The North Gate Well

13
Jun
2010

Jan dragged my ass up here!

“Jan”, would be one Janet Hanley a hiking and skiing enthusiast, whose habit of dragging other folks out of their dorm rooms and up the sides of mountains has become notorious to the point of inciting the need for a formal t-shirt commemorating such events.

The idea at present has to do with a list of adventures, though new ideas are welcome, the only requirement being the phrase “Jan dragged my ass up here” – a photo montage might be nice :)

Feel free to drop any suggestions in the comments here or on the forum by the same name @ Jan dragged my ass up here or just log your aches, pains and anecdotes at the hands of Jan. It’s always fun to trade stories.

Rick Silletti
Articles | Park Zen | Hmm?

7
Jun
2010

Road Guards

One thing I’ve noticed over time driving in Yellowstone, and I drive extensively here both winter and summer, is the way the wildlife behave when using the road system to get from one place to another inside the park.

Bison in particular use the roads to get around, it makes for much easier traveling for them especially in the deep snow periods. It’s not that they can’t cope with deep snow – they can and have been doing so for ages prior to our arrival to clear the walks for them, and if we are going to be kind enough to do that for them why shouldn’t they use them?

It’s also apparent to me that they have developed a sense of “Rules of the Road” when traveling on the road system. For instance, when I come up behind a group of 20 or so bison moving down the road ahead of me in the winter I can tell when they have noticed me; they will sometimes divide and move to the sides of the road if there is room, or if there isn’t they will trend to one side or the other. The obvious fact is that they don’t want you behind them any more than you want to be there, and they are perfectly happy to have you drive by them as long as you keep moving. They get irritated when someone stops in their midst to gawk or simply limps along behind for fear of moving through them; this will very often get the perpetrator the “ten bison standing in the road looking at you like you are being rude” thing, I see it three cars ahead of me all the time and I’ll admit it irritates me too when others can’t take thought for a moment as to the meaning of what they are seeing.

I see a variety of other road tactics applied by the bison here as well. A large bull stepping out into a lane of traffic and blocking it while the rest of the group crosses the road, moms doing school road guard duty would be proud of them, grouping up in clumps around the new born calfs is another – it’s how they protect the young ones. But the most interesting thing is the patience threshold with drivers who, in the opinion of the bison, either aren’t paying attention or aren’t thinking; when the call is made the whole herd seems to pick up on the fact all at once, and any effort at good courtesy is put on the back burner in favor getting where they are going without having their time wasted. I’ll let you decide where the real problem is there.

Rick Silletti
Articles | Park Zen

4
Jun
2010

Animal Land Speed Record

While driving from one spot to another today (something I have to do for work occasionally) I saw an encounter that pushed my sense of the absurd right over a cliff. On one side of the road was a small meadow that was about six feet lower in elevation that the road itself and on the other side was a large amount of dead fall timber. Nothing unusual yet, I go by this spot several times a month. Today however in the meadow was a large bull bison, grazing peacefully, and headed right toward him coming across the road was a coyote.

Coyotes can be very expressive animals, the way they hold their ears or tail the jaunty or slinking stride can tell volumes about them. This particular chap was a coyote with “things to do”. A beast on a mission, until that is he got to the edge of the road and saw the bison. At that precise moment every nuance of his posture and attitude simply screamed, OH SHIT!!!

In the spring (which is now) bison have calves, and every instinct a bull has says that predators are a threat That. Must. Be Stopped. Now! with extreme prejudice.. And our charming friend the coyote, being a predator, knows this.

Now I know that it is completely impossible to try to go back to where you came from so fast that you turn yourself inside-out. But that coyote gave it a hell of a try. and was headed back to the timber faster than you could blink. Of course just as he was turning around the bison caught the scent of coyote. A bull bison is a massive animal, some even approach two thousand pounds, but nobody ever said they were slow. When that bull smelled predator, he was on top of the road in one bound and running at a speed of approximately twenty miles an hour. The coyote was doing his best to achieve the speed of light.

Humans are a lot like this, we puff ourselves up with how important we are that when the dam breaks all we can do is flee in mindless terror, or no matter how peacefully our lives are going we tend to react with overwhelming force to the slightest threat.

So the absurd part is not how the animals reacted to each other, but how human beings react to each other. The sad part is that we know better

So folks as you go through life try not to be too cocksure and try not to over-react, and we will all be better off.

Oh and yes the coyote got away.

Take care and love greatly.
Papa

Larry Van Trump
Articles