On our last morning in Gros Ventre, we ate a quick breakfast and then started packing up all of our gear. We got on the road at about 10:30 and started toward Yellowstone. While the mileage to the entrance of Yellowstone was only about 50 miles, we knew that driving would take a lot longer, probably about 2 - 3 hours. However, one wrong turn later, the 3 hour drive became a 5 hour drive.
Since we had gotten far behind schedule with our diversion, we decided to stop at Colter Bay for lunch. We enjoyed a beautiful view of Jackson Lake as we ate some sandwiches and then got back on the road.
On the way in to Madison campground at Yellowstone we decided to stop in Old Faithful. At about 4:00, we spotted Old Faithful erupting as we pulled in the exit. Jen knew that it erupted every 90 minutes or so, so we knew we had a little time to kill. We stopped in the visitor’s center and asked the naturalists some questions about the area, picked up some maps, and shopped for souvenirs.
The naturalists had predicted that it would erupt again at 5:24. We sat around Old Faithful a little early and at around 5:29 it blew its top, just as expected. Afterward, we beat the crowd into the lodge cafeteria. The food was freshly cooked, reasonably priced, and very tasty.
After the meal, we walked the short boardwalk of the Old Faithful trail and saw several interesting hot springs.
We then drove the 16 miles we had left to Madison campground. As we approached the campground, we began seeing some buffalo milling around. Apparently, these buffalo were also the cause of a traffic jam of sorts as a line of cars came to a standstill in front of us. We eventually made our way to the campground and registered. We set up the camper and tent and then the kids started exploring their surroundings a bit. They made friends with some nearby camper kids, Seth and Micah, and played some ladder toss with them. Luke and Rogan played catch while Lilly and Mikah danced on logs and hunted the ground squirrels.
In the evening we went to a free naturalist program at the amphitheater in the park. We walked down to the amphitheater and enjoyed the view of the full moon over the river. The focus of the program was forest fires. In particular, the discussion focused on the fires of 1988 in which over 30% of the 2.2 million acres of the park were burned. I recalled my visit to the park in 1988. In July when I visited, certain areas of the park were burning and were restricted. I did remember some areas of the park were smoking or smoldering as we passed in my dad’s van. But, in August of that year, the fire really grew out of control.
It was interesting to see areas of the park that still show evidence of this major fire and how in the 22 years since then it has rejuvenated. In the presentation we learned that the lodgepole pines that make up 80% of the tree in the forest are “ecological tricksters.” They have adapted to fires by having three different kinds of pine cones. One kind, the serotinous, actually needs a fire to open. So, after the fires, the pines began growing in the ashes of the burned forest.
No comments:
Post a Comment