Journey to the East - Part Two

After leaving Yellowstone, while on Greyhound, I kept subconsciously searching for some great funnels of geothermal steam climbing out through the trees or perhaps a Bison out for a stroll on the roadside. It was odd to suddenly leave the place I had been living for 3 months (in such a unique place too) and I became so used to all the spectacles.

After Rochester I went straight across, by train this time, to Poughkeepsie, NY to visit my old friend from Ferry Beach (A Unitarian Universalist conference centre – sort of) who goes to Vassar College. I spent over a week here and it was a very pleasant place, the campus was pretty with lots of greenery and old buildings. A very alternative school with lots of interesting and diverse people. I didn’t get to spend tons of time with my friend because of busyness with schoolwork, etc.

Next it was to New York City to meet up with Team Malaysia, a big group of friends from Malaysia who I met in Yellowstone. They had travelled for a month all around the U.S in their huge American beast of a car and their final stop before going home to Malaysia was NYC. I decided to meet them there because I knew I would be near the city at the time, I booked the same hostel as them and we all got a New York Pass which gets you into pretty much any tourist activity for the price of the card. We surely got our money’s worth because each day, for 3 days, we rose and started by 8.00 and went non-stop until 12.00 at night. It is somewhat mind blowing the amount of activities we managed to fit in, this meant that most things were pretty rushed but my friends did not expect to come back to the city again. The activities included: The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Bodies museum, Natural History Museum, The Met, Chicago the musical, the top of the Empire State Building, Central Park Zoo, the top of the Rock building, Madam Tussauds, boat trip around Manhattan, tour of Ground Zero, bike rental around Central Park, and even more that I do not remember.

I was slightly worried about the hostel my friends had booked because it had gotten pretty terrible reviews on the internet but was cheap and in a great location. However, when I got there it was actually quite nice and clean; I also managed to get a room all to myself probably because of the time of year. I got to the hostel after my friends did, was given my room key and opened the door to the surprise that my room was fully occupied by two of my Malaysian friends. It turned out they had switched around their rooms but the different front desk workers had not exchanged the information, so a conversation of mass confusion and terrible communication ensued with one of the not so friendly staff, but it was eventually sorted out.

The things I enjoyed most were the Bodies Museum and biking around Central Park. The Bodies museum was in some ways gruesome but greatly filled the desire for curiosity. It was a space filled with cadavers all preserved and cut up in mysterious ways, each string of raw red muscle revealed, insides exposed and bold open spheres for eyes broken from their lids as if each one had a face of immense shock at your presence. Each one revealed something different, lit up in contrast against the black rooms, some were halved down the middle, bent in curious shapes as if playing sports, gripping to one another or sliced all through into pieces that I swore looked no different than your regular American steak (I think this put my friend off steak for a while when I mentioned it). I explored these bodies all around with intrigue; I can now say I have looked up the hairy nose of a dead man! Central Park biking was a very fun outing, although a scary one too. We had the bikes for 3 hours on the New York Pass so headed straight for the park and road around the winding streets inside – all 9 of us were going along with cars, horse carts, roller skaters, runners and walkers, it was a fairly busy road for being inside a park. Our wheels spun past the autumn leaves and grey boulders and under the towering buildings that peeked through the branches. Since my friends had travelled for a month and had gone all around the U.S they had assigned one person to lead and organise the activities in each place. The leader this time unfortunately didn’t ascribe enough time for us to get back to the bike shop and he took us on the main road parallel to Central Park to get back. This turned out to be a big mistake because it not only took us around 5 times longer to get back than through the park but because it felt we were fighting for our lives with the traffic. Riding on NYC roads with no bike lanes is probably one of the scariest things I have done, but also the most thrilling, it was like an extreme assault course. At times I really thought one of us 9 would be knocked down but we all got back safely in the end, although not on time.

I had said goodbye to my friends the night before I was leaving, they had a flight at some terrible dark hour, and the next day I caught the bus to New Hampshire to stay with Nanny and Skip before meeting Mum, Dad and Emma for Thanksgiving.

Yellowstone Pictures

Here is a small selection of the many photographs I took in Yellowstone. There are more on my flickr page which includes the ones from the rest of my year -http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliverseary/

I also have added the Subscribe feature to the blog (on the right column) which you can set to send you an email whenever I put up a new post.

Journey to the East - Part One

I have about 6 weeks of catching up to do on this blog, I am writing this on my 3 day train journey (yes 3!) all the way from the East coast to West coast in Olympia, Washington. Since I have so much to cover I will try to keep it short or shorter than normal.

So as soon as I left Yellowstone I was headed straight for Minnesota to meet my friends Johanna and Jordan, who I had known from the first few weeks of Yellowstone, in Morris where Johanna goes to college. Jordan actually lives 6 hours away, working at an ethanol plant on crazy 12 hour night shifts while completing college through an internet system. However, he had not seen Johanna in a while and when he heard I was coming, decided to drive the long journey for the weekend.

I was driven to Bozeman by my manager, who was taking the assistant manager for a day out on her birthday - I thought I would miss my Greyhound if I got on the slower Xanterra bus. The ride was somewhat uneventful due to the darkening hours. Although, it was a very different social scene than what I was used to, a diverse crowd but with few kids and one guy with a tattooed teardrop (apparently the gang enforced symbol to show you have taken a life). That is until I transferred at Billings and hung out with a group of 3 young Minnesotans the whole ride, my ear for different American accents seemed to kick in when I heard one of them pronounce their state as “Minessooodaa”. Fairly soon in we had to stop and transfer buses in a town where a luminescent Christian cross hovered over us on a black hill. The door kept opening on the motorway, apparently due to there being no air pressure. This also meant that when changing buses we could not get our bags from the bus and were told by our new hostile driver we would receive them 12 hours later at our destination. I had to go on borrowing my friend’s clothes for the whole stay; luckily she’s very tall as I could only pick up my bag when I got the bus to leave.

My long term memory is slightly scrambled, which is rare for me, but I’ll try my best. First off we briefly visited a state park where apparently the Vikings had come before the colonialists and left a carving in a stone. This detailed how there had been a fight and they had been slaughtered except for the guy who ran off and carved the stone – sounds a little dubious to me, many people think it’s a fake. I’m not sure why the Vikings would leave their only trace in the centre of America either. We mostly hung out but did things like rock climbing on the university facilities, rode bikes up to the universities farm and single power generating windmill (it’s a very rural place), chilled out with her friends, watched some films, explored a barn, drank Johanna’s homemade hard cider and to top it all off made an excellent 3 course vegan meal, the syrupy pecan pie was a favourite. I hadn’t been able to cook and hadn’t come across a decent tasting meal in 3 months at this point, so everything tasted heavenly and the joy of cooking sprung forth.

My next stop was Chicago, a city to be explored alone, something I had never done before. While there I had visited the Art Institute, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Navy Pier and had mostly hung out in Chicago’s Cultural Centre. Chicago was to me a city smaller and with more charm than New York, less daunting and overwhelming. I stayed in Greektown in a hostel above a big Greek restaurant called the Parthenon. It took me lots of trouble finding this place, even though it was right near the Greyhound station, I went I am sure up almost every wrong street in all ways before I found the correct one, with 80 or so pounds of luggage in tow. When I did find the correct one I passed it many times, there was no sign for the hostel just the restaurant. Eventually a guy working there saw me with my luggage walking around and whistled me over to the hostel; not a friendly man but he got me in nonetheless. The hostel was very clean and good facilities including free breakfast, unfortunately there was one frustrating guy in the room who had been there a week and insisted on talking to new hostel mates loudly at 2am. He would talk about how much of a genius he was and his famous friends; apparently he knew the Walgreens pharmacy owner and the builder of the Sears tower and someone or other.

Before coming here I hadn’t really the slightest of plans. I had spent a lot of time planning my travels to the east and where I would stop off but not exactly what I would do in these places, I was following a plan and I didn’t think much about what was happening next. So I did a lot of wandering and exploring, I am sure I walked more miles here than in any one day in Yellowstone, my feet scorched at the end of the day. I’ll tell some notable little things –

· The over ground railway skated above the streets and when beneath it a great bellow and roar ensued of grinding steel wheels on hard tracks and took over all the senses.

· It is called ‘The Windy City’ for a reason, in the fall of autumn’s leaves I was often caught up in miniature leaf storms, struck and slapped by natures hand all over.

