September 29 - 30, Hayden Valley, Lower Falls on Yellowstone River

As you may  have guessed, we did not actually see the bears and wolf pictured!---but we did see a grizzly and wolves today---just too far off to get a good picture!!
We got up early again today and went to Hayden Valley in search of wildlife and we were much more successful today.

We noticed a crowd forming at one of the pull outs along Hayden Valley so we decided to stop and happened onto a very interesting story. As most of you have read this summer, there have been two hikers killed by a grizzly bear in the park. Apparently, the rangers are able to gather the DNA of the bear off of the bodies of the people and then they either are able to match it to DNA information they have on bears that have been collared, or they can try to determine which bears are in the area and dart them with tranquilizers and them gather DNA and collar them. When they have determined which bear (or bears) are responsible for what they consider to be aggressive attacks they take what action they think necessary.

Sooooo....all of the people were at this spot with their long range telescopes because the forest service thought the 'bad' bear was in the area and they had placed a bison carcass out in a meadow to hopefully draw out the bear. There were people there from the forest service that were associated with the wolf project because they knew the carcass would also attract the wolves....so there was lots of first hand information about what was going on, and many generous people who would let those of us without big telescopes look at what was unfolding in the  meadow. When the fog lifted, there was a grizzly bear feeding on the carcass and wolves circling around-----it was really fascinating to watch. Many of these people are seasoned wolf watchers and could recognize which wolf they were watching! Since wolves have been  reintroduced into the park there are 11 active packs.

They determined that the bear was not the one they were trying to capture, so after a couple of hours we took a break and drove on down the road----seeing lots of bison! On our return trip we learned that they finally spotted the correct bear and her cubs at the edge of the woods and they had successfully darted her  and taken her in a trap (suspended from a cable on a helicopter) to verify her DNA. If it turned out to be the bear they suspected with aggressive behavior, they would 'put her down'. We never heard the 'end of the story'......but it was fun to be there and see all the activity.

Tomorrow we leave for Dubois, Wyoming and the Grand Tetons...resting in West Yellowstone.......
Debbie and John

Bison herd on the road

View on our drive!

Lower Falls on Yellowstone River

The Grand Canyon area of Yellowstone

Another beautiful mountain stream

September 27 -28, Lamar Valley, West Thumb, Yellowstone Lake

This morning we got up around 5:00am (not exactly normal waking up hour!), and we were on the road on the motorcycle around 5:30 ----I was wearing the heated vest and several layers of clothing since the temperature was in the 20's!! We were told if we really wanted to see wildlife we needed to be in the valley at sunrise----so the adventure started....

We were not very successful this morning with our sightings----it was a beautiful ride, but we only saw a few bison and some prong horns at quite a distance. On the way back we stopped for some hot chocolate, for me, at Canyon Village  and when we reached the campground---almost back to the RV, we spotted a moose!

Above is a picture of the shore of Yellowstone Lake--there were beautiful springs around the perimeter of the lake in an area called Geiser Basin. We crossed the Continental Divide several times and saw some beautiful fall colors. Hikers reported they had seen a bear on the trail, I went the other direction!

Criss-crossed Continental Divide

Kepler Cascades

Geiser Basin

Shore of Yellowstone Lake

More from Geiser Basin

Resting in West Yellowstone.....John and Debbie

September 25-26, Yellowstone

Plants that fall into the springs become covered with chemical deposits!

Today we drove north in the park to the Mammoth Hot Springs area. This is the location of Fort Yellowstone which was built in the late 1800's so the Army could protect the Park from 1886 - 1916.
We had been told that there were lots of elk in this village--this is their mating season and supposedly the males were even bugling in town!----however we did not see any on our visit today.

A short drive from the Fort, we discovered the beauty of some of the springs. The springs are the result of the rain and snow from the mountains that seeps into the ground where it is heated and rises to the surface. The ones we saw looked like snow and ice sculptures with various colors blended in-----but it is actually a form of rock called travertine, and calcium deposits.

Canary Spring is the one above and it is spectacular!

On the way back we saw Gibbon Falls and Aspens turning their distinctive yellow gold.

 

 

Resting in West Yellowstone...John and Debbie

September 23-24 Yellowstone

Teen on trail posed this shot for his mom!!

We arrived at our campsite and were met with this sign! Needless to say this brought on a slight feeling of apprehension.....but our campsite host reassured us that indeed, there has been lots of aggressive grizzly behavior this season, but we should not be afraid---just carry bear spray and be careful! Thankfully we had purchased some at Cabella's on our trip out----so we are set!

