At first, I could not believe my eyes. I thought we were stuck behind a family walking into Walmart- the massive hairy haunches slowly churning up and down as the beasts lurched forward. However, this was not your average run on Sam's Choice Cheesy Balls and Cola. We were stuck behind a family of buffalos! Four adults and two calves strolling leisurely down the road.
Being greeted by bears at glacier was a rare delight. But this interaction at Yellowstone's west entrance brought close encounters to a new level. As you can see from the video, the buffalo were practically in the car.
About ten minutes before, I had told Josh that the first to slap a buffalo on the butt was the king of the road trip (and to sweeten the deal, if he slapped a buffalo first, I would pay for all of the gas). After coming face-to-face with these modern mammoths, we both decided to stick with a laissez-fair policy. The buffalo were welcome to slap themselves without assistance from us. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Hello Internet readers! This is Dave. I am finally writing a blog message. First, I want to say that Josh is my smartest son, but rob is my favorite, and the most handsome. And, while Jessica is not my son, I like her too, mostly because Joel is cool. Wait! I forget why I'm writing this. Oh, yes. Our lovely road trip. Wait! Where are my glasses? Oh yes. They are here on my face.
Our trip was awesome! The national parks were awesome. We saw animals and stuff. We even camped at the Marriott! The continental breakfast was barely edible. It was rough going.
Here is a picture of me and the boys. When I grow up, I want to be like them.
In fact, I was so impressed with rob's speeding ticket that I got one of my own. Yep! In Wyoming! I was going 42 in a 30. I told the officer that I wasn't aiming for the toddler on the big-wheel, but he didn't believe me. He was nice enough to let me pay cash and dispense of the paper work. Wyoming cops are so friendly!
Do you like our matching hats? We look like twins! I'm the one on the left. This is where we dropped Rob off. Being mayor of 500,000 prairie dogs is no easy job.
Goodbye for now, interweb! Whatever you do, may it be well dunn.
For many, Yellowstone is synonymous with Old Faithful, a geyser which has erupted predictably since time immemorial.
In fact, Yellowstone's abundant thermal activity is due to its location atop one of the world's largest active volcanos. Chambers of magma beneath the earth's surface create the park's hydrothermal features. As rain and snow seep into the ground, heat from the magma forces the water back to the surface in the form of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. Signs throughout the park remind visitors to stay on marked trails. Thermal ground is thin ground. One misstep could leave you waist-deep in a boiling hot spring.
However, the local wildlife navigate easily through treacherous areas. We saw evidence of buffalo beside many hot springs and mud pots. This was dad's favorite. Apparently, buffalo have a sense of irony.
The variety of thermal activity in the park is impressive. Our first stop was at Fountain Paint Pots, which is a collection of steam vents, blue pools, pink mud pots, and teacup geysers. During our visit, the outside temperature was in the 30's, and the wind was stiff. These conditions contrasted harshly to the 75 degree weather we enjoyed north of the arctic circle (where we found Al Gore sobbing while spooning a beached whale). However, the wintery bluster fit the lunar landscape.
The mud pots were especially viscous, and the bubbles grew to the size of baseballs before belching a putrid odor.
The mini-geysers at Fountain Paint Pots were not as grand Old Faithful. But because of the recent snowmelt, they were continuous in their fervent eruptions.
In the afternoon, we drove to the canyon region on the western side of the park and stopped at Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron. The latter is a large vat of seething mud that stinks to high heaven. Mud Volcano is an elevated trail that winds between several thermal features. Throughout our trip I have tried to make videos that add to the blog experience. I try to make the commentary either useful or amusing, but at Mud Volcano I was at a loss for words. Afraid that I wouldn't recover because of the debilitating stench, Dad, Josh and I took turns reading the explanatory trail markers. When we arrived at Sulphur Caldron, I felt well enough to try again. See what you think. Remember, I was not working from a script.
This is my first and only attempt explaining Mud Volcano:
Josh offers commentary on Black Dragon's Caldron:
I explain how vast and violent changes can occur without notice:
Dad talks about a hellish spike in temperature that killed a dense forest:
My recovery video about Sulphur Caldron:
Non-sequitur: If you still have the attention span to watch one more video, I suggest this one. This occurred when Josh a I drove the Richardson Highway from Fairbanks to Delta Junction. We stopped by the roadside to photograph a mountain vista. When we looked behind us, we spotted two local yokels wearing slacks and suspenders climbing the steep hillside. My first thought was "how did the Mennonites get here". A note to the viewer: In this clip I refer to the locals as "jággovs". This may not be appropriate for a younger audience.
