One of the most fascinating things we learned was the complex world of the park’s main predator, the wolf. Yellowstone Park is no stranger to controversy and the handling of the wolves has been front and center for almost a century. Although wolves are fascinating to watch, they pose an enormous threat to livestock and animals many ranchers in the Yellowstone states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho need for their livelihood. In the 1930’s the decision was made to kill off the Yellowstone wolf population altogether. This plummeted the park’s ecosystem into an imbalance that affected everything from plant life to the birds in the air.
Yellowstone never intervenes with the natural course of events that happen in this wild environment with the exception of things that happen as a result of the human world. We saw this first hand 20 minutes into our first day after Carl spotted a newborn elk curled up by the side of the road. The mother had given birth and the space between the ground and the road had eroded to the point that the mother could not get the baby across. Carl called the ranger and together they wrapped the newborn in a blanket carefully void of human scent to take it across the street closer to its mother. In contrast, last week a female bison died after giving birth. The calf stayed by her side trying to nurse the corpse for days before dying of starvation. It was amazing that a wolf had not found the vulnerable creature first, but it did not. Rangers knew what was happening, but correctly see themselves as observers of this amazing system of life. Bones and carcasses in various forms of decomposition can be found everywhere. Carl had done forensic work for the government where he helped determine cause of death. He taught us a lot about what to look for when you observe these occurrences in nature.
Bison, despite the fact that they are HUGE, are herbivores. They eat about 24 pounds of grass a day! The lack of protein in their diet makes their droppings, or Bison patties, light and void of odor. After explaining this to the kids, Connor and Carl proceed to prove this point by playing Frisbee in a field with one of these patties!
Here, the animals have the right-of-way and if this bison wants to hang out by the bathroom, we will let him! It’s amazing how accustomed to us these animals have become. However, despite their docile appearance, these are deemed the most dangerous animals in the park. We saw this first hand as we watched a wolf wander too close to a bison calf. These 2,000-pound animals can run 30 miles an hour. We were there just as the spring babies were being born across the whole animal kingdom. This makes the animals more aggressive than usual as newborns provide good food for those up the food chain.
Our guide Carl is a lifelong naturalist from British Columbia who had a wealth of experience he shared with us the 20 hours we had together. He has worked as a fire jumper, a scuba diving instructor and guide, he was with the Fish and Game Department working with bears, led safari’s in Africa for three years and, more recently, enjoyed time working on the wolf project. He has a close relationship with the large number of park rangers and volunteers who were in the park daily. These people called or radioed him when there was animal behavior to observe and we would load up and head to our destination. Once there, Carl would set up three powerful field scopes for the nine of us to share in addition to the high quality binoculars given to each of us in the beginning. We observed bison, bear, wolf packs, elk, prawn horn, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, badgers, marmut, moose, coyote, and many more animals as well as birds of all kinds. Amazing!
The best thing we did was to take the advice of a friend and hire a private guide to take us through the park. Carl Swoboda picked us up at 6:00 a.m. and we were off for ten hours observing the wildlife in Yellowstone Park with someone who knows it well. Carl gave us a list of animals to find and we spent the day on a true safari trying to locate and observe each animal. If you ever go to Yellowstone yourself, please do it this way too!
Did you ever see “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”? It was filmed right here at Devil’s Tower. We debated whether it was worth a journey this far off the beaten path, but boy it really was!
Devils Tower is 867 feet from its base to the summit. It is an igneous intrusion. That means Magma welled up into the surrounding sedimentary rock. There it cooled and hardened. The sedimentary rock has since eroded away to show this majestic tower.
While preparing to travel west, we spent a lot of time studying the Native American Indians who were here long before we settled in America. Our family formed our own personal opinions about what happened during that time, and this natural wonder sparked a great deal of conversation on the topic. You see, this is considered sacred ground to the Indians. “Devils Tower”, it is believed, was a name given when an interpreter wrongly translated the name into English. The Indian term probably literally meant “God’s Tower”, but it was translated as “Gods Bad Tower” or “Devils Tower”. Knowing this land and structure was of such great importance to the original inhabitants of the area, we turned it into a tourist attraction and even allow to this day climbers to scale the massive structure. This is seen as a desecration of a holy place to the Native Americans.
Wow! This campground was absolutely breathtaking. It is nestled in the mountains overlooking the Yellowstone River. The Roosevelt Arch marking the original North Entrance to Yellowstone Park can be seen through our front picture window. Just out our door is the Yellowstone Trail that takes hikers all the way into Yellowstone Park along the river. As you can see, wildlife was abundant and walked freely through our RV park. We walked into the town of Gardnier every evening for dinner where almost every restaurant is on the river. I could stay here forever!
After our eventful evening, we were happy to find the campground provided all-you-can-eat pancakes for $1. Their cook has served over a million pancakes! While Lacy and I decided to forgo the pancakes for an extra few minutes of sleep, this happy little group enjoyed breakfast together on this beautiful morning.
We watched with interest last month as much of the Dakota’s demanded constant national coverage because of the significant flooding they experienced. As we left Mt. Rushmore, we felt a sense of urgency to get to our destination in Cedar Rapids before the angry clouds in the sky set forth their wrath. Just as we approached the outskirts of town, the sky opened up. Almost immediately the roads disappeared as a lake of water rose from nowhere. We have never been so happy to see a campground sign as we pulled in and waded to the check-in. As we rounded the corner to park, these pictures show you what Mike and Melody’s RV site looked like. It was under water! Once we were all settled, we could not hook up the power on the bus to the electrical pole because that could not be accomplished without standing ankle deep in water! We called Pizza Hut, tipped the guy extra, and enjoyed a movie night together.
Having grown up in the shadow of Stone Mountain, I was prepared to not be too impressed with Mt. Rushmore. I was wrong. Stone Mountain, the world’s largest solid piece of granite, is a wonder in and of itself. However, since it stands alone in the otherwise flat landscape of the metro Atlanta area, it can barely be seen until you park and walk in to the beautiful grand lawn. Mt. Rushmore is a mountain among many majestic mountains. As you drive in, you see the carving close to eye level from many different vantage points. This makes the wonder and excitement build as you travel closer. The detail, while every bit as grand at Stone Mountain, can be seen so close that you see the faint line of Roosevelt’s eye glasses, and the familiar curves of the Lincoln cheekbones.
Ted has three sisters. Two older ones, then a gap, then he and Melody. The two of them were close growing up and were sometimes called "Donnie and Marie". Melody and her husband Mike have been married for 19 years and live in Conyers. Mike is an electrical engineer with Jackson EMC. They were really RV'ers long before we were and were a wealth of information when we first began.
Those of you who have teen age boys will understand that, although I am sure they are really excited on the inside, evidence of their excitement is often only displayed in grunts and absent-minded nods of the head! No, really, they are wonderful to travel with. They sleep alot, eat alot, and come in really handy when you have heavy lifting.
Fortunately, Ted and Mike both have CB radios so we communicate with them that way. We also track our I-Phones in real time on the computer so we can keep up with where we are. I have an air card so every time someone comes up with a good question, no matter how trivial, I can have an answer in minutes! Traveling has never been so easy.
We stayed at a beautiful RV Park in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The kids played and ran through the soft green grass. Melody and Mike took a long walk, and Ted and I jogged for a little while throughout the hilly park. We wrapped it up with dinner outside among many other families there for the Memorial Day Weekend dining, laughing and sharing good times around us.
This picture was taken somewhere in Nebraska where we saw miles, and miles, and miles of agriculture. What a beautiful place it is. The weather has been very sunny, windy, and beautiful!