· The Art Institute is a delight, especially on free night, it was a museum of grand scale and so I visited barely the nooks and crannies, but I stood in awe of this art – a lot of very famous pictures too.

· The time when a ‘homeless’ man scammed me. He came up joking about me scanning over a map of America ‘You lost?’ he said, or something like that. ‘No’ I said, I thought he just wanted a friend at that naive moment, so joked along. He moved on to beg for money for a burger, just a few bucks. So I got out my wallet and found the lowest a 10, he offered me change so I handed it over and he took a few dollars out and handed me 1. ‘I’m homeless, I’m homeless. C’mon man.’ ‘Fine, take it’ I said not wanting to bother with his tricks. I turned with a scarlet face and found him attempting to apply the same trick to almost everyone in the park. I felt guilty because for sure he was now saving up for drugs or something. The next day a man asked me for money hawking me on the street, ‘no sorry’ my instant reaction was. I turned a few seconds later and saw a red, white and blue arrowed jacket. I had recognised it and then I realised seconds later when I placed it, it was the one hanging on the homeless man the day before. He was the same guy who had scammed me previously.

· On the way to Good Will (thrift store) I passed Oprah Winfrey’s studio, abundantly dressed with CCTV cameras and Oprah’s face. I looked at getting free tickets but read it was extremely hard; people were practically spilling their guts out over the internet to beg for them, but that would have been a truly American experience.

Next it was Greyhound again to Rochester, NY to visit Mary from Yellowstone, in the same friend group as Johanna and Jordan. I made a Canadian friend on the ride; we talked for hours in mid-night until a passenger sharply shushed us from behind – an awkward happening. They informed me that Rochester was actually the number one hotspot for homicides in the U.S, what a splendid statistic it was to learn; thankfully I was out in the country about 40 minutes away. I was to spend my first real Halloween here and go on my first American trick or treating expedition. I dressed up as a zombie soldier, face paints and all wearing her green winter coat, while she wore my big denim jacket and dressed as an 80’s punk rocker with her mum’s big 80’s glasses. We went to a State park near her house; it was a long winding canyon with three big waterfalls and a train bridge above. It reminded me of Yellowstone although with more trees. She had to go to college for most of the time so I hung out in the library a lot and got some business sorted.

Last post of Yellowstone

Over the whole stretch of summer I had many experiences of interest with animals. The scariest and most notable being a close-up meeting with a Grizzly bear after I took a lone hike to the Upper Falls of Canyon. I was walking back on the road to Canyon at sunset and joined a trail leading to the cabins where I recognised two friends from afar and called out to them. I joined them and we continued into the woods, talking loudly as a pack. With no prior warning a Grizzly with a mountainous humped back and striking stature sprinted across and cut the trail just yards ahead. We all did the opposite actions of official advice, turning and walking away very fast, you are supposed to be slow and walk backwards but our hearts pounded in a profuse spur, leaving no room for rationality. It disappeared over the hilly bumps or behind the cabins, we were not sure but we walked cautiously and loudly home. I think it was more frightful of us than us of it, I am just thankful I found friends to be loud with at the right time, or who knows I could have been a bears meal! This was the closest I got to a Grizzly, and definitely the closest I ever want to get.

During the time I worked in Canyon’s P area cabins most of us kept a constant watchful eye, you never knew when a squirrel or raven would smoothly make its way down to our carts and unleash terror in great disarray on our garbage bags and linen. A sharp clap would usually draw the ravens away but the squirrels were fearless, I never knew them as such cheeky creatures before. I often found myself chasing a squirrel around my cart in circles as it jumped sneakily from tyre to tyre. I eventually got a talent for spotting them in trees; they would sit on long branches staring with conniving eyes in waiting for my disappearance to a room. Fortunately I did not have to worry about this working at the Old Faithful Inn.

Finally, the smallest creature I had an encounter with was a mouse that managed to make its way into my room. As I swung open the door and switched the light I noticed little pink feet dashing along the carpet from corner to wardrobe or under a pile of random junk from my roommate. It paced so quickly that it seemed nothing but a ball of travelling brown hair. I propped the door in hopes it would want to make its own way out – the mouse did not go for this. I noticed it had been hiding under the dresser a while so reached for my torch and found in the flash of light its legs stretched to climb and it disappeared up the back. It was untraceable after this, I had moved everything except a jacket and some shoes next to the dresser so began to wearily remove the items until only my single hiking boot was left. I plucked it up by the heel and peeked into the dim foot hole where I found the mouse curled up tight and staring with black orbed eyes into mine, it had made a new home. I ran outside, through the porch filled with smokers, and placed the boot to the ground waiting for the mouse to leave. It must have just been too comfy in there (I understand, they are nice to hike in) so someone came over and did the cruel act of kicking the boot after I informed them of the situation. At which it darted to a little patch of grass in terror. I felt bad later because it had snowed overnight...

My pay cheques for the whole season have been quite poor looking for the amount of work I did. Although, I spent very little, for there was only things to use it on if you really tried. On my pay cheques I noticed something amusing. Printed on the bottom, below all the various numbers, is a small funny comment that differs each time. They always made me laugh for they are irrelevant to anything. Some examples are:

· ‘Don’t mow the grass when the ground is wet’

· ‘One safe act can lead to another’

· ‘Helmets save lives

I had no clue what these were supposed to be for or who even has the job of thinking these up, but they added some entertainment to the sad looking numbers on the pay cheque.

I also heard many funny guest or ‘touron’ comments on comment cards or spoken out to friends of mine, here’s some good examples –

· ‘I was just wondering where do they put all the animals at night?’

· ‘This is such a nice place but it would be much better if you got rid of all the trees’

· ‘The service here was both inadequate and appalling, I was given only two packets of coffee creamer in my room!’

· ‘Do they turn Old Faithful off at night?’

· ‘At what time of year do the deer turn into elk?’

One thing I forgot to mention in my last update was the Old Faithful Inn sleepover, on the night before our final work day we all got to sleep in a room of our choice in the inn. People were picking the most interesting rooms first, ones that were apparently haunted or Robert Reimer’s office (the architect of the inn). One girl stayed in the room where a man had decided to murder his wife by decapitating her over the bathtub, then holding the head he ran up the crow’s nest (a jungle of stairs leading to the top o the inn) and got to the high roof outside and thrust it to the sky. I simply picked out a random one on the night which had a faint view of Old Faithful geyser and sunrise through the branches. Some friends and I set up games prior, like chemical bottle bowling and bison toss, a game of throwing a soft toy at a target from the balconies. The name made me chuckle; there is a double meaning to the word in England. At the end we watched The Shining, a perfectly timed film because it is set in a hotel that had just been closed down for the winter which is just what we had done to the inn. It was actually supposed to be filmed in Yellowstone at the Lake hotel but the park service would not allow them to do so, it would have been perfect. The lights were all switched off at the end; slightly creepy walking the narrow wooden halls after watching a horror film.

There have been so many experiences I have surely missed out from this blog, there are too many to remember. I have met so many great people from all over the world; I feel I never have to worry when I travel because I have friends now from almost every imaginable place. I discovered that I love to hike, something I would complain and whine about doing as a child. It was a shame I didn’t get to see more of Yellowstone due to having to work 6 days a week for the majority, I would like to visit again (I plan to stop off in wintertime on my way back West) but I do not think I would want to work for Xanterra again! Overall, it was a fun experience.

Days Off - Old Faithful

So I am gone and Yellowstone is over for the season. I have been travelling, via Greyhound, across America to the east coast, stopping to visit friends and interesting places on the way. I am sorry for my lateness in writing, but have had little free time between working, planning and travelling. I’ll inform you of the happenings towards the end of Yellowstone to begin with.

All of my days off at Old Faithful had been visits to waterfalls or cascades – there are so many of them here. The first, the day after getting to Old Faithful, was one titled Moose Falls, I don’t know how they named this since it didn’t seem like a good habitat for Moose. It was a very short walk from the car and we managed to stay for hours in the high heat, it seemed to never fully become fall or winter in Yellowstone but drifted in summer’s warm ends. I went with my Malaysian friends, who we began to call ‘Team Malaysia’, and Angela; a new American friend from Canyon who I only met on the bus in transfer. We brought along our swimming attire, for me it was to bathe beneath the falls, for others it was to jump into them. The latter did not appeal to me after we tested how deep the water was – enough for small Malaysians but I did not think for a tall western kid. The first to jump, CCY, decided to leave his glasses on for he was scared he would jump in the wrong place without them. As soon as he popped up from the water he shouted, ‘My glasses! My glasses!’, so spent the rest of the time searching for them but without luck. They repeated to drop themselves besides the falls many times, some with hesitation, and I photographed them mid-air. A nice day which ended by going to Grant Village, another Xanterra hotel location, to meet our friends Tien and Ting Ting for dinner. They worked in Housekeeping at Canyon but had to transfer to Grant to close it down before coming to Old Faithful at the end. An annoyance I thankfully managed to avoid through negotiation of my work extension.

