Yellowstone National Park

by Mike Graf

  PARK ART

  The artist Thomas Moran accompanied Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden on his 1871 expedition to Yellowstone. He sketched famous scenes in the park to document their authenticity. Some of his paintings were of Mammoth Hot Springs, Liberty Cap, Tower Falls, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

  James scanned the canyon floor with the binoculars. “There’s steam coming out of several spots.”

  Morgan lined up her family so that Lower Falls was in the background. By then, Tom was also at the viewpoint. Morgan asked Tom if he would take their picture. She joined her family as Tom clicked the camera.

  Dad looked back at the canyon once more. “I can see why people say, ‘There’s no canyon in the world like it.’”

  8

  Mom slowed the car. “There are bison everywhere!”

  The family was driving through Hayden Valley, between the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Yellowstone Lake.

  One bison was right next to the road. It clomped through a dusty part of a hillside and flicked its tail back and forth.

  “Its fur is so thick and matted,” Mom commented.

  Morgan had the window rolled down and was taking pictures. “Bison close up!” she announced.

  The bison walked onto the road and stopped in front of the Parkers’ car. Morgan quickly rolled up her window.

  The bison stood in the middle of the road. Cars stopped on both sides. “I don’t know what to do,” Mom said.

  Several people got out of their cars and started creeping closer to the bison. One person had a camera with him.

  The bison turned to face the approaching photographer and walked toward him. The huge beast brushed against the side of the Parkers’ car, rocking it back and forth.

  Suddenly, the bison charged the photographer. The man lunged behind the Parkers’ car, dodging the 2,000-pound animal.

  Morgan, James, Mom, and Dad watched the scene from inside their car. They sat frozen in their seats as the bison pawed the ground and turned back and forth.

  The bison took a step toward the photographer again. The man moved to the opposite side of the vehicle.

  Then the bison walked off the road and back into the grassy meadows.

  Morgan, James, Mom, and Dad sat back and took a deep breath.

  “Promise me you’ll never do that,” Dad said to Morgan and James.

  “We promise!” Morgan and James replied in unison.

  The family then watched as the man smiled, walked over to the side of the road, and laughed with some other people.

  “I can’t believe he’s taking all of this as a joke,” Mom commented.

  “It’s not a joke anymore,” Dad said. “Look.”

  Two rangers came jogging up. One ranger escorted people away from the bison and tried to get the traffic flowing. The other walked up to the man who was charged by the bison.

  “I wonder what they’re going to do,” James said.

  Mom slowly accelerated the car. They left the bison scene behind.

  The road wound through Hayden Valley. To the left, the mighty Yellowstone River flowed along steadily.

  Up ahead was another group of parked cars. As they approached, Morgan watched the herds of bison scattered throughout the valley. Some were close, and some were grazing in the distance.

  “This looks like a scene from the Old West,” Dad mentioned.

  James tried to count the bison, but there were far too many. “There’s got to be dozens of them,” he announced.

  Mom continued driving. They passed several groups of people who were stopped to take pictures of the bison herds. “At least these people are at a safe distance,” James stated.

  Farther up, a group of people stood on a hillside using binoculars.

  Mom pulled over.

  “There’s a ranger up there,” James noticed.

  All at once, everyone on the hill started walking quickly back to their cars.

  The Parkers waited for the group to reach them. Dad rolled down his window as the ranger approached. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s a grizzly out there with a bison carcass,” the ranger answered. “That’s an extremely dangerous situation. We can’t have anyone in that area now.”

  “Wow!” Mom said. “We almost saw a grizzly!”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” Dad said.

  Mom backed the car up and drove out onto the park road. A short while later, they pulled into the crowded Mud Volcano parking lot.

  “The things to see here are endless!” Dad said.

  9

  “Which way?” Morgan asked.

  Dad noticed a large crowd of people to the right. “How about over there?”

  Then Mom clued in to what everyone saw. “Look!”

  Behind the crowd was a large, steaming cavern. A sign nearby labeled it “Dragon’s Mouth.”

  The family looked at Dragon’s Mouth and listened to the thumping sounds coming from it.

  Morgan gazed into the unusual cavern. “I can totally picture a dragon living in there!”

  James laughed. “And he has bad sulfur breath too!”

  “I think this whole area smells like rotten eggs,” Mom added.

  “How about we see what else is around here?” Dad suggested.

  The family walked along the Mud Volcano Trail. They passed other sights, including Grizzly Fumarole, Sour Lake, and Black Dragon’s Cauldron.

  The Parkers stopped at Churning Cauldron.

  “This one’s really cooking!” Mom exclaimed. “The water is boiling like crazy.”

  Morgan took pictures. “It’s hard to get a good shot with all the steam.”

  Suddenly, a child screamed.

  A moment later, a man with a panicked look on his face carried a shrieking boy down the boardwalk. The boy had a sweatshirt wrapped around his leg.

  Dad watched the injured child being whisked away. “I wonder if he got burned.”

  “I was afraid to look,” James admitted.

  “We just have to stay on the trail,” Mom said.

