The Spring Season
With the extremes of weather in the Park, everything seems to happen on an exaggerated rapid schedule once winter breaks. It’s pretty remarkable that I arrived here just a little more than a month ago and there were more than two feet of snow on the ground. The last patch of snow disappeared the first week of June in my little campsite, but, throughout Memorial Day and erratically during the following week, nights were well below freezing. Even this week, the cold has endured. Rain at night finds blocks of ice in my folding lawn chairs outside the camper. And it did snow and hail this evening! But the back of winter has clearly been broken, and it happens pretty fast. A week ago the ground behind the camper was bare, little on it but dried remnants of visits from last year’s bison(promising an active population later in the summer between me and the restroom!)
Overnight, greenery has magically appeared, and flowered.
The dogtooth violets were the first. They call them Glacier lilies around here, since they appear as soon as the snow recedes. While they are almost past in the sunny spots, the woods still are brightened by them, and, at the higher elevations on the way to the Sylvan Pass at the east entrance of the park, they are in full bloom.
Incredibly quickly, the scant vegetation filled out with the emerging lupines. Just a few leaves one day exploded into lupines everywhere, leaves one day, flowers the next. These alpine lupines are not like garden variety lupines. These are low to the ground, with small narrow silvery leaves.
Everywhere there’s a patch of sun, there’s a little patch of wild strawberries. I’ve never actually seen these fruit at home. I’m told that here, however, they are a particular favorite of the bears, who demonstrate a surprising delicacy and sleight of hand picking the fruits of these tiny plants.
In other parts of the Park, at lower elevations, there is more diversity of blooms. I am heading north to Gardiner, just outside the north entrance to the Park, tomorrow, and will see what’s new there.
I am also working on blooming. I had a chance to go to a ranger-sponsored workshop on Monday night at the Employee Rec. Hall, where we watched a video and listened to a presentation that apparently qualified us for an accelerated process in getting backcountry permits. I’m glad this is something I’ve learned a little about before; if my safety depended on a pretty superficial presentation made by the young woman who does the backcountry permitting, I’m afraid I’d really be at risk. I will have to find a babysitter for Mr. Bubba before I can head out, but I am certainly looking forward to the opportunity.
This evening, I went to a presentation on flyfishing. That’s a goal I’ve set for myself for the summer. I’m not sure I really care if I catch, but I want to fish. Fly fishing is graceful and elegant to watch. I’ve been offered lessons by Will and Ted who work in the Gift Shop at the hotel; Maria has already had a few lessons from them, and I’ve just borrowed their video on casting for the night, with plans to meet up with them behind their dorm some evening soon to try my hand at casting. I hope for better luck or skill than I experienced with roping; I always hit myself in the face. Unpleasant as that may have been, at least the rope didn’t have a hook on the end. Small consolation: they don’t permit barbed hooks in the Park, so removal of a hook will be comparatively painless!
I have started a volunteer stint with the National Park Service. I’ll be spending a few hours a week, on a schedule yet to be determined, since my work schedule is in flux with the departure of a couple of front desk employees, or Guest Service Agents as they prefer to call us. I was issued a uniform, alas, no Smoky the Bear hat yet) and will be working at the Desk at the Fishing Bridge Visitor’s Center. I spent my first afternoon there on Monday, after a short orientation on Sunday. I had the pleasure of awarding Yellowstone Junior Ranger badges to a brother and sister from California. It took me right back to seeing Sarah and Benjamin at the Visitors Center at Canyon receiving their badges, Sarah still has hers on a hat. I also spoke with a summer Ranger named Harlan, who took us on a guided hike back on the occasion of our first visit to the Park fourteen years ago. He was thrilled to hear that he’d made such an impact on at least three visitors, and to hear that Sarah was doing coyote research back in Rhode Island.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading up to the Archives at the Heritage Center in Gardiner for a tour of the Archives and an orientation for volunteers. I may be filling in as security/receptionist for them, and will also be working on some research projects in the Archives. I’m delighted to have the chance to do so; access to the Archives is limited.
I spent the afternoon on Tuesday cleaning my tack and converting the trunk of the car into a more efficient tack room. I just received the call that Ms. Maybelline will be arriving Thursday night between 6 and midnight, so the preparation was timely. She is going to be living in Gardiner, about four miles form the Archives. Bubba and I will drive up tomorrow morning, I’ll attend my orientation at the Heritage Center, and we’ll prepare a suitable welcome for the little horse from Rhode Island, who has just enjoyed a little vacation in Colorado.
