Update and such
So I never went to Teton Village to mountain bike, other plans came into action. Zach and I ended up floating Flat Creek on Monday around 1 pm or so. Flat Creek is a small, pretty shallow/gentle creek that just meanders through town from one side to the other, then goes out of town and through a few farms before dumping into the Snake.
Anyways, we bought tubes; Zach paid $13 for a tire inner tube and I paid $15 (though the store tag said $25) for an inner tube with handles, a little rope and two cup holders lol. We parked the jeep at the snake and then shoved zach's tube into my little car and, since mine wouldn't fit, we rigged it to the bike rack and a strip of webbing which zach had to hold onto through the passenger window so it wouldn't fly off the bike rack from the wind and drag along the road. Pretty ghetto, but it worked like a charm. I was nervous about passing a cop, and we did pass one, and he just looked and laughed. I love this town.
Anyways, we got to the DQ and put in. The water was probably in the mid 60's or something. Pretty refreshing actually. The float through town was pretty sweet, we'd go behind a few buildings and wave to people. Every once in awhile there'd be a bridge we'd have to duck (some were super super low and we'd have to actually push up against the bottom of the bridge so we'd sink lower in the water to get by). There was a nice section just past the Taco Hell where we'd have a small whitewater section and a waterfall every 50 yards or so. That was fun to go through. We'd get stuck in the standing waves and just get rocked. People were watching from up on the road and on bridges and waving and laughing, including one super cute girl who, despite saying she was having an excellent day, admitted that it looked like I was having a much better one. It was true.
We eventually floated out of town and found ourselves in a little wetlands like area through some backyards and past some biking trails and stuff. There were lots of turns and even one fork (the creek rejoined afterwards) and one rather large 4-5 foot waterfall that dumped us both
(and the undertow held zach under for a little bit lol).
After awhile I noticed that my tube was getting.... softer. I remarked about it to Zach and he noticed some bubbles coming up. Great. I tried to float it as long as I possibly could but soon I was hitting every rock and stuff since the water was only a few feet deep. It was looking pretty bleak for awhile since we still had about 5 miles to go. Someone was smiling on me that day, however, as we rounded a bend and saw some kind of dam structure and a waterfall and there up against the dam was a fully inflated tire tube. Rock on.
I cleaned that sucker up and tied it up to my now fully deflated raft so I could tow it behind me and on we went. Once we actually found ourselves out of the town limits, we were floating through farms and such. This part was nuts because every so often we'd have to duck a barbed wire fence which farmers would have strung across the creek. The first one or two we actually stopped and ducked under, but after awhile we realized that we could easily grab and lift on the fly, so that's what we ended up doing for the majority of the fences (though every once in awhile you'd get one that was really tight and you'd have to really squeeze down under it). This part of the float was sweet as the river just made tons and tons of sharp turns and the water was moving pretty fast. We had a few fun waves to float on and some nice whitewater that made it a blast (just has to watch out for those fences, especially the ones over fast water).
Eventually we found our way back to the Snake and took out under the bridge. The total trip took 5 hours. Good times.
After that we went to Taco Bell where I seriously wolfed down a mexican pizza, two taco supremes and a chicken quesadilla. Word.
After I finally got home, I came back to my nice serene little cabin to find like 4 unidentified cars parked. Turns out, a bunch of volunteer workers were in for a little bit and were going to camp outside of the cabin in the ground squirrel filled yard. There were about 5 guys (all from Western PA!) and they were all pretty badass. They were all older and drove out in a big blue van. I had a great time talking to a few of those guys, Zach and I even stayed up till 2 talking to one (I haven't been up till 2 since before I left). They gave me a big bag of Snyder BBQ chips and I gave one of them a yuengling (the other guys didn't want any, said they were too old to drink it lol... whatever they say). Anyways, the other group of people weren't quite as friendly. One was an older lady, probably mid 60's, who was fat and pretty miserable. As soon as I walked in and said hi to the guys she was on me about the state of the kitchen (which wasn't that bad and which wasn't all mine anyways). She got on me about the pot of french fry grease that we were saving, about the 6-7 dishes that were merely rinsed and waiting to be washed, about the horrid state of our recycling bin (all beer bottles and a few plastics...), the crumbs on the cutting board, the crumbs on the table, the totally undisturbed sack of potatoes in the potato cabinet (MICE WILL EAT THEM IN THERE!!!) and the garbage bags waiting by the door to be taken into town. I didn't even get her name and I had to hear about all of that. Man I wanted to belt her. And then on top of that, when we finally DID get around to finding names and info, she sort've derided me for doing this kind of work for what little pay I get. I assured her that I enjoyed it for the experience and the awesome fun I've been having, and that since I was still a young healthy lad, I had my whole life to make money. That sort've shut her up since I think it made her realize what a miserable old hag she is lol. Anyways, this was all before Zach got home, once he got home she was pretty much tuckered out from letting me have it (this is a SHARED living space!) and she didn't have much to say to him. Zach really doesn't like her though and he assured me that if she does say somethign to him, he's going to let her have it (and he probably will too), but I'm a little different; I'll sit there and just put up with it lol. Oh well, she did all of the dishes and cleaned the entire kitchen to her liking, so I'm not complaining that much. I thanked her for that before she went to bed as a last ditch olive branch and she sorta just nodded. One of the Western PA guys gave her crap (the others left as soon as she came into the room) about being so controlling and that sort've shut her up too. I gave him a yuengling for that.
ANYWAYS, the grumpy old woman (who looks like a fat hillary clinton) came with this younger girl (probably my age) who is really nice. With her I have no problems lol.
That's about all for now. Work today was pretty boring. Didn't see any animals or anything, just an old abandoned cabin in the woods. I have sunburn really bad on my shins from the float trip, so the morning was kind of painful from the scratching/poking bushes and such, but I took one of those 800 mg ibuprofens and that fixed it up pretty nice.
Anyways, more work tomorrow. It'll be here before i know it lol.
Anyways, we bought tubes; Zach paid $13 for a tire inner tube and I paid $15 (though the store tag said $25) for an inner tube with handles, a little rope and two cup holders lol. We parked the jeep at the snake and then shoved zach's tube into my little car and, since mine wouldn't fit, we rigged it to the bike rack and a strip of webbing which zach had to hold onto through the passenger window so it wouldn't fly off the bike rack from the wind and drag along the road. Pretty ghetto, but it worked like a charm. I was nervous about passing a cop, and we did pass one, and he just looked and laughed. I love this town.
Anyways, we got to the DQ and put in. The water was probably in the mid 60's or something. Pretty refreshing actually. The float through town was pretty sweet, we'd go behind a few buildings and wave to people. Every once in awhile there'd be a bridge we'd have to duck (some were super super low and we'd have to actually push up against the bottom of the bridge so we'd sink lower in the water to get by). There was a nice section just past the Taco Hell where we'd have a small whitewater section and a waterfall every 50 yards or so. That was fun to go through. We'd get stuck in the standing waves and just get rocked. People were watching from up on the road and on bridges and waving and laughing, including one super cute girl who, despite saying she was having an excellent day, admitted that it looked like I was having a much better one. It was true.
We eventually floated out of town and found ourselves in a little wetlands like area through some backyards and past some biking trails and stuff. There were lots of turns and even one fork (the creek rejoined afterwards) and one rather large 4-5 foot waterfall that dumped us both
(and the undertow held zach under for a little bit lol).
After awhile I noticed that my tube was getting.... softer. I remarked about it to Zach and he noticed some bubbles coming up. Great. I tried to float it as long as I possibly could but soon I was hitting every rock and stuff since the water was only a few feet deep. It was looking pretty bleak for awhile since we still had about 5 miles to go. Someone was smiling on me that day, however, as we rounded a bend and saw some kind of dam structure and a waterfall and there up against the dam was a fully inflated tire tube. Rock on.
