Let there be summer

Yesterday was my first REAL hike of the summer. FINALLY! It was green, beautiful, muddy, and then we hit snow at 8500 feet. Melt already! I've got some backpacking to do!

Morels

After spending 3 days in a row coming up empty handed, I was ready to give up on looking for morel mushrooms. This morning I went one last time and I hit the jackpot--only two blocks from my house! I found 2 lbs of these babies! Now, I have to figure out which way to preserve them (freeze em' or dry em' out), and what recipe to follow to cook the ones I'm going to eat soon!

100% Debt Free

Yep. That's right. I'm proud to announce it.

Cave Falls

This beautiful waterfall is down the road from the Forest Service cabin that I lived in 2 years ago. It's hard to believe that I made my road trip out west, this week, 2 years ago. The entire reason I made my decision to stay out west was because of the beautiful summers. I don't mind the long winters as I've been snow deprived my entire life and I really love snow sports, but the summers here are absolutely awe inspiring.

Summer Snowboarding

Yep. We are still getting snow and it's almost June. We've had many 60 degree sunny and rainy days. However, up high we are still getting a lot of new snow. I wish it would all melt to I can go backpacking and hiking, but that isn't reality right now. SO, I might as well throw on my backpack, grab my snowboard and go hiking. Here are pics from today.

Teton Valley

Home.

Coachella Music Festival 2010

Coachella Music Festival--Indio California

The timing of Coachella Music Festival couldn't be better. As soon as the ski resort closes for the season, Coachella Music Fest is happening a few days later. It's just a quick 14 hour drive to Indio California. My skin has been longing for warm weather and sunshine. I'm still not used to the LONG winters in the Rockies. Especially, when everyone I know from the south are gardening, enjoying patio dining, hiking, biking, being out on the lakes, etc, beginning in March. Anyway, Coachella was easily the most organized & clean music festival I have ever been to. We car camped on the Polo fields. The grass was short and perfect like a golf course so shoes were only an option. There were clean showers, sinks, porta potties which were hosed down and cleaned out 4x a day, food vendors galore, free pinball games, a roller skating rink, an internet & wi-fi area, re-entry was allowed in case we needed to go to the grocery store, there was a shuttle to take people from the venue into town, bikes were allowed, there were water fountains, air conditioned tents, and before I forget to mention it-- FIVE STAGES OF GREAT MUSIC playing from noon until 1am for THREE DAYS!

After Coachella, we headed for Zion National Park to go on a 5 day backpacking trip and to enjoy more of the the sunny warm weather before heading back to the Tetons for mud season. We camped one night in Zion and were literally flooded out by a massive storm circulating over the entire state of Utah. The rain began around midnight and continued for the next two days. Our tent was probably 30 feet from the river when we set it up that evening, but by morning, we were nearly 8 feet from the swift rising water. Needless to say, we quickly packed our wet tent in the car and drove all the way home. I was really looking forward to more sunshine and a great first backpacking trip of 2010. Oh well. Hopefully we'll try again this fall.

Hurricane winds

Some of the lifties took this video at the top of the chair lift at the resort in Jackson last week. The winds reached up to 110 mph! On the western slope of the Teton range, where I live, the winds topped out at 85 mph at Grand Targhee Resort.

Easter Snow

Grand Targhee received nearly 40 inches of snow in the last 5 days! Here are a few pictures from today and the last few days.

Hero Snow

Yesterday, I rode my snowboard till my legs gave up. I could barely make it back to the base area and to the car. It snowed nearly a foot the night before so we raced up to the ski hill first thing in the morning and were the first people on the first chair lift. Obviously it was a GREAT way to spend the day.

Ranger Pics

Here are a couple of pictures of the area I worked in as a backcountry Ranger. The group of people I'm with were the volunteer trail crew. They spent a week volunteering their time and skills on badly eroded trails in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness. Working as a Ranger, I spent my days and nights alone in the wilderness, so it was nice to have these folks here for a week. I really miss that job.

Snowboarding, Scenery and a happy dog

Surrounding Scenery

Priscilla's Visit

Priscilla is extremely determined to learn how to snowboard while she is visiting me from Tennessee. She picked it up so quick that we have been on every lift to the top of every mountain at the resort. It's been great watching her get better each day on the hill. Here are a few pictures from this week.