Snow is falling fast and furious – big globs that now total a good inch on roofs and sidewalks. It’s the third and final day of precipitation from this low pressure system, and the cold has finally arrived. Forecast calls for 30 degrees tonight, then warming up tomorrow and most likely melting the snow.
I’m home and drying my gear. Photo essay should be up tomorrow or Tuesday. Ryan is back as well and feeling healthy. We should see our first snowflakes of the season tomorrow. All is well in Pinedale.
8:30 am Thursday. Just leaving for my Teton hike. So far weather looks great today and Friday, with rain/snow above 9000 ft. likely Saturday into Sunday. Will post a quick update Sunday night to let y’all know I am home.
Lynx project finished as of 1 pm today! Took Nick out on foot, hiked up a steep hill, and whipped through the final 48 points. Beautiful country with the aspens turning yellow and orange, though the area is now swarming with deer and elk hunters. Spent the afternoon searching for water wells, then had a good piece of homegrown beef for dinner courtesy of Kate who used her “sick day” to move in next door. She is doing well except for a stiff and swollen elbow that keeps her arm in a sling for much of the time.
Just heard from my friend Jenna in Salt Lake City – may give me an excuse to drive down that direction for one of the upcoming weekends. Second weekend in October perhaps.
Weather looks good for the first two days of my Teton hike. May have some rain/snow Saturday night into Sunday, but I will be headed downhill by that time so it shouldn’t be a problem. One more 10-hour day ahead – then four days of freedom.
If you have Google Earth, take a look at:
Fremont Peak (43º07’28″N, 109º37’04″W)
Cirque of the Towers (42º46’40″N, 109º13’W)
Grand Teton (43º44′ 26″N, 110º48’09″W)
The exact spot Kate flipped the ATV (42º45’22″N, 110º27’41″W)
The lynx project is stuck – at point number 666. I’m not one to be superstitious, but after we got the truck jumped last Thursday and were thwarted from our goal today, I’m willing to concede that there may be some devilry at work.
After I slept through my alarm and arrived at work at 7:30, I found Kate had already gassed up the ATVs and was ready to head out. We unloaded the ATVs and strapped on our gear, then started down the steep hill to the creek. Kate, with more ATV experience, took the lead, and I followed behind – far enough that we wouldn’t collide should one of us flip. As I was about 1/3 of the way down and Kate was 2/3, I watched her turn sideways, hit a rut, and roll – the machine rolled over on top of her, rolled another 4-5 times, then landed on all 4 wheels and rolled to the bottom of the hill. My first instinct was to jump off and run to help, but I soon realized the parking brake would not hold my machine on the hill. Kate got up quickly, relatively unhurt, and I managed to roll my machine to a sideways position on the hill so it wouldn’t roll. With Kate’s help, I got my machine turned around and gassed it back to the top, and we called Rusty once again for help getting the machine out. We knew Kate’s machine didn’t have functional rear brakes, and she insists that the brakes weren’t a problem, but knowing her extensive riding experience and the fact that many ATVs had been negotiating the same hill in the past days, I have to assume that brake issues had some role in the rollover.
We waited a little over an hour, and I told stories from Ecuador to pass the time. Then a truck arrived with not only Rusty but also Kathy Gunderman (the boss) and Dave Crowley (the safety coordinator). Kathy insisted on taking Kate to the hospital, and Dave, Rusty, and I contemplated the task of extracting a mostly-wrecked ATV from a creek bed. This task proved not too difficult, as the three of us rolled the machine up onto the bank and then down ramps into the truck that we parked in the creek. After that, we rolled the machine back onto the trailer, and I drove us back to the office. We spent another hour swapping ATVs on the two trailers to get the two remaining functional machines together in case someone wants to use them. By this time it was 1 pm – a very fast six hours.
Not wanting to waste the afternoon entirely, I talked to Steve Laster (head range man) about birdramps, and he sent me down to the lumberyard to get quotes on materials to construct them. That completed, I went out to look for a few wells south of town. I missed the first one to the south, and while I was following a little-used two-track road back north, I spotted a medium sized bird standing on a mound of earth in the middle of the road – an owl! An owl at a burrow – a Burrowing Owl – the first I have ever seen. I got out to take its picture (check out the photo of the day for a blurry, cropped-down version – too bad I didn’t have the long lens along), snapped a few shots, recorded the location on my GPS, then drove through the sagebrush around the burrow to continue looking for my wells. I ultimately only found two tanks (one required a long walk), then got back to the office just before 6 pm. I called Kate, who reported that she had a small chip in a bone in her elbow and would have her arm in a sling for the next week.