Within 15 minutes of entering Glacier Park, a family of bears greeted us by the roadside. Only a few yards from our vehicle, a mama and baby bear feasted on grasses and bulbs. As more visitors stopped to gawk, the baby bear got spooked and scurried up a tree. Ensuring her cub's safety, the mother grunted warnings as she climbed a log to put distance between her family and the roadside. From our vehicle, it was a spectacular sight. However, I would not want to be caught between an angry mother and her cub. In the afternoon, we hiked several miles along St. Mary's Lake to a series of water falls that raged from the snowmelt. Because of the earlier bear encounter, dad asked every 15 minutes, "What do we do if we see a bear?". Josh and I assured him that he just needed to sprint in the other direction. We hatched this plan much earlier. Aware of our speed advantage, we shamelessly decided to throw him under the "bear bus". We also hid a bottle of Tabasco in dad's pocket, as a courtesy to the bear... just in case he liked spicy food... or thought dad was mexican. Ever since we've been calling him papa picante. In this picture you can see dad relenting to our ill-conceived patricidal plans. I think he's saying, "Here bear. Good bear."
Fortunately for dad, we encountered no more bears. Towards the end of our hike, we all got a little nervous. We were out during twilight hours, which is a time for heightened animal activity, and the windy path had many blind corners. After one switchback, I came face-to-face with a young elk. The bewildered look on his face was probably because I kept calling him a deer. He was just trying to figure out who this knucklehead with the camera was. Although it is unlikely that we were ever in danger, all animals are wild and shouldn't be approached. Fight or flight!
Glacier National Park was founded over 100 years ago in 1910. During the last two centuries, the glaciers have slowly receded to reveal craggy mountain peaks. Now, the remaining glaciers are nestled in valleys. Because of the altitude, they stay frozen year round, like Jackson glacier resting between Going-to-the-Sun and Reynolds mountains.
The trails in Glacier Park wind the mountainsides, lake shores, rivers, and streams. The Parks Service keeps many of the trails accessible to novice hikers and weekend road-trippers like ourselves. For the veteran outdoors(wo)man, the unmarked backcountry is open for exploration. For a nominal fee, you can purchase a backwoods pass and tramp through the park. Prior to embarking on an extended wilderness journey, you need to create an itinerary in collaboration with the Parks Service. This is for your own safety. Real dangers exist- deranged bears, bipolar lynx, psychopathic elk, and the simple slip-and-fall. If you do not return on the scheduled day, the rangers can quickly locate you by consulting your itinerary. Although we are the manliest of men, not afraid to stay in the most opulent of hotel resorts, we chose to stick to the marked and maintained trails. We were not disappointed. From the moment we entered the park, we were awed by the azure lakes, steely slopes, and wooly-white mountaintops. As we had predicted, we longed for another few days in the park.
This is our final day in Canada. After leaving Fort Nelson, BC, the rest of the Alcan highway was a smooth drive. The Alcan officially ends in Dawson Creek, BC, but Edmonton is another 365 miles away (588 km for those of you reading this in a Common Wealth country). To gain an extra day on our itinerary, we extended our drive-time and arrived in Edmonton a day early. The final day's drive was beyond the mountain ranges we had grown accustomed to. The landscape of the prairie provinces closely resembles the midwest- acres and acres of farmland. Now, as we leave this region, we look forward to more spectacular vistas over the next few days. Our plans include hiking and camping in Glacier, Yellowstone, and the Badlands National Parks. I'm sure we will be happy for the extra day, though I imagine even that won't be enough time.
We, of course, will not forget western Canada's natural beauty. It rivals all other regions of the globe.
As mentioned in previous posts, we are especially taken by the wildlife. African safaris tout the "big five" as necessary for a successful trip- lions, elephants, rhinos, wildebeests, and giraffes (I think that's the list, but one of those may be swapped out for a hippopotamus). Alaskan and Northwest Canadian expeditions also have a "big five" necessary for success- bears, buffalo, caribou, elk, and moose (I think that muskox could also be thrown in there). Well, we now have all the necessary components for a successful safari. In fact, our animal sightings have become so numerous that I started using a Tally Zoo app on the iPad to keep track. As of this writing, we have seen 9 brown and black bears, 11 buffalo, 1 porcupine, 2 foxes, 3 rock sheep, 8 moose, 1 bald eagle, and over 20 elk... We have also seen caribou and muskoxen, but they were in captivity. We can only hope that similar wonder lies ahead.
For our adventure, we consulted the guide 'The World-Famous Alaska Highway: a guide to the Alcan & other wilderness roads of the north'. The book was formatted to start your trip in BC and drive north to Alaska. To stay on the right path, we read the book backwards. Sometimes it was confusing; other times we read about points of interest after they had passed. One thing is certain, starting our trip in the northern Yukon placed us in a lonely wilderness that was all but devoid of human activity. It was easy to feel that hardly a soul had ever dwelt there. However, if visiting Whitehorse returned us to civilization, then visiting Watson Lake reminded us that a steady stream of adventurers had traveled into the great north prior to our arrival.
During WWII, the US and Canada launched a joint venture to construct a highway that connected the lower 48 to Alaska. This is known as the Alaska Canada Military Highway, or Alcan. In 1942, a homesick soldier from Illinois, who was conscripted to help build the Alcan, nailed a sign from his hometown on a pole in Watson Lake. Almost 70 years later, approximately 70,000 signs from around the world are posted in the Watson Lake Sign Garden. It servers as an impressive reminder that you are not the first, nor by any means the last, person to trek through this part of the world.
