Rocky Mountain High

*New critters we've seen on our 2009 trip so far: beaver, groundhog, prairie dogs, big horn sheep, buffalo (bison), white tail deer, chipmunks, pronghorn, burros, pika, moose, Uinta ground squirrel, mountain goats, mule deer, fox, moose, black bears, elk, grizzly bear, wolf
*New birds we’ve seen on our 2009 trip so far: wild turkeys, osprey, western meadowlark, mountain bluebird, sandhill cranes, Canadian geese, American white pelicans, trumpeter swans, killdeer, bald eagles
*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2009 trip so far: 16
*State Parks visited on 2009 trip so far: 2

By the way I forgot to mention in our last post that while traveling from Glacier NP to Bozeman, MT, we encountered some nasty storms that included driving through hail three different times. The hail wasn’t hard packed so didn’t do any damage, but a rock thrown up from an oncoming truck hit our windshield causing a nice baseball-sized crack. Fortunately, it’s not cracked all the way through, and it was on the same side where we had gotten a 1-1/2” crack the week before. We’re hoping the window will hold out until we get back to FL to get it repaired.

As we entered Yellowstone National Park (http://www.nps.gov/yell/) from the town of Gardiner, we passed under the Roosevelt Arch built in 1903 to honor President Teddy Roosevelt, who laid down the cornerstone. Obviously cars were smaller then, as our RV and a car coming in the opposite direction surely couldn’t pass at the same time. The north entrance drops you into the Mammoth Hot Springs area and from there we began the ascent past the Upper and Lower Terraces featuring brightly colored thermal mineral springs. Since we were still over 50 miles from our campground located centrally within the park, we continued the winding journey enjoying the vistas overlooking the Gardiner River and the fascinating stands of lodgepole pines. As we passed through Hayden Valley, the road ran along the Yellowstone River, and we started to see buffalo around every bend and a herd of perhaps over 100 grazing off to the left. Without any complications, we arrived at Fishing Bridge RV Park and proceeded to get settled in for our one week stay. Fishing Bridge campground only allows hard sided camping vehicles due to both black and grizzly bear activity in the campground. The sites are close together, but we found it to be an enjoyable home base. Our satellite TV worked well, but internet and cell phone service were non-existent in this area of the park.

Later that day we headed off to the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center, 1 of 9 Visitor/Information Centers located within the park. There we got the lay of the land, collected the much needed maps of the park, and got directions to the closest areas for internet reception. This would be the start of our daily trek to check for e-mails and make any calls necessary. The first area we used was about 9 miles south of our campground, but the next day we found better reception about 10 miles north of our campground at a pullout named Grizzly Overlook in Hayden Valley. Amazingly about the only animal we did not see from this perch was a grizzly bear.

The next day we headed about 21 miles south to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. We were able to walk a ¾ mile boardwalk loop past approximately 20 geysers, hot springs, cones, and paint pots. This was our first up close look at the active hydrothermal features that exist in the park.

From there we traveled another 17 miles to the Old Faithful Visitor Center. While there we walked along the 1.3 mile Geyser Hill Loop seeing a dozen more geysers, pools, and hot springs. Of course no visit to this area would be complete without seeing Old Faithful erupt. Since Old Faithful erupts nearly every 90 minutes, we were able to see its performance, walk the trail, visit Old Faithful Inn, and catch an encore eruption before leaving. The return trip to our campground took a little over an hour as we crossed the Continental Divide at over 8,300 feet for the 4th time that day.

I guess it’s time to talk some about the volcanic history of this area and the 35 mile by 45 mile, 4,000 foot deep caldera located in the park. Without being too scientific, a caldera is created when a volcanic mountain basically blows up and caves into its cone. Throughout history there have been 3 main volcanic eruptions in the park, the last being almost 640,000 years ago, and the largest being more than 1,000 times bigger than the Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980. Within the past 2 million years, many volcanic eruptions have occurred within Yellowstone, and the volcano is still active. Molten rock, or magma, can be as close as 3 to 8 miles underground. This magma supplies the first ingredient for thermal features: heat. Rain and snow supply the second ingredient: water. The water seeps down several thousand feet below the surface where it is heated. Underground cracks and fissures form the third ingredient: a natural “plumbing” system. Hot water rises through the plumbing under pressure to produce hot springs and geysers. The deepest water surfaces exceeding 199 degrees Fahrenheit. Half of the world's geothermal features are located in Yellowstone. As you go from one geyser basin to the next, it’s easy to get bored thinking they all look alike until you start to understand what is really happening around you. That’s it for the science lesson; if you want to know more, you’ll need to look it up. To the right is Congress Pool, which Russ felt was appropriate and nicknamed it the sespool.

