Just to start off, Julie, if you are reading this, I owe you an apology. You know how I gave you crap for living in "Moose, Maine"? Well, now I am actually living in a place called Moose, WY, so this is me putting my foot in my mouth. You now have free reign to give me crap. Bring it.
So yeah, I am currently all set up living in a national historic landmark near the visitor center and entrance to Grand Teton National Park. I am living in this building:
The place I am living used to be owned by Olas and Mardy Murie (famous early conservationists, look em up if you care) so people drop by all the time to look at the place. Its a little strange living more or less in a museum, and sometimes I do feel kinda like some sort of troll hanging around the place. But I do have the best view of the Grand in the entire valley, so I guess having to answer questions and give couple tours a week is a small price to pay for free housing...in a national park.
Besides working with the Murie Center, I am spending the rest of my working time with this dude Forrest and the Winter Wild Lands alliance. Forrest is real legit (Exum senior guide, calls himself "a packrafter") and I really believe in the work we are doing, so its been awesome. The main thing I am doing for them is working with the forest service to help them manage the Jed Smith wilderness area. Right now I am trying to get a sense of how much the skiing and the snow machine use has increased in the last 10+ years, so that we have a baseline to start with. I am also doing a bunch of other kinda random stuff, like organizing a "listening session" for a bunch of the outdoorsy people here. Everything I have done so far has involved meeting a bunch or really interesting people, and seeing what it means to actually do advocacy for real, so it had been a great experience so far.
Its not like I'm working that much though...I've been able to get out and play nearly every day, mostly mountain biking. While there are not trails from my door, within a short drive are at least 4 awesome areas to ride. The trails here are mostly smooth, with tons of banked turns and lots (and lots and lots) of climbing. So basically heaven for what I like to ride. One of the good areas is around Sno King:
Last week Noah was here, hanging out and waiting for his WV trip to start, so we hung out a bunch. Highlights include Noah looking like a gumby in running shorts and shoes and a woman's helmet when he rented a mountain bike. Also, Noah lifting random people onto his shoulders at a concert after he had a growler to himself earlier in the evening. His antics got him deemed "king of the stain balls".
I also hung out with this guy:
Forrest's dog Wister, who is something like 15 yrs old, and has skied (well, ran down...) more peaks in the Tetons than most locals.
Well thats about it from my end. I'd love to hear more from all you guys, and, if at all possible, YOU SHOULD COME TO THE TETONS! Because its beautiful here:
Talk to you all soon,
-Tom
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