Today was my favorite day of being in the park so far. We started off our day by looking for Pika at Hell Roaring. These are adorable little creatures that live in high elevations. They are a good indicator species for climate change, because they’re body temperature can not go above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. We then went to see if we could spot any other wildlife again and ended up stumbling upon the Junction Butte pack again, eating on a bison carcass that they had recently killed. The absolute best part of the day though was hiking all the way to the top of Junction Butte. This was at around 7,000 ft elevation. We ended up climbing about 500 ft up in less then 1/4 a mile over loose rock. It was a challenging hike, but it was well worth it! The view on top of the butte was spectacular! Our hike back down the butte was less of a challenge, as we found a more gradual decline that was not covered in loose rock. After getting down the butte, we hiked over to the confluence of the Lamar and Yellowstone rivers. This was another beautiful sight. Over all we probably hiked around 3 miles.
Morgan Gentzkow
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Hi Morgan!
How would you describe a Pika? Is it like a ground squirrel? And is the Junction Butte pack a pack of wolves? I really enjoy hiking, and the picture you posted of the river was so beautiful!
Hey Katie,
Pika are in the same family as rabbits. They look like they are kind of a giant mouse, or a cross between a rabbit and a mouse. They have more of the rounder ears like mice and the rest of the body is more like a rabbit. They make a high pitched “meeep” sound. The Junction Butte pack is one of the pack of wolves in Yellowstone and we saw them two of our days out here. Hiking is definitely the best part of being out here!
Thanks for sharing the pictures, they are awesome! The trip sounds like lots of fun. Did you see an animals on your hike up to the top of Junction Butte?
Hey Taylor,
We saw a bison on the top of the butte and saw some red squirrels.
The pictures are awesome! Did you get to see any cool views or animals that you weren’t expecting on the hike?
Hey Kayla,
The hike in itself was very fun and had a really nice view of the valley and mountains once you were on top of the Butte. The only animals we saw while hiking were bison and some squirrels.
I was originally going to ask what animals you saw on your hiking adventures, but I see that has been done! So I am wondering, what was the coolest animal that you saw, which you would not typically see?