Traveling with Ray Owens

Day 6 and last day of our Yellowstone adventure was a great one.   It began by the five folks who were willing to dare, taking a raft down the Yellowstone River.   Candace, Scott, Charlotte, Logan and I drove to the “Flying Pig Adventures Yellowstone Whitewater Rafting” company where we slithered into wetsuits, water shoes, and helmets.  We were joined by 3 other folks and headed down stream.   Charlotte and Logan did a lot of giggling as we rode over some mild rapids.   It was a memorable experience. 

About 11:00 all ten of us set off for what would be a spectacular last day of being in the park. On our last day we stopped at the Entrance to the park near Gardiner.   We took the obligatory group photos at the Yellowstone National Park sign.  We got pictures of the Arch that Teddy Rosevelt dedicated. He was hoping to attract more visitors.   Many folks think Teddy was president when Yellowstone was made a park but in fact, it was Ulysses S Grant who signed the legislation to establish the park in 1872.  We stopped in Mammoth Hot Springs, just 20 minutes up the curvy road, and had lunch at the Mammoth Hotel Grill.

After lunch we headed out to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. As we left a parking lot to see the canyon, Charlotte got to use her binoculars to get a very close-up view of a raven.   The north end of the Canyon is very beautiful.   The walk along the edge of the canyon wall is much more pleasant with the boardwalk and fences.   From high above we could see a big-horned sheep way down at the bottom of the canyon.  The geology of the ages can be seen along the exposed walls of the canyon.   You may recall the columnar lava flow formation that the kids climbed on at Sheepeaters cliffs were the results of Lava flowing over the edge of cliff and cooling as it drops over.   Here you can see the same formations that are several miles long near the top of the canyon wall.   It was amazing to see the millions of years of geological history revealed in the walls of the canyon.

From the north end of the canyon, we drove along the ridge to Artist point.  On the way we came across a Mama black bear and her two young cubs.  The really great part was that one of the cubs was a cinnamon (blond) color and the other was a traditional black colored black bear.   It was sprinkling a little and the bear family was down a hill a way.   Quite a crowd stopped, and a ranger was there trying to keep folks safe.   As the bears began to meander up the hill toward the road we headed back to our cars.   The ranger had to tell many folks to get in their vehicles.   Fortunately, as we began to move forward in our vans the mother told her two cubs to climb a tree.   I got a video of the cubs coming down the tree.  That was pretty dog gone special.

At artist point we got to see one of the coolest views of the canyon.  The lower falls of the Yellowstone River is 309 feet tall.   This is taller than Niagara Falls and by most people it is considered more spectacular by means of the Canyon it occupies.   The view of the canyon walls at this point are filled with colors often caused by the minerals that occur in the rocks.  The colors change appearance with the sun and clouds.  It is amazing.

Our next stop was to see Yellowstone Lake.   We ate dinner in the Lake Hotel.   The hotel cafeteria was OK, but I was disappointed in the food I selected, pot roast.  Now I don’t know about you but I would argue that to be legitimately called pot roast it requires the meat, potatoes, carrots and onions all be cooked in a single pot. The meat and potatoes and onions may have been in the same pot, but the carrots were left outside the kitchen doors until just before the meal was served.  The carrots were not al dente they were in fact raw.  I have nothing against raw carrots I just prefer not to have them served in my pot roast.

The view of the lake was fabulous from the front steps of the hotel.  The elk and geese were hanging out by the lake front.

Our next stop was two types of thermal features we had not yet seen: the mud volcanoes and the acid pools.   The mud volcanoes are where steam is rising through the cilia mud or water and creates a perpetual bubbling of mud and churning of the water.   It was here in this parking lot that Candace and Amy encountered the bison wandering through the parking lot back in 1988.  See previous post. The acid pools are water pools with gas that creates pH levels that are about what car battery or stomach acids are.   The smell is just barely tolerable. 

We set off home (back to the hotel in Gardiner) and took a different route than the way we came to get here.   We were discussing all of the animals we had seen over the week.  One of the animals we regretted not having seen was a grizzly bear.  Suddenly up ahead, the cars were stopped and we got out and in the meadow below was a grizzly bear mama and two cubs.  I use the term cubs rather cautiously. They were nearing the end of their family time with mom.   Grizzly moms will tend to and shepherd her offsprings for 2 to 3 years.   This family had been together for at least two years.  Wes tells us that at some point the mama bear will inform her children it is time to move on.  This will involve her running away from them or if that doesn’t work will growl and bite them.   They are very serious about the kids leaving home.

It was a marvelous last day of a spectacular week in the premier National Park of America.   Yellowstone was Americas first national park, and it remains the best know of all of our parks.   I just pray that, our country does not fall prey to the material greed that wants to encroach on the park lands by leasing mineral rights.  

I so very much love and appreciate our friends Wes and Lorna for giving the gift of their expertise to guide our family this week.   Not many people get their own personal guide who happens to have been a park ranger.  Thank you, dear friends.