I SAW A GRIZZLY BEAR IN YELLOWSTONE

May 28-31

That is probably the best news that I have to share -- it was amazing. I've been going into Yellowstone for years, and have never seen any type of bear. I've been coming to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks for about 11 years, and in all that time, I've only seen 2 bears. So I thought this was a real milestone.

I drove over the West Yellowstone on Thursday, where I am going to meet up with my brother Dave and his wife Kathy on Friday. They said I should be their tour guide through the park, since I've been there so often (foolish people). So that is what we did. Dave was staying in the Yellowstone Lake Cabins, so I picked them up there, and we drove to the Yellowstone Canyon (considered to be the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone). Along the way is where we saw the momma grizzley bear and a cub. There were lots of people pulled off the road, and many standing with very large telescopes. There was even a park ranger, so we figured this "sow" (that's what they call the female bears, although I think it is very demeaning for a bear) must come here often. As Kathy said, "How did those people get her so fast?" They probably come and watch for just the bear. The cub was about a year old, the ranger said, and that mom would probably be chasing him off shortly, as it was time to be on his own. (NOTE: Yes, I know the bear picture here is not a grizzly -- mom was so far away that the picture is a little brown spot, and you wouldn't see much. The following day, Dave and Kathy saw this black bear next to the road, so I thought I would include this one instead).


So after we looked through the binoculars and Dave took a couple of pictures (the bears were not close), we took off for the Canyon. This just never disappoints on how beautiful, powerful, and anazing the river and both the Upper and Lower Falls really are. I've been to the falls and Artist Point many times, and I'm always awestruck by the sight.

And this is where Dave and Kathy probably wondered about the wisdom of making me their tour guide, as I lead us all of on a short hike to the wooden "overlook" to the Upper Falls. But we were not disappointed -- there was a beautiful rainbow brought about by the sun and the mist that came off the falls. (Here is the waterfull with the beautiful rainbow that appeared through the mist)

I did give Dave and Kathy a break by telling them we would take the truck down to Artists Point. It is a 2 mile hike down there with some very steep hills, and the bad part is that it is a 2 mile hike back. Even I didn't want to endure that today.

After "ooing and ahing" (I'm sure those are spelled wrong) at the absolute beauty of it all, we headed back to the Canyon Village where we grabbed some luck. It was apparently the first day the cafeteria was open, and you could tell. I'm sure all those young kids will get the hang of it before too long.

Now we are off for "Geyser Land" with stops at Gibbons Falls (one of my favorites) along the way. The hottest and most active geyser basin is Norris Basin, so we started there. Dave and Kathy do have good luck with them, as we walked up to the "constant geyser" and it immediately erupted. I also took them over to the "Steamboat Geyers" which is the worlds tallest geyser, erupting up to 350 feet in the air. It hasn't erupted since May 23, 2005 -- but I thought, who knows -- maybe Dave and Kathy can make it erupt. Didn't happen.

But I did introduce them to the phrase "geyser gazers". They got a real kick out of it, but there are individuals who are even more fanatical about Yellowstone than me, and they spend their days watching geysers and looking for the tell tale signs they are about to erupt, and contact the rangers. This is how the park knows that Steamboat erupted May 23, 2005 (although at 350 feet, I'm sure they heard and felt that eruption). Now I wouldn't want to be a geyser gazer for Steamboat, because it could erupt between 4 days and 50 years. Can you imagine watching that geyser for 49 years, you take a bathroom break, and she blows. BUMMER!!

So then we started off on another trek around the paths and boardwalks of the basin (by the way, my brother thinks the board walks are terribly constructed -- he's in that business). We did have to rest during the trek, and I must say, even my bones were hurting. Dave and Kathy looked like I had worn them out.

Leaving Norris Basin, we headed to Old Faithful, with a side drive down by Firehole River and Cascades. Dave is standing by the falls, and he says, "Can you feel that vibration?" I'm thinking EARTHQUAKE -- but no. He even made me stand right where he was standing to see if I felt anything, which I did not. Then he goes, "Maybe it's just my feet throbbing." Too funny.

