Are We There Yet? (West Yellowstone, Montana Post)

Today wasn't the most interesting day.  We did a bit of driving this morning, and explored the town of West Yellowstone.   Well, I guess the morning was boring to be more precise.  The afternoon was really fun, as we stopped in the Yellowstone Historic Center Museum.  Plenty of Yellowstone history to regale you with!   

These next pictures I took after I finished posting last night.  

Today, we stopped to let Timber run in a large, grassy turnout along a river.  

Dad's favorite mutant dandelion. (It's really big)

What is this?

All Timber knows how to do is leap...

And smile!

Timber is as happy as can be!

This may not be the official sign for the entrance to the park, but it was the first.   

Yay! 

Dad, you better watch out or Old Snaggletooth is going to attack you!

Old Snaggletooth was a bear at Yellowstone, characterized by his right canine tooth which was crooked, and hung out of his mouth.  This was back when people fed the bears.  Snaggletooth was shot by poachers who were later apprehended, but the shots proved fatal.  Snaggletooth currently resides in the Yellowstone Historical Museum where he greets visitors and shares his story.

Another interesting thing I learned about was the August 17, 1959 earthquake in Yellowstone.  This earthquake was originally recorded as a 7.3 magnitude earthquake, but new evidence shows it was actually more like a 7.5-7.6 magnitude.  Either way, it is the largest earthquake recorded for this region of the Rocky Mountains.  It has also been called the Hebgen Lake disaster.  It created Quake Lake, and tested the strength of the Hebgen dam.  A large landslide created the lake and buried 19 people in less than a minute.  A total of 28 casualties was recorded, most from the landslide.  Apparently, these earthquakes keep the geysers of Yellowstone functioning properly by releasing pressure.  This area is earthquake prone due to its location on an active hotspot.  

Tomorrow, we will enter Yellowstone, so look for the history of our nation's first national park, and pictures.   

Home on the (Bison) Range (Missoula, Montana Post)

As we were driving through, we stopped at the National Bison Range.  We were advised to visit by a couple on the shuttle in Glacier National Park.  This settled the Bison/Buffalo debate between Karen and me.  (I was right, despite what she says.) We have bison in this country, where as a buffalo refers to the Cape Buffalo of Africa, or the Water Buffalo from Asia.  However, the terms "bison" and "buffalo" have been used interchangeably in the United States to refer to the bison.  It can also be noted that the only other bison exists in small numbers in European reserves and is called the wisent.  

The newest exhibit at the bison range, a pet on a leash.  Strange... it looks a bit like Timber...

The rusty brown colored bison in the center is a calf.  Bison calves are a rusty brown for the first two months.  

The bison calves and the mothers (cows)

Other creatures inhabit the bison range such as birds, deer, and Timber's personal favorite, the Pronghorn Antelope.  

The valley was the former home of a giant glacial lake, and quite a bit of the bison range would have been underwater.

The view from the highest point of the bison range.  

Dad is "King of the Bison Range".

Timber spies, with her little doggie eyes: a bison!

A fawn in the flowers...

...The mother is nearby, watching...

We are spending the rest of the day driving, and have just stopped to let Timber stretch her legs.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park (Medora, North Dakota Post)

Welcome to Theodore Roosevelt National Park!  This park was founded in 1947.  Shortly after Roosevelt's death, it was decided to honor this great man and conservationist.  Many ideas were bounced around, but turning the area where he gained his conservationist ideas during his cattle-ranching days into a national park was eventually chosen.  The park is home to many diverse wildlife species and landforms.  

The Painted Canyon and North Dakota Badlands

Buffalo (latin name bison bison) strolling down the road past our RV.  

Something interesting about the rock: even though it looks almost sandlike, its actually very hard, well, like a rock...

The local wildlife looks rather friendly.  

Wild horses on the hill.  

Dad in front of the badlands.  

Views so pretty even a dog can enjoy them!

Bison grazing.  Can you spot the babies lying down?

We went on a trail ride around the park.  It was amazing to see the park from that perspective, because you were down in the valleys and on the hills with the wildlife.  The horse I rode was named Rascal, Karen was mounted on Stormy, Dad rode Dude, and Mom rode Tigger.  The horses were really well behaved and quite calm.  It was really a fun way to spend the afternoon.

We are staying in Medora again tonight, and are planning to hike out to the Petrified Forest in the park. That should lead to some interesting photos in tomorrow's post!

Devils Tower (Devils Tower, Wyoming Post)

Today we visited Devils Tower National Monument.  It is really cool, as it is like a giant rock tower in the middle of nowhere.  

Passed down by Native Americans, here is one story of the creation of Devils Tower.  "One day, an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance.  The region had a large bear population and a bear began to chase the girls.  They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them.  The girls jumped on a rock and began to pray to the rock, "Rock, take pity on us; Rock, save us."The rock heard the pleas of the girls and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear.  The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, and broke its claws and fell to he ground.  The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades).  The marks of the bear claws are still there yet."  

If you want the scientific explanation for the tower,  it is the core of a volcano that has been exposed by millions of years of erosion from the Belle Fourche River and weather.   About 50 million years ago, molten magma was forced into sedimentary rocks above and cooled underneath.  The sedimentary rock eroded leaving Devils Tower standing 1,267 feet above the river that formed it and 5,112 feet above sea level.  The area of the top is 1.5 acres, and the diameter of the base is 1,000 feet. 

  

Devils Tower stands 865 feet high from its base.  

Although you cannot quite see them in this picture, there are several people climbing up the side of Devils Tower.  

SQUIRREL! :)

A macro of the bark on a tree.  

The red rock eroded away by the Belle Fourche River at the base of Devils Tower.  

A prairie dog at play. 

We are currently on our way to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  Earlier we stopped to let Timber run and she chased and was chased by a Pronghorn Antelope.  Later, Karen's blog Where's Harvey the RV will have a video of this chase.