorm) and yesterday was the most exciting of all: first day of fishing for 2011. I must add the disclaimer, though, that first day doesn't mean the season started yesterday because you can fish in Montana year-round. I'm just enough of a wimp that I don't go stick my hands in rivers of mountain run off in the winter...my hands get cold enough as is, why on earth would I want to make it worse?

So, after a good sleep-in(daylight savings is wonderful...guilt free sleeping into the late morning because "honey, it's really only 10am...". Gotta love it.) and a bit too much lounging, we decided to head out fishing since it was such a beautiful day. Beautiful does not, however, mean dry. Or clean. Or not windy.

This is Vegas(I'm not one for naming cars, but my friend Sarah is....my car is Vegas because inside is where whatever we say can stay there!). She took us fishing yesterday.

Vegas got to play in the mud....

Section of the Old Yellowstone Trail, looking North

Terrible picture, I know(dirty-rotten-no good-good for nothing Blackberry....) but I imagine you get the idea. Lots and lots of mud. Yellowstone is still closed for fishing until Memorial Day weekend, so our adventure took us up a long, windy and sometimes treacherous road called Old Yellowstone Trail, which runs between Gardiner and Paradise Valley for about 20 or so miles, following the old stagecoach route into Gardiner. It's one of my favorite places to go fishing because of it's relative solitude(you can still see/hear the highway most of the time, but your across the river so it has a semblance of peace and quiet) and it's convenient access to home. Not the mention the incredibly fun puddles and mud bogs you can drive a 4WD through this time of year.

It also has a lot of very interesting history to be seen all along the route. There are several areas where you can distinctly see where the stage road went a slightly different course than the current road, a very fun area of hoodoos to explore, and even old "signs" from the stage days(they used flat rocks and paint to make the original roadside "billboards").

Part of the old "Yankee Jim" Stagecoach Toll Road....no, you don't have to drive on this anymore!

That said, it is also a pretty crummy place to be when it's muddy AND windy. Which it was. Which it OFTEN is. Because we may have a shortage of some things around here...fast internet, movie theaters, summer. But wind is definitely not one of them. I started out the day a bit behind, as I forgot to check my leader on my fly rod until we were there, and discovered way too late that I had about 8 inches of it left. Oops! Bryan on the other hand, was plenty stocked up with everything....including the knot after knot that ended up in his leader from the wind deciding it did not want to listen to wear he was telling it to send his line.


All in all, we caught about 4 sticks, a few snowbanks, slide down the muddy canyon hillside and fell in the river(well, that was just me....but it makes me feel much better to say we!), saw a group of bighorn sheep, including a beautifully full curled ram, and caught zero fish. Guess I have some catching up to do next weekend. Happy Spring in Montana!

The "Where to Live Dilemma"

Unfortunately I'm not talking about the fun and exciting "where to go?!" sort of dilemma. Rather, the one we face around is more like "Ok I'm here. Now where do I sleep?".

Having an economy based primarily(if not almost entirely....) on tourism, Gardiner has fallen into the same rut as other like places of seeing our housing options dwindle at an alarming rate. Just like everywhere else this has occurred, the 2 common culprits are increased demand and demand's(sometimes) evil counterpart, increase in price since the supply hasn't kept up. While of course there are always more intricacies involved in these matters than we see up front, I see a few big culprits. A few different categories, but similar result nonetheless:

1. There are fewer and fewer "old timers" - retired and/or elderly residents who have either lived here their entire lives, or at least a significant chunk of it. This population has decreased(2000 census notes 7.4% of our population as over 65, compared to the national average of over 12%) by their passing, moving in with their children or other family members, moving to assisted living, etc. When they do so, their homes and property often go to their children, who very often do not live here, nor do they want to. So, they decide to sell or rent.  If they opt to rent, they will inevitably learn about and consider the large sum of money to be had by not renting for a measly $500-$1000 a month when they can get that in a week from tourists. End Result: Vacation Rental
2.  If their option is to sell and their house is pretty much anything worth living in, it will more than likely be priced out of reach of many, many local residents(our median household income data was about $31,000 compared to the national average of just under $42,000 in 1999). End Result: Vacation/2nd Home
3. It's a small town, and as with many small towns, kids finish school and get the heck outta dodge. See #1. End Result: Parents house eventually becomes Vacation Rental or Vacation/2nd Home.

