Yellowstone Expedition Newsletter (one)

On our last expedition, we visited parts of Wyoming, most notably Yellowstone National Park, as well as Grand Teton National Park and places around Dubois, Wyoming. For the first two days in Wyoming, we (the group) toured around Yellowstone and stayed in a campsite near Yellowstone Lake. I saw a lot of animals: elk, deer, bison, as well as different kinds of birds. We then got in our canoes and rowed across Shoshone Lake, the largest backcountry lake in the US, and stayed at various campsites for six days.

The campsites around the lake were.... shall we say.... different. First off, they were right off the tiny little rock beaches that lined the shores of the lake. We had to flip our canoes after we got to the beach, and then we'd take our stuff to wherever the campsite was, whether it was uphill or down the beach. At nighttime, after we'd eaten, we had to put all our food in boxes and raise the boxes up using "bear bags". We also had to set up a tarp over our eating area in case it was raining. I had not realized that places this remote still existed! I couldn't hear any cars, trucks, or any outside world annoyances! All I could hear were the natural noises of the woods around me.

Patrick

____________________


On my most recent expedition, my group traveled to Yellowstone National Park. I must admit, since I had in the past already traveled to Yellowstone my expectations were not that high for it. I was pleasantly surprised by my initial reaction when we arrived there.

The first place we visited was Shoshone Lake, which we canoed for six days. That was my favorite part of our trip because of the scenery and wildlife we encountered.


I’m usually a late riser, so the addition of a time difference was especially hard to adjust to. To make matters even more challenging, the mornings were freezing. I’m a physically active person so this didn’t bother me so much, but some of my campmates weren’t so happy about waking up so early. My campmates and I would stay in the wilderness where imminent danger could surely follow. My issue was not bringing the correct bevy sack.The weather was not to my group’s benefit. Since we didn’t pack the food correctly we had less to eat on certain days. It was an eye-opener though because it caused us to have a revelation. We came together stronger as a group to make the next food plan all the better. The wildlife we witnessed was incredible. We saw bison, coyotes, mountain sheep, elk, antelope and yellow-bellied marmots. I have never in my live seen so many creature in one place in their natural environment. Even though there were some troubled times, even a few quarrels here and there, the experience and adventure I had out there was enthralling. This was definitely one of my most challenging experiences I’ve had in my life so far. It’s possibly the last chance I’ll get to do something quite like this in my life., Maybe somewhere down the road, I’ll stumble across the chance to return to Wyoming. On our next trip we will be visiting the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Hopefully that excursion will be just as exhilarating as the last.

EJ

________________



My first expedition was an extremely interesting experience. I liked some parts of it and hated others. It felt like the canoe trip took forever but the Wyoming base camp was really nice. One time I had to get out of the boat and walk through about two feet of goose poop to get it unstuck. When I tried to get back in, my foot sank almost all the way down to the bottom and I almost flipped the canoe Nathan and I were using.

Another time EJ saw some buried treasure and got out into the hypothermic waters to get it. The water was about twelve feet deep and freezing. When we opened the box all that was in it was fishing gear. I’m not sure what we expected to find, but it was still exciting.

On a more uplifting note, our campsites were amazing. They were all different in some way. One was up on a hill and had a very low bear bag tree. The second had a low bear bag tree but was high up and set back from the lake somewhat. And the third was right on the beach and had the highest bear bag tree. The bear bags are a very crucial part of camping. They are the way that you keep animals from going through your food at night or when you’re not eating.

In between the last two campsites we ran into some trouble with a storm and had a layover for at least two hours. The group all had to huddle under a tarp and hope that we could get to our next campsite before the real thing came. It was aggravating but the hard working team ended up prevailing.

We also visited the fallowing places: Dubois, Yellowstone National Park, and Shoshone Lake. You can see more about these areas here:

http://www.wyomingtourism.org/

http://www.lat-long.com/ShowDetail-21785-Wyoming-Shoshone_Lake.html

http://www.duboiswyoming.org/


Zion

_____________




On the group first expedition we went to Wyoming. In Wyoming we visited Yellowstone National Park. I found the weather to be cold in the night. We went canoeing and I found it hard to paddle in the cold water. However, towards the end I really enjoyed canoeing. Paddling was a good way to see the different sites.

We swam in the waterfall. Zion tells me I came out red as apple.
It was cold but I like the sensation of being cold.


We saw some buffalo and some elk. We went to Jeremy’s house to have dinner and meet his two dogs. We went to see some mountain ranges and to see a waterfall. We went to the rifle range to shoot and went to the cowboy café for dinner. We also went rock climbing and which was fun as well as challenging.