The rest of the week was spent with one goal in mind: finding and identifying new critters. At this point, we had still had not seen a grizzly bear nor were we 100% sure whether we had seen a bald eagle earlier in our travels. Wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone in 1995, and apparently two different packs roam the park. Also we were still looking for our first official elk sighting.

On day 3 we planned on attending a ranger led walk starting at 7am and originating from the Grizzly Overlook. We arrived at 7am, the ranger and perhaps about 50 other people were there, it was 34 degrees and the morning fog had not lifted. Ranger Mark explained that we could not start our hike until visibility improved as you never knew what critter (bison, wolf, bear, elk) we might stumble upon. So for the next hour and a half Ranger Mark entertained us with some truly interesting stories. The time passed quickly and at 8:30 he felt the fog had lifted enough where we could head down into the valley. Although visibility was still compromised, we made our way down to the river by following a ½ mile trail out to a peninsula. As the fog continued to lift, we started to notice sandhill cranes, Canadian geese, trumpeter swans, and American white pelicans along the waterways. After about 45 minutes, we decided to head back up the trail to our car and along the way spotted 40 or 50 elk on the far hillside. As we reached the parking lot, we were able to gaze at these animals to our heart’s content, and after firing up the laptop to check our e-mail, headed back to our campground. That evening we took the dogs to the confluence of Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake to hunt for beaver. We were told that each evening “mom and dad” came swimming up and under the bridge. After about an hour we gave up and headed down a new road along Yellowstone Lake, stopping at the overlooks and visiting with some buffalo. We also stopped at Steamboat Point along Yellowstone Lake for some more thermal activity.

The next day was a trip to Canyon Village Visitor Center and two relatively short drives along the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This was a truly enjoyable treat. The canyon is approximately 20 miles long, more than 1,000 feet deep, and up to 4,000 feet in width. Two waterfalls, one at 109 feet and the other at 308 feet, afford many photo opportunities including our attempt to capture a rainbow that shows up every morning at the base of the falls precisely at 9:45 like clockwork. We walked a few short trails to Grand View, Inspiration Point, Lookout, Artist, and Red Rock Points, all offering fantastic views of the canyon, falls, and cascades. The large boulder below right traveled over 50 miles by glacier to its present resting site.



















On Sat. we headed up past Canyon Village to Mammoth Hot Springs. This 49 mile one way drive took us to where we originally entered the park five days earlier. The Mammoth area is one of the park’s most dynamic hydrothermal areas and its features are constant change. Although outside the caldera, the "plumbing" is similar and the area’s composed of limestone deposited millions of years ago when a vast sea covered this area. The hot water along with dissolved carbon dioxide makes a solution of carbonic acid. As this solution rises through the rock, it dissolves into calcium carbonate, the primary compound in limestone. At the surface, the calcium carbonate is deposited in the form of travertine, the rock that forms the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. This is the end of our second science lesson. From there we headed a few miles north into the town of Mammoth Hot Springs and had a leisurely picnic lunch under a giant shade tree on the grounds of Ft. Yellowstone. We also shared this park like setting with numerous elk, who seemed to just roam the area mingling with the tourists. However, one must always remember that they are still wild animals.

