It’s hard to believe that August is already about to wrap up, the extensive summer hiking list I compiled in May gets shorter and shorter every week, more and more memories are being created, and life is busy. Work has finally started to slow down a little bit, kids are going back to school and our visitation is slowing which is much needed for us Rangers! All summer we have a program known as the ‘Junior Ranger Tent’ it is an place for kids to go and learn about a certain theme we have pre set. Every ranger was assigned a topic at the beginning of the season, and mine was trees! Last week I got to see my topic come to life, with all the props and information I had created with Michael as a team, and it was so rewarding! We talked about tree types in Yellowstone, the growth of a tree, how fire affects a landscape and the weird variations in growth you can see in trees specific to Yellowstone. The week was a hit and I was so proud that I put in all this effort and made something awesome come together.

As for other fun work things, I talked to the coolest Junior Ranger who had a phenomenal drawing of the Canyon and I predicted Old Faithful to the minute again. Additionally, I have one of the coolest supervisors around because every week she has new activities going on in her office to boost the team morale. She has done different things such as: roll a Yahtzee for a prize, guess the weight to keep a mystery box, origami making and last week was hair wraps. I got to pick 5 colors and get the cutest hair wrap that will last for a few months!!

Since the clock is winding down on my time here in Yellowstone, Michael and I have been checking off one bucket list item after another when it comes to hikes, activities, etc. The team this year is more introverted, so most weekends it has just been Michael and me, but we still have a great time. We took a boat tour on Yellowstone Lake, learning more about the history of the park in a different way, and we were lucky enough to go on the one Ranger-led Boat tour of the whole day coincidentally!

They even took us out to an old shipwreck on an island in the lake and told stories about how these islands used to be private zoos for people to come see wildlife up close or party on the boats. What fun Ranger tales they all were!

After the boat tour, we went over to Fishing Bridge, checked out the lakeshore and Lake Butte overlook. Then we hiked into Pelican Valley to check it out, this place is known as a wildlife mecca, but we saw NOTHING, not even a lone bison. But it was still a great hike and a fun, chill day exploring a different side of the park!

Pelican Valley and the boat tour was intentionally a light day, as we followed the second day up with bagging a new peak: Sepulcher Mountain! This hike was brutal, but so worth it, we got stunning views at the top, saw 4 black bears (including cubs) and I got to check another peak off my list! I would like to note the coordination here was purely unintentional, but funny for sure.

This recent weekend, our plans were all over the place. We hoped to go backpacking, but the weather was not on our side, so we planned a few day trips with one overnight mixed in, and had one extra day off. We went down to Grand Teton because we missed those mountains! We went to Jenny Lake, and did a light hike around Taggart Lake, and we only got rained on for half the hike! It was a fun, gorgeous hike, and the lake definitely looked a little different than it did in May for sure!

In the evening we went down to Jackson for dinner and strolled around. I had to take Michael into the iconic Million Dollar Bar and get our photos on the saddle barstools.

We had plans to camp that evening in Bechler, so we drove over Teton Pass and got into our campsite pretty late. We had to wrangle some open range cattle off the road, but it was a nice, quiet campsite.

Our Bechler hike was Dunanda Falls, this was a hike I did last year and really enjoyed, but doing it earlier this year was a little bit of a miss. We had fun but we also had to cross 5 knee deep rivers, deal with loads of mosquitoes, just to get down to the falls and realize the water levels were too high to comfortably soak in. Regardless, we had a nice day together and saw some pack llamas on the trail, I got to check off peeing in an outdoor, open air toilet and take my car into the final, unofficial 6th entrance to the park!

After the chaos of Dunanada, I told Michael I needed an easy day, so we slept in and then went to Monument Geyser Basin. It was a short hike up to a funky place, but we had fun, and I got sleep so who’s to complain!

Other than hiking, Michael and I have been having some pretty fun, creative date nights. We watched a few Phillies games together, including the Giants v. Phillies and I got dressed up to show my support! We’ve made pizza together and done breakfast dates. We are just trying to soak up our last months together before we see what’s next for us both after this season!

Life is good, it’s busy, but I’m having fun and somehow I always find time to make everything happen that I want it to. Until next time, all the love from Ranger Baer!