Oh---wait a minute, found these prints in the mud on my first campground walk! Needless to say, I keep the RV in sight when I loop around!!

Today, we did the Old Faithful Geyser Loop trail and saw some amazing natural wonders! About one third of Yellowstone is sitting on top of a huge super volcano that is still active. This hot magma concentration under the surface causes this large concentration of hydrothermal features in the park. The majority of the world's active geysers are in Yellowstone.

Old Faithful

I am just going to post a sample of the photos---naming those I can remember!

Riverside Geyser

Morning Glory Pool

Excelsior Geyser

Bison right on the road!

Resting in West Yellowstone.....Debbie and John

September 19-22, 2011

Sunset in South Dakota

We traveled west/northwest through Illinois and Iowa, then up to the southern edge of Minnesota and across to John's "home" in America's Mailbox in Rapid City South Dakota. We then headed into the northeast corner of Wyoming and visited Devil's Tower National Monument. This was designated in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt as the first national monument.
                                                                               
There are a couple of theories on the formation of the tower----originally it was thought to be the core of an ancient volcano---while recent date suggests it is  instead an igneous intrusion. It rises 867 feet above its base and rises 1,267 feet above the near by Little  Missouri River! It can be seen from miles around as it stands out in stark contrast to the surrounding valley.

Devil's Tower

You can see where many of the columns have broken off.

Note the climbers!

Wildlife sighting along Tower Trail

Many of  you might remember this site as the focal point from the movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. Approximately 5,000 climbers come  here every year from all over the world to climb on the massive columns.

Custer's marker

The next day we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield-----or maybe better known as "Custer's Last Stand". The battle took place in June of 1876 and approximately 1,500 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors soundly defeated the 260 or so soldiers and personnel of the U.S. Army, including the famous Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. The National Park ranger gave an informative talk about the events leading up to the battle and what historians and archeologists believe happened here during the battle.

For many years this event was mainly considered only from the view of the white man, but in the late 1990's a monument was put in place for the Indians  and much of the information from visiting the monument now explains the situation from the viewpoint of both sides.

Historically, this event has been described as a classic case of winning the battle, but losing the war. The Indians dispersed after this battle and eventually the nomadic Indian population was forced onto reservations.

There were not too many great photo opportunities, it was more of a 'feeling' about being in a place that was such an important part of American history

Markers dot the hillside.

The Indian Monument

Markers have been placed all over the hillside where the soldiers were thought to have died. At the end of the battle, the soldiers shot their horses to use them as shields to continue their fight---so there were many horse skeletons as well that are buried at the sight.


Tomorrow we are headed to Yellowstone,

Resting in Bozeman, Montana.......John and Debbie

September 16, 2011

Our travels were intended to start yesterday but we did not quite get ready in time so we are headed west out of Crawfordsville today! Our goal is Yellowstone for our reservations at the end of next week and to have a leisurely trip and do some sight seeing along the way. We are fairly confident we have everything on board we need----just don't have it all in it's proper spot yet!---that is going to be our project on the way out---to get 'organized! I have noticed as I have gotten older that the concept of 'getting organized' seems to be more and more elusive!

I was having trouble posting pictures at the end of our travels last year, so hopefully it will work better now!
Yeah!!  I just inserted a picture from last year in Fort Collins and it worked!!

Now, to 'go back' and catch up, I will post some photos and what I can remember as a narrative!

 We visited Dad at Ft. Pierce and ate several times at the Tiki Hut at this marina.

We enjoyed our first Swamp Cabbage Festival in LaBelle, Florida---Let's just say that the parade was like none we have ever experienced before!! Swamp cabbage is scraped from the inside of the Sabal Palm....they prepared it in a variety of different ways and I did taste it---but probably will not do that again!!

Swamp Cabbage Festival Parade

Key West sunset

 We took a 'road trip' in the Jeep to Key West.
This photo was taken in Key West at Mallory Square which is THE location for viewing sunsets! There were lots of tourists and several street actors performing each evening as the sun set.  Beautiful!
Linda and Joe had given us lots of good advice on places to eat and things to see so we had a really nice visit to the southern most point of the United States.
The next is just a cute Key West cottage--and a famous descendant of Ernest Hemingway's chickens.

We made another excursion to Everglades City and visited the famous Rod and Gun Club, took an air-boat tour of the everglades and found a delightful cafe on the water for dinner where the entertainment for the evening was one of the guitar players from our weekly trip to the Moose in LaBelle!! Fun times!

Our only wildlife sighting on the Everglades tour!

So there you have the short version of last year's travels! Now I will start with the new!

Resting in Billings, Montana....Debbie and John