The next week no friends had a day off which coincided so I decided to rent out a bike from the Old Faithful Snow Lodge gift shop, another one of the hotels in the huge parking lot area, which stays open for winter. The rental was fairly cheap because of employee discount, so I had the bike for half a day. Because it was a rental I was also forced to wear a helmet, something I never do at home, but if a ranger spots you a fine can be given – although it made me feel safer around the speeding R.V’s with incapable drivers at helm. After investigating some local maps, found in a great book that a guest left behind in their room (one of the perks), I chose to ride on a bike trail leading to Biscuit Basin that passed many geothermal areas on the way. I stopped off at Morning Glory Pool, the colours are supposed to be spectacular but unfortunately people throw coins and miscellaneous objects inside – they drained it out one year and found things like teddy bears, coins and underwear. Also, as the weather gets cooler the colours get more brownish and dulled. Yet it was still quite beautiful to see the unusual rock walls inside. The trail to the basin was bike friendly, of which there are few, and was fairly easy with the big tyres aiding on the rocks. I was slightly nervous about random animals being on the trail since I was alone and could obviously not clap to scare them away. I am sure it would not be fun to ride straight into a grizzly. I kept pondering on the mathematic possibility of being able to ride faster than a bear or bison, I concluded that the adrenaline could give me a chance. I locked my bike up to a rack and wandered around the basin on the boardwalks. I do not generally appreciate the boardwalks for I feel they somewhat falsify the experience; it makes me feel as if I am more on the property of Disneyland than a national park. However, I got to see Sapphire Pool, one mystifying example of a hot spring with its so very very blue waters – the deepest I ever witnessed in any. It used to have knobbly rock formations around the edge, which apparently looked like biscuits, until the powerful earthquake of ’59 caused it to explode and destroy the surroundings. I saw an opening through the bushes which led to a trail, I followed while not having a clue where I was going, looking for adventure. A sign indicated ‘Mystic Falls 0.7 Miles’ and ‘Overlook 0.7 Miles’ so I went in the arrows direction. First finding the overlook, at the top of the steep hill, it opened up the land far and wide around Old Faithful, up to the hills which circled it. Steam rose from all over, sporadic locations that I had not known existed before, and at the same time I saw a geyser erupt from the Upper Basin which the inn overlooks. There was a snaking river below, which I presumed was connected to the falls that I had not yet found. I continued and continued and continued on the trail, never finding anything resembling a waterfall. After hiking for what felt like hours in the heat, and just finding the landscape to be forests with no differentiation from each other, I turned back. I also worried of bears, so clapped anxiously alone. I finally reached a divide in the trail and went down, I turned back and saw there was a sign which I had clearly missed on the way, it indicated that I had been walking on the 9.2 mile Fairy Creek trail, I am glad I turned around! I found the falls eventually, after that lengthy blunder, watched and ate some sandwiches. I had planned to reach Grand Prismatic Spring, the biggest hot spring in the world, later in the day but my mistake left me no time. On my way back I also found some friends, who had just finished work, on the same trail up – a funny coincidence.

In my final week, the majority of my friends had left already so I borrowed a bike from a friend in Personnel. It was a nice bright red colour and unfortunately was not made for my body type or height, so gave me aches for days. The back wheel also wobbled and squeaked, not giving me the most confidence, but at least it let me be free to explore. I headed for Lone Star Geyser while stopping at Kepler Cascades on the way. The trail to Lone Star was off from the main road and a short journey away from Old Faithful but over an endless hill. It was an old disused road running along the Firehole River, a nice ride with little tourists. However, not without wildlife, as I rode in the peaceful quiet I turned my head to the river and what sprung into my vision was the biggest bison I have seen with its Viking horns and beard, stood still feet away on the side of the road. It seemed contented but stared and followed my movement, people warned me on the way back of its presence which I was already aware – I was just glad to not be on foot. There were no predictions for Lone Star because it has gone off every 3 hours in its recorded history. A notebook lay in a pedestal and inside a wooden box, visitors are supposed to write down the time of the eruption for the next people to be able to predict the next display. No one had wrote recently so I guessed with the visual indications my book told me to lookout for (minor eruptions). I thought I would miss it because I had to be back to work as a Server Assistant in the dining room, an extra shift I picked up. I picked up only two of these shifts towards the end because I wanted experience in a kitchen, making it easier to become a waiter later in the year. I was happy it was only two shifts, on the last night 550 people had made reservations, leading me to screw up from the pressure and drop an entire tray of glasses. Anyway, as I strolled slowly back to the bike racks Lone Star Geyser began to shoot just in time, water spurting high up angled and all around the sides to quickly bounce up and float as steam from its oversized beehive cone.

After deep cleaning on the 20^th for the second time now, which was exhausting because the rooms were much dirtier than Canyon, I was not supposed to have another day off. I could not get a ride until the 22^nd so managed to scrape another free day in Yellowstone. My ride was actually from my manager and assistant manager because they were going to Bozeman to celebrate a birthday; I did not get the bus because it wouldn’t have got there in time to get the Greyhound. They also couldn’t tell me its departure time until the day before which made matters more stressful. On my free day I borrowed another bike, one from my other Personnel friend, simply out of the level of comfort of the bike. Since I did not get to go to Grand Prismatic Spring in the previous weeks I tried again, I had visited it once before on the Fairy Falls trail but only seeing it from a hill; I wanted to get closer to this natural wonder. Something again stopped me from reaching it, around half way there on the road my tyre squeaked for a second then succinctly and ferociously popped, meaning a completely flat tyre. It seemed I was not permitted to Grand Prismatic so headed back walking, sticking out my thumb when I heard the whizz of a car. Many passed including many trucks, 4x4’s and R.V’s which could blatantly accommodate me and the bruised bike only a little way back to Old Faithful. A truck slowed and u-turned eventually, with waving hands to display their wants to help. It was a friendly young married couple who worked in the snow lodge and had recognised me from the canteen. So I rode in the back of the truck with the bike, an interesting and windy experience! My friend was not mad about the bike, more worried about me because the bike was given free to her and was pretty crappy...clearly. This days plans didn’t work out well so I found a friend, who had come from Canyon, gone on a road trip but then started at Old Faithful weeks later, and we went on a short hike to Fern Cascades near the dorms. I also discovered that she was a vegan! It made me very excited because she was the first vegan I have ever met.

Old Faithful

I have been working at Old Faithful for around 12 days now and I have to say that I prefer this place to Canyon, although I do miss my various groups of friends. There is much more to do and see, the buildings are much nicer, the work is easier, the managers are friendlier and my dorm is right next to the canteen and the famous inn built by Robert Reimer – where I work. On my last day at Canyon I unfortunately had to work, along with all others who had later end dates. We did menial tasks such as count all the stock individually and one absurd job which took up most of the day; unfolding and re-folding 2,162 bath towels after they had been done by machine. Jennifer was apparently not happy with the machines way, so made us do this for hours on end - I now know what a factory job is like! Apart from that it was a nice ending, we all (Housekeeping) went down to the Canyon together after dinner for a final time and the next morning I came back again before getting the bus. I wanted to visit my favourite spot, the brink of the lower falls, one more time. It is so intense and overwhelming to stand right at the drop, especially in mornings light.

I checked out of my room after doing a simple vacuum and dust, easy for me after being in Housekeeping for 2 months, and the room was left feeling cold with its bare display. I got the bus at 1pm, the bright yellow Yellowstone one, after saying my goodbyes to friends that were left – waving through the tinted windows as the bus disappeared into its trailed dust cloud. We stopped at various Xanterra spots to drop off and collect employees for transfer to different hotels. Few remained for Old Faithful, with only two left over to go to the last stop at Mammoth. I was placed in the dorm Laurel, which I like because it is not 10 minutes walk to work like the others but the rooms are just like Canyon,. It also has an amazing view through the exit window; a geothermal hotspot is right across. In the morning as the sun just starts to wake, a huge cloud of sun pierced steam hangs in the air, frozen in the cool climate. It is amassed from the dotted steam vents and murky fizzing hot springs; which for some reason ducks seem to enjoy splashing about in at times. These features are thought to be the reason why the dorm is so hot, as they surveyed this summer the geothermal area is moving underneath the entire dorm. My roommate tells me that many people exclaim that a geyser may shoot up and wreak havoc at any moment. I am not worried.

