Hunt Responsibly Near National Parks

Growing up in the south, I grew up with a dad who was gone almost every weekend during deer hunting season. Once I was old enough to wield a gun, I went into the woods with him and killed a few deer myself. I remember my dad being a very responsible hunter, making sure deer were large enough to be taken or not killing a male since he would help with the breeding population. So, it absolutely kills me when I hear of hunters being irresponsible. A hunter was recently charged for killing a bison within Grand Teton National Park boundaries. The hunter was cooperative with rangers and lead them to the location where he killed the bison. Though there are no lines drawn on the ground showing the boundaries of the park, it is the hunter's responsibility to know where he is based on GPS coordinates.

I think this really bugs me because of the long journey bison have faced as far as getting their numbers back up. There used to be millions of bison who roamed the plains of western America, up to Canada and down to Mexico. When settlers started moving west, the bison were slaughtered pretty relentlessly, to the point of near extinction. And this slaughter mostly happened for their skins, with the rest of the bison left to rot. This is depicted in the movie Dances With Wolves. Today, approximately 30,000 bison still roam freely on the range. Another 500,000 are actually captive bred for commercial purposes. 

These animals are some of my favorite to see in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. One actually lounged around our campsite when we visited Yellowstone a few years back, and one took the time to block the roadway while we were driving in the park on the same trip. If you ever have the chance to see them, you should definitely do it. It really is quite something to see a field full of them. I don't care if you think I'm sort of liberal conservationist, I think it would really suck if I can't show my kids these awesome creatures one day. 

If you want to read the story about this (click here). Below I have pics I have taken of these amazing creatures on my trip to Yellowstone.

A herd of bison

Our bison friend who blocked the road.

Bison lounging at our campsite

Staying safe in the parks

The hubby pointed two articles out to me today in the paper that were related to the national parks and how important it is to heed the warnings out there for staying safe in the parks.

The first article (click here) mentions that the body of a man who died after being swept over a waterfall in Yosemite National Park has been found. This individual and two others from his church group crossed over the safety barricade at Vernal Falls on July 20th. The other two bodies still haven't been found and rangers say the only reason one body was found was because of low water.


Guys, this is a big no-no. What you might consider to be the perfect shot is not worth your life.  Guard rails and barricades are up for a reason. When it comes to water features in the parks, you will never be a proper judge of how swift the water is. So, don't step into them!! There are lots of great cliffs, canyons, and rock formations. You never know when there will be loose rocks, so be careful around those too. The park is great about putting up warning signs, so follow them. My favorites were those around the geysers in Yellowstone National park. Was I amused by this sign, most definitely. But, is it trying to prove a point, heck yes it is, don't step on the geysers!!

Another safety concern in the parks are interactions with animals. This second article (click here) is about a hiker being mauled in Glacier National Park. Fortunately, he was able to walk for help. Unfortunately, this was not the case for another hiker in Yellowstone. Approximately a month ago, a man and his wife surprised a momma bear and her cubs on a trail and the momma bear attacked and killed the man. You can read more about this story here (click here). This most recent attack involved a momma bear with her cub too.

All animals in the parks should be considered dangerous, but momma animals with their babies should be considered especially dangerous. No animals should ever be approached!! If you see an animal on the trail, keep a safe distance and watch where it goes before moving on. Just some examples of how I have handled animal encounters or have gone about preventing them.

1) Hubby and I were hiking the Lake Jenny trail in the Tetons. When on the trail, we noticed a young moose ahead. We made sure to keep a safe distance from it since we did not know if a mother moose would be nearby. An angry momma moose is NOT something you want to mess with. They can reach 600-800 pounds. We watched the young moose and it eventually wandered off and we continued on our way. Here is a pic of the guy I was able to capture at a safe distance.

2) On hubby and I's first night in Yellowstone, there was a bison hanging out in the Madison Campground. Once again we kept a safe distance. Here is an interesting fact for you, more people are injured in Yellowstone by bison each year than by bear. They make look like big fluffy cows, but they will hurt you!!  The guy we saw was just lounging about and chewing on grass and eventually moved on.

Me pointing at the bison from a safe distance.

3) Two bits of info here. When hubby and I were hiking to Grizzly Lake, it was considered a back country trail, which means it wasn't well traveled. Anytime you are hiking in bear country, you want to make sure you let the bears know you are coming. One thing you should do is make noise. Hubby and I made sure to talk loudly the entire time. You can also go as far as buying bear bells so you can jingle all along the trail. There are several other precautions you should take if you actually encounter a bear in person. This article (click here) gives lots of good information.

While on the trail, we encountered a yellow-bellied marmot. The thing was cute, but once again, we kept a safe distance. You never know how an animal will react. But this marmot sure did like posing for my camera.

4) Speaking of bears, if you are in a park that has a bear box, use it!! You don't want a bear sniffing around your campsite. Additionally, pick up all other items when they aren't in use and put it in the bear box or in the car.

5) Lastly, the ponies in Assateague National Seashore. So many people go up to pet these creatures, which isn't cool. The National Park Service has a page of information about how to view these horses safely (click here). Getting too close to the horses poses a danger to you and the ponies.

These folks are getting too close.

So, overall be safe!! If you want to enjoy the National Parks, take the time to follow all safety rules and suggestions.

Day 6-Road Trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park

Well, it's been a very stressful week. My elderly grandmother had to have brain surgery this week. I'm happy to say she is recovering well. Also, we got about 5 in of snow. We were without power for a little while and our internet just came back this morning. So, now that I am free of worry and have electricity and the internet, I can get back to posting.

On June 19, we woke up pretty slowly in the morning. We really hadn't slept well the night before due to getting cold in the night. It may be June, but we were in Wyoming at elevation, so the temperature was dropping to the 30s at night.

