Bear Attack at Soda Butte Campground Kills Michigan Man

Camping isn’t for the faint of heart. There is the possibility that you’ll have to do your duty in some vile scented pit toilet, wash your dishes in some potty like contraption, or even get mutilated by a bear.

We enjoy camping in Many Glacier and are aware of bear attacks. This picture shows one of our campsites in the Many Glacier Campground.  Mary Mahoney, age 22 was killed by a grizzly bear in the Many Glacier Campground on September 3, 1976.

Last night a bear rampaged through the Soda Butte Campground out of East Yellowstone near Cooke City. A lone camper was killed and two other people were injured by the bear at around 2 o’clock Wednesday morning. Don and Paige Wilhelm of Aledo, Texas heard the first attack. “We heard a lady in the tent next door say, ’No.’ I said, ’Don, there’s a bear,’ and started hearing this snuffling. We heard her say, ’A bear has attacked me.’”

It turns out that this woman received severe lacerations and crushed bones on her arm. Her life was probably saved because she did the right thing and played dead. After waiting for the sound of the animal‘s breathing to go away, the Wilhelm’s took refuge from the chaos in their car.

Later the corpse of another victim was found near his tent about a quarter mile away from the other victims. The species of the bear is not known, but DNA samples have been collected from the campground. If the bear is found, it will be killed. Bear attacks are not new to the Soda Butte Campground. A similar attack occurred in 2008 when a man was injured by a bear while sleeping in his tent at the campground. A young female grizzly was identified as the culprit four days later. The rumor is that officials captured the wrong bear. In that case, we have a serial killer on our hands.

Most bear attacks are spurred by natural things like when a mother bear attacks someone in protection of her cubs. What is disturbing about this series of attacks is that the victims were sleeping in an established campground, completely noninvasive to the bear.

Our family goes camping regularly in bear country but have felt fairly safe due to the population of the campgrounds.

At least most of the family feels safe. I stay up most of the night, listening to the sounds of the woods outside. Every stick breaking, every rustle in the trees sends shivers up my spine. Eventually, I give up watch and fall asleep. Anyway, that’s better than infuriating my sister in the next sleeping bag. Maybe I have a reason to be afraid. The last time we went camping I had to pee in the middle of the night. On my trip to the restroom, all was still and normal. What if I’d left the tent to find the other tents shredded, the other campers bleeding-or dead? It sure sounds like a nightmare. Speaking of nightmares, last night I dreamt that I had to hide in our van for safety from a bear. Is it possible that I was somehow connected to the horrors taking place so many miles away?
 
Mallory
Blue Pencil Diaries

Note: Montana officials have identified the man killed by the grizzly as Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The bear pulled Kammer out of his tent 25 feet to where his body was found.  A 300 to 400 lb sow and 2 of her 3 cubs have been captured.  The mother will be killed.  The cubs more than likely will be destroyed also as they have been taught predatory behavior by their mother.

Jack Hanna Sprays GRIZZLY BEAR with Pepper Spray!

It was around 5:30 a.m. and I had just rolled over to the side of the bed with the window fan so I could feel the breeze when David came in and told me that Jack Hanna, the famous zookeeper, had sprayed a bear on the Grinnell trail. My early bird husband probably didn’t notice, but I instantly went from groggy to interested. Why? Because I’m always interested in grizzly bear stories (yes, I really am) and because we had our own adventure on the Grinnell trail in Glacier National Park.

First of all, if you’re unfamiliar with Jack Hanna, he has been the director of the Columbus Zoo in Columbus, Ohio since 1978. He is now director emeritus. Jack has been a frequent guest of David Letterman where he and an assistant have entertained Dave and the audience with wild and exotic animals. And “Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures” TV show used to be a morning treat for M and E when they were little tykes. Jack Hanna and his wife have a home in Bigfork, on the east side of Flathead Lake (one of the places where we go to pick cherries). About Montana, I read that he and his wife love hiking, love the people, and the wildlife here.

