Yellowstone Adventure - Day 105

  Got up early to get on the road to Idaho today. Kathy in the EDR turned me onto a couple of things to see just outside the park in Idaho. The first stop would be Big Springs and Johnny Sack's cabin. The second would be the the upper and lower Mesa Falls on the Snake River.
  I ate breakfast with some co-workers. It seems that the park got the south entrance opened again and business picked up some, but not immensely. I will see if that is true when I get back on late shift tomorrow.
  I grabbed by PB&J lunch and headed toward West Yellowstone. After turning left at Madison junction I noticed many signs warning of fires and traffic could be stopped. About half way to West Yellowstone I could see where the fire burned down several trees across the Madison River and soon the road was one lane as the firefighters were using the other lane for fire fighting equipment. The air was thick with smoke and it stayed that way all the way to West Yellowstone. The wind was pretty much non existent and the smoke just hung in the air all the way through West Yellowstone and into Idaho.
  I reached the turnoff to Big Springs around nine and drove to the main spring with the cabin built on the other side of the spring pond. When I got out of the car I could hear running water and looked for the source but being a spring the water was flowing out of the ground hidden by grass on that end of the pond. I could tell that there was a lot of water coming from the spring as the water was flowing in the pond and heading under a bridge and into a small river. The water was cold and as clear as a bell. It was also very good water to drink, as evidenced by all the animal tracks leading to the pond. I walked a path that would take me around the pond, over a bridge and up a trail to the cabin.  As I walked beside the pond I spotted many ducks and some fish in the pond. A sign indicated that the fish were trout and that there was no fishing. I continued down the trail and around the pond to the right. I heard more running water and this time I was able to locate the source. I left the trail and approached the sound. Sure enough out of the ground was a fast following water stream but the amazing thing was that there was a tree beside the pond and it seemed that the water was just flowing out of it's roots. A very interesting sight indeed.
  I continued around the pond and approached the cabin. It was a small cabin built over a stone cellar and had two stories. Before I got to the cabin there was a small building at the edge of the pond with a mill wheel spinning. It seems that when Johnny built the cabin he was smart enough to redirect a spring to the mini spinning wheel to generate power for the cabin. The guy was pretty smart as well as a good builder.
  I walked around the cabin and noted that out back up a short climb was the outhouse. It was a well built log structure also.  The cabin would not be opened until ten so I searched around the area and looked over all sides of the cabin. The cabin was situated perfectly to have views of the spring pond from three sides and I could imagine how soothing the sound of the running water was when bed time came. I also noticed quite a bit of animal pooh and tracks. This place must be visited by bunch of animals on a regular basis, as I would personally find out later.
  After awhile I sat on the bench in front of the cabin and waited for it to be opened for tours. While I was waiting I watched the ducks go by and squirrels chase one another around the property. No one else was there and it was very pleasant just to sit and relax.  Around ten a lady came and greeted me. She said she would be opened shortly but wanted to inspect the cabin of any rodents before she let me in. After about ten minutes of waiting, while I heard her exclaim about removing a mouse, she let me into the cabin. The first thing that struck me was how all the wood and the furnishings went together so well. The floor was unbelievable and I could immediately see that Johnny had wood working talent. He also was an incredible stone mason as the fireplace was well built and looked like it could stand for hundreds of years. From the entrance there was a room on the left that the lady told me was a sitting and sleeping room in the summer. The room had windows on two sides to take advantage of the summer breeze. Walking into the main room where the fireplace was you could just imagine people sitting in that room and talking about the happenings of the day. Every bit of furniture was original and some Johnny even made. The fireplace was the focal point and I am sure in the winter was very needed. The only room off the main area was a kitchen that has cabinets and a wooden counter that was built for Johnny's height, as he was only four foot eleven inches tall. The kitchen had a very old and well used cast iron stove. I am sure in the winter that was a God send for warmth too.  Since I was the only person this morning the lady running the place filled me in on a lot of history about Johnny and the area. My favorite Johnny story was that the water wheel only generated enough power to light one light bulb. So when the area started getting power the power company came to Johnny about bringing power to his cabin. Set in his ways as Johnny was he responded that he never needed it before so why would I need it now. Then came the day Johnny traveled to California and someone there demonstrated to him a saw for cutting wood powered by electricity. He was amazed and hooked on electricity. He came back and got the power company to get electricity run to his cabin. The company charged him a whopping twenty four dollars a year. Which Johnny screamed was highway robbery.