  They somberly returned to their car and drove to the campground across from Yellowstone Lake.

  Later that evening, the family sat at the back of the campground amphitheater. A blanket was draped over the four of them.

  James felt the park bench next to him. “It’s icy.”

  WARM DAYS, COOL NIGHTS

  Campers and hikers in Yellowstone should be prepared for wintry weather at any time of the year. Many warm summer days turn into stormy afternoons with rain, wind, hail, thunder, and lightning. Summer days are often in the seventies, but nights are cold, with temperatures dropping into the thirties and sometimes even the twenties. Frost and freezing conditions are not unusual. Always bring rain gear and warm clothes when hiking and backpacking in Yellowstone—even if it is warm and dry when you leave.

  They were listening to a ranger talking about bison. “At one point, only twenty-three bison were still alive out of the original 60 million. Those twenty-three were here in Yellowstone.”

  “We’re lucky we saw so many, then,” Morgan whispered to Mom.

  The ranger continued. “Now, thanks to places like Yellowstone and laws like the Endangered Species Act, there are several thousand bison living in the park.”

  WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM

  Bison are the largest land mammals in North America. Male bison can weigh over 2,000 pounds, which is almost twice as much as a Holstein cow.

  Bison, which are sometimes called buffalo, once lived throughout the North American continent. It was said that there were “seas of buffalo across the plains.”

  The demise of the bison in North America began with fur traders hunting them. Later, people on wagon trains killed bison for meat and sport. Railroad workers also killed bison for food as they completed track lines out West. Hunters swarmed the plains, killing as many bison as they could and sometimes taking only the tongue, which was considered a delicacy. Some famous “buffalo runners,” inc
luding Buffalo Bill Cody, claimed to have killed up to 4,000 bison on their own. Additionally, railroad passengers were asked to shoot bison from train windows. This was done to cut off the Indians’ food supply. Millions of bison were left to rot on the plains.

  All of these events combined to reduce the bison population to around 200. But further poaching occurred. Eventually, the last twenty-three hid out in Pelican Valley in Yellowstone. The Lacey Act stopped further slaughter of these bison, and later the Endangered Species Act protected any species of plant or animal whose population was in danger.

  Currently there are about 3,500 to 4,000 bison living in Yellowstone.

  “So,” the ranger concluded, “please continue to help the bison. You can do this by enjoying them from a distance and by not driving over the speed limit. We had two bison hit by cars and killed recently in the park. Finally, learn as much as you can about the park and its wild features. Thank you for coming.”

  The audience clapped.

  Mom, Dad, Morgan, and James got up. They turned their flashlights on and strolled back to their campsite. A full moon was shining over massive Yellowstone Lake.

  Dad looked out over the vast, moonlit, calm waters. “Every part of this park is so different.”

  They quickly brushed their teeth and got into their tent. Mom turned on the battery-operated lantern. Dad looked at Morgan and James, who were already snug in their sleeping bags. “No cards tonight, I guess, right?”

  Morgan looked up at Dad. “Aren’t you freezing?”

  “You’re right,” Dad replied. “I’m going to get into my sleeping bag too. It is cold.”

  • • •

  James woke up first the next morning. He fumbled around until he found his journal. James wrote:

  This is James Parker reporting.

  I now know what I want to be when I grow up. A park ranger! What a great job. You get to live at one of the most beautiful places in the world, teach people about it, and help protect the park and the wildlife living in it. I wonder what subjects I’ll have to study, though? Geology, like Dad? And Mom majored in botany in college. It all seems so interesting to me.

  Speaking of parks, Yellowstone is an incredible one. And, so far, we’ve seen tons of animals, including bison, elk, pronghorn, moose, bighorn sheep, and a black bear. My wildlife map is getting very crowded! Now I expect to see wildlife every day.

  There are endless places to explore here: more geysers, lakes, hikes, and …

  Anyway, more adventures from Yellowstone soon.

  James Parker

  Morgan opened her eyes and saw James writing. “I need to get caught up too.”

  Morgan got dressed and put on a jacket, a cap, and gloves.

  “You look like you’re going skiing!” James exclaimed.

  Morgan smiled and then quickly slipped outside. A white blanket of frost covered the area around the campground. Morgan put a towel down on the picnic table bench and began writing.

  Dear Diary,

  It’s cold. The thermometer attached to my jacket reads 29 degrees! There’s ice everywhere. And my hands are freezing. Isn’t it supposed to be summer?

  Anyway, yesterday was such an interesting day. But what I remember most was the crying child being rushed out of the Mud Volcano area. What happened to him? Did he get burned or hurt by an animal? I can imagine both things happening in Yellowstone. Then there was that person who got chased by the bison because he got too close.

  People need to listen to the rules. They’re here for your own safety. Rule #1: Don’t get too close to an animal to take a picture. Rule #2: Stay off the hot soil near geysers. Rule #3: Anyway, you get my point.

  Well, I can hear Mom and Dad stirring inside their igloo. And James and I promised we’d make breakfast today. At least the sun is starting to finally peek through the trees.