According to the Daily Interlake, Jack Hanna, his wife Suzi, another couple, and the couple’s 18 - year old daughter were hiking in the park on the Grinnell Glacier Trail last Saturday when they encountered bears. The 18 year old was up ahead on a narrow section of the trail when she saw 3 bears approaching up the trail. She ran back to tell the rest of the group. Hanna said he told the group to get behind him and start backing up the trail. He said, “We started walking backwards, and we started talking loudly, but we didn’t yell.” There was an area where there was a steep clear slope leading to walls of rock. The hikers were able to scramble uphill and stand with their backs to the wall. They watched the mother grizzly and one of her yearling cubs amble by. The two bears passed by without noticing them. However, when the 3rd bear, came by, he stopped. He looked up and saw the hikers. Hanna said, “That one youngster stops…and the hair starts going on its back and I said, ’Oh shoot.” That’s when he readied his pepper spray and shot a burst toward the bear which was at about 30 feet. Wind carried the spray away and the bear continued to advance towards them. Hanna sprayed again when the cub was at about 20 feet but it had no effect. At about 10 feet, Hanna used the bear spray again and said, “I got him in the face and he shook his head and ran.”

Oh boy, what an adrenaline rush! I can tell you! I saw a small cub on the Scenic Point trail a couple of weeks ago and even though we’ve had close encounters before, we were scared. We all readied our bear spray and began to walk past where I had seen the bear. When we got past the point where I had seen the cub, David stopped. He said, “Look, your bear is a marmot.” There on the side of the trail was a marmot munching on foliage. I insisted that what I saw was a bear and not a marmot! My husband dawdled as usual when we see bears, he always wants to make sure we get good pictures, but the girls and I were uncomfortable with waiting to get eaten and began to yell. If any bears were around that day, I’m sure we scared them off.

Now, I know you've gotta  love bear stories too, so check out one of our close encounters.  And for some pretty pics of the Grinnell trail visit my flickr photostream.

You may also like:

• The Otters Retun to Glacier

Happy Trails,

Runaway Bride

Click for more info on Amazon

I’ve been wanting to tell you who I saw at Super 1 a few weeks ago.  Well, I can’t be absolutely certain because I didn’t ask, but it sure looked like him. Whenever I see a celebrity or somebody I think is a celebrity, I just toss the possibility around in my head. I don’t bug them and ask for their autograph or confirmation of their identity. If our eyes meet, I usually exchange a smile of recognition or something like that. Wait!  On second thought, my husband, daughter M, and I did behave like paparazzi to Mr. Nerison. He‘s the man who lives in our neighborhood and who made the news about being attacked by a grizzly while jogging in the park. We’re usually pretty laid back and don’t chase people down, but I had written about Mr. Nerison‘s attack on this blog. His daughter read the post and had gotten a little irritated by my choice of words. She left a comment to put me in my place. So, when we saw Mr. Nerison walking around the neighborhood with a bandaged leg, we just had to stop him and talk to him. I know, you want to know who I saw in the store.

Like I said, it was a few days before July 4th. E and I were in the express lane getting some last minute supplies for our family's trip to Virginia City. This tall, nice looking guy comes up behind us with an item or two, so I said he could go ahead of me because I was at the limit of 15 items. No, you don’t have to be good looking for me to let you ahead. I always do this at the grocery when I see someone with just a few things. I wish more people would do it for me. He says “thank you” and gets in front of me. We’re just standing there waiting to check out when he looks at my Peace Tea on the conveyor belt and says, “That’s pretty good iced tea,” and I say, “Yeah, we like it after a hike.” It isn’t until he checks out and leaves that I ponder that he may have been a celebrity. I thought about asking the cashier‘s opinion, but didn‘t. On the way home, I told my daughter, E, that I thought the guy looked kind of familiar, like some movie star, but I couldn’t think of his name. I Googled Brokeback Mountain because that’s the only movie I could think of that I knew this guy was in. The pictures, the height, and age of Jake Gyllenhaal matched the description of the guy in jeans and a T-shirt at Super 1. So who knows?  I bet you thought it was going to be Richard Gere, huh?

But you’re wondering why I titled this post “Runaway Bride”. Well, there was an article in Sunday’s paper titled, “The Whole Truth About Half Moon”. It’s a name that’s been given to more than one historic spot in the north end of the Flathead Valley. The article explained how the term “Half Moon” came about, where Half Moon is and how many Half Moon locations there are around the valley. It also said that in 1910, a Half Moon School had been built along with a teacherage. In 1974, someone moved the restored school to the North Fork Road and in the early 1990’s the movie star Kiefer Sutherland restored the teacherage on his 300 acre ranch and made it into a studio for his then finance Julia Roberts. They were supposed to be married in June of 1991, but Roberts broke the engagement three days before the wedding and ran off with another man to Europe. Kiefer Sutherland sold the building and property but a cornerstone on the teacherage still reads Sutherland Ranch.  So, it appears Julia is a runaway bride in real life, not just in the movies.