I have really fallen in love with the Old Faithful Inn, at night I will often find myself casually climbing the split log steps to read in one of those grand red cushioned chairs on the balcony edge, or to write beneath the dim glow of the candle-like bulbs. The ground floor is structured with local pine logs of great circumference, laid closely together on their side with others splicing through at the ends. The next two floors are not built up by logs but wooden slats, somewhat like they have on those little charming beach houses, yet with a coffee russet coat. The lobby has two platforms peering down to the cornered gray stone walled chimney, which seem like they have the mass of boulders. Wide mouthed fireplaces are dotted on each edge of its square base, occasionally all four will roar in harmony. I am easily distracted here and often little reading will be done in truth. My eyes could ponder on the structure for hours, particularly at the details, those features that give the feeling of being in a living and breathing structure; conveyed by the naturally formed bowing branches as stair handles or, bulbous tree deformities as banister ends. The roof is held by straight up tree bases, meeting a horizontal support at each level, conjoined by bent pine bottoms (supposedly formed by a snow impression) and then continuing on its vertical journey to the narrowing top. You get a grand feeling of nature, of the place being at one with the surroundings and often that you are in some secret wonderland in a hidden veiled forest.

I am also distracted by the guests. In any sitting, even if it follows the previous one, I will never set my sight upon a familiar face. Sometimes there will be an old man with a cane and a funny waddle where he will dip twice on each side in one slide of the foot. There could be a close-knit table of Europeans laughing huskily in an unspecified language, while drinking and shuffling cards in their middle aged hands. Or an awkward group of teenagers on a school trip all clambering around a couch, some not knowing where to be positioned. Their attention focused toward the centre where a fair haired and made up girl sits with one high leg beside a classically posed male – trying too hard with legs wide, back leant and arms smoothly winged out as an eagle on the couch top. And for a last stereotype there could be, to much amusement, the whole product of an Asian tour bus dropping to their chairs and picking out brown paper lunch sacks from packs or handbags. The fumbling of hands that dive for an apple or a jam sandwich along the crinkled paper edges is in synchronisation; felt through the grand resonance of rustling ubiquitously, leaving not a nook hushed.

I will let you know of my other adventures soon.

Days Off

In my second last week we thankfully had two days off, how wonderful it felt just to have the chance to relax! On the first day I went to West Yellowstone with the same group of friends as in the previous week. West is a town just a few hundred yards from the border of the park boundary. A town with similar style to Bozeman yet far more touristy with the only shops available full of souvenirs and ‘Yellowstoner’ shirts - ironically made in China. I walked around and took pictures while my friends had T-Shirts printed. It was certainly a very western looking town, so different and intriguing when I am used to the English stone paved streets. We ate dinner at a peculiar place called Einos, a small restaurant where you order the food as it comes from the fridge. As in, you must cook it completely by yourself. It was an interesting concept, one that I was not sure whether was created through laziness or to be unique. My friends all cooked themselves huge steaks on the grill while I had my veggie burger going. The warm light dashed across the lake and the horse grazing fields to eventually shine through the panes and onto the messy used bottles of steak sauce and ketchup beside our plates. It sure was nice to cook our own after eating stomach churning cafeteria food for months.

On my second day Tommy happened to see me and invited me on an off trail hike to Sulphur Mountain. I think this was technically incorrect according to Yellowstone rules as you are supposed to follow trails, but this had so much more glory and adventure. We drove to the middle of Hayden Valley, where Yellowstone River pulls out sharply and curls back again multiple times. Apart from the mountains and this, it would appear that the valley was rid of any interest – this certainly is untrue. We walked across the road and started the little climbs over and down the undulating yellow grass hills. Admittedly we were lost to start as we found nothing but generic pines, Tommy forgot his map. We continued the expedition as Tommy was sure that what we were looking for was somewhere around, it is amazing how things can keep so well hidden when so close. We attempted to reach atop a higher hill to look around for the destination, but before we got there we could see a large gray white patch creeping through the spaces between a dead forest; a telling sign of a geothermal area. We had found the place; mighty steam rolled along the ground and rose upwards from cracks. Some pines stood disjointed and plucked bare with a painted cream coating all the way to their sharpened pencil like tips. We tread our steps carefully as the crust around these areas can be much thinner than may appear; following the bison tracks and prodding the ground with branches aided the walk. We met the openings and stared into the dark open cracks of the earth where the hot air flowed and the muddy water boiled. Tommy asked me to take his picture multiple times through the trip, one time he even posed with my camera apparently as a dramatic element. If there is one thing I have learnt about Asians it is that most love picture taking, and in particular posed picture taking with wide forced grins – many of my friends would say ‘One more. One more. One more’ after each snap.

Crystallized rocks of sulphur contrasted against the thermal desert in a radiant neon yellow and spiky web forms were strewn where water movements sounded below. We headed up the so called Sulphur Mountain, which in reality was the height of a small hill (I am unsure whether this is its official name). Tommy reached the boulder at its head before me and let out high sounds of excitement and praise for what could be seen, the object of his projected awe unbeknown to me. His childlike happiness was certainly deserved as he rushed down the slope (falling frequently). There lay beneath, next to the edge of the pale hill’s rise, a bloated circular pit of azure Caribbean waters shooting up a few metres from its heart and spraying around its oddly bumpy brown dripping outskirt. I had never seen a feature as such a perfect sphere or so ideally exquisite.

Unfortunately, Tommy had to be back to Canyon to go work so we left the area with haste, following the steam pots run off around the forest, for who knows what furry dangers could be waiting in there. More features were in the area as steam rose from many dips all over; alas we had no time to investigate the glory that could have been awaiting. As we walked the plain back, smoke billowed purplish from behind Mt. Washburn and slithered along Yellowstone River below like a cool misty morning. The forest fire that we had witnessed the brewing beginnings of in previous weeks was clearly still ablaze. I am unsure of its present condition, yet it has been unnaturally hot in Yellowstone for this time of year. The road to Roosevelt was also closed for safety.

Leaving

So my extension worked after many trials and tribulations, running around between different people, my contract ends on 20th October and I leave for the Old Faithful Inn on Wednesday morning. It’ll certainly be strange to leave this place which I have called home for over 2 months. Canyon closed to guests on Sunday, so ever since we have been deep cleaning and closing down the village. Today as I walked back to my room from work, the partially setting sun shone through the tall lodge pole pines and stretched out soft shadows. I looked back at the empty cabins and thought what a sad place this becomes with the absence of life. The place had lost its purpose (even the signs had been wrapped up) and it had no need to be in the many coming icy months. I will be sad to leave this place.

1 Englishman and 9 Asians

Two weeks ago I went to Bozeman with Tommy, to go to get his windscreen fixed after the elk crash. We went around Target and Wal-Mart waiting for the repairman to change the screen and it amazingly took only 1 hour for him to finish it in the parking lot. We visited some second hand shops, which I was very pleased about when I bought a lot of winter items for around 1-2 dollars each. We went to eat at the Bamboo Garden, a nice Chinese restaurant; the meal before me had been plucked from the table of a king when compared to Xanterra’s food.

Last week I went with 9 Asian friends from the kitchen in a 7 person owned huge white American 4x4 to Osprey Falls, next to Bunsen Peak. The hike was 4.6 miles one way so 9.2 in total; it is my longest so far. To reach the falls we had to go to the bottom of a canyon, which seemed to simply appear from nowhere, as if forming right before our footsteps. It was a steep hike down on a thinly lined trail, making you realise how close to death you could so easily be. One girl actively chose to wear flip flops for this hike, my mind could not begin to fathom why any individual would choose this, but she seemed to cope well on the treacherous path. The falls were pretty, nowhere reaching the size of those at Canyon, but beautiful in their relatively petit volume. Trees had rooted at the curved brink and the dazzling yet water misted sun shone through their silhouetted shapes and outlined a golden crest on the falls edge. We sat and ate on a ledge reaching out to the falls, but then moved below and beside the river with its wet boulders. We watched the water dance around to its decided route and I explored to search out a dead tree in which to snap off a hiking stick; my friend Brian called me Gandalf the whole way back. Others floated their bottles in the likely snow melted river and dipped in their naked pale toes. I was the last in the row to the top, and accordingly the slowest. The sun beamed down on us, the hottest I have experienced here; my breath was quick. We saw some Mule deer on the way up, I didn’t expect to see any animal traverse such a steep slope, but they seemed to enjoy the plants. After we got out of the canyon it was all ease on the flat earth as the breeze brushed away our sun ripened cheeks.

