More Yellowstone - This place is awesome

Life continues to be good. I am still in a state of sensory overload and Yellowstone National Park daily keeps me in that state. Our “work” schedule of 3 days off one week and 4 days off the next gives us ample time to play tourist. Since our duties when at work are predominantly related to helping visitors plan their visits to Yellowstone (in addition to helping with the Junior Ranger Program for 5 – 13 year olds) we find naturally that we can give much better advice if we have actually experienced the hike, or thermal feature, or drive ourselves. What a tough task to have to spend our time off watching geysers and wildlife, fishing world-class trout streams, backpacking into the wilderness-like back country, or just taking a day hike to breathtaking waterfalls and vistas.

This last week has certainly lived up to every imaginable expectation. The Grand canyon of Yellowstone with the huge waterfalls cascading over 300 feet is breathtaking. There are over 14,000 thermal features in Yellowstone. The geysers are the most famous and draw everyone’s attention but the paint pots and the hot pools are no less interesting. The fumaroles are merely steaming holes and do not get much attention but they are the hottest of the thermal features. If waterfalls and spouting or erupting geysers are not sufficient to generate a sense of awe, the abundance of wildlife certainly will. This week provided us with an experience few ever see. A very rare buffalo drive took 300 bison past our visitor station. Although the bison migration occurs annually, this year hundreds of bison were interfering with cattle operations west of the park and “cowboys” on horseback were used to usher these 2000# behemoths eastward toward their summer grounds and breeding area. Seems the lighter than normal snow made living in the West Yellowstone area too comfortable for these beast to leave on their own.
A little urging from the horsemen and the migration began—up the Madison Valley and through the Firehole Canyon to the Nez Pierce River. Seeing 300+ bison amble slowly up the two lane road toward the Mary Mountain area was interesting but made me realize that this migration has been taking place for hundreds of years and these bison were not following our man-made road but in fact, the man-made road was actually engineered along the prehistoric bison trail.

The Firehole Canyon is one of my favorite fishing areas but it is seriously dwarfed by the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


The Yellowstone River has carved a magnificent canyon that Charles Cook, of the 1869 Folsom Yellowstone expedition, after stopping at the brink of the canyon near what is now Artist Point wrote, “I sat there in amazement, while my companions came up and after that it seemed to me that it was five minutes before anyone spoke.” Nearly 140 years later the first glimpse of this canyon and the waterfalls generates the same sense of awe and leaves viewers speechless.


Everyone knows of Old Faithful Geyser because of its very predictable eruption schedule. Other geysers are far less predictable but put on much more spectacular displays. Compared to Old Faithful’s 5-6 minute demonstration, my favorite (for now anyway) is Lone Star Geyser which erupts with considerable more fanfare shooting tall spouts of hot water and steam and emitting guttural groans for better that 20 minutes every 2.5 – 3 hours.


I took a few days to backpack along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and spent the night not far from the pristine upper reaches of the Firehole River. Wildlife sign was abundant but except for a Pine Martin that ran through camp and a Grey Jay that stopped to beg or scavenge for tid-bits, I saw little.
I left the campsite around 2PM and another group of campers arrived five hours later for a night out in the wilderness. When they arrived at the campsite “steaming fresh” bear scat, tracks, and other signs convinced them to cancel their plans and depart the wilderness.

Next week I will try to spend several days on the trail. I’m sure every rip will be exciting.

Geyser Photo

We took a side trip to look at a few geysers. This one erupts regularly and is kinda neat looking.

Getting Accustomed to Yellowstone

I sure like this place. We will actually start "working" in a couple days. That will be nice. Until now we have been in training, I'v e done some fishing (caught about 40 or so trout so far). we have been seeing the sights and doing some hiking. We are getting to know quite a few of the folks we will be working with and Sandi hs mad some friends of her own.
The wild life is awesome. We have seen perhaps thousands of bison, hundreds of elk, coyotes, grizzly bears, black bears, and more. Hiking and fishing takes on a new dimension. whenever we go out we carry bear spray, and industrial sized canister of pepper spray. It is not likely that we will ever have to use it but there has been one bear attack since we arrived - a photographer who insisted on getting too close to a sow grizzly with cubs had much of his face ripped off - but bear attacks are very rare. elk and bison injure more folks than bears do.

