Week 2 of Work

Dear Reader,

Last Wednesday, June 22, Yellowstone National Park's south loop reopened to the public. Or, Old Faithful is once again a touristy spot. In fact, your narrator took the photo below as evidence and he challenges you to leave a comment to estimate how many tourists there are around Old Faithful.

(Drones are prohibited in the park so how did Your Narrator get this view? Find out in the next post!)

Although Wednesday's re-opening put an end to our brief period of exclusive access to the park's entirety, we maintain our peace from visitors as we live in the northern part of the park. Bears, too, seem to have understood this fact too as they have lent us even more appearances:

We're in bear country and although these fuzzballs may at first resemble our caricatures of them (teddy bears), bears pose a threat to humans and their powerful sense of smell means that park visitors require more sophisticated ways to hide their food than a drawstring in a knapsack. As a result, all three YCC crews installed bear boxes this week so that campers can be sure that a bear won't take flight with their sandwich.

Alpha Crew's Finished Bear Box:

Bravo crew transporting their bear box:

and Charlie crew putting in their bear box's concrete foundations:

Bear boxes aside, YCC crews also helped with redevelopment efforts of Old Gardiner Road, the only intact post-flood road between Gardiner and Mammoth at the heart of the supplies convoy to the north of the park. In particular, crews helped clear sagebrush to ensure 10 feet of space off both sides of the road.

After hours, crews took advantage of the waning moments of exclusive access for some spectacular moments together at Yellowstone, be they just cooking together:

Listening to guest speakers

Posing in front of an immense abyss that is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Witnessing Steamboat Geyser's eruption (an event that Your Narrator has not even seen himself):

Feeling a natural sauna in a manner that protects the park's thermal features

Learn, check. Play, check. Work, check. Grow, check. That was a long week but we haven't even gotten to the weekend. Well, that'll be for your next post. Until then, think about how many visitors there were in that photo of Old Faithful and see you soon!

Best,

Your Narrator.