Jan 26 Snowmobiling in Yellowstone/ Home

Jan 26 Thursday

An early start this morning as we meet for breakfast here at the hotel, then are shuttled to Two Top, the company  nearby, where we get ready to ride.

 We all are issued boots, snow suits, helmets and gloves but we have been warned to wear warm clothes under these as well. Good advice, since it is near 0 degrees.  It takes a little while for everyone to get set, then we head outside and meet Art, who will be our guide.  He explains how the snow machines work and some basic safety do's and don'ts (Don't go off road into trees!) He is a very personable, enthusiastic and knowledgeable guy. Reminds me of the main guy on the Counting Cars show, if you've ever watched it.

We have mostly 2-person machines and Art suggests having the person who is most leery drive first, so Greg climbs on the back and off we go!  Going through town gives us a feel for how things work and then we enter Yellowstone!  Driving is easier and more fun than I expected! And as a bonus, the handlebars (front and back) are heated. We will be going about 60 miles total and the speed limit is 35, though we have quite a few stops along the way.

First stop is to check out this bald eagle near the Madison River.

 We also do a group photo here.

 We stop for photos of wildlife as well,

 and at beautiful Firehole Falls.

 Wouldn't this make an amazing jig saw puzzle?

We see quite a few bison along the way including this one very near the road. Most of their faces are covered with snow as they use their large heads to move snow out of the way when looking for food.

We will end up seeing well over 100 this day!  Here are a few that were part of a large herd in a geyser basin.

 Next stop is Fountain Paint Pots, where we walk about a half mile boardwalk through a landscape dotted with bubbling mud pots, paint pots, small geysers. We have to carry our backpacks with us, as the ravens lurking around the parking area have figured out that backpacks mean food and Art says they are clever birds who know about zippers and velcro!

This is the Silex paint pot - silex being latin for silica. The colors are created by different microbes and different temperatures.

 There is much silica in most of these geothermal features, which causes some white dead trees called bobby socks trees.  This beautiful tree is coated with frozen mist from the pots which Art says is called hoarfrost.

detail of the hoarfrost tree

 Animals are drawn to the area because the warm earth makes access to the vegetation much easier.  Unfortunately, the silica in the grasses is hard on the animals teeth and tends to shorten their lifespans.

As we continue towards Old Faithful, we encounter a herd of bison on the road.  We shut down our machines and watch as they take their sweet time mulling about, then meandering or trotting by us on the road, only a few feet away!  Some give us a hairy eyeball or grunt as they move on by.  We've been told to form a line with little space between machines (making a fence) so that the animals won't be tempted to cut between us. 

This one stuck his tongue out at us!

 At one point these guys line up like linebackers facing us. Rather intimidating! Can't help wondering what they are thinking! Several are fighting a bit, but soon all move on.

This one was the ultimate winner and followed the others down the road.

So we continued on toward Old Faithful.

 We arrive at Old Faithful about 30 minutes before the next eruption, so we hurry to one of several yurts to have our sack lunches (which are pretty darn cold - our water bottle has ice in it!).  Not wanting to miss the event, we hurry over to an observation area.  And we wait. It is bitterly cold, but we wait.  Seems Old Faithful has become a bit UNFaithful over the years.  We are told it is often 10 minutes before or after the given time, but it is about 20 minutes late today (and someone else says they have waited nearly 40 minutes).  The wind was blowing a bit, so we didn't see the perfect tall eruption, but it was impressive nonetheless and lasted only minutes.

Yurt where we had lunch.

Old Faithful spouting off.

 Afterwards we duck into the Visitors Center for a quick warm up.  As Greg, Debbie, Becky and I are heading back towards the snow machines we go by the geyser again and note that several bison are passing by the geyser cone.
Cool!

Then it is back to the snow machines and Greg takes over as driver.  Driving is fun, but being the passenger gives you the benefit of being able to look around a lot more!  The ride back is a bit faster, but we still stop for bison, elk, coyote and swans.

There is a light snow for 15 minutes or so.  Flying over the white roads, surrounded on all sides by snow covered trees and meadows with snow swirling is amazing! This is Winter in Yellowstone!

Back at Two Top, we return all the gear and head back to the hotel for a quick stop before dinner  which is again at Bullwinkles.  Everyone is hungry since we really didn't have time for much of a lunch.  Tonight's special is salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and a small ice cream sundae.  Plenty of food!

Being our last night, we have a final meeting.  Jen gives us the schedule for tomorrow - which is basically breakfast followed by departure for Bozeman Airport at 8:30 for most folks.  Laura rented a car so will leave later and Jen and Heather will drive back to their homes - 2-3 hours away.