  After talking to the guide for awhile longer I bid her goodbye and headed back around the the pond to my car. When I reached the front left of the pond I stopped to get another picture of the cabin. While I was snapping a picture I heard a noise to my left. I looked in that direction and twenty feet from me were two moose approaching the pond. I thought this is great. It was a mom and her child moose, whatever they are called. They looked at me and I thought they would run but the just put their heads down and stepped into the pond and started drinking. I risked getting closer for some pictures and the mouse took no notice of me and kept on drinking and eating greenery growing in the pond. I got several pictures and videos. When I stepped a little closer the young moose grunted and moved in front of mom. Then mom stared at me and I got the message. So I moved no closer and backed away some. They looked great and I am sure that Johnny enjoyed many years of these views from his cabin's viewpoint. A very peaceful place and a great place to see.
  I got back into the car and headed toward Mesa Falls. Idaho was doing a lot of highway construction in the area and it took me a couple of tries to find the turnoff to Mesa Falls scenic byway. This highway takes you parallel to the snake river and towards the Tetons. It is also open range and I passed over several cattle road barriers. After a few miles cows showed up next to the road every so often. The speed limit was fifty miles per hour and I could see why. The cows were pretty thick in the area. After several miles I came to the turn off to upper Mesa Falls. Traveling only a little down the road my ears picked up the distinctive roar of a powerful falls.  I turned into the parking area, after paying five dollars to view the falls. I exited the car grabbing my lunch. As I hoped the falls had a place to eat and watch the falls. Going down a path I reached the visitors center. Which was a very pretty log building. I found out later that the visitor center was previously an inn and was restored in the nineties to be used as a visitor center.
  The path led down to stairs that led to several view points for the falls. I cannot begin to describe accurately the power and beauty of the falls. I took pictures and videos of it and uploaded them to Facebook. Hoping that they would do the falls justice. The Snake River comes down into the start of a canyon. Then drops over the falls to about a hundred feet and then levels out and goes over another smaller falls before heading downstream to lower Mesa falls. The falls create a very pretty rainbow at the bottom. I stared at the falls several minutes trying to figure out why I did not see any fish going over the falls. A mystery to me.
  I stopped at several other viewpoints and took more pictures. I headed back up the trail and went to the visitor center. They had a nice porch and I took advantage of it to eat my lunch. After lunch I went into the visitor center and that was when I learned about it's past as an inn. They had some great historical photos of the area and some great displays of rocks in the area. They also sell a lot of tourist junk too. I talked to the girl behind the counter for awhile as we were both temporary workers. She was getting to the end of her time also. I think most things start closing around here shortly after labor day. The lady back at Johnny's cabin indicated her job will be over on the fifth of September too.
  Leaving the upper falls I headed to the lower falls. After about two miles I reached the parking area for the lower falls viewpoint. This one was different than the other in that you had to view this falls from a distance. The viewpoint was great and gave you a spectacular view of the canyon with the Snake River going over the lower falls. The viewpoint was located over a field of boulders and I stepped out on them to get a better picture. After awhile I looked down and wondered how many rattle snakes were hiding in the boulders. Interesting thought and kind of scary.
  After soaking in the great views for several minutes I headed back to the car. I then headed toward the nearest McDonald's to use their WiFi. I wanted to update the phone and to upload more videos to Facebook. I found a McDonald's a few miles down highway twenty when I exited the scenic byway. I got a nice half sweet and half unsweet tea and settled in to get some Wi-Fi work done.  After about an hour it was time to head back to the dorm.
  I got back to the dorm around six PM and had dinner. I can say that these last two days off have been the best at Yellowstone. A very good way to end my work here. I have talked to Carrie and she gave me permission to only work a half day on Sunday so I can get on the road. I will be working Sunday from seven to eleven thirty and then turn my stuff in and head for Cody. Carrie already gave me my paperwork to fill out to leave and my check list of things I have to do. I will have to get my room cleaned and vacuumed sometime in the next two days. No big deal as I keep it fairly clean anyway.  Well take care you all and I have only three and a half work days left. Be nice to all.