Workin in the Wild Wild West

After I arrived home (again), and rested a bit (again), a friend of mine in SLC gave me word that she knew of a Geo-physics crew that needed an additional person for a month....of course I was interested. I would be leaving in just 2 days (again)....but I could bring Lucky! PERFECT!

Finally….my bank account can start to recover! It was really hard to want to leave home after being gone so much, but considering the job market right now….I needed to go. I would be living out of a hotel for the next month, but it doesn’t really matter where I am as long as Lucky can go with me. Also, turned out it was my same company I did work for last year and my boss told me that we would be working in Wyoming and Montana. Workin in the deserts of the Wild Wild West! I went to Montana last year on this same Geo-physics project, and the only time I had ever been to Wyoming was to climb in Lander, sounds exciting to me!

I arrived into SLC, met the crew, we packed the work truck and we immediately hit the road for Lander where we would be working….too bad there is zero time for climbing! The drive was really pretty…I missed summer in the US… it’s very different from Asia. Very DRY! And yet….when it rains…it pours. The climate being so dry is really hot when it is hot, and really cold when it's cold.



That first night after we arrived into Lander, Lucky and I got setteled in our motel room where we would be living for the next couple days before heading to a new town after we finish installing these sites here.

I opened a bottle of ‘Working Girl Red’ wine to celebrate my first day back to work in about a 8 months. Felt really good.

Over the next few days the work went smoothly and the views were really amazing.

This is a photo of Eric one of the guys I work with looking pretty cool.

This is a photo of Brad the other guy I work with sitting on a hill also looking pretty cool.

This is a photo of a pronghorn carcass that I thought was really pretty.


This is rusted out can...

This is an ant-hill....the build these giant mounds of pebbles that they gather in the desert. They are the kings of their own castel.

Workin...




Lucky working hard too!

One day we had to go work near Dubois, Wy. It was a really long drive...we left early in the morning and drove to the site by lunch time.

Unfortunately, it had rained recently here in the mountains, and the truck got stuck in the mud.

We tried everything, we tried digging, we tried cutting sagebrush and putting it under the tires, we tried cutting our wood boards and putting those under the tires, we tried filling in the mud with mroe dirt to soak the water, we tried trenching the mud and water to remove the water and lead it out and away from the tires. Nothing worked.

There was no cell service...at all.

Eventually...there was no other choice...someone had to go walk to get help. Ugh...What a long walk it would be!

I walked...and walked...and walked. For about 4 hours.

I finally left the Forest Service land and entered a private land section where a ranch was. I walked the long driveway of the Ranch property and approached the house, a dimly lit dining room light was on so I was hopeful, but there were no cars parted outside except a beat-up old SUV. I knocked and knocked on the door but no one answered. I sighed in frustration and as I turned around to survey the mountains in the late afternoon light...a logging truck rambled down the main road....and past the ranch. I yelled and began running down the drive-way of the ranch back to the main road...but they didn't see me and kept driving. UGH!!!

So I kept walking...and walking and walking. Still no cell service. About an hour later after walking I happened upon a campsite and heard dogs barking. I called the dogs, and soon I heard a some men talking and then yelling for the dogs. I made my way to where they were and explained the situation. They only had a small pick-up truck and our work truck was a lot larger...they wouldn't be able to pull us out. But they were local to Dubois and knew where a rancher lived nearby that could help. It was just getting dark so the two men, the two dogs and myself loaded into their small pickup and headed toward their friends ranch to get help.

Luckily it was now dinner time and these people were home. They were more than willing to help and were very surprised to hear where I had walked from. They said that there are a lot...A LOT of bears in their area lately. They said that because of the beetles killing the pine trees, the bears have been coming lower and lower into the valley in search for food and shelter. The woman told me that they set up a camera on the edge of their property because they had been having problems with the bears...and this week alone had caught 26 separate photos of bears on that camera and most of them were taken around this time of day. Ugh....good thing I got help before it was fully dark...or i would not be having fun walking around amongst the bears.