While driving back we visited two other waterfalls - the names I have lost from memory. Although they were not as impressive; we decided that the final one should be titled a trickle and not as it was named, a fall. As we left a great and powerful storm had been rolling in; only miles behind the rain could be seen so dense in the sky, it was as if the clouds were falling in their entirety. As we drove the storm followed and overtook the car, a bold smoky grey, almost black edge stretched across the sky until only from a small crevice between the mountains could the sunset be seen to peep through. Lightning struck all around in abundance, flashing up the landscape white, in all of its vastness. It had not rained for a while, a certain rarity in Yellowstone, and as we drove back I spotted speckled bulbs of orange through the tinted windows. It appeared as a newly sprung town, as some sort of mirage as it lay in the bowl of land below Mt. Washburn. That was until I rolled down my window to see that I was actually looking at a forest fire. I gazed in bewilderment at the magnificent beauty; it was an oval ring from afar that appeared like the golden heat between smoking coals in a wintry fireplace, with the thick black sky as its chimney. I could have stayed all night just to watch it spread and glow.

My friends returned on the following day, yet to see nothing remaining of the fire except for its black ash tracks on a circle of now dead trees. However, I heard from a friend today that there was a fire still ablaze around the area which had started on that same night. I am unsure whether it is the one we saw or if it was a different one as lightning was occurring frequently; we do not hear much news.

Full Moon Hike

On my day off 2 weeks ago (late update), which is only one day now, I went on a hike up Mt. Washburn again. This was the same hike as my first in Yellowstone, except that this time it was on a different trail and was at night, it is also officially titled as a ‘full moon hike’. Tommy drove us in his car, who is from Hong Kong, with 6 other people at around 6.30 in order to reach the trail end at sunset. Tommy also managed to hit an elk later on in the week, as it dashed across the road at a terribly unlucky time and ended up flipping over the front, smashing the top of his windscreen and  lying on top of the roof. This was to the sound of many screams, all under the blanket of darkness. Seconds after it jumped off and walked casually away, surprisingly alive.  I was not in his car this night thankfully. 

Anyway, back to the hike – We aimed to reach the top, where a forest fire lookout station sits, right before the sun was to set. We were slightly slow, so in a final adrenaline rush I ran to the peak to witness the surreal spectacle of the sun lowering at one side of the horizon as the full moon rose on the other. We also saw a coyote dash across the trail with some furry brown animal gripped in its mouth, reminding me somewhat of my dog Archie when he finds a bone or soft toy. And at the top in the lookout station we had an Asian noodle party (which I have been a part of many since my time here), with many sprawled packets of instant noodles finding themselves eventually in a boiling pot. It is quite an amusing sight to watch all this with a plug in hot spoon to boil the water and everyone rushing around to cook and eat before the closing of the station. On the way down we were under the bright reflection of the sun, the moons shadows were stark and ghostly. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing, only some small cars lacing between the forests and some pale yellow glow which we picked out as Canyon village.

Second snow of summer

It snowed again this week, before it was wet and slushy, this time it was delicate, fluffy and light. I have never experienced such juxtaposed weather before; previously it had been sultry with the white hot sun all through the days. It lasted for only around 2 hours but fell heavily; just enough to form bunches on the pines, to cover the grasses and construct sheets of crisp white on rooftops. I went on a small walk with some friends on a local trail snaking through the snow covered woodland to finish on the road. It appeared to have been somewhat abandoned of any maintenance with profuse amounts of fallen trees on the trail. As we came to the road many cars, bus-size R.V’s, hummers and any other kind of obnoxious American vehicle you could think of had stood in its tracks, this is a very common occurrence. People had stopped to gaze upon a large herd of mule deer, with what appeared to be over 30. This kind of deer has huge ears, like a mule as the name suggests, and I had not sighted any yet. Some of the males had enormous, yet elegant horns reaching out in sporadic directions from their heads’, the type you usually see nailed into wooden boards in western style restaurants or English pubs. As we got back we amusingly found fellow employees with skis and snowboards strapped to their backs exclaiming they were going to go down Mt. Washburn. The next morning it continued snowing but only in single flakes, when caught on my sleeve those magical intricate patterns of snow appeared that I only see on Christmas cards or as festive decorations.

What it's like

Well I realised I haven’t described much about where I live or what is around me so I will do so now. Employees live inside 1 of 4 main dorms with the names Bison, Grizzly, Wapiti and Bighorn; I used to live in Bison which is for people under 21 although it is now closed. Everyone will be put in Grizzly and Bighorn soon as over half of the workforce has left; it was very dead in my old dorm. My roommate and I were moved into Grizzly last week, or more like kicked out, into a room that looks exactly the same with identikit furnishings and decoration.
There are abundant bunches of trees and forests around, they creak and sway in solidarity while some bend in semi circles as others lean and intertwine – the shapes these trees can make are tremendous. They enclose Canyon Village off from the rest of the world, apart from the General Store, Gift Shop, Restaurant and Visitor Centre above – there is not much else here except a gas station. It is situated 1 mile away from the actual canyon, so it is a short hike. The old hotel used to be right next to the edge but the NPS (National Park Service) were not happy with its placement and in addition the entire hotel was sliding slowly into the canyon. In the end they intentionally torched it all and built Canyon Village in the oh so lovely 50’s style. It is probably the ugliest of all the hotels here because of this. Canyon Village is also at the highest altitude in Yellowstone for where it is possible to stay, so as it says humorously on some gift shop t-shirts, ‘We partied with the highest people in the park’. It is also probably the most remote, there are few hiking trails around and we are far from any main tourist attractions, apart from the actual canyon. Therefore, it is somewhat necessary to drive, hitchhike or get on a tour bus if you want to see much of anything. However, you can go on long hikes from here if you are very experienced (which I am not). If you walk out of the village area and across the road there is a large flatland, like a field with no borders and emerald trees above amber grasses. I walked this and it’s beautiful...what a wonderful backyard to have!
I see squirrels prance back and forth the same path all the time here, with a pinecone locked between their teeth; they take them to their nest or whatever kind of home a squirrel may have. Whistle pigs are often seen too, I guess it is the same as a groundhog; they scurry along the tarmac and hide under picnic tables. The rest of the wildlife you will see is a deer or two, a bison resting in the sun and sometimes elks eating housekeeping’s soaps out of carts, as you can see here – http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs368.snc4/45083_419569713844_598978844_4771538_2140094_n.jpg

I attempted to get another job, for the third time now, which was in the deli preparing food and serving customers. Someone who worked there had heard I wanted to get out of housekeeping and he really wanted to get out of the deli, so we attempted to switch jobs. Long story short, Jennifer had agreed to let us switch but then changed her mind and got very angry for no apparent or logical reason, I really cannot understand this woman but she seems to have me chained down as a cleaner.

I also just handed in my extension form, so hopefully will be staying in Yellowstone until the 24th of October, moving to Mammoth or Old Faithful after 28th September; though I requested different jobs of course.

Snow

It is actually snowing as I write this; I am all nestled up in my bed, covered with 3 beige blankets and a bright red winter sweater. I cannot believe my eyes, this just seems wrong when it is August! It also hailed yesterday at work and my Taiwanese friend thought it so peculiar that she could not understand what was falling from the sky. So it is has been very cloudy and cold and is making me feel as if I am in an English winter. I guess it is fitting weather since we celebrated Christmas on the 25th; the canteen was decked with a plastic tree, tinsel and random colourful decorations around the place. It certainly doesn’t feel like summer anymore.