From Mexico to Yellowstone National Park

It is hard to keep up a blog when there is no or limited internet access but here in West Yellowstone, just 12 miles from where we are camped in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) there is WiFi in the visitor center so during our weekly trips to town (population 900) we can get e-mail and do other assorted computer chores.
We left Mexico, followed the Rio Grande River birding the Texas/Mexican boarder into Big Bend National Park. Scenery was awesome, birding was good, and hiking was excellent. We followed the Rio Grande northward into New Mexico stopping at state parks and National Forests along the way. We saw petroglyphs and pictographs left by civilizations nearly 10,000 years ago. We climbed to pueblo ruins, visited Indian cultural centers, and saw volcanic cones. A day of shopping in Old Town Albuquerque was really interesting and we left there with new artist –made wedding bands and perhaps a renewal of a relationship.
Colorado Springs was our intermediate destination and once there we wasted no time making arrangements to catch a flight from Peterson Field to Andrews AFB in Maryland. This trip back East was to visit friends and family.

First a quick trip to Denton Maryland where Bill, Ann, and especially Marisa and Sammy entertained us for the weekend. Marisa never slows down and is sharp as a tack. Sammy is as loveable as can be. Then up to Pennsylvania for a nice visit with Mom and Dad. Playing dominoes during the evenings added to a most enjoyable stay.
Back to Bill and Ann’s for the weekend then over to Andrews where we caught another C-21 (Lear Jet) that took us to Maxwell AFB in Alabama and gave us a chance to visit with Jayme, Chris and Braelyn. Braelyn was approaching her first birthday so we had a practice birthday party.
We departed for Maxwell where we waited for several days for another C-21 that took us back to Peterson in Colorado Springs. Our RV was parked at the home of Escapee Chapter 8 friends Spook and Brenda McFillin.
They took good care of it which sure took the worry out of being away. April in Colorado Springs is still winter and on the eve of our departure we got to experience 4-6 inches of fresh snow. The white landscape was beautiful and Pike’s Peak to the west was awesome. The entire frontal range of mountains-their purple mountains majesty-displayed a breathtaking beauty.
Northbound toward Yellowstone National Park we stopped in Loveland for several days to see some of the sights. Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park gave us our first sighting of mountain sheep and elk. We hiked the perimeter trail around Bear Lake and were entertained by a chipmunk-like golden mantled ground squirrel who played hide-and-seek with us coming close hoping for handouts then running away only to reappear even though handouts never were offered.

A drive through the mountains took us to a secluded retreat, home of the Great Stupa, the largest Buddhist temple in North America. Back in Loveland we toured a local brass foundry taking a very personal tour getting an up close look at wax molding, porcelain mold making, molten brass pouring and finally assembling and finishing. We really have a much greater appreciation of the art of the sculpture and thoroughly enjoyed viewing the statuary in the city park.

Our next stop was Yellowstone. Throughout Colorado and Wyoming on our way to Yellowstone Pronghorn were everywhere, sometimes in sizeable herds. We passed through the Grand Teton Mountains and will certainly return during the summer. Our arrival into Yellowstone on the first day of the southern road opening was not disappointing. There is a spirit about this place and the scenery escapes any attempts at description.
Beautiful trout streams, meadows with grazing elk and bison, snow capped mountains, and the unbelievable thermal features-the geysers, fumaroles, hot pools, and mud pots. They need to be seen to be believed.
Over 14000 thermal features are in the park – more than in all of the rest of the world. The forested landscape, recovering from the fire of 1988, shows the resiliency of nature. Lodgepole pine the predominant tree species are equipped with seratinous cones that are triggered by heat, releasing millions of seeds. The seedlings now 4 -10 feet high are naturally reclaiming the park. Fire is part of the natural scheme of things in this ecosystem but the extremely dry conditions of the summer of 1988 resulted in 22 different fires that effected about one third of the entire park or about 800,000 acres. Yellowstone is actually the caldera of an active volcano that last erupted 640,000 years ago and experiences 1000 – 3000 earthquakes a year. Magma is only 3-5 miles below the surface and the shifting tectonic plates let heated water rise to the surface-sometimes in explosive displays of force. Three million visitors come here annually to experience the magic and spirit of Yellowstone. I will write more later.