Bunsen Peak hike, Yellowstone

Howdee all,

Another nice hike with awesome views of Electric peak.

Charlene, Jennifer and I did this hike while Jeff and Jimmy fished.

Elevation: 8,564 Feet
Recommended Season: Spring to Fall
USGS Maps: Trails Illustrated (Mammoth Hot Springs), Mammoth USGS quad.
Difficulty: Moderate
Length: 4.2 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1,300 Feet

DirectionsFrom Mammoth Hot springs, Travel 4.7 miles south. Immediately past the Golden Gate Bridge park on the left in the Glen Creek Trailhead parking lot.

Location Information
Bunsen Peak Trail, located south of Mammoth Hot Springs, offers a gradual 1,300 foot climb to the summit of Bunsen Peak. The trail climbs through sagebrush and burned pine and fir. The summit provides a panoramic view of the Blacktail Plateau, Swan Lake Flats, Absarokas Mountain Range, Electric Peak (10,992 ft.), Mount Holmes (10,336 ft.), and the Yellowstone River Valley. The peak is actually an ancient volcano cone and was named for Robert Bunsen who did early research on geysers. Return by the same route or take the trail down the back side past Osprey Falls trailhead (about 2 miles) and return via the Old Bunsen Peak Road Trail

As we begin our assent we leave the road below us..Some elevation gain and the views start coming… A lake in the distance…would love to hike out there… More distant blue lakes and mountains..

A hidden surprise on our trip to the summit..

Dusky GrouseGetting close to the summit ..and distant views of Electric peak.. Electric Peak…

will have to hike there next time we visit! At the summit…I

love this ..whoever created this rock art did an awesome job.

So I took a few photos..again Electric Peak Weathered wood

Cotton ball clouds Weathered wood sculptures

Time to head down…another way… Close encounters with…??

who knows? grasshopper? cricket?

Small bug..??

looks kind of like a stinkbug..

Down the mountain and hiking thru meadows…

The last leg of the hike is on an old roadbed..

I believe these are more sage grouse..but I didn't see any yellow around the eye..

(Dusky Grouse...ID by my fellow Bird Bloggers, Larry Jordon, and Rob Miller)

Thanks Guys!

Need birdie ID helpAny confirmations….or ID welcome.Another wonderful day…Great hike…Great views..

I Highly recommend this hike…short..and sweet… a good workout.

See ya…more Yellowstone Hikes to come…

Beaver Ponds Hike

Howdee all,

Beaver ponds hike was a short 5 mile loop around a few ponds near Mammoth hot springs.

Beaver Ponds Loop Trail
Round trip distance: 5 mile loop trail

Climb: easy-moderate
Difficulty: easy-moderate

Trail Description: The trail begins in Clematis Gulch between Liberty Cap and the stone house. It follows the creek up Clematis Gulch, climbing 350 feet through spruce and fir trees. The beaver ponds are reached after hiking 2.5 miles through open meadows of sage and stands of aspen. Mule deer, pronghorn antelope, moose, beaver dams and lodges, and occasionally bear may be sighted in the area. There are spectacular views as you wind your way back to Mammoth

It was a nice way to start off our Yellowstone trip.

The clouds were beautiful but it looked like we might get a shower.   Last time Jeff and I did this hike we saw a Bear sow and her cub.

No bear sightings this time.

We did see a few interesting things.

This amazing metallic blue bug!

Is this a type of flea beetle?

Lots of Grasshoppers…..

Some very interesting mushrooms

Stalked puffball

and a lichen heart(Sorry Sicksta Dell..couldn't take it out of the park)

My camera battery was losing juice

This was the last photo I took before the rain..and before

The Rainbow…

luckily Jeff had his camera  and he captured a few photosI pieced two of his photos together to show you how incredible this was.. What a wonderful way to start out our trip to Yellowstone..More hikes to come….see you soon!   

Campsite at Mammoth Hot springs, ELK!

Howdee all,

We are now in one of my favorite towns and a second home to us.

Eugene, Oregon.

Our coach was built nearby in Junction City..sorry to say the RV industry is doing worse than the car industry…hopefully some new eco friendly rvs will evolve from this slump.

We have lots of friends to visit and favorite restaurants and of course the mushrooms..will be picking those in a few weeks.

