Camping and hiking

After I got off work, Tricia and I went camping at Canyon. It stopped raining long enough for us to set up our tents and take a walk through the campground. By the time we got back, it was dark and raining so we just went to sleep!

Fell asleep and woke up a couple hours later and was FREEZING!!!!! It got down to 28 degrees!!!!!

But we managed okay. Woke up the next morning and hike the North Rim Trail from Chittenden bridge. We attempted this hike about 3 weeks ago but got rained out.
This time, we made it to the brink of the lower falls. It was pretty cool:

The canyon is so colorful. We

Below is the trail known as Uncle Tom's Trail on the south rim. It is currently closed because a boulder came crashing down the side of the canyon wall and damaged the staircase.

We continued on the trail towards Inspiration Point.

Stopped for a break with a great view of the lower falls:

I really liked this trail and it is my favorite hike, so far.

We made it to Inspiration Point. 6 miles round-trip plus a mile side trip down to the brink of the lower falls.

The wildflowers are everywhere around here.

Blacktail Ponds Trail

After dinner, Mary, Rebekah, and I took a short little hike on the Blacktail Ponds trail. It was a nice, easy walk and, of course, the scenery was soothing after a long 10 hour day.

Elk Calves

The elk calves are here, and they are so cute! The mamas are very protective and there have been a few employees here that have been "chased" by a mama elk.

Silly

I apologize in advance for this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Rebekah and I went to Old Faithful today to visit our friends Ginny and Megan. Rebekah worked the night before and had been up for 24 hours or so. Along the 1 1/2 hour drive there, Rebekah kept herself awake by snapping some simply silly pictures! I must say, it was a fun drive!

CAUTION!! Road construction between Norris and Madison:

Road construction between Norris and Madison

Ginny was hard at work:

We almost didn't get to visit Old Faithful because it snowed all morning....on June 7th!!

Old Faithful Snow Lodge lobby:

We visited the Old Faithful Inn and did the walking tour of the Inn.

The Inn is a great place to watch people:

The Inn from the front:

I must say, the lobby is pretty cool!

Snowing in June????

It's June 6th and it is snowing!

By the way, the fencing over the flowers is to keep them from being devoured by the elk.

Roosevelt Old West Cookout Shakedown

Tonight was the shakedown, the practice run, for the Roosevelt Old West Cookout. Front desk and reservations employees got to attend for free! We met at the Roosevelt Corral at 4:45 p.m. Here are the replica stagecoaches and the canvas covered wagons that you can ride at Roosevelt:

We left Roosevelt and headed to Pleasant Valley. The scenery along the way was gorgeous!

The wranglers told us the history us the area we were traveling through and pointed out different things of interest along the way:After a 3 mile ride, we arrived at the picnic area. It was a beautiful, secluded spot:

Here are the horses that pulled our wagon: Squirt and Shorty

It was a damp, chilly night, but there was a campfire burning with cowboy coffee cooking:
We all mingled and chatted drinking (really bad) cowboy coffee. The picture below is where the meal was served. You can see the chuckwagons behind the buffet area.

The menu consisted of all you can eat: steak, chuck wagon corn, baked beans, coleslaw, cornbread muffins, watermelon, and apple crisp.

While we were eating, Cowboy Bob was playing guitar and singing:

Rebekah and Megan:

After the meal, we loaded back up on the wagons and circled around by the cooks.

Pleasant Valley: