Elk babies are popping out all over Mammoth Hot Springs these days. This morning when I arrived at work, I saw a group of females grazing across the street. Then after work, the evening shift folks came in and said a female had just given birth next to the parking lot - right behind my truck!
The consensus was that this elk was pregnant. She was about 15 yards from our front door.
This is the one who gave birth behind my truck. The baby is lying in the grass on the left.
I waited for the baby to stand up, but s/he was resting.
I've now transferred permanently into the fountain, and I work with a young man named Erik who is also from southern California (Whittier/La Habra area). When we're on day shift, we work with Sheri, the fountain lead (manager). During the evening shifts, we're on our own. We scoop/sell ice cream, and serve hot dogs, sodas, coffee, slushies, and hot chocolate. Now that school is out it's pretty busy - we have steady lines from about 11 am until shift change; I've been told it's steady until about 7 pm (I haven't worked an evening shift since I transferred in. Those shifts start Saturday.) Erik is a blast to work with - enthusiastic, hard-working, and full of comical energy.
Don has been fishing nearly every day, and has caught fish every time he goes out. He and Tom, the husband of my floor supervisor Marilyn, have gone together several times, and right now their favorite place is the Firehole River. They want to fish it as much as they can before it warms up too much and is shut down by the park.
I still love this job as much as I did several weeks ago - great people to work with, and the tourists are fun to talk to. We get bus tours often - from Japan, China, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, and many other places. Then our ice cream line and the other 3 registers are BUSY!
My days off up until now have been days of rest - recovering from the 5 days of work. My body is getting used to it, and I've noticed I've not been as tired lately after I get off work. But eventually I'll have energy to go do some hikes in the park - especially in the higher elevations where it's cooler. Here in Gardiner we're barely above 5,000', so it's pretty hot right now.