Now that i have internet I can start to post some of what we saw in Yellowstone and the Tetons.So here is my first post…..………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

We arrived at Mammoth hot springs campground on August 31. This is one of our favorite campgrounds in Yellowstone. There are no hookups, no showers in the bath house, but the location is great. Lots of hikes and fishing in North Yellowstone, and a short drive from the campsite is Boiling river where we would soak in the hot springs after a long hike.

Our Campsite #59, Jimmy and Jennifer had #60

Evening at the campsite..the back end of Homey..

Sicksta Charlene sets up tent behind Homey.

One very early morning after reading about Grizzly bear, Charlene heard sounds all around her tent, sniffing, snorting etc. She tried not to make a sound and was quite scared…she didn't get much sleep that night.

We awoke that morning to Elk in our campground……. Elk are a common site around Mammoth.

Sitting on a old hot spring bed.. The rangers close off areas where the elk are so that tourists wont get too close. Who's your Daddy?

Ring leader of elkDom here. Next post…our first hike

Beaver Ponds

Hope to visit all of your blogs soon…..i know it will take me a while to catch up..and I feel so out of the loop. I am sooo curious to see what u all have been up to while I have had no internet!

See you soon!

The Great Read award..ten things about myself

Thanks so much to Trevor from Life with Woodpecker Blog,

who was awarded the Great Read award before me
. He has passed this award to me. Thank you!

I need to write ten things about me......

This is Trevors post Ten Childhood memories
You must read his post! You wont be disappointed.

I will write a few things about myself...some of these I had posted earlier when I was tagged...about six random things about myself.

1. I am a finder.
Family members and some friends would tell you that I find things...
I love to find things actually... I love looking for arrowheads, four leaf clovers, heart shaped and otherly shaped rocks, that are interesting, Shells, birds, mushrooms...Where ever I am I just like to look and pick out the unusual...the thing that doesn't seem to belong, but is there. Kinda like wheres waldo.
Needless to say I am kinda like Lucy in the Long, Long trailer...Sometimes I have too many rocks...and cool stuff that I have collected.....good thing I have family members that love the stuff I find...
I also am good at finding birds...
We were in Arizona, Patagonia state park waiting for a group to congregate for a bird walk...people were mulling about, doing some birding while waiting...I spied a Rose throated Becard at one of the RV.s campsites. That was the highlight of the birdie morning... Ok so that could happen to anyone...I suppose...but maybe now you might want to take me bird watching with you...tee hee...
But be warned, I did find a great wooden tree trunk Owl...I had the group leader and a few others STUMPED..for a while anyway....

2. I Pick Mushrooms. Yep and eat them too...
and Now my family and some friends trust me and they eat them as well.
When we started Full timing seven years ago...we picked up our Homey in Oregon. We took it to the coast to get used to living in it. (We had no clue about what we were doing...but that is another story...seven years later we are old pros to the lifestyle.)
Anyhoo....while at the coast we noticed several roadside tents with signs .."Mushroom buyers" well I love mushrooms but why were they buying mushrooms..not selling.
Well..... Oregon is a great area for mushrooming in the fall and spring, Commercial pickers go out all day ..pick mushrooms then bring them to the tents and sell their mushrooms. We found it fascinating and decided we needed to learn more...
After many mushroom festivals, mushroom walks and talks.....and Luckily meeting some new Mycological friends we were confident enough to pick certain edible mushrooms.
When in Oregon and other areas...you might find me looking for some of my favorites, Boletus edulus, or Porchini, the chanterelle, hedgehog, Oyster, Lobster, Chicken of the woods, Cauliflower.. I could go on and on..love to pick mushrooms. I do dry and freeze them for future use and to give away.

3. I wear ONLY brown and biege....Yep....only brown and beige.
I might have other colors in a brown or beige shirt... I might have a shirt that has allot of another color...but it always has some brown or beige in it.
And why? do you ask..... Well having a very small closet,(rv closets are tiny)... and a very casual lifestyle, and because I look good in brown,( I think so anyway)......I decided that that is what I would do...
I don't need to think about what goes with what...Everything goes together....Life is easy...Shopping is easy...Just look for brown or beige..walk by everything else...

