Hiking on Rescue Creek Trail with Greg

The weather is getting better lately, though we've had snow and rain.  There is no such thing as spring in Montana.  It's either summer or winter, feast or famine, busy or lazy.  There is never anything that is in-between.  Yesterday was a little cold, but it was a pretty good day.

Greg is going to go to his anniversary party in California next week so we figured that we should hike in Yellowstone before he goes on his trip.  We went in his truck to the Rescue Creek trail head, just inside Yellowstone National Park at the North Entrance.  From there we walked along the trail about three miles past Rattlesnake Butte and turned around when we got to Turkey Pen Peak.  From there we turned around and headed back.

Along the trail we saw a lot of bison and pronghorn.  Some of the pronghorn didn't mind our presence at all and allowed us to take pictures of them while we were only 20 or 30 feet away.  For those of you who don't know, pronghorn are a little skittish and tend to run when they see anything nearby.  These guys can run 70 mph (that's not a typo) and are the second fastest land animal after the cheetah.  Therefore they're the fastest animal in North America.  Their eyesight is so keen that they can see objects two miles away.

A pronghorn buck grazes in front of a herd of bison.

The Black Canyon of the Yellowstone can be seen from our vantage point on Rescue Creek Trail.

Turkey Pen Peak

Earthquake Hype

For those of you who were wondering, yes I was in Gardiner when the 4.8 magnitude earthquake occurred on March 30 at 6:34 am.  I was at work, and I didn't even notice the it.  Gardiner is about 20 miles north of the epicenter of the quake.

I did have the fortune of having two men who worked for the USGS staying at the hotel I work at during this event.  They were monitoring equipment in Yellowstone Park and were intrigued by the swarm of earthquakes (there were seven that morning), but were not in the least concerned.  It was great being able to glean from their knowledge on geology.

Having lived in this part of the country for many years, earthquakes are normal.  I haven't felt any of them so far, but I've seen their effects.  A few years ago, a piece of equipment tipped over in my yard from a small earthquake near West Yellowstone.  That earthquake was insignificant, even to memory; it seems like it was a three-point-something on the Richter scale.

Earthquakes are important for Yellowstone National Park's plumbing.  If Yellowstone didn't get earthquakes, we wouldn't have Old Faithful.  If you think I'm kidding, just look it up!

Many people have been worried and terrified that this was precedent of our super volcano's eruption.  Most of this came from a video that claimed that bison were "running for their lives" out of the park.  Consequently, the idea that animals were fleeing the park became viral on the Internet.  One friend of mine even reported that someone asked her on the phone where she worked if people were evacuating.

Lies—all lies.

The truth of the matter was that those bison in the video were running into the park, and they were certainly not running for their lives.  When bison really run, they go about 45 mph.  That's much faster than the video showed.  The video footage was during the daytime, but the earthquake was around or before dawn.

Animals have been coming out of the park lately, but they haven't gone very far.  They're following the food.  Yellowstone Park is still covered in snow, and Gardiner is just starting to see green grass.

Unfortunately we live in a climate of fear.  People want to to be afraid of something, whether it's a volcanic eruption, or fear of political outcomes, or something else.  When any sort of news comes to light that validates their fears (whether true or false), people run with it.

We should take the attitude of these bison in this video.  I took this video in my yard the same day as the earthquake.  They're certainly not worried.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" (Luke 12:25 NIV)

Adam's "Spring" Visit

I've had a quiet winter, so I was glad to hear that Adam was going to visit me March 22-25. When he got here, I had to work, so all of our time together was generally in the afternoon and evening.  While I was at work, he would play his PlayStation.  Even though our schedules didn't quite match up, we had a good time.  It was great being able to talk and spend time with him.

We went to Yellowstone National Park on March 23.  Even though it's spring elsewhere in the United States, it's still pretty cold inside the world's first national park.  In Gardiner most of the snow had melted off, but not so in Yellowstone!  There was still about a foot of snow on the ground in most places near Mammoth, and as we got closer to Cooke City, the snow just got deeper.  This isn't anything unusual, but we did get a little more snow than average.

While we visited the park, we carefully walked on the boardwalks, which had about 14-16 inches of packed snow on them.  Volunteers were in the process of chipping away the snow from the boardwalk at the time.

Minerva Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs

After walking around the terraces at Mammoth, we drove to Lamar Valley up to Soda Butte.  It was such a pretty evening.  We didn't really see any animals, just a herd of wolf watchers.  With most of the snow being in the park, buffalo, elk, and deer have moved to lower ground where the grass is bare.

Soda Butte

Hellroaring Mountain

Since Adam was going to leave early in the morning on the 25th, we said our goodbyes the previous night.  Adam's a close friend, and I miss his company.

Me and my buddy