It was a glorious Sunday afternoon and with no other plans, my husband and I decided to ride out to the ranch to get some pictures. We thought you might like to see Julia's studio and the cornerstone. The valley is lovely out there and I thought about Julia's running away as I stood on the porch absorbing the view.  Whether Julia makes a habit of leaving men at the alter, I wouldn't know.  If you're out there Julia and want to tell me your side of the story, I'm listening.

The Kiefer Sutherland Ranch cornerstone west of Columbia Falls, MT

The view behind this building is to the north and looking towards "Big Mountain" -  Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort.

Here I am in front of the 1910 teacherage that was restored by Kiefer Sutherland for Julia Roberts. 

Sweeping views of big sky from the porch. Reportedly, Kiefer and Julia visited the ranch and enjoyed riding horses here.  There was a soothing peacefulness to the surroundings.

Julia's view from the porch of the studio.

Many celebrities have taken up residence under the Big Sky. Wide open spaces, easy living, and respect for one’s privacy are just a few of the reasons that make it a great place to kick up your heels and relax.

And don't forget...the people ahead of you in the express line are the ones who can count to 10.

Peace,




Other celebrity articles you may enjoy:

• Famous People from Montana
• David Letterman Gets Married

Random Thoughts

I’ve got a lot of random thoughts going on around in my head this morning, so bear with me.

Number One ~ I feel kind of funny. No, not the ha, ha kind of funny but the weird and eerie kind of funny. I was reading the morning paper when I ran across an article titled “Man’s death attributed to stress disorder”. It was about a Wisconsin man, a former Marine sergeant, who took his own life in Yellowstone National Park. The man’s father said his son had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following his discharge from the military in 2007. Peter Kastner went missing in late May. A rental car he had been driving was discovered abandoned along a trail in Yellowstone. His family just got word of his death this past July 14. His body was found by researchers working on Garnet Hill, a summit north of Tower Junction. Peter Kastner had a wife and was 25 years old.

To begin with, what gives me the creeps is that I recently posted an article “Yellowstone - Beautiful but Deadly”. It was all about the natural hazards of Yellowstone. I explain how people get hurt or die in the park by accident or reckless behavior. Secondly, I’ve also written about suicides in national parks. You can read all about it by clicking here. Thirdly, I’ve got kids…some a good bit older and some a good bit younger. I just don’t like to hear about somebody’s kid dying.

Number Two ~ Another article I read this morning was about two hikers getting hit by falling rocks. Two males, one 13 and one 19, were injured on the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park when rocks fell from a cliff about 100 feet above the trail. I know this trail pretty well. On the first leg of the trail you walk along the side of a rocky cliff. There’s a cable that’s been run through a hose and anchored into the mountain if you need to hold on. We used it last summer when a storm blew up and the wind got pretty gusty. It’s a spectacular hike with lots of wildlife. Falling rocks is not a problem to my knowledge. What makes this noteworthy this morning is my family’s experience of seeing a boy throwing a rock over the side of the Grand Canyon. Since then, we’ve preached not to do that…someone may be down below on a trail and get conked on the head.

Number Three ~ Thinking about change again. Construction crews have been in my neighborhood for weeks. They’ve been digging up the historical corners of Kalispell’s 100 year old side walks. It’s kind of difficult to see the beauty in this at this point. I suppose it’s stimulus money funding the project; just sad to see the old concrete markings torn up.  Read my article "Change ~ Embrace It".

Number Four ~ Blog, blog, blog. My husband asked me if I had seen the status my cousin had posted on her Facebook wall. Her status was about blog stats. Apparently Newsweek reported that there are now a whopping 141 million blogs, up from only 12,000 blogs that were on the internet in 2000. Wondering what impression a casual passerby would get of this blog?  Would they think it's only about hiking and national parks?  Would they only read the top post?  Questions, questions...now I need some answers.

I’d better get moving now.  Here's a pic of our old sidewalk.

Sidewalk stamped 1910. Sad to see this little piece of history fade away.

Til next time,

Black Pine Cone Doozies

I’m stumped again. Can anyone tell me what type of pine cone this is?

I had never seen cones like this before.

