Wed, 7/2/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: I walked up to the Visitor’s Center this morning while Mike was getting the marinade ready for the chicken we’re having for dinner tonight. I bought two books—one about John Colter’s time in the Rockies and the other entitled “It Happened in Yellowstone”. John Colter was part of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and on the return trip he requested to be relieved of his duties, which both Captains readily agreed. He went back into this wild, uninhabited area and did some amazing things. The one thing that puts me in awe of him was a trip he made for the fur trading post owned by Manuel Lisa. In the winter of 1807-1808 he covered over 500 miles on foot and alone—visiting various Indian villages and camps to let them know of the new trading post. He started north of what is now Billings and traveled west along the Shoshone River, into what is now Yellowstone, south into the Tetons and the Jackson area, and then back—in the winter, on foot, and alone. Amazing!

I thought it was a little chilly this morning, but lots of people were walking around in shorts and tee shirts. Walked back and sat outside and started reading the book about John Coulter and Mike started the one on Yellowstone. In the afternoon we took a trail that leaves the campground and intersects the Eaton trail. This trail goes from Fishing Bridge on the Yellowstone all the way to Canyon City—16 miles. Follows the Yellowstone all the way—through prime bear country. We saw lots of bison droppings along the trail. 100 people got gored by Bison last summer. The trail starts out though a beautiful pine and spruce forest next to the Yellowstone River. On the river side there were a lot of old growth trees. The further along the trail we got we saw more scat—some of it pretty fresh—and we weren’t sure what left it. It wasn’t bison. Not sure what bear scat looks like. So we turned around and headed back. Followed a little road for a while off the trail which led to an old cabin. Back to the campground and we had grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and Italian vegetables for dinner.