My Community at Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch

In previous blog entries, I've posted photos of the Sawtooth Mountains and Valley and the area around Stanley, ID where I spent the summer.  I've reported on my job as a host at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch. But as we were closing up the Ranch for the season, having farewell dinners and breakfasts, I found myself thinking about the community we had become and wanted to share that.

.  This is most of the crew, but a few had left early.  The company
took us to dinner at the Redfish Lake Lodge on our last night. My white hair stands out.in this group.

I worked with a special group.  The seasonal crew was young.  I was, by far, the oldest.  But it has been a joy working with and getting to know them.  They are accepting of different lifestyles, open to new experiences, love natural beauty, care deeply for the environment, and give great hope to the future. I loved that I was included in their activities, invited to their parties.  I often begged off as I needed more sleep, but had fun when I did go to campfires, street dances, karaoke at the bar, 4th of July festivities, pajama party at the employee residence,or breakfast at the place in Stanley (if you are ever there, eat at the Stanley Baking Co....don't let line out the door scare you off).  When someone had a rough day, people recognized it, gave a hug or word of encouragement. When people were tired, others lent a hand; when people were acting silly, others joined in. 

I am more apt to photograph scenics or wildlife than I am to photograph people, especially portraits. But I loved their energy and the bonds that were formed.  Catching those moments when they hugged or laughed together or showed parts of the personality I had come to love, I found myself trying to capture them.   Here are a few. I don't have photos of everyone here but I've posted a sampling.  The first photo doesn't show faces, yet it is so typical of the sharing that went on. 

Megan's tattoo of mountains says so much about this summer and her.

   

Becca was the supervisor for the servers and hosts.  Loved her.  This event, at the "shed" was a
costume party.  Living in a tiny, portable house, with Joe (next photo) she is living the nomadic
dream.  Even before the tiny house, they worked in other countries and a variety of locations.

Joe.  Multi-talented he filled a number of jobs at the ranch.

Caitlin and I worked together as hosts.  She is dressed as Vic, our head chef for the costume party.
She is wearing his shirt while he is dressed in t-shirt below

Vic, our head chef.   

Autumn, dishwasher and beautiful woman.  I wish I had
more photos of her expressive eyes.

Nick, sometimes maintenance worker at ranch, fish hatchery worker,
and one of the people I ran into most often in town. Usually he clowns
for the camera but I caught this.   Joe wrote a
 caption for it; "Find yourself  a Someone that looks at you the way Nick looks at his cupcakes".Aaron claimed the same line.

Erica was the office manager and lives on the
Lower Ranch year round.

Melinda or Mel.  She was a server, massage therapist, and great worker.

Rachel,Christina, Mel, Ry and Autumn.

Ry on the shed patio. Hot spring pool is behind him

Christina and Ry.  Christina and I shared afternoon host duties a couple days a week
and shared the first floor of the "Manor," our comfortable employee housing. Ry was
a morning host.  Christina is a very together young woman.  I learned a lot about hosting
from her.

Rachel, yoga instructor and server.  Warm and fun.

Doug was on the maintenance crew.  Always happy to help.
Did a great job when the maintenance manager was on vacation and the pump for the water
system quit working.  Suddenly there was no water in any of the guest rooms
or cabins and no water in the kitchen.   Dinner was a bit late that night but we all survived.

Aaron was the housekeeping supervisor and later employee chef.  Liked having
him in the employee residence where I lived.  Some folks were a bit too
casual about washing dishes and cleaning up our small kitchenette.  Aaron
took it upon himself to cleanup.  There were some problems with employee
meals during the summer, but that all changed when Aaron took over.

Connie is on the right.  She is the General Manager for the ranch.  It was her first year
here, although she grew up in Challis, the country seat an hour and 10 minutes away. 
She had some tough issues in the beginning, but pitched right in and took care of problems. 

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Another of Rachel.  

Jeff, maintenance manager.

Our staff dinner out.  Erica, Jeff, Megan and Garrett 

Megan, housekeeping and dishwasher and general all around help,
avid hiker and rock climber.

,

Christina, Rachel and Mel

Selfie.  Me, in costume circa 1967.   That's the color (a wig I found in the thrift shop in
Callis, ID) and about the length of my hair back then.  The buttons on the long denim jumper
were appropriate for  me.  True I have glasses, a few winkles and am a bit heavier.  But those are all badges of living, along with white hair, that I carry proudly. 

