I just got back from an awesome trip to Yellowstone. The Education Dept. at the museum has "Discovery Field Trips" throughout the summer to various places with super fun activities. Jessica was supposed to go on this trip as a leader, but unfortunately, she got sick again. We had just been to the drive-in movie with her brother, cousin, and a bunch of their friends the night before, so I was really surprised when she called me early the next morning to see if I could go in her place. After running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I finished packing in a hurry and rushed to work. I double-checked with John to make sure it was ok with him that I be gone for two days, loaded up into the Acadia (which is one of the nicest cars i've ever driven!) and followed the van off into Yellowstone.
Since this was an educational AND recreational field trip, we stopped off for a picnic lunch and then headed to the marina for a lesson about cutthroat trout and lake trout. The lake trout are not a native species to Yellowstone, while the cutthroat are, and after being introduced, the lake trout are more or less taking over the lakes. It is a very invasive species of trout, and the park has a very extensive system in place to catch, kill, and dump the lake trout so that they don't kill off the cutthroats. It's a somewhat serious problem, and Chelsea, the park ranger who showed us around, did a really great job explaining, and then showing us hands on, some of the methods that they use to control fish populations. I know lots about cutthroat and lake trout now, so if you want to know more about this, please feel free to ask.
After learning about fish, we went hiking for a bit, and went to view Natural Bridge. I ran into somebody wearing a Gators t-shirt, so I just had to stop and chat for a few minutes. Gator Nation really is everywhere!
We set up camp over in the Bridge Bay area and fixed some delicious Hobo Meals. I've never had it before, but can't wait to go camping again so I can fix it next time. Angela and I successfully pitched the tent with only 1 pole left over (which we really didn't need anyway, honest!) and felt very proud of ourselves. It wasn't shaped like most tents, because it had little places that jutted out for extra people, which made the process a little tricky, but we pulled through and it didn't fall down on us during the night. It got down into the 30's last night, and I woke up and my pillow was a little damp with frost, but I was warm enough for the most part. After supper and setting up camp, we went on a drive through Hayden Valley. We didn't really see much wildlife, but when we pulled up to an overlook, we talked to some older men who had super expensive telescope things, who said that there had been a pack of wolves across the river about 5 minutes before. I really hate that we missed seeing them. Maybe next time! The sunset was absolutely gorgeous, and it seemed like there was a fire somewhere because the sky got really hazy. I don't know for sure, but I do know that the sunset was beautiful.
This morning we got up pretty early (I woke up about 5:45 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I enjoyed the morning noises and smells) and fixed breakfast and broke up camp so we could go pull noxious weeds! We volunteered to pull Goats Beard, flixweed, sticktites, white canpions, fanweed, and others that I can't remember the names of. We were supposed to keep track of how many of each we pulled and report back to the rangers, and our group of 9 people pulled nearly 3,000 weeds in an hour and a half! It was way more exciting than it sounds, especially because I got to be outside ALLLL day yesterday and today, and not everybody gets to say that they pulled weeds in Yellowstone National Park! After our weed pulling, we stopped for a picnic lunch.
We did a little bit of brief sightseeing at the mud volcanos. I don't know if this buffalo was lost, taking a nap, or getting ready to die, but he looked rather out of place next to a pit of boiling mud. We weren't really sure why he was there.
After our little stop, we got to go horseback riding! It was really fun, my horse was named Ash, and was extremely docile. I had hoped for a horse with a little more spirit, but that was not to be. I could have been sitting on a trolley car going around for all the spirit Ash had. I'm sure after all the rides those horses have given, they can do it with their eyes closed. One good thing about a non-frisky horse though, was that I could look at all the beautiful hills and valleys and rivers back away from the road that most people don't get to see. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL and I had a great time.
It's back to my real job tomorrow. More research, reading, and computer screens! But I am extremely thankful and glad that I got to go on this trip. It was like a mini-vacation even though I was still working. That will make the next few days not seem so bad since I can tell everyone what all we did.
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