snow, finally

memorial weekend snow

so it snowed today...

snow at mammoth terraces

scenes from december

memorial day

Is it warm where you are? Because it's not here...while the rest of the country is at the beach, wearing shorts, having BBQ's, we're dealing with snow, snow, and more snow.

Here's a shot from the Hayden Valley today:


This week has found many road closures in the park due to weather. The openings of Dunraven Pass and the Beartooth Highway have been pushed back (6/10 and 6/3). There's a rock slide that has indefinitely closed the road between Mammoth and Tower, isolating the NE corner of the park. The East Entrance is only open between 8 p.m. - 10 a.m. due to Avalanche danger, and the roof of the Fishing Bridge service station recently collapsed under the weight of the snow.


We decided to brave the snow and drove the lower loop today. Steve patiently waited out a snow storm


so that he could jump in the Firehole River for a bit.


I snapped a few pics of an Osprey flying overhead before retreating to the comfort (ie, warmth) of the car.


Yellowstone Lake, still very much frozen.


It's always nice to be out and about in the park, but we're ready for some warmer weather to come our way...

on the road

We left Montana last night, bound for Oregon. Despite driving through snow all night, we did have a gorgeous sunset over the mountains as we approached Butte:

Last night's stop was Spokane, Washington. Right now we're bound for Portland, where we'll spend the night, before heading to Eugene and the race expo tomorrow.

Before we left the Park, two exciting things happened: 1) we saw our first bison calf of the year, and 2) we got TV! After 1.5 years without it, we now have access to sports (and the Royal Wedding). And it took all of five minutes for us to start fighting over the remote...

eighteen

The hardest thing about training for the Eugene Marathon has been the weather. While the rest of the country is experiencing spring, it's still very much winter here. And even when the sun shines, there's wind. Sunday's weather was 26 degrees with 9 MPH winds. And those were GOOD conditions.


We've been running on the East River Road, a two-lane road that parallels Highway 89, in the Paradise Valley. Over the course of my 18-miler, it was sunny, they snowy, then sunny, then snowy.


As I pounded out the miles, I saw my first mountain bluebird,


which means spring really is around the corner (somewhere, somewhere). I also had an entire herd of mule deer cross the road in front of me, and apparently ran right past a moose in the river that I was too tired to see.

For about a mile I ran alongside a herd of elk, running above me on the mountainside.


The weather is harsh, the hills are killer, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful place to run.

february, part 2

Running--the other part of February. This is what running in winter here looks like.

The sign says "Animals on Roadway."


And it's a little hard to run when they are.

february, part 1

February got away from me. Steve was in NYC for three weeks, and I kept myself busy with skiing, running, and various social activities planned to keep Park residents from going crazy during one of the coldest months of the year. As I write this, the temperature outside is -20, as in Twenty. Below. Zero. Oh, and 15 MPH winds on top of that.

Running has almost completely consumed my non-work life, but before Steve returned from NYC, and back when it a wee bit warmer, I skied the Chittenden Loop with friends. But first, a pre-ski Cheddar Bomb burger at Buns 'n Beds in Cooke City to fuel up for the 10-miler.


Then we hit the trail. First stop, the winter-deserted Tower General Store and parking lot.


Then we climbed up the road to Tower Campground,


and skied past the campsite Steve and I camped at a couple of years ago. Steve remembers this campsite because there was a heavy snorer one tent away (it wasn't Larry Carr) who kept him up all night, 2 nights in a row. But I digress...


This route is only open in the winter, and as we climbed up the road we had nice views of the surrounding mountains.


We weren't the only people using this road. We skied alongside fresh wolf tracks as we went along...


Which makes sense, considering. I'm guessing a carcass log isn't something everyone expects to encounter when they're out for a ski.


And finally, views of Mt. Washburn in the distance,


before we skied back to Roosevelt via the road.

snowy saturday

snow