Again, Dave and Kathy's luck held, and as soon as we hit the Old Faithful geyser, "thar she blows". So we didn't even have to wait around. By now we are tired, and some huckleberry ice cream sounded great. We went into the Old Faithful Lodge (a must see), and took the ice cream up to their observation deck on the 2nd floor. We were all so tired, it felt good just to sit there for awhile. And now we were close to the next eruption of Old Faithful, so we went back to watch. It was suppose to go off at 6:13 PM, and that time came and went. Normally the geyser erupts maybe 5-10 minutes before or after the posted time, but now it is over 20 minutes past the 6:13 time. Now we are joking that Dave and Kathy have caused the first time that Old Faithful didn't erupt.

But of course, it did. And because it was later than expected, I believe the pressure built up more, and it really went up in the air. Of all the times I've seen the geyser, this was by far the highest eruption -- and the longest. So it was great.

Back to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel and Cabins to drop them off and get a bite to eat. It takes 1 1/2 hours to get back into West Yellowstone and my hotel, so I head out at dusk. The park has a 45 MPH speed limit -- with good reason. As it gets dusk, it becomes almost impossible to see some of these animals. Since many animals are hit and killed in the park, the park police take speeding seriously. Dave asked if the Buffalo run into the road, but of course, Buffalo move very slowly normally (unless provoked, and then they can run 30 MPH), so it is more like the Buffalo is already in the middle of the road around a curve, some yahoo idiot comes barreling along at 60 MPH, and slams right into the animal. Not a good thing for the Buffalo or your vehicle.

So I have to stop for 2 heards of momma Buffalo and baby calves are they are crossing the roads in several places for the evening. I am stopped, and a car stops behind me. Now this IDIOT (and I'll assume it is a male), pulls around me, right into the Buffalo. They are on the road right by my truck, and I'm honking my horn at this fool. He's actually trying to bump them a little to get them to move -- not a very wise idea. And I was afraid he might run down one of the calves, so I'm memorizing his license plate so I can turn him in. Luckily he didn't hit anything, but he was an IDIOT nonetheless.

Saturday -- I'm driving across Yellowstone and across the Beartooth Mountains (the road is now open) to my property in Nye, MT to talk to a broker and put it up for sale. It took about 2 hours to get across the park, and at one point, I'm going over Dunraven Pass, which is the highest point in the park. Dawn is coming up, and I see the dark thing in the road on the mountain. I thought it might be a motorcycle without his lights, but as I get closer, it is a Buffalo walking down the middle of the road. I've never seen them in the mountains, and this one doesn't look all that healthy -- kind of skinny for a Buffalo. He pays no attention to me -- just keeps walking. As I keep driving down the road, every so often there is a pile of Buffalo poop in the middle of the road, so I figure this guy has been walking a long time. Poor Buffalo. And as I head down the mountain, I do run into a few other Buffalo along the way, and some Elk herds. So I guess they do live up this high in the mountains. (This picture is not of the skinny Buffalo, but another I saw that morning where I got the mountains in the background.)

Of course, the drive is beautiful. It is now about 6:00 AM and I'm turning down the road to LaMarr Valley and out of the park. This is the area where you can see lots of animals, and I'm hoping maybe I'll see a bear (didn't happen). But at 6:00 AM, the other group of people (who need a life) are the "wolfers", and they are already out in force, staking their spot on the road where they will sit all day with their eyes stuck to their high power telescopes, waiting to see wolves. They do serve a purpose for the park, as it gives the rangers information on where the wolf packs are located. But really -- sitting there all day?

I'm out of Yellowstone and headed across the Beartooths, which is one of the most beautiful drives. This is the first time I've been here with snow, and while the road is clean, the snow drifts on either side of the road are still very substantial. And on the Beartooth road, there are many hairpin turns at the top, where you do a full 180 and head the other direction. And the road is very narrow. So this can be daunting in the summer, but now I'm coming to a curve on a narrow road with 5 foot snow drifts on other side, so I can no longer see if someone is coming from the other direction. You just have to keep your eyes on the road, and hope the other guy is in his lane. But it is beautiful.

