Luke and Grandmom and I went to a Ranger talk about "The Predators of Yellowstone" the night before we took a 3 mile hike (one way) into the wilderness of Yellowstone. Have I mentioned my Bearaphobia? I also have a touch of Wolfophobia. But I tried not to let the extreme phobia get to me. The ranger said that a pack of wolves will circle and circle a group of deer and then all at once attack the same deer. (Side note - the deer are usually old and decrepit. Wolves cull the herd and prevent overpopulation.) Anywho, they attack the same deer all at once, almost as if they have the ability to read each other's minds. Yes. I know what you are thinking, because I was thinking it too!!! Just like the Twilight Werewolves, right? So when I got to bed that night, I was not just worried about bears and wolves, but werewolves and vampires. Actual thought process:
OMG - Bears. Wolves. Vampires. Werewolves. But the vampires just attack animals, not people. Argh, that's fiction! I am sure they prefer people. Shh. What was that? Did you hear something?
The next morning, we drove out to a place far away from the crowds and hiked 3 miles to a lake to do some fishing. I got sort of obsessed about the mushrooms we saw on the way in. I'll never forget that Biology of Fungi class that I took, back in the day.
Luke and Dave did some fishing on the way there.
Jack took a little nap.
We had a great day, and we made it all the way back without getting eaten by a bear. This may have been due to Luke's bear bell, purchased for the low low price of $3.99. I wanted to buy the v. expensive bear spray, but Dave got the bell instead. I used that to justify an extra $27.00 in purchases from the gift shop. And really, using a bell to alert a bear to our presence and give him/her time to get out of our path is much better than trying to scare a bear away with pepper spray that shoots out 30 yards or whatever. Luke thought it was weird that 100% of the people we saw on the path said to him, "Oh good! I bet we won't see any bears today!"
I set the timer on my camera for a group shot when we made it back to the trail head, and when it went off, we found out that it made a barking sound. Also, that it takes more than one shot. I like the second one better.
3 comments:
Can you id the shrooms?
More pix of people - fewer pix of fungi imperfectae. Also there is a very funny story about the difference between brown bear and grizzly droppings. brown bear droppings smell of berries. grizzly drops consist of tennis shoes and smells like pepper spray.
Vampires and Wearwolves. LOL They're not all vegitarian you know.
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