Granted, there are many more factors that come into play, but much of it is means to the same end. Areas like this are based on tourism because there is something that draws people here(proven by the fact that most of us are not from here!). With overall populations increasing**, that often means more people coming, which means a larger need for places for them to stay. No argument from me there(I wouldn't have a job without them!). But, the job doesn't do me much good if I don't have anywhere to live. Ironically, a good portion of my reason for moving back here was I was just plain sick and tired of needing 2 jobs just to get by in Steamboat Springs. **Note: Everywhere but here that is...my vacation rental takeover argument is firmly based in the fact that the residential population of our census block actually decreased from 1990-2000, with little change projected for 2010(per U.S. Census Bureau)

This growth phenomenon in towns like this can have some great benefits. An out of town investor has purchased 3 run-down local bars/restaurants in the last 2 years and done some wonderful things to renovate  and rejuvenate them. The out of town children of another property owner partnered with their dad to build a wonderful roof top patio bar that is great new place to hang out in the sun with a cold drink and amazing view. Another out of town couple tore out a long-vacant gas station and put in a little BBQ joint(with wonderful hash brown casserole at breakfast, I'm told!). These are great improvements, but they come with a price - the investor who purchased and renovated the 3 bars/restaurants also just purchased his 3rd house in the area, just before the sellers were about to rent it to a local family(with a clause to honor their lease if the house should sell). I have also seen friends need to leave their jobs because their landlords chose not the renew their lease to turn their property into a weekly rental. I have seen friends purchase mobile homes and trailers(often all one can afford to start off with), only to have the land they pay lot rent for sold off and built on. Most recently, an 8-unit apartment building was sold,and plans made known immediately via 30-day eviction notices that the building will be torn down. This last event leaves 8 individuals and families all looking for somewhere to live at the same time, a time which conveniently lines up with the spring influx of summer seasonal works also looking for a place to live. I by no means intend for this to be a slam to these investors/purchasers, as it's a great area to invest in and it's not for me to judge what people do with their resources(because I might do exactly the same thing if I had them!). It is, however, always sad to see another of the already limited residential properties go by the wayside, adding another tic to the growing number of vacation properties.

This is the point where I should not break the big rule of "No Bitch with No Fix"(or at least suggestion of fix!), but this one truly puts me at a loss....we are too small for a legitimate affordable housing program, we are too dependent upon the tourist industry to not provide for their demand, and the cost to purchase is quickly out-pacing income. Oh magic 8-ball, what do thee say?

A Small Old Building Full of People Eating Chili

"To all chili contestants you have a little over one week to come up with a chili recipe that
will beat mine! Lots of luck!! Then when it’s all over you’ll know not to mess with the best".—MAX

"To all you Chili Contest Contestants, there will be a second place prize. The prize will be the privilege of having the taste of my 1st place Chili! If you think I have an ego...YOUR RIGHT! Just try taking this award away from me. Bring it on!!!" - MAX

"For all you wanna be cooks I will not give up my best Chili Title to no one! I would like
to personally challenge– Kelly McAdams, Coby Dawson, Phil Currie, Donald Knight, Maria
Beers, Wade Laubach, Bob Evanoff and anyone else who is up for the CHALLENGE" - MAX

As you can probably tell, MAX is the defending champion of the annual Gardiner Chili Cook-Off. These are just a sampling of the recent notices he's posted in the closest thing we have to a newspaper, the weekly Gardiner Newsletter (which we all look forward to and snatch up every Wednesday morning, even though it usually says pretty close to the same thing each week...). And yes, he does make some pretty darn good chili.

Well, after all the much talked about hype (yes, we actually talk about this...just today in the office, Renae and I actually discussed Max's challenges....), tomorrow is the big day. Round about 5:30pm, the festivities will begin at the Gardiner Community Center. The CC is the historic Eagles Hall, and is the only real option for community gatherings(besides the school gym!) when the weather is still finicky and being outside would be a guarantee of snow, rain, slush, mud, or all of the above. While having a good bit of historic charm and very conveniently located on Main Street, it does lack a few important things: space, modern ventilation, air circulation, and well, space. This can make things quite interesting when you line the walls with countless varieties of chili, a bar full of beer, and some bluegrass trying to make it's way from the stage to the dancefloor(oh, another. It doesn't just lack good acoustics, I'm pretty sure it lacks them altogether!).

Now don't get me wrong, I love our Community Center. I have yogied there, danced there, sang there, learned there, eating a countless variety of food there, and consumed entirely too much alcohol there. It's a great place. I just don't plan on spending too much time there once the chili, beer, music and Montana mountain men mincing words gets up a little momentum.

I'll let you know if I make it out unscathed