4. I have a lovely Daughter that I did not give birth to.
This is my second marriage and also my husbands. I never had children, unless you count my fur boys. When Jeff and I started dating, Samarrah was around 7 ....she asked to move in with us when we married....she was around eleven then. So I did my best to be a mother with not much knowledge and training..and I made lots of mistakes.... It wasn't always easy....but we both survived and I love her dearly. She is 31 now and living on her own Brooklyn, NY...and recenty graduated with her Masters in Social work...

5. I come from a family of six.
That's just us kids..we do have two parents....
Two older sisters, Two younger sisters...and a baby brother...ha...hes not such a baby boy anymore but when he was born we were all at least older then 8....and he was our baby boy and we were his mothers...all five of us...Oh yea...my mom was his mother too....

6. I Love living in our Motor home. HOMEY you can click here to take a tour
Over eight years ago when my husband suggested the idea...I didn't think that I would like it...such a small space....no fireplace..no jacuzzi tub.....but he showed me a few of the beautiful Motor homes and that was that....as far as the fireplace and jacuzzi...well.... we can have an outdoor fire and go to a few hot springs...
Sooo...
We sold our home put stuff in my sisters big attic, (Thanks Lori and Tillio) and the furniture we decided to keep is being used by different family members.
I never looked back...what a blast we are having. We get to spend quality time when we are with Family and friends, sometimes parked in their driveways... We call ourselves migrant workers..Lately we have been raking allot of leaves in NC...you might find us gardening, painting,organizing and helping with computer issues...or sometime making dents in peoples sofas....(JEFF)
When we are traveling we always find beautiful places to stay..if we don't like it ...we leave......
We meet others who travel like us and sometimes hook up and travel together...
Ok its not always Rosy dosy...
Sometimes the motor home seems to be a bit small and I SUGGEST..that my husband golf...
...
and sometimes I am not tooo Happy about being in TRAFFIC....or passing big Trucks...or going on curvey roads...or when my husband drives to fast or when etc etc.........you get the picture...

(no I don't drive the motor home...I do know how and am Licenced to drive it..)
and sometimes the motor home needs fixin...that means pack up the car...take the cat and out of the Homey till its fixed.
but otherwise, I love it...and will continue living this lifestyle until we are ready for a fixed foundation.

7..I Love Blogging, Reading friends. families and Bird/ nature blogs. I use twitter and facebook...I dont like it when I dont have internet connection..

8. I am a bit of a neat nik...I love it when everything is in its place...and my home looks tidy.

9. Next year Jeff and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage! Yippee..

10. I love being out West! Love it! Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon etc etc.
But I miss my east coast family.

Thats all for now...

Internet has been pretty spotty to virtually non existant for me lately..
I hope to catch up with all your blogs next week..
See you then!

Table Mountain Hike, The Grand Tetons

Howdee all,

Two days ago, Jeff, Jennifer and I hiked to Table Mountain.

A wonderful, challenging hike. Well worth the effort. If you click on the highlighted link above you get a description of the trail.

Distance: 12 miles (round-trip).
Elevation Changes: Table Mountain stands 4,100 feet above the trailhead. Good Luck! This part make me chuckle through out the trail..yeah..Good luck.
Time required: 8 hours. Took us 9-1/2 hours
Difficulty: Very strenuous. 

See that little mound between the trees? that was our destination.

   From the campground the trail gained 400 ft. in elevation very quickly.

We went thru several sections of tall wildflowers…all past prime. Jennifer hiking up

The Grand Teton coming into view on the left and Table Mountain on the right.  See the trail we hiked up, in the photo below?

Yep..we did that! Click on photo for better view.

Around the 3.5 mile mark, the trail bends to the right and enters a series of 9 switchbacks which climb 1,000 feet in less than a mile. Jennifer at the top of the switchbacks. The valley below in the distance… Farm land.   Getting closer to the table.

Had to cross over this rocky area.

Almost there…huff puff..huff puff.. Jennifer almost at the topJeff almost there……Looking back from where we came…..WOW!And the view from on top of Table Mountain!

Almost touching the Tetons!   Yippee!

We did it!Oh yeah…have to hike down…

sore knees!A fantastic hike, long but well worth every step.

for those awesome views from the top!   

We now have internet.

I haven't yet had time to catch up on all my blog reading!

I am anxious to see what everyone has been up to…but have been much to busy day and night to take the time.

Hope to catch up with you all very soon!