We left about 0500 hrs and headed for Vegas.  Wow what a mess.  It took us over 6 hours to get there and the lines at the rest stop bathrooms were at least 150 people long... no lie!  It was so bad on the 15 between Stateline and Vegas that I was actually able to get out of the truck and walk around the car while sitting in the fast lane. (Please don't try this at home.)

The towns geyser was created by accident in an attempt to find a hot water source for a swimming pool. On November 30, 1937, the drill went down 315 feet and unleashed the geyser. The extreme pressure is caused by carbon dioxide gas mixing with water in an underground chamber. It is now capped and controlled by a timer. It erupts every hour on the hour (and 4 minutes early). The geyser reaches heights of 150-feet year-round.

Video of uncontrollable laughter here:
MOV01613.MPG 3.1 Mb

These two horses followed each other and came right up to me, then walked off into the distance together.  I have great respect for horses, their social nature and their intelligence.  They are spiritual animals to me and have such strength, yet at the same time can be fragile.

In this picture, the hawk was diving from extreme heights.  In the picture below, the Eagle rolls over and counter attacks the hawk with it's talons.  Yes this picture is right side up!

In the morning, I get up and see that the campers next door have already left their campsite and wouldn't you know it, their fire pit has ignited again.  Geeeze.  I do the Fire Lookout thing and take over a gallon of water and put it out.  It took only a 1 minute of effort to do and I can't help but wonder why people feel they have to leave a fire to burn out on its own.

I once saw a farmer's sign that said, "If you are fast, you can run across this field in 30 seconds... the buffalo can do it in 10.  Think about it."

For those with a fast Internet connection, I have included one of my most favorite pictures of the trip at full resolution.

DSC01676.JPG  2.1MB  (use your back button to return)

He found Casey (left) and Teak (Right).  They were waiting to do some labor on another ranch but the guy never came by to pick them up, so they had some time.  I told them about the Lookout plan and they knew where to take us.  They saddled up our horses then got theirs ready.

Casey and Teak were great and living the life.  Both young men that work during the summer and do all sorts of jobs in the Mountains of Wyoming.

I didn't say a thing, but I got the White horse.  Go figure that one. (big smile)

This was the first time Tom was ever on a horse and he did great.  We just climbed 1000 feet up the ridge trail and stopped here to give the horses a rest before heading to the top of the ridge.

It was very impressive how these horses at this altitude could climb those trails.  We could really feel the horse power.

However, this horse was hungry like Tom and I was the night before.  He would be walking along and without missing a step, he would pull a plant out by its roots and eat it while walking.  Mailman looked like a farmer with a blade of grass in his mouth at any given time.

I think he liked me because I let him eat so much.

Casey and Teak were also interested in hearing about the Bark Beetle because I was able to spot about three groves were the Beetle has taken hold.

The Mountain pine beetle, "Dendroctonus ponderosae", attacks lodgepole, ponderosa, limber, and whitebark pines in Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park, the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests experienced thousands of whitebark pines and limber pines dying due to activities of this beetle. Mountain pine beetle, along with some forest diseases, are playing a significant role in limber pine and whitebark pine decline on over 58,000 acres of white pines in western Wyoming with an estimated 200,000 trees effected this year.

Tom took this picture from his horse, but in doing so one of his braces on his teeth came off.  (We didn't tell him to never put a horses reins in your mouth, there is so much to know.)

Tom did great on his ride and he really enjoyed the adventure.  Only after we got back to the stable did we tell him how long it usually takes to learn to ride a horse.   It was a good thing his horse (named "Boomer") didn't do anything like mine on the trail.  Boomer was a gentle horse.

They really went out of their way to give us the Horse Mounted Fire Lookout experience I was hoping to get.  There would have been no way to get this at the other ranches, and even at Yellowstone Outfitters it might have been tough during the weekday.

Thanks again guys!  See ya on the range.

Here we stopped at Cathedral Overlook.  Teton is 13,377 feet and towers over the valley floor.  Pictures do no justice, you just have to see it for yourself.

This Chili was really good.  We ate outside right on the shores of Jackson Lake.

We entered Yellowstone National Park and we had to stop for the Continental Divide.  For some reason this meant a lot for Tom (I'll have to ask him about it later) and he insisted we get the tripod out for this shot.

We are standing on the Pacific side of the divide and just past the sign is the Atlantic side.

The fires also burn out the diseased trees, and the burned trees will fall and fertilize the soil.  In the end, the fires are a good thing for the forest, but it is us, that must realize this.

Also, the animals running in panic is a Bambi myth.  In all the fires of 1988, only 250 large animals were lost, not thousands as was reported in the news.  The animals know how to deal with the fire, and some profit by it too.  In fact, this stream has more trout then ever due to the nutrients washed into the stream from above.

This is an Osprey.  The osprey is unique in that it is a hawk in the order of raptors, but it is distinct from other hawks and falcons in several ways.  It has prickly spicules on the feet, which help it grasp slippery fish, to a reversible toe like an owl's. Ospreys also have thin, slit-like nostrils - unique to the species - that close as it dives into water to catch fish.