My husband spotted these little doozies on our hike last Saturday. I was up ahead on the trail and he called me to come back and take a look. He seemed really impressed and acted like they were something special. He hadn’t ever seen anything like it he said. Having already passed that point on the trail, I was reluctant to walk back. The Scenic Point Trail is short at 3.1 miles to the lookout, yet a steep climb of about 2,400 feet. The hike wasn’t as tough as I had remembered, but I told him I’d catch the cones on the way down. I just didn’t feel like retracing my steps. He told our daughters and me to make a point of remembering where the trees were so we could see them on our descent.

A wind blown pine reaches for the sky.

The hike was awesome! The scenery in the Two Medicine Valley never fails to impress. What can I say? Painted mountains, rugged scree slopes, windblown trees, showy wildflowers, and top of the world views of the Great Plains are hard to beat. The plateau was filled with delicate purple and yellow flowers. The sweet perfume of Alpine Lupine filled the air as we made our way to the point.

Fragrant Alpine Lupine

I thought the descent was kind of tough. My toes were banging up against my hiking boots and my feet hurt. I couldn’t wait for it to be over and it seemed like it took forever. But my feet were all but forgotten when I had the “ah ha” moment on seeing the black pine cones. They were unusually pretty and I started taking pictures of them. I asked some passing hikers if they had ever seen them before.

“Yeah” the guy said. The gal said she hadn’t and stopped to take a curious look. I took a few more shots and we went on our way.

I thought I’d blog about the cones today and tell you more about them, but I don’t exactly know what kind they are. As in the case of the Yellowstone boardwalks, I cannot seem to find specific information on what I call the “black” pine cones. White pines live in high elevations, but these trees looked a little different than the rest. Obviously, I just didn’t know what I was looking at.

I did learn that there are about 115 species of conifer trees. Pine cones come in male and female with the rare exception of same sex ones. The males are smaller and don’t look much like pine cones. They do their business, spread their seed, and only live a few weeks. And guess what?  Immature cones vary in shades of yellowish-green to magenta, so perhaps the black ones are just babies.

Immature yellow cones

Whatever the case, perhaps an answer will turn up as it did in the case of “What are these yellow flowers blooming all over the valley?  It took a few weeks for the answer to materialize but we just found out that they are canola plants.

Fields of canola plants

"Many are believers in chance coincidence, but I tell you that an answer comes because a question was asked. It’s as if the answer was conceived simultaneously with the question, waiting only for the moment to present itself." ~ Grandpa Davey

Till next time,



Oh, I've added a Flickr app to my blog.  Check out the top left column.  Click it to see more pictures from Scenic Point.

Yellowstone - Beautiful But Deadly

....And now for the rest of the story.

Tuesday's post  left you hanging as I took a tongue in cheek view of the boardwalk rules in Yellowstone National Park.  My daughter had asked the question, "how did they build the boardwalks", as we walked along a trail observing steaming hot springs and boiling water bubble out of the crust around us. 

We had seen the warning signs:

DANGEROUS GROUND, UNSTABLE GROUND, BOILING WATER

Some of the signs cautioned with an illustration of a boy who appeared to be jumping on a cone.  His pained expression tells it all as steam envelopes him and a woman looks on in horror.

Stay on boardwalks and designated trails. They protect you and delicate formations, warns the Official Newspaper of Yellowstone National Park.

The question remains. How did they build the boardwalks if you're not supposed to leave the trail for fear of breaking through the crust and getting burned?  After all, someone or something had to venture out on the crust to lay the planks. Another question from a reader popped up on Tuesday's post, "...all of the thin crust is right by you, why doesn't the boardwalk itself fall in?"

 Good question. I googled these queries, only to come up short.  I still cannot answer them.  What I did discover is that through monitoring and maintenance of the park, whenever a new hot spot is discovered, the boardwalks are rerouted.  So we're thinking that the experts obviously have a method when it comes to constructing boardwalks and perhaps even wear protective gear in case of a mishap.  If any of you can shed some light on this, please let me know. Now, here's a few scary stories of why we need to be cautious in Yellowstone and stay on the boardwalks. 
 
Yellowstone's geothermal features are the most dangerous natural features in the park. They are beautiful, but deadly, and they are HOT!  Scalding temperatures can reach up to 250 degrees Farenheit.  Each year rangers rescue at least one or two people, mostly children, who have accidently slipped from the boardwalks and broken through the thin earthen crust into scalding water.  Most have survived but some haven't.  Twenty people have reportedly lost their lives in Yellowstone National Park.  Seven children wandered away from parents,  teenagers fell through thin crust, fishermen mistakenly stepped into hot springs in Yellowstone Lake, and park consession employees illegally took "hot pot" swims in thermal pools.
 