I got my exam results on the 19th via the internet, I attempted to check them at 11pm here because they are supposed to be released at 6am in England, but no luck because the internet refused to work. After constantly trying to find them out it worked 5 minutes before I had to rush to work the next morning. I was pleasantly surprised with some of my results while disappointed with others. I got an A* in Sociology, which is the highest grade possible so I was very excited, a B in English and a C in Photography, which I was not so happy about. However, as dad informs me, my teacher was appalled by this result and felt it an unfair examination (the photo examiner is notoriously harsh). So the school have already signed the folders up to be re-marked by a chief examiner, which is great news. The grades I achieved mean that I can get into any one of the Cultural Studies courses, but I would obviously prefer it higher after all the work I put in.

My closest friends here just left in the past week, we had a big party of people seeing Johanna, Jordan and Emma off, before they drove back to Minnesota. This was a 16 hour drive which seems a minor trip now that everything is so spaced out, unlike in England. People are shocked when they discover I have not been to Scotland or traveled Britain much; I feel I know the landscape of America better than the U.K. Mary also left the next morning with her father, who had flown into Bozeman from New York so that he could drive her back in her car (Ithought this was odd). She also left a $100 tip in her room as she stayed here with her father; unfortunately she was in another cabin area. I swear I have witnessed more people sobbing in this past week than in my entire lifetime, everyone lives, works and eats together so people get very close. I have had to make new friends, most of them internationals.

I went to visit Jen the Housekeeping manager and I discovered that I’m not allowed to be a Truckey either, which she kindly didn’t bother to inform me about; so it’s back to cleaning rooms for now. It is because I am not 19, so by law cannot drive a truck and they need more drivers.

Job

It poured it down for all of a few days ago, a first for me here, and I was cleaning the cabins so had to drudge around in it going from room to room. Summer has now officially passed in Yellowstone to autumn, although the morning and nights surely feel like an English winter to me – some people say there are only two seasons in Yellowstone, summer for the two months of June and July and winter for the rest. It may snow soon, should have bought warmer clothes!

In the end the Housekeeping manager barred me from moving to the gift shop after she had a quick talk to the manager, she wouldn’t let me go because so many people are leaving from all the departments, which they attempt to fill by giving us a one day weekend. It can be irritating because Xanterra controls almost everything in your life, what you eat, when you eat, what job you can do, where you live, when you can be noisy, when you wake up, etc. However, I am allowed to move to being a ‘Truckey’ where you primarily pick up all the housekeeping linen and drop it off. When I tell people that I am trying out as a Truckey everyone exclaims ‘What, you’re a turkey?’ It must be my strong English accent with which many people are perplexed and intrigued by, especially the internationals as they have learnt from American speakers. I had 3 trial days starting yesterday morning, beginning work an hour earlier at 7 am. I was thrown in straight away, they were missing two people because copious amounts have quit from all departments. This job seemed a walk in the park compared to cleaning rooms as you mostly sit in the truck, put some linen away and collect or drop it off. The only difficult part is when you sort the dirty linen, picking up hundreds of heavy bags and putting them into the correct bin in the baking sun. I am not sure whether I am working full time on this job yet, I think it might just be when Housekeeping don't need anyone. I am not allowed to drive the trucks since you have to be 19, which is somewhat a relief because reversing onto the docks seems challenging. I won’t get tips with this job, which was a nice perk when cleaning rooms, for two weeks we got $32 each in a packet, of which Penn my area manager humorously sketched on a cup of steaming tea and wrote ‘Tea (English)’.

2nd Week - Days Off

Unfortunately on my first day off I didn’t get to go kayaking because I was too late to sign up. Instead I went to the Canyon at a dramatic time of the lowering sun, visiting the raging falls for the first time and viewing it from above, below and by its drop off point – watching the billowing mist. I also attended a friend’s leaving dinner in the guest restaurant later on, what a relief to eat some decent food. The group of friends I have gotten close to are mostly all leaving in the next week, which will be sad. They are also my friends with cars, so it is likely to be hitchhiking for the rest of my stay. I think that it will, for the most part, just be the internationals left – though everyone is so nice here, apart from some hierarchy, I am sure more friends are to come.

On my second day off, Wednesday, Jordan drove me, Johanna and Todd in his car (All three from Minnesota) up to a mountain named Avalanche Peak, around 20 miles past Lake Yellowstone. It was only a 2 mile climb to the top; however it was tremendously steep in most areas so it took us many hours and we were blindly shielded from knowing the distance to the summit. We passed through dense woods with sandy bottoms, sweltering at the foot of the trail, but with each step higher the cool breeze growing stronger. For Todd and Jordan it appeared a daily stroll, while Johanna and I wheezed in each breath stopping at any chance. The sights differed at varying points, in one patch we traversed an emerald floored forest with pink and yellow flowers weaving through the grass, and then we reached a sliding grey rocky beneath, the stones gaining in size the higher we reached. And from the pinnacle we conversed with youthful strangers, inside a makeshift cave, and gazed at Yellowstone Lake along with the snow dotted hills and all blue skies around. We all split at the top, viewing from different points, me with my Rolleiflex in hand (which after much debating am glad I bought along) and Johanna talking to other Xanterra staff. Todd and Jordan decided to descend so we followed minutes later, although we could not tell if they had gone exploring off the trail, so waited a 45 minute period expecting them to meet us, Johanna sounded the eagles call but nothing. Eventually, we decided we would all end up at the car anyway, so began downwards and to our surprise found Todd and Jordan sitting peacefully on the trail just 150 yards down – I now know what it is like to have no mobile phone. We got to the Xanterra Lake Lodge just before dinner finished at 6.30 pm; our staff cards allow us to eat at any Xanterra location which is very handy. On the way back we also witnessed the sight of a huge black bear and three cubs sprinting across the open green lands, we stared in awe as the car behind was oblivious to this wonder.

On my final day off, me, Jordan, Johanna, Mary, a Malaysian guy called Brian who spoke faultless English, 3 people from the Czech Republic called Market (said as Marcata), Lucas and Adam and finally one Russian girl, Irena, all got in two cars driving through early morning Yellowstone. The roads in Yellowstone are all very good, they are few but well kept, therefore there is a lot of construction, of which we met on the way – sitting for 30 minutes. We were so bored while in the unmoving mile long line that we started a dance party between the jam, blasting awfully cheesy 80’s music from Mary’s car and dancing on the road as best we could – the people in cars kept on taking pictures of this enjoyable obscurity. We were headed for a 3 mile hike to Fairy Falls which overlooked Prismatic Lake, a large steaming rainbow pond, azure at center, then each outer ring from this changing from jade green, lemon yellow, a deep brown red and ending a carrot orange - all caused primarily from bacteria. The fall was just a trickle off a sheer drop high above, meeting a small basin and continuing as the river. We stayed and snacked, relaxing in the cooling spray from the cloudless day. We carried on a mile to see some geothermal features, walking through the dead and burned forests with many trees blackened to charcoal. The feature was a small pond, coloured like Prismatic, but with a near perpetually erupting geyser. The resulting stream bleached the trees powdery, or anything placed inside.

Later on we ate at the Old Faithful staff canteen; although we were not on time to see the geyser shoot (I keep on pronouncing it ‘geezer’ which people get a kick out of). They call Old Faithful the Disneyland of Yellowstone, which I can certainly see why. It is the most populated place, the car parks look like that of Wal-Mart and hundreds and hundreds line up around the geyser as if they were waiting for Shamu to pop up at any second. The food looked slightly better quality here, which is good in case I decide to extend my contract to work at Old Faithful through October. However, we met the canteen manager who was certainly not the nicest of people; we titled her as ‘The Mighty Bitch’, which she certainly deserved. She popped her head around the corner, like a snarling rat, and began hassling and shouting at us and her kitchen staff for multiple petty things. After lunch all 9 of us squeezed ourselves into a 5 person car, as the other car was half a mile away due to bad parking. 4 of us joined our bones together in the back and Adam lay flat across our laps, while the rest sat on each other, not a comfortable ride I can tell you that...or a legal one.

So the Czech’s left in Jordan’s car as they had to meet up with friends for camping, while the rest of us went to Boiling River just outside of Mammoth. Boiling River is a place where two flows of dramatically juxtaposed water temperatures meet up; the far side will give you hypothermia whereas the nearside will literally boil your skin. Therefore, everyone sits in a single filed line where these two rivers meet, while grabbing onto the clunky stones trying not to fall away on 1 and a half feet of water. It was a treacherous and painful walk along the bottom to get to an un-crowded part of the springs, especially with no shoes while trying not to fall into the freezing or burning areas. Though it was well worth it for lying in the surreal flows of gentle warm water; my feet drifted in Iceland while my back in the calescent Tropics. We met a guy who lived just 20 minutes away from Johanna in Minnesota. He had been enjoying the spring for hours, so the natural etches on his hands had wrinkled to a great pronouncement, looking something like Zodiac signs, and his skin turned pale from sulphur.

