Here I AM!!!!!LOL
So I managed to get some cyber time in the reservations office, and I run to LL. And I get sooooooooo caught up in wanting to read all the posts, but I have but a few minutes.
Thus, this is my shout-out to all my peeps!!
(HAHAH) Ok, slang aside.
I really miss being able to visit here on a daily basis. I spend my hiking time composing conversations with people here, writing posts out loud....not because I am delusional, but because we are told that if you are going to hike alone, make noise to ward off bears.
Yes, bears.. I really don't want to be grizzly fodder!!!
Its difficult for me to slack, I have discovered. The season hasn't started yet in YNP, and I just yesterday got to go live on the phones, making real reservations with live people. But..its amazing just how many hours there are in a day when you aren't spending your "quality time" with electronic devices......no phones, no tvs, no pc access.
I walk........alot. I sit in silence, just watching the play of sun in the trees, the colors of the mountains. Listening to water gurgle down a hill, the hiss of hot steam from travertine terraces. The smell of sulphur and the gamey aroma of the elk that roam these grounds like sheep. They graze everywhere, seemingly unafraid. They are impressive, almost haughty animals- elegant and watchful.
The first night here people where asking me what i really wanted to see.....my first word was "BUFFALO" As if I had called them, the next morning a herd shows up to graze out in front of the hotel.......I got my wish. HUGE HUGE animals.
I think I was born a century too late. Out in the woods, I am serene, confident, knowingly accepting of my role as part of nature yet wary of my place as the bottom of the food chain (LOL). Yet, among my own kind, i feel off, separate, too "weird." Its a given that everyone here is a wee bit odd, but I just haven't found a place for my S-elf to express itself to others. I am lonely, maybe somewhat homesick.
So, i just walk some more. Mother Nature soothes my hurts, my quiet tears as i sit in a barren dorm room, missing my family, envious of all the couples that seem to spontaneously erupt among the workers here. Only She seems to understand me.
I saw my first wolf the other day. Word came rushing like fire thru the office that a kill was found near the road thru Lamar Valley, and wolves walking along it. After work, carloads of people drive 40 miles one way to find it, to catch a glimpse of the elusive, exotic wolf, so like us yet so reviled.
She was beautiful. Thru the scope a co worker had set up, I stared as long as I could, and she turned to look straight at me.
She just sat, gazing to the east, waiting waiting...maybe for the crowd of pesky humans to leave so she could eat her kill.
I cant wait for the rest of the roads to open, so I can explore the rest of the park. I havent even SEEN Old Faithful yet!!
I must go..........wishing all of you sweet dreams that come true in the light of day...good health and happy times........I will stop in when I can....
MK