A Livingston, Montana boy whose family reported his death after he had fallen into a hot spring in 1890 was the first reported death.  In 1970, a nine year old boy from the state of New York slipped or tripped and fell into the scalding waters of Crested Pool.  He swam a few strokes, then sank right in front of his horrified family.  In 1981, a California man died after suffering 3rd degree burns over his entire body.  Trying to save a friend's dog, he dove head first into Celestein Pool's 202 degree Farenheit water. The most recent fatality was in 2000.  On a moonless August night, a 20 year old female park concession employee went swimming with 2 male friends in the Firehole River.  Carrying no flashlights, they hiked back via Lower Geyser Basin. The three thought they were jumping a small stream but fell into Cavern Springs 10 ft deep boiling hot water.  The men survived but the woman died several hours after being rescued.  She had 3rd degree burns over her entire body.  The men had severe burns over most of their body and spent months in the hospital.

Don't wind up like this critter!  Stay on the boardwalks.  This is a buffalo carcass we saw in the Old Faithful Geyser Basin in 2006.

In Tuesday's post, I also made light of the caution not to touch the water or inhale the steam. According to the park service, thermal water can harbor organisms that cause fatal meningitis or Legionaires disease. Dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide have been measured in some of the hydrothermal areas and park visitors are told to leave an area immediately if they start to feel sick.

So there you have it. Yellowstone is a wild and scenic wilderness to be respected.  Erupting geysers, crystal blue hot springs, fumaroles, hazardous steam, giant waterfalls, buffalo, moose, bear, and so much more make Yellowstone a must see. Have a great time, but keep your fingers and toes on the boardwalks!

Want to know what else park concession employees do?  Read Yellowstone Webcam Catches Guys on Old Faithful



Happy Trails,

How Did They Build the Boardwalks?

I thought it was a reasonable question when E asked, “How did they build the boardwalks?”

Boardwalks, the foremost means of seeing the sights in Yellowstone.

We were walking around on the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. Let me correct myself, we were not actually walking on the crust but on the boardwalks. You’re not allowed to go off of the boardwalks when visiting geyser basins, fumaroles, hot pools, and bubbling mud pots.

A bubbling geyser in the lower basin.

A fumarole.  A hot spot in the ground.

Crystal blue hot pools.

Bubbling paint pots.

It is also encouraged that you do not inhale the poisonous steam. How do you do that? It keeps blowing in my face?

The steamy smell of rotten eggs.

And whatever you do, don’t touch the bacteria and rub your face. It's quite toxic and may prove to be deadly.

Bacteria can be pretty.

Joking aside, these rules are enforced not only to protect the public but to preserve one of our country's national treasures.  But how did they build those boardwalks?

Welcome new followers,





P.S. Stayed tuned for the next post and the rest of the story....

Bear Jam: You're Walking Way Too Close to a Bear

We were on the road between Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton when we saw the bear jam.  We figured it was a bear jam, at least I did.  But, it could have been buffalo, elk, or moose.  Buffalo had caused a major traffic jam earlier in the day when they insisted on taking their good ole' time to cross the road.  Regardless of what was causing the jam, when we saw cars and trucks pulled over and people gawking at something on the side of the road, we knew we'd stop and take a look for ourselves.  We pulled up on the side of the road opposite the crowd.  David grabbed the camera and hurried over to the other side of the street. He was focused on the people behind the pick up truck and thought that's where the animal was.

That's when the ranger said,
"You're walking waayy too close to a bear." 

With surprise, my husband looked to the side and sure enough about 30 feet away from him was a bear grazing on some grass.  Don't ask me what this bear was doing eating grass, I've never heard of that being a staple in their diets.

Can you identify whether this is a grizzly or black bear?

In the meantime, the girls and I had crossed over the road and stood behind the truck.  M took video and I watched David snap away pictures from a closer vantage point.  The ranger was quite accommodating of everyone's curiosity and we think it's because it was not officially on national park property.  He just stood there with his hands on his bear spray directing people a reasonable distance away from the bear. 

If everybody could just move back a bit, please.

The bear went about his business and didn't seemed concerned about the crowd at all.  

This is what the bear saw.

