This blog will be shorter than the others because I need to go to bed early and get ready for the 12 hour trip home.  We had beautiful weather today.  Blue sky and snowcapped mountains and snow filled forests.  We were hoping to see a sow bear and her two cubs that had been reported but were unable to find them.

Today’s plan was hiking to the new Grand Prismatic overlook and to hike into Fairy Falls.  This is a 6 mile round trip.  The legs felt the burn but for me was worth every minute.  It had been about 6 years since I made the trek and have never hiked it with snow.  One of the student’s discovered a huge grizzly track….which was very intimidating .  We were doing the right thing…I bought bear spray, traveled in a group of 14 and started shouting out “Hey Bear”.using my teacher voice.  This is a time when I encouraged students to talk and yell out a few shouts.  We didn’t want to startle any potential bears around corners of the trail.  We were following the rules of the National Park.  The track looked fresh but never saw a bear.  Wouldn’t you run if you heard 14 people coming through the forest?

The forest is a new forest and is what has come back from the 1988 Fire…which burnt a large portion of the forests in Yellowstone.  But it is coming back.  The students have had an opportunity to hike in an Old Growth Forest and a forest that is on its way back from recovery (a New Growth Forest) and compare the differences.

It was a long hike but Fairy Falls was as peaceful and secluded as I remembered 6 years ago but this time was surrounded by snow.  It was good to be hiking for tomorrow is the long trip back to North Dakota.  I spent a quiet time watching the sun go down behind Electric Peak.

Some of the students had the opportunity to soak in the Boiling River.  It is warm water coming from Mammoth Hot Springs and flowing into the Gardiner River.  One of the only places you are allowed to soak in the park.  This mean there are very cold and warm spots…it is like sitting in a hot tub. The students usually enjoy doing this…especially  when they can say they were in this hot tub in Yellowstone National Park in October.

This has been a great trip with some changes to the schedule (due to snow)… but a great experience for everyone to learn more about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The VCSU students were a great group to work with and I was glad that they were able to participate in this experience and realize the great natural resources (our National Parks) that we have to learn, respect and appreciate.  I enjoyed learning and working with everyone of the students. Thank you all for making this journey to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so memorable.

Gary