Burned Bark, Burly Buffalo, and a Boiling Brook

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The time late April, the place Northern Yellowstone National Park, the People: Mike Sulock, Kezia Manlove, Mike "Moon" Sweely and myself. The four of us decided to go forth and hike up through the Lamar Valley close to the location that I saw the Grizzly and the Wolves fighting over the dead Buffalo carcass in . The actual goal behind this hike was to make it to "Dead Bear Springs", but we didn't quite get to the springs (though we saw it from a distance). If you aren't looking for an intense hike with lots of ups and downs, this isn't a bad hike to do. It's fairly flat along the high plains, BUT if you are nervous around large 'ornery' buffalo than I don't recommend it, we encountered roughly a half a dozen of these bad boys rolling around in the dirt and staring us down, and more than twice we had to walk far off the path to go around them as they didn't seem to keen on moving themselves. All the trees you see in these pictures are fairly new growth and not much older than me because of the crazy huge fire of 1988 it ravaged most of the park and it is really interesting and quite striking to see the vibrant greens of the new growth peppered amongst the dark, charred remains of old trees and dark cliffs of the Valley. All this new growth has given a lot of food for Ungulates and on this hike we came right over a hill to be facing a whole herd of Pronghorn Antelope. We stood there staring at them and they at us and suddenly the herd ran up and over a hill and were gone. To watch the Pronghorns run is a phenomenal thing, their legs move up and down, but their bodies just kind of stay put and it's almost like they float across the ground.

At the end of our hike we decided to end the day soaking in the Boiling River. The Boiling River is really a small section of the Gardner River the flows out of the park and through Gardner. This small section gets infused with scalding hot thermal water streaming out of the earth and into the river itself. This makes the freezing (i.e. melt water from yesterdays snow) river into a nice hot tub along this section and people get to walk on in and soak in it and relax. One of the coolest features about this hot tub is that you can control the temperature by changing your distance from the scalding thermal water. It is a great place and i you ever get the chance well visiting the north side of the park I highly recommend coming and soaking it's open all year round and I hear it is exceptionally nice in the winter!

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Comments

[John]

Bison Burger??
Have you tried wrestling one to ground??.Aunt Jane and I will come out for a bison burger!!!

[Southern Style]

Fantastic Adventure
Hi, we never met but in the family loop. John's Moms Brother from down where the Gators Play. We also have a common denominator in that I have been teaching Math in High School for longer then you been on this rock. John sent me your blog, and I completely enjoyed your adventure. Way to go, this is the time for you to do such things. I will bring the A-1 for the Buffalo feast. When you are older we will talk about adding a few Harley Adventures to your resume.

[ThePilgrim]

Re: Fantastic Adventure
Now that sounds like a plan to me! Hey I've always wanted to go down and see the everglades, that's sort of in your neck of the woods huh?

[Bob]

Hear the motors running, looking for adventure
Sorry, the everglades is a bit South of us. More in the area where my Son lives in Ft. Myers. He is in charge of TNT a fund raising group of Tri-Athletes that raise money for Cancer research. He is just a few semesters away from his Masters in Finance at Florida Gulf Coast University and also Graduated from UF with a degree in Socialogy then realized what he did. Mike is 28 and probably near your age. He went up to Maine on a few trips and knows your Sister and John and met Norma a few times. If your ever down in that area he would be a great one to hook up with. He is getting married in November of this year. They have already purchased their home and getting ready for the big day. So where the Gators Play is the University of Florida. Title Town USA. Enjoy your adventure, and think about getting a Hog for the next one. Bob

[michael]

what a post!
Luke Shorty! Why you sure do have some good lookin' folks on this here web-blog-post of yours. Such a vivid retelling as well. Kudos to you sir! I anxiously await to hear about your next move.