  Thawing out in Yellowstone,

  Morgan

  10

  Tom scanned the people gathered at the Storm Point trailhead. “I need a couple of young volunteers.”

  Morgan and James raised their hands.

  “Hey, it’s my two buddies! Come on up!”

  The crowd looked at Morgan and James. Dad smiled. “I guess you’re the chosen ones.”

  Morgan and James walked up to Tom. Tom had them introduce themselves. Then Tom took Morgan and James away from the group. He got their props ready and quietly gave them some instructions. Then the three of them returned to face the crowd.

  “Right here,” Tom began, “magma shot up through the Earth’s crust.”

  James propelled a piece of red cardboard up through another piece of broken cardboard that represented the Earth’s surface.

  “Where all of you are standing now is exactly where the world’s largest volcano erupted 640,000 years ago,” Tom explained. “It was an eruption a thousand times greater than the Mt. Saint Helens eruption in 1980. The hot plume of magma that created this volcano is still under us now. And, it’s awfully close. The Earth’s crust is only one to three miles thick here. The worldwide average is more than forty-five miles.”

  Morgan showed two models of the Earth’s crust. One was of Yellowstone’s thin layer. The other was of a much thicker layer representing other parts of the world.

  Tom continued. “After this eruption, the volcano collapsed.”

  James showed a model of the area buckling.

  “And that’s what we’re standing on today,” Tom concluded. “A collapsed volcano called a caldera and the most active thermal area in the world. Morgan will now show you the caldera area on the park map.”

  Morgan held up a Yellowstone map for everyone to see. She pointed out the large round area representing the caldera.

  “Let’s give a big hand to our two volunteers here,” Tom said.

  The audience clapped while Morgan and James walked back to Mom and Dad.

  “And one other thing before we start our hike,” Tom added. “Please be careful near any thermal features and stay on the marked path. We had a child get burned yesterday at the Mud Volcano area.”

  “That must have been who we saw!” Morgan said.

  “So,” Tom stated enthusiastically, “follow me to Storm Point.”

  “Are there any bears out here?” a person asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Tom replied. “If we see a bear, the best thing to do is form a tight circle, and put me in the middle!”

  The crowd laughed.

  “But, really, with such a large group like this, we should be fine,” Tom said. “Although I almost guarantee we will see other animals. Come on,” Tom directed, “to one of my favorite places in the park.”

  The group of visitors began walking. After a while, they approached a small hill.

  Tom stopped and waited for everyone to gather together. “At the top of this hill,” he explained, “we’re likely to see two different types of animals. Just stay quiet. We’ll be a safe distance away, so there’s no need to worry.”

  Everyone climbed the hill and immediately saw a large pile of jumbled rocks. “Look!” Morgan called out softly.

  A marmot was perched on one of the rocks. It stood up on its hind legs and sniffed the air nervously.

  “That’s the sentry of the marmot colony,” Tom whispered. “Has anyone seen the other animals yet?”

  “Over there!” a person pointed out.

  To the far right, a couple of animals were lounging around in the dirt and flicking their ears back and forth. One started licking its paw.

  “They look like dogs,” Morgan said. “Or wolves,” James added.

  “They’re coyotes,” Tom informed the group. “And here in Yellowstone, our coyotes are larger than anywhere else in North America.”

  “How many of them are there?” Morgan asked.

  “About a half dozen,” Tom replied. “How many have all of you seen so far?”

  “Only two,” someone answered.

  “Wait. There’s a third one!” Dad announced.

  The third coyo
te was sneaking up on the rock pile.

  The coyote squatted behind a rock and quietly crept closer to the marmot colony.

  “It’s hunting,” Morgan realized.

  Suddenly, the coyote lunged. It grabbed onto the back of the sentry marmot’s neck and lifted it off the rock. The marmot squealed and kicked its legs around erratically.

  Morgan closed her eyes. “I can’t look.”

  The coyote trotted away with its prey and headed back to the pack. Along the way, it dropped the marmot on the ground. The marmot weakly flung its paws and tried to right itself. The coyote nuzzled the marmot back over and bit into it more firmly. Then it walked toward the trees.

  Tom looked at the group. “Well, you don’t get to see that every day!”

  “Where’s it going with it?” James asked.

  “There’s a den back there and a family to feed,” Tom answered. “Come on, everyone. There’s more to show you.”

  The group followed Tom along the trail.

  Tom walked ahead to an area overlooking Yellowstone Lake. He stood up on a rock and announced, “Welcome to Storm Point. This spot was named by the Hayden party of explorers who were out here during a thunderstorm. We call Yellowstone Lake an inland ocean. That’s because of its size. This is the largest lake at this elevation in the lower forty-eight states. And, Yellowstone Lake is home to the largest population of cutthroat trout in the world. It’s the perfect habitat for them.”

  Tom held up the park map. “If you look on the map, you can see that much of this lake is in the caldera area. There’s more than just a lake out there. Studies indicate that the most active geyser basin in the park is underneath it.

  “And one other thing,” Tom continued. “See Stevenson Island out there? A few years ago, two young grizzlies were stuck on that island. Does anyone have any idea how they got there?”