Got a package from Ed today with some tasty wild grape leather – perhaps record time for a package arriving here from MN. Then put together a package for Heather, played some basketball and volleyball with Nick at open gym, ate a bit of pizza, and sat down to update the blog.
Haven’t written in recent days due to general lack of excitement. Stayed home this weekend to catch up on finances, do laundry, take a practice biology GRE, and bake ginger cookies. Also made some rather tasty sweet potato burritos for dinner Saturday night, went for a night walk around town, and paid a visit to the local bars to give Nick the experience.
With Kate staying home, I will take Nick out (on foot this time) to finish the lynx project tomorrow. Hopefully number 666 won’t find a way to strike again…
Lynx project has been cruising along, with plenty of poor habitat that we can zip through. Finished 44, 62, 79, and 67 points in the last four days, leaving 48 for tomorrow. We are now in an area with no maintained roads – most with down trees across them. Yesterday we tried to drive in from the west over an officially closed Forest Service road. We soon learned why it was closed – a nearly 40-degree slope near the top with uneven rocks. Kate tried it in 4-low and had all wheels spinning. We managed to back down to a level spot to turn around. Today I was driving and we tried to come in from the south, down an extremely steep hill down to a creek. Near the bottom there is a tight curve followed by a narrow stretch where the rear wheels slide sideways. I made it, but unfortunately forgot to turn the lights off, so when we got back to the truck at around 3 pm the battery was dead. We called Rusty and Lisa out to give us a jump – they seemed to enjoy the excuse to get out of the office and drive on some exciting roads. Rusty drove both trucks back up the hill, as Kate and I didn’t want to look stupid getting a government truck stuck or stalled with the bosses watching. Tomorrow we will make use of our ATV training and use the ATVs to get into the area from the south. Only 48 points left, so we should be able to finish. A good way to finish out a 50-hour week.
Just called Ryan – he had surgery yesterday, is recovering well, and expects to be back here on the 23rd.
Beautiful weather is still holding, but a chance of rain returns tomorrow.
Kate and I broke our previous record of 49, finishing 62 lynx points today. Now 196 left – another 4 days or so. Today’s transects covered steep north slopes that have never been logged, covered with giant Englemann Spruce (along the streams) and Douglas Fir (higher up). These trees, probably about 200 years old, are 3-5 ft in diameter and probably 100-160 ft tall – the tallest trees I have seen so far. I hope these old giants are not logged out as part of the timber project next year. There are spirits in those trees…
Beautiful weather – freezing in the morning warming quickly to near 70.
Just returned from an overnight hike to the Cirque of the Towers, one of the unknown wonders of the world. Check out the new photo essay.
Got up at 4:30 am yesterday morning to take Ryan to the Jackson airport. Drove a few miles beyond the airport to watch the first touch of sun on the Tetons. Photos here. Stopped at the organic food shop for some hiking food, then back to Pinedale to pack and head out up the trail.
First hard frosts here tonight and tomorrow night, but weather looks great with sunny skies and highs around 70 all week. Plan is to put in five 10-hour days on lynx work.
Spent the last two days learning how to safely ride an ATV in a BLM training course. Turns, swerves, sudden stops, heavy loads, turns on hills, loading/unloading trailers, stream crossings, and all other possible scenarios were covered in a mix of lecture and riding experience. Not sure I will need the training, but it may come in useful someday.
I am reading scientific papers on cerulean warblers and realizing that this species is relatively unstudied. So I will continue reading to see if I could turn a cerulean idea into a Ph.D. project.
After several months of increasing abdominal pain and bulging, Ryan finally went to the local clinic and learned that he has an inguinal hernia in need of immediate surgery. So I am driving him to Jackson Hole at 5 am tomorrow morning for a flight back to Indiana, where he plans to stay for two weeks following the surgery before returning to work here.
If I am still awake after that trip, I plan to hike about 9-10 miles over Jackass Pass to the Cirque of the Towers, one of the more beautiful locations in the Wind River Mountains, where I will spend the night and return on Sunday. Look for an update and photo essay Sunday or Monday evening.
First hard frost predicted for Sunday night – 29 degrees. Aspens are beginning to turn yellow. Fall is coming…