Since Brittany was not at our closing activities, I am adding this photo of Becca,
Christina and Brittany at the Stanley Baking Co.   We had a long breakfast with lots of conversation,
lots of laughter, some serious sharing.  What an incredible group of women.  Love them all.

gas fireplace outside the "shed" with horses and mountains
in the background.

Besides rock climbing and hiking high, steep peaks, there were other things my
co-workers could do that I could not, and never was very able.  Christina on the porch of our
living space.

In case it is difficult to read the notes:  We were suppose to put a date on wine bottles as we
opened them.  We thumb-tacked a reminder on the host stand.  Christina added, "Because dating wine makes for a simpler love life."  She does have a
point.  

Maybe I should do this for Halloween.  At our girls pajama night, attended
by a bunch of the guys as well, we did facials.  

I

Joe in the servers hall of the kitchen.  We will hope that he was right and the mop
head had just come from the laundry.

Below: I want all my friends and relatives to see one of the new skills I learned this summer.  I regularly carried trays of wine glasses,  beer classes, coffee mugs, and dishes removed from diners' tables.  Some of you may not believe this, so here is proof.  I DID NOT carry trays one-handed over my head however.  Pretty good for someone who never worked in a restaurant or other food service job during the first 70 years of life.

One evening when I worked in Yellowstone I was asked to carry a tray of carrots and other raw veggies out to the picnic table where a group of employees had gathered for dinner.  I managed to slide everything off the tray and onto the ground.I also had a mishap with ice tea. After those incidents, I was forbidden from carrying anything, although they would let me set the table.  So, when they learned I was going to be a host and tend the wine and beer station at the Ranch, I got a lot of kidding.  This was to prove that I could do it.   Caitlin also did a video of me carrying them, turning and curtsying and then setting the tray on the the serving ledge.  But I don't seem to be able to do a phone video onto the blog page.

Besides successfully carrying the wine glasses, I call your attention to the classic Frigidaire.   The man who built this guest ranch in
1930 was an executive with Frigidaire.  It still works and we use it to
store beer, wine wine and chilled beer classes.

Last day.  Fresh snow a couple days earlier.  The ice field in the right lasted all
season.

 Although I considered the people I worked with to by my community, flora and fauna was also a part of it.  I didn't see nearly the wildlife work at Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch as I saw when I worked in Yellowstone, but I did see some.

Pronghorn, who are not antelope, will go to great lengths to avoid jumping over fences. 
They will crawl under, or run along a fence until it turns to avoid jumping.  Their eyes, set to sides of
their heads, are great for spotting predators,but give them poor depth of field.   These young ones got separated from the
others (who by time I took this were in the Salmon River making a crossing), and found themselves boxed in.  One at a
time, and with a few false starts, they did jump the fence.  For the fastest runner in North America which looks ever so
graceful when running, the technique for fence jumping was clumsy but they made it.

I saw osprey and bald eagles regularly along the Salmon River (this one had just missed a fish in the river and was landing
on its perch), in nearby lakes and on our pond on the Ranch, which was stocked with fish.

.
This was the view from the front porch of the lodge and also from the
host stand.

Praying Mantis

One of the things I will remember most from this summer, was several of the young women told me, at different times and in different words, that "I want to grow up to be like you."  What a tribute.  They are already well on their way, traveling, working a variety of jobs to support their adventures, minimalists who pack up their car, or tiny house, to move on to the next saga.   It took me a lot of years to have the chutzpah to give up conventional living, good career, to hit the road.  I've read something that says that no one on their death bed regrets how much money they made, or didn't made.  But they do regret the things they wanted to do but didn't.     Way to go you guys.   Live the dream.

Chris came to visit for a few days. Those photos and those on the trip home will wait for another day.

Miscellaneous Adventures around Stanley

My summer has included learning new skills, having fun with fellow employees, hot spring soaking, eating out, music, dancing in the street, horseback riding, white water rafting, exploring, learning about the area. 

Here are photos of some of the activities:  People, of course, were part of the summer.  Here are three wonderful women, Becca, Christina, and Brittany.  We were celebrating Brittany's new job.  She leaves Stanley for Hawaii where she will be a chef at an upscale hotel chain.