We decided to do two hikes accessible right at Colter Bay, Heron Pond and Swan Lake. First, I was able to grab this incredible shot of the Teton mountain range.

The first one we came upon was Heron pond. It's surface was covered with lily pads.

The white bird in the picture below is a pelican. It surprised hubby and I to see it but apparently they frequent the area. Fun fact: Pelicans are the heaviest North American Bird. They can weigh between 9-19 pounds.

The brown blog in the center of the picture below is a freshwater snail.

The bird in this picture is a scrub jay. I know it is hard to gauge, but it was actually a large bird.

As we continued our walk, we decided to take another loop before heading to Swan Lake. We ended up going through an open sagebrush area.

As we got closer to Swan Lake, the vegetation started to change back to being more grassy. I took a picture of this pretty little flower.

Hubby at Swan Lake.

And me.

One thing that we really loved about this lake is that we saw two Sandhill cranes. They were all the way on the other side of the lake and we could only see them with our binoculars, so unfortunately, I don't have a picture of them. They were amazing.

A view of what was behind us while we were looking at the lake.

A ground squirrel.

Towards the end of the hike, the sky really darkened up. Thankfully, we were pretty close to our car when the rain started to come down. We headed back to camp to rest. Once there was a break in the rain, we decided to go take a shower and do our laundry. The shower cost $3.75 a person, but we were more than happy to pay it. It was nice and warm, and you could take as long as you wanted to. We wanted to do laundry after our shower, but what seemed like a billion kids descended upon the laundromat. It was 120 kids plus their chaperones from West Catholic High School. Apparently, they went for a hike a little later than us and got soaked, and now needed to wash all their clothes and dry them.

Now, this is when I sound like an old lady, but boy were they rude and goofy. Also, they literally took every single machine in the laundromat. The chaperones could have been respectful and made them do laundry together or at least left some for other patrons. Anyway, we had to find something to fill our time because we really needed to do laundry that day. We first went to the gift store. Kelly and I both picked out a t-shirt that we wanted. I also bought a couple of gifts to thank Katie and Faye (former lab mates) for helping take care of our kitties and fish. We also bought a couple of fleeced sleeping bags in hopes they would help keep us warmer that night.

After shopping, we checked to see if the kids were thinning out of the laundry room, they weren't. We decided to go have a beer at the restaurant at Colter Bay. Most of the restaurants in the parks require reservations. But the bar doesn't. We sat at the bar and had an organic beer. We each also got a bowl of chili since the ability to cook on our camp stove was going to be nil with the rain. The beer and chili filled our bellies and made us somewhat happy before we had to go battle dim-witted teenagers to do our laundry.

Luckily, we were able to get a washing machine. This was only after asking a kid who was sitting on top of the empty washing machine to please move so we could use it. The washing machine was small though, and we had to do two loads. We finally got all our laundry done and headed back to camp. Unfortunately, it started to rain and there wasn't much we could do except get into the tent. While in the tent, I devised a new sleeping plan. Our new fleece sleeping bags could zip together, giving us a chance to utilize body heat to stay warm. So, I unzipped my sleeping bag to use as a base for our bedding. Next, I laid down the new two-person fleece bag. Last, I unzipped Kelly's sleeping bag to put on top. It worked great and we stayed warm, but it rained all night.

Next time, we head to Yellowstone.

Day 5-Road Trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park

Yay, I finally get to write about the things we actually did in the park. Alright, so we woke up on the 19th and decided to drive the loop for the Tetons. The first place we stopped was the Willow Flats Overlook. We saw some elk in the distance with the help or our binoculars.

Here is the hubby.

And here is me.

As we continued to drive along the route, we came up to Signal Mountain Road. You could drive up Signal Mountain to get a great view of the park.

A view of the valley.

The mountains in view.

Geological Survey Marker

Our view as we continued our drive.

We decided to do the 7.1 mile hike around Jenny Lake. 

The start of the hike. Loved all the clear streams and rivers.

Shortly after we started the trail, a young moose was on the trail ahead of us. We were very careful since young animals often means a protective momma might be nearby, and protective mommas are dangerous.

He finally headed off the trail to get himself a snack.

One of the first peaks of the lake we were walking around.

If you look hard, you will see a bird in here. We think it was a red headed tanager. Bright red head with a yellow body. It was awesome!!

A picture up one of the mountain sides.

More views of the lake. 

 The main attraction on this hike was the Hidden Falls. It was super crowded. Just so you know, if you aren't the hiking type, there is a shuttle boat you can take from one side of the lake to the other, so you can hike up to the falls. The operator does charge a fee.

A yellow-bellied marmot. You'll get to see more of these later when we get to Yellowstone.

The hubby :)

And me.

Another view up the side of the mountain.

A view of the lake.

A mountain stream that was flowing into the lake.

A little bird on the log. Not sure what it was.

I took lots of pictures of flowers for my dear friend Dr. Kelsey Glennon, who studies flowers.

On the other side of the lake now. It was really cool to think were were walking at the base of some of the mountains. There is even a trail from this hike that goes into the back country.

Hubby and I happy we completed the hike.

 We continued to drive the loop and only made one last stop because we were pretty tired after that hike.

The Snake River

When we got back to Colter Bay, we stopped at the general store to pick up some firewood and Kelly and I shared a black cherry vanilla ice cream. I was really excited because the plastic spoon was made of biodegradable plant materials. I wish more plastic was made like that. We took a nap because we were pooped after that hike. We cooked some dinner, made a fire, and had s'mores for dessert.

Next up, another wonderful hike in the Tetons and I complain about teenagers!!