From there we drove 29 miles to Tower-Roosevelt to see the Petrified Tree., but unfortunately we didn’t see much of the tree. Just before reaching Tower-Roosevelt we encountered a large number of cars pulled off to the side of the road. One thing we have learned is that when you see a large group of cars pulled to the side, the people out of their vehicles, and looking into the distance, they are probably observing a buffalo or elk. When you see this occurrence with a ranger outside their vehicle directing traffic, you can bet that everyone is looking at a bear. We pulled over, joined the crowd, and a short distance away there was a black bear leisurely grazing on berries. We watched for awhile, took some pictures, and then headed to the Petrified Tree. Upon arriving on the road leading to the tree, we again found ourselves in the midst of a traffic jam. We parked the car, walked about a quarter mile up the road, and there he/she was…a grizzly bear! For the next hour we joined many others along the roadside observing this beautiful animal down the hill, less than a hundred feet away. It was truly amazing! Both of us felt a sense of accomplishment in snuffing out this great critter. It was time to head back to our campground, and our travels took us by Mt. Washburn and through Dunraven Pass at 8,859 feet, though at one point our elevation on the GPS read 8,966 feet, a new high for us. By the time we touched down, we had traveled 105 miles that day, and the doggies were sure glad to see us.

Sun. was to be a quiet day, but we decided to head to Grizzly Overlook to see what we could see and of course to check our e-mail. A couple days before, we had met Linda, a retired schoolteacher from OH and an avid wolf spotting enthusiast. As a matter of fact, she had allowed us to look through her expensive scope in search of the elusive wolf den located in Hayden Valley. We had enjoyed talking to Linda earlier in the week, as she was very patient in explaining the habits of the wolf pack. We were surprised to see her again in Hayden Valley as her home base was in the Lamar Valley area, some 50-60 miles away. We had only been talking to Linda a few minutes that morning when others in her group spotted a black wolf outside the den and sunning itself next to a small creek. Linda was most gracious in allowing both of us ample time to look at the wolf through her scope. We have a decent pair of binoculars, but they are nothing compared to what she can see. We were now able to officially add a wolf to our new critter list.

The first day we arrived in Yellowstone we went to one of the visitor centers and explained that wildlife is what we wanted to see. On a map of the park the ranger had indicated an area near the West entrance where a bald eagle nest was located a short distance from the road. So on Mon. we started this 140 mile roundtrip to see a bald eagle. Within just a few miles of leaving the park, there on the left in the top of a dead tree was the eagle nest. We were able to pull over into an area that would allow 3 or 4 cars to park off the road. We got out, crossed the street, walked about 100 feet back, and began to observe the nest through our binoculars while taking pictures. Not very exciting as all we could see was sticks. Just then looking perhaps about 50 feet to the right of the nest in another tree we spotted one of the parents, a beautiful bald eagle perched majestically a little higher than the nest and easily within view of the road. For the next hour we observed the bald eagle basically doing nothing. Hundreds of cars now entering the park from the west slowed to look and take pictures of the nest, few realizing that the real show was the next tree over. We headed back to the car, exited the park, road around the town of West Yellowstone for a few minutes, and then re-entered the park for our drive back home.

As we passed the nest, we noticed that there was again a spot available to park off the road. We decided to stop to again observe the eagle. Within a short time, the eagle started to speak and took flight. We could see in the distance another bald eagle as well as two juvenile eagles gliding with the currents. All of a sudden one of the adult balds and two juveniles flew back to the nest where the feeding began. The second adult bald eagle flew directly over our heads, finding a perch on the bank of the Madison River located directly behind us. There he stayed for 10 or 15 minutes as the other adult fed the chicks in the nest, and then flew down river to a higher perch. We stayed for another 30 minutes enjoying our first look at bald eagles and just enjoying the beauty surrounding us.

It was time to head back to our campsite and start preparation for our journey down the road to Grand Teton National Park the next day. We’ve learned a lot this week. Never having been out this way it seemed that Yellowstone was all about Old Faithful. Well, as we discovered, there is so much more to the thermal activity. We managed to see both black and grizzly bears, a wolf, elk, and a family of bald eagles. When you have never seen any of these animals in the wild but only on TV or perhaps in a zoo, the experience is unforgettable. We have seen many bison, and we joke when we spot one “oh, it’s just another bison”, but these animals are truly magnificent. As they graze along the roadside, they seem to always keep one eye on your vehicle as if to say “oh, there goes another car”. The wildlife of Yellowstone has captivated our imagination. We have been in awe of their power and grace. We have been inspired by their beauty. And as John Denver wrote in the song Rocky Mountain High, “I know he’d be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly”.