It was observed that an Osprey was actually attacking the fire when it was getting to close to the nest.  (The article didn't say how the birds attacked the fire, but  I don't think they used a hose.)

We made it to Old Faithful and watched the first eruption, went to go eat, then watched the second.  

Now... even though you have seen all these pictures, I took about 100 of geysers alone.  So since this web page is about a Fire Lookout adventure, I'm going to skip the geyser shots for these pages.

Meadows also recovered nicely, and in some areas new meadows were created.  This has helped the buffalo and other grazing animals.

Earlier there was a fire cloud that started, but ended about an hour later.  Good job to someone out there!

The weather is changing on us and there is a chance of rain for tomorrow.

Tom and I get up and pack the tent.  We make our way for our next breakfast stop.  We are on a "road trip" where we just set up for the night and eat our food out.   It is also bear safe to do and does not cost that much more.  It does save more time then you think.

Another waterfall stop.  Yellowstone has many big falls, some that you can hike to also.

This shot is kind of cool for me because the camper's in the pictures are 1970's vintage and they are just like the ones I came to Yellowstone in with my family.

Our waitress  (black shirt in background) is another summer student working here for the summer.  She says it snowed about two weeks ago.

We seem to be ok still and can make the tower.

You can see that the clouds are getting thicker over the tower in the background.

We walked at different paces so we would play hopscotch on the trail at various times but with my knee surgery, watching those two kids made me work harder to get up that 10,285 foot mountain.

Now on the upper ridge we make one last sprint for the tower while the clouds thicken even more.

To tower is at the upper level above the deck, and when the Lookout sees my Lookout jacket, he comes out of the tower and says, "Are you really from Angeles Forest?"

I say yes and he says, "Go through the gate and get on up here!"

Yosemite National Park and Angeles National Forest Lookout Association

The Lookout's name is Ron Black, I'm Charles White. hehehe  We made a joke of that.  But the real kicker was why Ron was so excited to see me.  As it turns out, Ron started his Forest Service career 40 years ago in the Angeles National Forest.  Over the years he worked many places and was a manager.  Now he and his wife Christine are retired and they are resident in the tower for this fire season.

There are no window shutters but there is some blinds that they can close in (you can see them in the corner).

They said that there are many hikers today and that the storm has them worried.  They were keeping a watch to the West and North where they saw a few lightning strikes.

The storm outside is getting worse so Ron and I trade lookout stories while it passes.  He was very interested in our program.  I was also there while he phoned in his weather report and the winds were gusting at 42 mph, that is why the storm was moving so fast.

To the left are two tripods. The little one has the actual web cam that can be viewed from the external link I have provide below:

Mt. Washburn Live Webcam

I go back down to the visitors observation deck and meet up with Tom.  We sign the guestbook for histories sake with the names of people from all over the world.

We say thank you again and start our trek down.  We get wet as it starts raining again but it looks like there is low lightning danger, and with the day getting later there is no guarantee how long this storm will last so we pick up the pace on the way down.

I'm doing a fairly good job of keeping the camera dry.

"If you don't like the weather in Wyoming, just wait a minute."

I creep up to the area where  the rocks are coming down and to my surprise is a whole family of six cutting the huge switchback from above , knocking out rocks and flowers along the way. (grrrr!)

I told them there are several reasons why this was not a good idea.  It took them a long time that they wasted as a few of the family almost slipped and fell.  What a mess.

Here from about five miles away at full zoom we take our last look at Mt. Washburn.  The grey forest is part of the burn area.

We had a great time.  Ron and I would later make a Tower to Tower telephone call in a couple of days.  I have that phone call in my next tower log for July 12-13, but more about that later.

Ghosts in the rocks.

In summary, I think the fires of Yellowstone have really helped save the park for future generations.  I saw areas of unburned areas where there were old sick trees.

The fire fighting effort was the largest in the nation at the time and the fires were not put out until the rains came in September and October.

Thank you Yellowstone, see you again!

We had a great sunset to the West (below) and we were able to see the backside of the Tetons.

We spend the night at Motel 6 in Idaho Falls and make a break South.  We pass by all the towns and farms.

Going through Salt Lake City, Utah I was amazed at how large the city has become.  Here is a picture of the Utah Railway that services the nearby mines.

It seems Salt Lake now has a smog problem too.

We also past a Utah Highway patrol doing 73 mph and I panicked for a minute.  Tom reminded me I was still 2 mph UNDER the 75 mph speed limit.  That was cool.

We went though the following states in order:

California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana

I told him we are still 300 miles from home but he said something I have always felt too.  "Yeah true, but it's like we are now in our own back yard."

We loved the trip.  We got home about 10pm when I dropped Tom off.  I got home about 2 hours later and slept all day Thursday.

Didn't have too much time off because I had to get ready for my Tower duty for July 12.

Thanks for reading our adventure.

-Charley