Stanley Baking Company is THE spot to eat in town for breakfast and lunch.  Usually the ordering line
stretches out the front door.  But once ordered, service is amazingly quick and you always feel welcome to sit and converse with friends.  After a summer here, I don't think I've gone in more than once without seeing someone I recognize.

Jenna was our wrangler.  I don't have any good photos of me on the horse, but the horse, Bonnie, is captured below before we started out.  I decided horse back riding is NOT for someone with arthritic knees.  Glad I did it, but won't due it again.

Scene from the 4th of July parade, which is mostly about squirting the crowd with water.  Note that this is the corner of Wall Street (unpaved, a few blocks blocks long) and Ace of Diamonds, also unpaved and a couple blocks.  A one block section of Ace of Diamonds closes Thursday evenings for free street dance with live band.

Brittany, Nick, Greg and Tyema hamming it up before the dancing

This area, like the area along hwy 395 in California, is one of the hot spring hot spots.  Like the Eastern Sierra  Region on Hwy 395 there are dozens of springs.   This water is too hot, but it flows through a pipe under the road  into the Salmon River making a great soak at sunbeam hot spring. You adjust the heat of your soak by moving around to various blends of hot spring water and cold river water.

Cinquefoil is found in many places around here, including the slope below the Lodge at the Ranch.  First
learned this one in Yellowstone

Elephant Head.  Each tiny purple blossom resembles the big ears and long trunk of an elephant.  They grow in wet areas. These were in an overflow area of a small stream.

There were lots of  Sego Lilies, on the ranch and also as I went exploring.

Sego lilies were thick in this aspen grove of the 4th of July Creek Road

Indian Paintbrush

Gentian

What was once the small community of Sunbeam is now the White Otter Rafting Company.   Inside this old building is a cafe, which only operates Thursday thru Sunday during the season.  But it was well worth the 22 mile trip.  The menu is limited but exceedingly good.  There are two kinds of egg pie, a crustless quiche type dish.   The tomato basil one is my favorite.  There were  coffee cakes, pies, tarts, and other temptations.  Food is locally sourced.  I did a river rafting trip with this company which did trips for our guests.   But I stopped by after that because I had heard the cafe, was good.   I got to chat with Sharon and loved the place.   It is also close to Sunbeam Hot Spring, and the road to an old gold dredge and Custer state park (see post of 8|19)

Along the route to Challis.  The terrain here is drier and warmer than in the Sawtooth Valley but both share
the Salmon River as it flows toward the confluences with the Snake and Columbia Rivers and eventually the Pacific.

Galena Pass separates Stanley and the Sawtooth Valley from the more settled Sun Valley, Ketchum Area.  It is also the
headwaters for the Salmon river.  Snow melt and springs in the mountains in this photo flow into the valley to become the Salmon River.  

The Salmon River was aptly named.  This is the longest Pacific Sockeye salmon migration in North America.   It was also a habitat for  Chinook Salmon.   Sadly, dams along the Columbia River have cut the numbers dramatically.  I always thought the issue was swimming upstream to spawn.  And while that was one issue, fish ladders have helped.  The other issue is the long stretch of still, and warmer waters behind the dams.  Instead of floating quickly thru these on their way to the ocean, their progress is slowed dramatically and they have to work hard.  When they come back upstream it is also a large body to cross.  I visited the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery during the salmon run.  They capture the salmon, check to see which are natural (ie, were spawned by wild salmon who started their lives just upstream and were returning to their birthplace to begin the next generation), which are products of the hatchery.

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Sylvia holds a salmon which has just been taken from the traps at the Fishery.
  

Male salmon is squeezed to get the semen to fertilize the roe.

Here a female is gutted (she was going to die as soon as she spawned) to get the roe.  The
roe are fertilized and raised at the hatchery until big enough to have a better chance at reaching the ocean.

Fish are marked before they leave the hatchery.   Clips on fins or metal tags provides research information. The natural salmon will have no clipping or tags.  Sadly, this year only 1 natural Sockeye and 104 natural Chinooks had been found.  A few more may have showed up after my visit, but clearly the numbers are low. The numbers for hatchery fish are also low.  This year 2314 Chinook had come thru the traps at the Fishery.  Redfish Lake got its name because there was a time the lake was so filled with salmon that it looked red.

Mama merganser with offspring

Ranch near Stanley