Day by day account of Whitman in Wyoming,
2002
as written by Clare Carson
Day 1
And what a pack we were! Yellowstone 2002
started as usual in the Hall of Science parking lot at 6:00 a.m. Saturday,
May 25, for the start of our awesome drive to the Snake, then the Clearwater
and Lochsa Rivers. Our vans, EagleEye and RipRap, got separated after
a “ whoops, I think we just crossed this river” episode. Us
Walla Wallans get confused in big cities like Lewiston, Idaho, even with
walkie-talkies. We met up with the Langs and Burtons at the Best Western
in Butte, Montana, where we had a self-guided tour of the Berkley Pit,
a superfund abandoned open-pit mine.
Day 2
Off to the Lewis and Clark Cavern (Mississippian
Madison Limestone) with many geology stops and walkie-talkie lectures
along the way. Arrive at the ranch for a salmon dinner after crossing
the north edge of Yellowstone. By the end of the day, we’ve seen
10 mammal species including black and grizzly bears.
Day 3
Up at 4:30 a.m., two vans in pursuit of carnivores
head to Lamar Valley! We run into Dan, a charming young wolf recovery
ranger who gives us an update on the wolves and grizzlies. We found him
listening to a black wolf’s radio collar that he said may return
to the den soon (we missed it to see the grizzly). Some of us walked to
the banks of Soda Butte Creek to key out some ducks. It was a beautiful
sunrise.
After a ranch breakfast, Clarks Fork Valley,
Sunlight Basin, and Dead Indian Hill were the main destinations for today’s
adventure. We solved the contact mystery, resolved not to trundle rocks
from the bridge, and admired the alpine forget-me-nots. Most interesting
to me was our discussion of how Dead Indian Hill got its name. During
the famous Nez Perce retreat, a wounded Indian was left on the hill. Dave
King fills us in on the history. Below is the quote that I promised to
find:
“I
am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohoolhoolzote
is dead. The old men are
all dead.
It is the young men who say, "Yes" or "No." He who
led the young men [Olikut] is dead. It is cold,
and we have
no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some
of them, have run away to
the hills,
and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps
freezing to death. I want to
have time
to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I
shall find them among the dead.
Hear me,
my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands I will fight no more forever.”
Chief
Joseph
It was fascinating to learn about General
Oliver Howard. I have always thought of him as being so wrong-headed in
his tenacious pursuit of the Nez Perce. He believed in justice for the
Indians and was respected by the Apache. He was a devout abolitionist
and continually championed equality for African Americans. Howard University
is named in his honor!
Day 4
Today’s itinerary is N.E. Yellowstone,
Tower Falls, and a climb of Specimen Ridge to see the really cool petrified
wood. Okay, so we didn’t see all of the really cool petrified wood,
but we had a great hike and the grizzly bear kept us together and on our
toes. Today we saw the best wolf ever. At about 6:00 p.m. near Soda Butte,
we spotted a dark wolf loping along the slope on the side of the road.
The vans screeched to a halt, and we all jumped out to see the wolf cross
the road behind us only a few yards away! He stopped and looked at us
with his piercing yellow-eyed stare.
Day 5
What a group of brave souls! The Heart
Mountain climb was optional, and we figured that we would barely fill
a van, but most everyone climbed to the top! It was definitely not a hike
for the faint of heart! The trail got steep and very narrow on the ridge.
Ever since I first heard the magical story of how it got to be the Earth’s
largest landslide, it has called out to me to climb it. Next stop was
Cody for lunch and the Whitney Gallery of Western Art in the Buffalo Bill
Museum complex.
Day 6
Whew, today is the day off from vacation.
I took a trail ride on a gentle horse named Sky, and then did a quick
trip into Cooke City for some shopping. Half the group hiked to the bottom
of Clarks Fork Canyon.
Day 7
The N. Yellowstone loop drive is my favorite
especially when the traffic is light. We took lots of short walks with
beautiful scenery today. First stop Mammoth Hot Springs, then to the Golden
Gate as in the famous Thomas Moran painting, and a stop at Obsidian Cliff
just long enough to let Equinus Geyser build up pressure for another eruption
at the Norris Geyser Basin for lunch. I love Artist’s Point where
you can see the Yellowstone River pour over Lower Falls from Yellowstone
Lake and into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The narrow winding
road over Dunraven Pass was open so we could complete our loop and get
home earlier.
Day 8
A smaller group of us headed for Lamar
Valley at 4:30 a.m. this morning to try our luck at spotting wildlife.
We met with ranger Rick right away and as we were talking to him a wolf
known as Alpha 21 trotted down the hill next to us carrying a marmot in
his mouth. Alpha 21 is a male from the first litter of the introduced
wolves from Canada about 6 years ago. We followed him for about 2 miles
until he came to a cow elk and calf. I saw him drop the marmot and mark
a bush near by; the next thing I saw was another elk slam into the aspen
fence, then run with the cow and calf toward the ridge top! Alpha 21 was
crouched in the sagebrush ready to pounce but the elk moved out of view
leaving the rest to our imagination.
Today is the drive over Beartooth Pass.
We had great vistas and even saw another wolf near the summit. At Rock
Creek Canyon we saw our 22nd mammal species, 5 mountain goats climbing
the granite spires. At the really old (3.4 billion years) quartzite and
gneiss stop the skies opened up with amazingly close lightning strikes
followed by a pounding hailstorm. The roar of water down Lake Creek and
Crazy Creek Falls was deafening. You have to see these creeks in late
summer to appreciate the amount of water in them now.
Day 9
We said our good byes to Louie and Shelly
Carey and to Yellowstone Park as we headed north to Montana, west to Idaho,
then back home to Washington via Spokane.
Back to Whitman in Wyoming, 2002
To
Bob Carson's webpage