As I drive out of the Beartooths, through Red Lodge, and onto Nye, I think how absolutely beautiful it is here. Really one of the most beautiful drives I've made out here. Wow.....maybe I don't want to sell the property. I really love it here, but only for the summer. So now I'm thinking.....maybe I should only come out in the summer. Maybe I shouldn't move here permanently. YIKES!! What to do. This is one of the few times I wish I was married so I had someone else to make the decision with.....and in this case, someone to keep me company during winter in Nye. It all still boils down to the fact that I don't think I can live here in the winter, by myself, medical help 1 1/2 hours away in Billing, etc.

So the property is now listed for $99,900. If you want a beautiful piece of land for the summer, let me know. But David Cobb, the broker, and I toured Buffalo Jump and looked at other property he has listed. He said he thinks my 11 acres is one of the nicest, and he actually wanted to own it himself.

But he didn't want to own something next to the crazy man on the mountain, Steve. If you read the blog last year, you heard about my encounter with Steve. He seemed fine, not dangerous, and I certainly didn't feel threatened even though he had a rifle strapped to his back. He seemed educated, but definitely very military, survivalist, kind of nutty (he's the one who told me he killed rattlesnakes on my property and cooked them).

So now I'm hearing even more stories about Steve. David said he is a member of the volunteer fire department, and he had asked the chief if he wasn't worred about Steve doing something weird while on a fire and causing more harm than good. The chief said yes, they were worried about that, but they were more afraid of what he would do if they kicked him off!!! David also told me about the FedEx lady who delivers in Buffalo Jump. Apparently Steve jumped out of the bushes one day in front of her truck (with his gun on his back), and then he asked her for a date. I said to Dave, did he have his clothes on, or was he naked? If he was naked, he could be arrested. But Dave said that in Montana, flashing probably wouldn't even get the sherrif's attention. You had to do much worse, like shoot someone. So I suggest someone irritate Steve enough so he did that, and then we could have him arrested. David didn't like that idea.

So Steve is the biggest obstacle that needs to be overcome to selling the property. Like I said, I never felt threatened, and once you get to the property, you can't see him or his junky place, so it is like he doesn't exist. So we will see.

I was telling this story to my landlord, Mike, and saying maybe I shouldn't sell the property because it is so beautiful -- and he said, "Are you crazy?" Of course you should sell with a crazy guy like Steve living next door. You don't want to live next to him. So I guess he is right.

Sunday -- I'm back in Bigfork, and today there is a team penning competition going on at a big horse arena north of Kallispel. I've never seen team penning, so I decide to go. Very interesting. Wish my horse was as sensative to the legs and body movement as these horses were. There are about 10 steers in a pen, and the objective is for the 2 riders to move them one at a time to the next pen. And of course it is timed. But it is not as easy as just picking a steer -- they have numbers on their backs, and when you start, they call out a number, like "3". So the first rider has to separate #3 from the rest and move him into the other pen. The 2nd rider is protecting the opening so the other steers don't get into the pen, because they must do this in numerical order. So it's like one rider protects the opening, and when the first steer is moved, he takes off to get the next steer (again in numerical order) while the second rider protects the opening. If a steer goes in out of order, there is no time. And of course, this is all happening at breakneck speed. These horses carry their weight on their hocks, and just bounce back and forth.

An older man, Harold, sat behind me (not many spectators at these things), and it turned out that the cows were his. Oh yes, there is also a penalty against the riders for "roughing" up the steers -- like if they run them over in their haste. So this gentleman was telling me he owns about 2,000 acres near there, and also very near Rebecca Farms. If you are an eventer, you know Rebecca Farms has a very large CCI even in July. His granddaughter competes in eventing, so he offers to take me to see the place. Very large, very nice. There is a hunter/jumper show going on so I get to watch that for a while. Now I'm in a place where I know what is going on.

I met Harold's daughter-in-law and his grand daughter. So we talked horses, and of course, Ludo and dressage. The daughter-in-law, Linda, asks me if I want to come teach some dressage lessons for the local pony club. For my horse friends, I'm sure you are having a good laugh at that one. Me---teach???? Not likely. And I guess this shows how little dressage instruction there must be for her to ask me and she's never seen me ride. Probably something is better than nothing.

But it's been a good few days. Had a GREAT time with my brother and his wife, got to see a GRIZZLY BEAR, and put my property up for sale. What will tommorrow bring?