Safe and Sound

I'm here in Yellowstone--I don't have much time to write, but I'm having a blast so far. I'm working in the DISH PIT in the kitchen, which can be depressing. I think all of us dish pit people had mental breakdowns at different times throughout the week. But I've heard rumors of my moving to another part of the kitchen soon. I'm at Roosevelt, which is the most primitive section of the park. There are four girls in my little wooden cabin. We make fires every night in a little stove and by the time we wake up (no later than 7:30 am) it's freezing cold! My roommate Joy and I sleep in our sleeping bags. Joy's awesome--we get along so well, think alike, and have great spiritual conversations together. I was so excited to see she'd brought books by C.S. Lewis and Carolyn Mahaney. We are hiking buddies :). The word of the week between us has been "hard-core." We've met so many "hard-core" hikers--we just pretend we're hard-core, but then we are comparing ourselves to these people who are so hard-core it's ridiculous.

Oh--the dish pit is awful, but on my hikes I'm reminded of why I'm here! It's gorgeous. The hiking is amazing. The people are so down-to-earth. It's been great. Mountains are so glorious! I'm amazed by the sites we've seen. The wildlife's awesome, too! I've seen four bears so far, lots of elk, deer, bison, and "whistle pigs" (ground squirrels). Bears scare me to death, by the way; but when you tell someone that, they tell you about all the other ways you can get killed at Yellowstone, which freaks me out even more! Like getting struck by lightning, falling into a hot spring, or being hit by a boulder in a mudslide. It's crazy.

I didn't know what to expect with the people who'd be working here, but a lot of them are kind of "punks" and partiers, surprisingly! I've even met people who don't like to hike! Where I am at Roosevelt there's a corral, so there are lots of cowboys and cowgirls around (the real deal!). But I'd say most of the people who work full-time here just love nature.

Oh, where I am at Roosevelt they just got the internet set up and it's dial-up! It was set up yesterday and get this: the building was struck by lightning in a hail storm yesterday afternoon! I didn't even get to use it there--I was so bummed. So right now I'm in Mammoth, which is more like a civilized city. They have Wi-Fi, which is such a blessing :)--haha. I'm such a spoiled American. Everything at Yellowstone seems to be about 10 years behind the times. Especially at Roosevelt! I feel so hard-core just living there.

Hey--write me! I looooove mail.

Cate Raff
#1 Roosevelt Lodge
YNP, WY 82190