It has been an interesting group, including a nurse, teacher, lawyer, several social workers and more.  Some are still working, some retired. For many, like us, this was our first Road Scholar experience, while others have done multiple other trips.  We exchange email addresses and will share some photos down the road.  Greg shares our blog address as well.

Jan 27 Friday

Breakfast at the hotel this morning = more instant oatmeal.   Goodbyes to  Jen and Heather and we hit the road.  Temps are very low this morning and it isn't long before the windows in our van are frosted over, so we don't see much.  Greg is riding shotgun today so he and the driver, Bill,  get to see a lot.

Turns out we will be on the same plane as our Colorado contingent - Laura, Debbie and Donna - since we have to go to Denver.  We have a few hours till boarding, time to shop a bit and get back to our books that had been abandoned all week.

Good-bye Bozeman.

Full flights both to Denver and then again to warm Houston.  We arrive home about 10:00 and find all is well here. What a wonderful trip!

Jan 25, Skiing, Grizzlies and Wolves

January 25, 2017 Skiing, Grizzlies and Wolves

It was 0 degrees early this morning as we walked the few blocks to Running Bear Pancake House for breakfast.  Good food to start the day.  The decor and menu is all along the Bear theme - I had a Mama Bear breakfast which was one large pancake topped with a scrambled egg and 2 slices of bacon.  Yum!

From here we went to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center where 8 bears and six wolves are kept.

They spend a large amount of time in outdoor enclosures so it was interesting to see and read about them.  The bears were all rescued animals that either got in trouble interacting with people or were orphaned as cubs. Sam, the largest grizzly is 10' tall when standing and weighs about 1,000 pounds!  The others are much smaller - "only" 600-700 lbs.

All the wolves here were born in captivity and weigh between 90-110 pounds, with the males being somewhat larger.  In the wild their life expectancy is only about 4 years, but here in captivity they live about 10 years. The population in Yellowstone has thrived since their controversial re-introduction in 1995.  Interesting how all of nature is a delicate balance, all inter-related.  Since wolves have grown in population, the deer and elk population is more in control, which leaves willows and other plants that elk eat becoming more common which feeds bears, birds and other animals.  And so it goes on...

There were also displays and some short films - a nicely organized not-for-profit educational facility!

From here we walked back to the hotel, stopping at Smith & Chandlers to buy a nice locally made Christmas ornament with a bison painting.  (Our tree now is a memory tree mostly filled with things we have picked up on our travels.)

We met again for salad and pizza lunch at Gusher's, and then walked to pick up our cross country skis.  Jen shuttled us to the beginning of the Rendezvous Trail where we all clipped on our skis and set out.

 The trail was well groomed and featured well worn channels that the skis fit into.

 The hills were a little tricky but all went well as everyone went at their own pace and tried a few different loops, stopping periodically.  We traveled about 3 miles through thick woods and had a few snow flurries here and there. The movement kept us warm!

 Here are Alan and Beth coming over the finish line!

Back to our rooms to rest up a bit before dinner, which was catered at the hospitality room of the hotel.  Odd combo of chicken wings, quiche and a potato pie casserole, plus brownies.  Someone prepared the food and dropped it off so we never did see them. Not our favorite meal, but we didn't come here to eat.

After dinner Heather gave a talk about Grizzly Bears which is one of her specialties.  She has also worked in Denali in Alaska for several years, so was quite familiar with them.  She enjoyed pointing out the relationship of bears and humans as we both came across the Bering Strait Landbridge and migrated south.  We have had an interesting relationship of predator/prey going both ways.  She thinks grizzlies are much more predictable than black bears and actually are less predatory towards humans.  While a grizzly may attack a human it is often as a dominance thing and rarely will a grizzly actually eat a human.  Not so with black bears.

Heather talked about the use of bear spray when hiking and how to handle an attack depending on the type of bear. At one point there were up to 100,000 grizzly bears in North America but by the 1930's and 40's they were almost extinct due to human intervention and the European attitude of manifest destiny where humans were meant to be dominant over all animals.

The bears in Yellowstone hibernate, although there is evidence that they sometimes wake, particularly when giving birth in January or February.  Females must hibernate to have offspring.  So a winter encounter is possible, though not likely. Baby bears are blind and hairless at birth but grow rapidly and will stay with their mother for 2-4 years.

Jen discussed tomorrow's snow mobiling experience and made sure we had paperwork signed for insurance, liability, etc. Then we said goodnight and went back to our room.  The sidewalks and streets in town are not cleared for the most part, and we have been wearing cleats (Yak Trax)that attach to our boots which makes getting around easier.