When we got back the car was heavy with our exhaustion, but we had promised the Czech’s we would go hang out with them at their campfire on the other side of Canyon. We didn’t pitch a tent because we had to wake early for work so visited for an hour or so, but none of us had anticipated the length and difficulty of the hike on the edge of the Canyon in the sheer black night. It is probably the worst time to hike because you cannot see the dangerous animals, there is a high probability of walking straight into one and this is the main time they roam. We had to shout, sing or whistle the entire time to ward off bears, our throats strained and sore at the end. The trail had at some points just 1 foot between us and the Canyon drop, leading to a tumbling death, which occurs more than you might expect; last year a woman was taking a picture of her family and moved backwards for a better perspective, unfortunately she walked too many steps that she instantly plunged below in her last step. Although, it was pleasant when we got there, the smoking fire casted off the nights' cool air with people boiling Spaghetti O’s in the tin and melting marshmallows. All of my five thick layers of clothing collected the sweet smoky wood scent. We didn’t get back ‘til 1 am.

Fugitives

Over the past few days there have been black and white pictures of three people showing up all around the village, including around our clocking systems, dorm pillars, the cafeteria, etc. These are not just any pictures, but photographs taken before arrest. There have been 4 fugitives on the run and they believed that they all fled to Yellowstone from Arizona. 1 was caught before the pictures were put up; there were two guys and one woman left. The men were put in prison for murder while the woman was an accomplice who threw wire cutters over the prison fence, letting them escape. I keep getting email updates from Xanterra on who has been caught and who is still on the run, the woman and one of the men have been caught in Wyoming while the other has not. We’ve been told to lookout for them and that it would probably be best not to hitchhike because they are armed. I was looking forward to hitchhiking here, it is supposed to be very safe – my friends have met some very interesting people in the process, but maybe I’ll wait a while.

A few nights ago I actually went to a bible study, even though I am not religious in the slightest, but a few people asked me to come along and I always like to try new things. It was their last one, because most people are leaving, so we spoke about two of the twelve disciplines. The first was fasting, the leader of the group told us about her experience of practicing during college which she had done so for up to a week. They talked about the spiritual side of it but also the health and psychological benefits. For instance, it completely clears out your body, starts you anew, a detox of sorts. Many people have spoke of how it made them feel so much better mentally and physically after practicing it occasionally. On another side, we discussed how it can change you psychologically, how it changes your connection with consumption and how it can bring around more appreciation. Also, it can be a way to discover your irrational addictions, not necessarily with food but with anything, it lets you break free from dependency – giving you more control of your life. The session leader also spoke about how it made her understand real suffering around the world, she began to know what real starvation felt like and what millions of people feel every day. This was the most interesting topic; one girl began on a fast for 4 days, doing it here is probably one of the best ideas since the staff food is so dire. An official ranking revealed that Xanterra staff food is only 2 points above prison food on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being Prison and 1 being 5 star restaurant, Xanterra was 8. Although, I don’t think I will try fasting at this point in my life.

The next topic was meditation, not the kind where you necessarily sit cross legged with pinched fingers in the air, but to dwell on things. To think about over and over for heightened understanding of anything, maybe literature, something that was spoken or any kind of topic whether it be personal or impersonal. We discovered that most people do not have a realisation that they meditate, but everyone does so even in banal thought, whether it is during hard work or sitting peacefully – we all mull over things. So, it was a more interesting event than I preconceived and it was nice to hear of other people’s beliefs – it is a very diverse place here.

I now have a 3 day weekend after struggling with my schedule, hopefully kayaking today, hiking tomorrow, then hiking the next day and going to some hot springs, I can’t wait!

New Job

Recently I have been trying to get another job, after being tipped off that many people were leaving the gift shop I spoke with the manager a few times and he said he would take me on in a week’s time, my customer service experience in Morrisons helped a lot. However, he told me to check with the Housekeeping manager first because he didn’t want to go around stealing other people’s employees. This didn’t sound like good news because I knew this woman wasn’t the most flexible of people. So, I talked to some friends and they suggested that I become a really bad worker, so that they would be happy to be rid of me. So, I began to miss some parts of the cleaning process out, such as the ‘courtesy fold’ on the toilet paper or the cleaning of a sink or two. However, it made me feel terribly guilty because the supervisor kept cleaning up after me without reporting me to the manager – so this plan really failed. I spoke to the manager today and her immediate response was ‘uuuuuuhhhh’ mixed with a rolling up of the head and coming down with a blunt ‘no’. She informed me that 50% of the Housekeeping staff were leaving very soon so she couldn’t let me be taken away, although she said she would talk to the gift shop manager about it – I am not sure what that means. Hopefully he can convince her to let me go.
I have seen abundant amounts of wildlife lately, Canyon is quite closed off and in the middle of nowhere with woods surrounding everything. Last week I saw my first Grizzly Bear wandering all jolly down the slope of the hillside below, we saw it only for a second before it disappeared into the trees and green dips. There is also a ‘friendly, neighbourhood buffalo’ around the cabins that I clean, they gave it a name but I am lost for it now. A few days ago brown flashes began appearing around the buildings when I was cleaning, I couldn’t figure out as to what these were (it was certainly a LOST moment) until a single yet colossal buffalo came charging right towards me and my cleaning cart, scaring me witless. Luckily, it turned away within a few yards and sprinted around some distant cabins, but I was sure ready with an escape plan to take hiding in one of the hotel rooms after that – they can actually run three times faster than humans and many people have been attacked or gored by them so far this year. There are many small creatures too, like squirrel and gerbil type animals – I don’t know their real names but they often run inside the rooms while cleaning and attempt to eat the trash and put their mucky footprints all over fresh towels. My friend Mary was shouting at a very dedicated and consistent squirrel earlier, always hiding beneath the balcony at the sight of her. There are also many deer type animals, again I don’t know their official names, but they stand out in the woods around here a lot.
Last night I went to Lake Yellowstone with Mary, from New York, and Eli, from Macedonia – which I never even knew existed previously. We got stuck in a Bison jam which stretched for miles; I was fascinated, while Eli and Mary were not as they are common occurrences. It was like driving through a safari, albeit a very American one. The Buffalo were dotted all over, dark beads from afar, almost like rocks, and up close they remind me of Viking warriors. Although, very lazy and placid ones as they are often stuck still in the centre of the road with no apparent sense of the vehicles around them. Many began chasing each other at great speeds along the road, swerving in and out of the traffic at times, which I can tell you is pretty damn scary. When we got there it was around 8 pm, the sky was a dark grey with a hint of navy and the clouds curled and swelled in so many ways I have never seen. They blanketed the vast pool of water, except for a small golden opening in the mountain beyond. The lake was of such a great range that the water extended over the flat horizon, the closing day and slight mist formed the towering mountains across into silhouetted layers of multiple shades, like from the eloquent hand of the abstract painter.
Right now there is an intense thunderstorm going on, rain so dense and close between that I see teens bolting on ubiquitous self made paths, covering their precious heads with whatever is at hand. The power keeps going out in flashes, although sometimes I can tell not whether the blink of darkness is from a twitch of my eye or the spark of a bulb.
I now have my weekend again, as they say it is my Friday, so hopefully I find some fun stuff to do. I will possibly go kayaking on Lake Yellowstone tomorrow; however a friend invited me to their leaving dinner with some other friends at the posh restaurant above our terrible EDR (Employee Dining Room).
I also got my first pay cheque last Wednesday, it came all to the grand sum of 4 dollars and 95 cents – I don’t know what happened to the rest.