I cleaned that sucker up and tied it up to my now fully deflated raft so I could tow it behind me and on we went. Once we actually found ourselves out of the town limits, we were floating through farms and such. This part was nuts because every so often we'd have to duck a barbed wire fence which farmers would have strung across the creek. The first one or two we actually stopped and ducked under, but after awhile we realized that we could easily grab and lift on the fly, so that's what we ended up doing for the majority of the fences (though every once in awhile you'd get one that was really tight and you'd have to really squeeze down under it). This part of the float was sweet as the river just made tons and tons of sharp turns and the water was moving pretty fast. We had a few fun waves to float on and some nice whitewater that made it a blast (just has to watch out for those fences, especially the ones over fast water).
Eventually we found our way back to the Snake and took out under the bridge. The total trip took 5 hours. Good times.
After that we went to Taco Bell where I seriously wolfed down a mexican pizza, two taco supremes and a chicken quesadilla. Word.
After I finally got home, I came back to my nice serene little cabin to find like 4 unidentified cars parked. Turns out, a bunch of volunteer workers were in for a little bit and were going to camp outside of the cabin in the ground squirrel filled yard. There were about 5 guys (all from Western PA!) and they were all pretty badass. They were all older and drove out in a big blue van. I had a great time talking to a few of those guys, Zach and I even stayed up till 2 talking to one (I haven't been up till 2 since before I left). They gave me a big bag of Snyder BBQ chips and I gave one of them a yuengling (the other guys didn't want any, said they were too old to drink it lol... whatever they say). Anyways, the other group of people weren't quite as friendly. One was an older lady, probably mid 60's, who was fat and pretty miserable. As soon as I walked in and said hi to the guys she was on me about the state of the kitchen (which wasn't that bad and which wasn't all mine anyways). She got on me about the pot of french fry grease that we were saving, about the 6-7 dishes that were merely rinsed and waiting to be washed, about the horrid state of our recycling bin (all beer bottles and a few plastics...), the crumbs on the cutting board, the crumbs on the table, the totally undisturbed sack of potatoes in the potato cabinet (MICE WILL EAT THEM IN THERE!!!) and the garbage bags waiting by the door to be taken into town. I didn't even get her name and I had to hear about all of that. Man I wanted to belt her. And then on top of that, when we finally DID get around to finding names and info, she sort've derided me for doing this kind of work for what little pay I get. I assured her that I enjoyed it for the experience and the awesome fun I've been having, and that since I was still a young healthy lad, I had my whole life to make money. That sort've shut her up since I think it made her realize what a miserable old hag she is lol. Anyways, this was all before Zach got home, once he got home she was pretty much tuckered out from letting me have it (this is a SHARED living space!) and she didn't have much to say to him. Zach really doesn't like her though and he assured me that if she does say somethign to him, he's going to let her have it (and he probably will too), but I'm a little different; I'll sit there and just put up with it lol. Oh well, she did all of the dishes and cleaned the entire kitchen to her liking, so I'm not complaining that much. I thanked her for that before she went to bed as a last ditch olive branch and she sorta just nodded. One of the Western PA guys gave her crap (the others left as soon as she came into the room) about being so controlling and that sort've shut her up too. I gave him a yuengling for that.
ANYWAYS, the grumpy old woman (who looks like a fat hillary clinton) came with this younger girl (probably my age) who is really nice. With her I have no problems lol.
That's about all for now. Work today was pretty boring. Didn't see any animals or anything, just an old abandoned cabin in the woods. I have sunburn really bad on my shins from the float trip, so the morning was kind of painful from the scratching/poking bushes and such, but I took one of those 800 mg ibuprofens and that fixed it up pretty nice.
Anyways, more work tomorrow. It'll be here before i know it lol.