Wednesday, May 21, 2014

My First Day Off!


            After one day of orientations, three days of job training, and two days of official front desk work, today was my first day off. I’d made plans to meet with Nate and Tanner to go hiking this morning, and invited three girls that work in one of the lodge’s restaurants to come along. The six of us mat outside of the Whistle Pig at 10:00, and after looking at some hiking maps, we decided to hike over to a lake that people had told us was really beautiful. I also heard that it was a popular spot for wildlife to hang out, so we armed ourselves with some bear spray. Thankfully, since there were six of us, the advice to “make noise on the trails” was pretty easy to follow.
The trailhead was right across the street from the lodge, behind the corrals. There was still snow on the path in some areas, but nothing we couldn’t walk through or around. We found plenty of hoof tracks, as well as what I’m pretty sure were mountain lion tracks. We also saw several cool birds. The trail involved a lot of up and downhill hiking, and we had to stop to catch our breaths a few times since we’re not all totally used to the altitude yet, but the lake sure didn’t disappoint. We were surrounded by amazing scenery of the Tetons all along the hike, and seeing it all reflected in the lake was amazing.
The hike was about five miles total and took us about two hours. After returning to the lodge and refueling some calories at the employee dining room, Nate and I headed into Jackson. We both needed to pick up a few things, and also wanted to browse some of the beautiful galleries that are all around the town. We spent several hours doing that before coming back to the lodge. Cristina was back in the dorm by the time I got back; today was her first day of work. We both relaxed for a while in our room, then met up with Nate again to go to dinner. Overall, it was a well-used day off. Shane, the employee recreation director, set up a hike tomorrow morning for any employees that have time off, so that’s what I’ll be doing for my other day off. 

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