Days off

Well I just lost another blog post after my computer decided to turn off, this is extremely frustrating! But I’ll go over it again...
So I had a day off on Tuesday and on Wednesday also, although the weekends might be cut down to just one day because most people are leaving already. On the first day I went hiking up Mt. Washburn with two friends, it is just a 10 minute drive away from Canyon. The hike was 3 miles to the top, which was a nice amount. Although, I found it a little hard to breathe at times as I am not yet fully adjusted to the great difference in altitude. The views were stupefying; my English eyes were not used to this kind of beauty. The edge began steeply with pale sand and rocks, then blended into a sea of green (‘Christmas’ trees rolling like smooth waves). They descended into the ocher canyon and rose up once again at its end in miles of continuation. The horizon was built of darkly carved mountains and watching over, a sort of majestic purplish set of peaks with bleached tops made their way through the haze. A tourist or more aptly named with staff dialect, a touron – as in a moron - stretched out his aged finger and claimed loudly that these were the Tetons, though I was assured by a friend of his inaccuracy.
On our ascent we came upon a big horned sheep and her child, she stomped her feet in anger so we quickly proceeded on. However, we met even more of them on the way down with one even blocking the trail in stubbornness. Along with a collection of other hikers we slowly backed away onto a small hill and walked a semi-circle to return to the trail past the sheep, they can apparently become quite vicious and charge. When we reached the top it became bitterly cold after a few minutes with roaring winds, so we stayed only long enough for me to eat an apple, of which some native squirrel plucked the core from my side and began a miniature feast. It was my first real hike of Yellowstone, or in fact for many years.
On my second day off I went with two other friends, Jordan and Johanna, to a place called Trout Lake which was around an hour drive clinging to the hillsides and flatlands. I saw my first Buffalo or Buffalos where they stood as armies on huge dirt/grass lands. All around dust clouds formed sporadically as the Buffalo, or Bison as they usually call them, rolled around violently on the ground. One even walked right by us on the correct side of the road as if it was another car. Before we got to the lake we stopped at another Xanterra lodge in Roosevelt where we got exactly the same food as we do at Canyon, although it’s nice to be able to travel around and still get free food. When we eventually got to Trout Lake we had to climb a small rise and then down it to reach the start of the lake, which was more the size of a big pond. It was a calming haven of quiet with the trout swimming at our feet. We sat under a shaded tree from the white sunlight, gazing into the densely green hills and forests with the reflection of the rocky mount above. It was supposedly an otter swimming ground, so Jordan pondered and peered through his binoculars many times, often sounding from the excitement of a splash, but to find nothing more than a diving duck or some lone tree branch I had hurled in earlier. After a while we left from this pleasant sunny afternoon, returning to Canyon once more. Working here is really worth it if only for our two days off.

First Week

So I have just about got through my first week here at Canyon Lodge, yesterday and today were my days off – what a relief. I never knew how much work truly went into a hotel room before I started as a Room Attendant (Cleaner) here. I start out work at 8 am each morning where firstly we all line up and get our lists of rooms that need to be cleaned for the day, a list with many ‘occupied’ rooms will brighten up a face because they are much faster, and a list with yellow marker all over it with the words ‘due-out’ next to the room number certainly does not raise a smile for anyone, these take twice the time and effort.

(I just finished this blog post after an hour of work but it got sucked away by the web so I'll give a short version)

One large room with two double beds and an en suite is supposed to take 30 minutes to complete in total. Everything has to be deeply cleaned each time, even when the rooms are occupied. First all the rubbish and dirty sheets/towels are stripped from the room and thrown into multiple bags. Then a rainbow of toxic chemicals is bought into the room. Pink for intense shower/tub/sink/toilet rubbing. Blue for shiny surfaces. Green for deodorisation and Yellow for every other surface. All soaps and towels must be replaced and the shower and sink washed with buckets of water, then dried off. Every single hair must be removed since the bathrooms are all white, which is very difficulty. When the bathroom is done new sheets must be put onto the bed. These are simple cream sheets so you have to spread them out and tuck them under the bed like you would when wrapping a birthday present. A final cover is placed on top with two pillows folded into it at the top. Then you vacuum all the floor and clean every surfaces, after which all the coffee, condiments, leaflets and postcards must be replaced - not forgetting to empty the coffee machine. Then you finally shut the door and take a big breath, for there are normally 14 of these in a day. It doesn't look like much here but the length is in the details and running back to your trolley that looks like a fruit selling cart. I have no clue how it is humanly possible to finish all this within 30 minutes, but I am going to try. 

I'll write later about the interesting stuff I have done on my days off.

Xanterra

I woke up for the bus this morning at 6 am which was not too hard after having to wake up earlier in recent consecutive days. Got downstairs and had a little breakfast while talking to some kindly American travelers and gazing in illicit horror at the roaring stuffed polar bear and multiple moose and deer cut off at the neck - I sure know I am out West now. 

I went out to catch the bus at 7.15 am, which took a frantic rush of leg power to get across a busy five lane road to the bus station on the other side. Lest not forget with a 70 pound + suitcase in tow brimmed with diverse seasonal clothing, three cameras, a giant zip-loc bag of films in various speeds and sizes, a clunky widescreen laptop (I swear a home P.C with two units would probably have been easier to carry around), and any other personal belongings you could possibly need in a year’s time of your life.

Unfortunately, I had to wait two hours for the bus to arrive and had not prepared for the cold morning air in my Levi's cut-offs. Although, the opportunity for a second exploration around Bozeman was not snuffed at. 

When it finally arrived the only person on the bright yellow striped mini-bus was myself and the 69 year old friendly driver named Len, he informed me that I should take a picture because most employees do as a remembrance of the beginning of their adventure.

I had not realised the extent of the journey to my destination at the 'Grand Canyon of Yellowstone' until literally half way to it. It felt like an epic feat on arrival, after making our way through the great diversity of landscapes and weather systems of Yellowstone and being dropped off and picked up by multiple Xanterra staff in different locations for registration. Len also acted as my personal tour guide, filling me with knowledge on the abundant sightseeing spots we passed through and occasionally waving out to a family member he spotted on the road. There were so many different things to be amazed by (too many to list), particularly the acres and acres of burned trees from the forest fire of '88, they lay spindly and flat on the hillsides like thousands of little matchsticks spread across a carpeted floor. 

I guess the personal tour guide was one advantage of being the only new employee, although it meant that there was no orientation of sorts but pieces of paper to read instead, the advice on 'What to do when meeting a bear' will hopefully not be useful, but the techniques are rather fascinating and might come in handy. Firstly, when going around a bend during hiking you must make loud noises such as clapping or shouting something such as 'Yoohoo! Please don't hurt us Mr. Bear!' this is to warn them of your presence which is supposed to make them move away. When you do meet a bear face to face, it is quite different. You can slowly back away if it doesn't see you, however, Grizzly bears often charge at people, as soon as this happens you stand completely still, look away and hope that Mr. Bear loses interest and doesn't run you down- it doesn't seem like a very intelligent defence mechanism. If Mr. Bear continues charging full speed ahead then you fall to the ground and lay flat on your stomach while spreading your legs apart so Mr. Bear can't tip you over to have a feast on your organs. While doing this you cover your neck with your hands (like being arrested by a cop) in order to stop them goring your neck. Apparently they often start on you by fitting your head inside their mouths and dragging you around, which Len informed me, could 'only tear off some of your skull cap', 'Only!!!' I thought. So now if the bear continues attacking, you are supposed to speak softly to it, whispering things such as 'Please would you kindly remove my skull from your oh so beautiful sharp set of teeth'. And if nothing works then finally you curl up into the fetal position and maybe pray a little...

When I finally got to Canyon Lodge, I signed in and was dropped in a room full of someone else's belongings, it felt like I was secretly squatting in someone's home while they remained unaware. After that there were no starter activities since I was the only new employee, so I explored a little, met my roommate and had some light conversation with some randomers at dinner.

Hopefully I will meet some more people over the coming days when I start working in Housekeeping. 

First Day

I arrived in Montana today, the first day of my years adventure. One car journey, two different planes, an expensive taxi ride and tomorrow a long bus ride into Yellowstone Xanterra Canyon Lodge - not including the journey from England (My home country). It was all worth it for seeing those crisp mountain tops, peaking through the plane window and haze, stitching into the seemingly hallucinatory swirls of the fields spilling into one another below.

I already had my first adventurous trip of the year in Bozeman. After getting to the hotel I discovered a disused railway track running around the edge of town which I followed around through an industrial zone with a great view of the hills, then to the underbelly of a car bridge with the streamlined sounds of 'whoooosssssshhhh' every so often where lied many misplaced paint spray cans. I followed it through to some flourishing green Wetlands (probably trespassing but oh well) holding my camera to my chest at every step and ending up on the edge of the highway.

For sure I can say that Bozeman is a very intriguing place, surreal at that with its classic large American town appearance with busy traffic and suburban homes, juxtaposed against vast empty green mountains, gathered hillside forests and the endlessly open environment leading wherever you could wish to go.