Mitch



_______________________________________________


I glanced out the window. Unsurprisingly, the view was just as majestic and surreal as it had been two minutes ago. A deep arid gorge cut into the mountainous landscape with a serene, at least from the air, creek, acting as a centerpiece of sorts. It was so beautifully captivating; I could scarcely keep my eyes off of it. A steward’s voice snapped me out of my daydream. He told us of our imminent descent into the Jackson Hole airport. Our plane touched down, smoothly, but with little room to spare on the minuscule landing strip.

When the plane turned toward the “terminal” I noticed that we had come to a stop with less than 50 feet to spare. We got off the plane the cool way (stairs, no wimpy covered ramp) and stepped into the charming, but modern Jackson Hole airport. Apparently there is a law in Wyoming that all man made structures must look like a log cabin, complete with elk horns and stone fireplace. I can’t really complain though, as I found it rather charming. Once we gathered our bags we were greeted by a thickly bearded, Grizzly Adams looking gent who identified himself as Jeremy.

One thing that struck me immediately about Wyoming was the vast height contrast. The airport juxtaposed in front of the mammoth Tetons appeared minuscule. Even the log cabin ‘Quiznos’ had a monstrosity of 500 or more feet directly behind it, reducing it to toy scale, due to contrast. It was rather dizzying.

This was one thing I took into account as I cruised along one of the few paved roads in the area. The other was just that, only the roads thought to be the most crucial saw even an ounce of asphalt. I liked that too though, as it gave everything a much more rural vibe, not phony at all, unlike many tourist attractions in the northeast. Out here the spaces were truly wide open, from a high point, on top of one of the plentiful and conveniently located mountains, one was given a true picture of the emptiness of Wyoming. Yes, there was a highway and a downtown, but the wilderness was all encompassing in its grandeur. In most of the country, it feels like every little patch of forest is an oasis in a cement wasteland, but here, a paved surface is a cozy little commercial outpost in a sea of nothingness, or so it seems, to a city kid like myself.
These were my thoughts as our van bumped along, canoe trailer in toe.

Jeremy pointed out a large abode, sitting pretty on a fenced in hill, identifying it as Harrison Ford’s house. It is common knowledge that this area is a sort of Mecca for the famous and the fabulously wealthy to build “summer cottages”, and now, I can see why. At the risk of sounding like a tourist brochure, this sense of isolation is something to be cherished. It’s very rare, fleeting even, in this world.

I stepped out of the van and breathed in the crisp mountain air. Off in the distance, but still very imposing were the majestic Tetons. I wandered off and stretched my sore legs, other members of the group ran off into the surrounding forest to relieve them. In the meantime, I evaded the responsibility of unloading the van, and gazed off into the vast wilderness that lay before me. And for the first time since I came here I felt at peace with my situation. It was a fleeting sensation, leaving me as soon as I became aware of its presence.

I soon again became aware that I was over a thousand miles away from everyone I love and care about, and would continue to be so for another three months or so. However, this sacred land made my whiny, stubborn self forget about all that. And even if it was just for a moment, that was something special.

Alex


___________________________________________



Welcome to Wyoming - the land of beauty and wonder. Yep, Wyoming… Did I mention that Yellowstone was pretty? I wasn’t really expecting much, but when we got there it was B-E-A-U-TIFUL.

We see dark clouds on the horizon; little do we know that it would trap us on a small beach for over an hour, with the rain unloading on our heads. I got quite a few pictures of the epic storm.

We had decided to put a tarp up so we weren’t going to be sitting in the rain. We were glad we did as it must have rained for an hour. The weather cleared enough for us to scramble to our campsite to hunker down for the next storm. We got trapped at that campsite for an extra day which left us with a 10+ mile stint to get back to the van.

We woke up at 5am to cross a one-mile stretch of open water; afterwards we knocked out the miles, - mile after mile. We got to the “channel o’ death” where we all had to get out and walk up stream. We cruised down river - white water rafting style. It was amazing. We were glad to get out of the backcountry.

After rejoining society we went shooting at the range, where I then out-shot everyone. We fumbled around town, got to eat at a café and went back to base. The next day the group drove out to a place called Sinks Canyon, where the river flows underground a ¼ mile down across the road and surfaces on the other side. We went rock climbing around the area then traveled back towards base and towards NC base.




We visited the following places during this expedition:

· Antelope flats
· Lewis lake
· Shoshone lake
· Grant village
· Dubois, WY
· Lander, WY
· Sinks canyon


Nathan