Uh-oh, bear have no fear of people = relocation or death.

Depending on how old you are, you may or may not remember Yogi Bear cartoons.  That's what this whole scene reminded me of : Yogi  and Boo Boo sneaking behind bushes watching a stream of tourists enter Jellystone and scheming how to steal their pic - a - nic baskets.


                               **********************************

In yesterday's post Whatever the Season, Pack a Jacket!, Buffy left a comment that said, "It's still cold there? Whoa."

I wanted to follow up and say "No, not today".  It's hot and the temperature is 81 degrees right now.  With clouds, temps in the 50's, and wind at Yellowstone, it just felt freezing.  Back here in Kalispell, we had been having some unseasonably cool days, but it appears that summer has finally arrived. Perhaps my tomato plants will get the hint and start to take off.

So long for now, I'm going to take in the raspberry sun tea.
 
For more on how to identify that bear, check out our video on Youtube.

Happy Trails,

Whatever the Season, Pack a Jacket!

Ghost towns, badgers, geysers, Tetons, bears, elk, cowboys, history, plus the natural beauty of the west are just some of the ways to describe our 4th of July road trip.  Did I mention it was kind of chilly?  To wear or not wear my jacket was a question I kept asking myself the entire trip.  It wasn't as warm as we expect in July and I got to thinking about the topic of Montana weather again.   I thought about it when I saw a few snowflakes falling while watching badgers on a hillside in the ghost town of Nevada City, MT.

A badger watches us as we take pictures.  There were three of them that came running and hissing into their dens.  One had captured prey, a small white animal.  David thought it looked like a bird, I thought it looked like a mammal.

 It again crossed my mind when we turned on the heater to get the chill out of the old miners cabin we spent the night in.

These cabins were original, rustic, yet comfortable.  Check out the sod growing on the roof.  This is not the cabin we stayed in.  It seems no one had the inclination to take a decent picture of Cabin No. 14.

 The subject was unavoidable while chatting with a woman from South Carolina who seemed to be freezing her bum off and wondering how my daughter could traipse around in a tank top and shorts. She had been explaining cowboy garb to tourists on a cattle ranch in Deer Lodge and I think she was glad to be wearing an authentic cowboy slicker for warmth.

This orange linseed oiled slicker kept cowboys warm and dry on cattle drives across the country. 

 But it wasn't until I came home and began catching up on some old newspaper articles from the past few days that I decided the topic of Montana weather is still a worthy one.

On Sunday, Frank Miele, the editor of our local newspaper had eulogized two young reporters who were killed last week in a plane crash in the mountains of Sanders County.  They worked for the paper and had been taking a scenic excursion flight over Glacier, the Flathead Valley, and the National Bison Range at the time of the accident.  He spoke highly of them both, one being a native Montanan and the other having relocated from Chicago to take the job at the Daily Interlake.

He said and I quote, "Erika had come to us from Chicago, and we had promised her that in exchange for the glamor and shopping of the big city, we would give her the grandeur of God's country.  She was intrigued and took our offer, and then suffered through the usual drudgery of a Flathead winter and the longest, bleakest, coldest spring in recent memory.  We kept promising her that summer was just around the corner, and she kept asking us "Which corner?"".

I too had my doubts about cold Montana weather before I moved from Louisiana.  I knew I belonged here but wondered how I would adapt to the cold and snowy winters.  I've acclimated quite well and enjoy outdoor winter activities, although winters can seem long sometimes especially when they carry over into the spring.  By that time, I think most of us have had enough and are ready for some warm sunshine. The kids around here generally don't wait for hot weather to take off their coats and start wearing shorts and flip flops.  The calendar says March and that means spring.  Perhaps they are just a hardier bunch than those of us that wear our longjohns till May.

The temperatures were a little cooler than I would have liked on the trip considering we had put off going to Virginia City and Yellowstone last Memorial Day due to the cold and rain. It wasn't bad though, we wore our jackets and I'd rather do that than have it be so hot as to be exhausting.  On returning home, I was surprised to find our house was a cool 65 degrees.  For the first time ever, in summertime, we turned on the heat to warm it up a bit. It's that kind of thing that makes me continue to talk about the weather.  It still amazes me.

It's a shame Erika didn't get a chance to truly experience all four seasons here.  I believe she would have agreed with the promise that in exchange for glamour and shopping, she would receive the grandeur of God's country.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Happy Trails,