May 10: There are no bears here

Please notice my dork pose.

Today I went for a hike with Greg and Garrett, just met Garrett today, he is from NY and a server in the restaurant as well. We set out to hike Purple Mountain. The weather was a little overcast, but the sun was obviously on its way, so it started pretty well…. Until we saw a sign that said “YOUR SAFETY IS NOT GUARANTEED.” Swell. So we reviewed our bear safety (which consists of clapping and talking loudly before blind corners) and started our 3 mile, 1000 ft incline hike. Not a long hike, but definitely a tough one bc of its incline. The ground was a little wet, but for the most part the first 40 minutes of the hike were great, even with the pretty steep incline, we kept shedding layers bc we were moving rather quickly. About 1.5 – 2 miles into the hike, we hit snow. It started pretty harmless, but before we knew it, we were knee to waist deep. No snow shoes. Greg, again, wearing shorts.  One of us fell through the snow a little bit and found himself standing on a fallen tree that we couldnt see until we stepped on it. It just wasn’t supposed to be hiked that day, at least with our gear. No trace of bears. I talked to one of my managers, and he was telling me about his hike. He went out with what sounded like Bear Grylles himself, and the 2 of them were within 5 – 10 ft of a black bear, a big one. No thanks. He said they turned a corner on the trail and there it was, it noticed them, and went right back to what it was doing, so the gingerly walked by it, then came across a large group of grizzly bears at about 100-200 yds later in the hike. Every guest that comes in to the restaurant talks about the bears they saw. This is getting totally ridiculous. So the hike… We decided to turn around. We checked the map for trails at lower elevations to dodge any snow. We found one nearby called Cougar Cabin Trail. Well, we found it on the map. We couldn’t find it driving though. We ended up near the West Entrance, so we decided to go into town and get some stuff that we needed that you can only get in town. We ended up driving around the park just looking for different stuff, but it was surprising how the short hike we did take pooped us out. Im sure there was a better way to say that….. I have 5 double shifts in a row for the next few days, so I don’t think I will write about how many empty glasses I can fit on a tray, or how mad I get when I hear people who just drove into the park talk about the 25757364786 bears they saw, hugged, and had their picture taken with. I did talk to the manager of purchasing for the park, and he said they will make a spot for me in the warehouse at Old Faithful if I want it, but I would have to get out of my current job, which doesn’t sound like an easy task. I think I would like it better bc I would work 7 – 330 5 days a week, good physical, mindless work, know when I get off work everyday, and if I want to talk to visitors, I just walk around and talk to the ones I want, rather than the ones that are plopped in my section. I meet with a manager on Sunday to discuss it, so we will see. I actually like the restaurant bc of the people, but the pressure is unnecessary, and the difference in $ is worth losing the stress. And if I cant switch, oh well, I will make more $. Win win. The only loss still remains... no bears. 

Thanks Debbie, once that road opens up that way, I will be all over it. Most people who have seen bears have come from the north end like you said, but there have been some around here. Apparently there is a grizzly around old faithful called “the bison killer” for obvious reasons. They say he is over 1100 lbs and his paw print is about as big a basketball or bigger, one guy who works here has a pic of the bear's print with something next to it to gauge it. Not sure I wanna run into that guy.