Posts tagged #Bears

Fieldwork in Yellowstone National Park

Where's Waldo?

Where's Waldo?

 

Hi friends, it's Flashback Friday again

Yellowstone National Park

    Being married to an ecologist has its perks. While we were driving from Alaska to Wisconsin we drove through Montana and Yellowstone. We needed a break and we also needed to check in on some of Ws fieldwork. Both W and I do research about fire, me in Alaska and he in Yellowstone, or jellystone as we sometimes call it. As always when me and W go somewhere, I fall behind because I just can not get enough of all the tiny little things I see, or all the awesome views. 

 
 

Dalahäst    

    Before I moved to Alaska one of my best friends gave me a little miniature "dalahäst" which is a painted horse. Of course that one was with us this day too. Fires can be really destructive, but I think it's beautiful to see what can grow out of a fire. 

 
 

Coniferous Trees

    Coniferous trees are either serotinous, not serotinous, semi-serotinous or a mixture between the two first. In Yellowstone National Park the Lodgepole pine is a mixture between the two first examples and the fire can benefit the reproduction of the forest. Serotinous species are dependent on fire to open up the cones and "activate" the seed, and the opposite is true for species that are not serotinous. 

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt - John Muir

 
 
 

 Hiking in Yellowstone

    I love being able to walk away from the road system and feel like we are in the middle of nowhere. Yellowstone is so huge, and so beautiful, and if you haven't been there yet, its definitely a place to see. Just remember that walking off the main road will show you extraordinary places. I would definitely recommend to do a backpacking trip. However, please don't walk off the road in areas of hot springs...use a map and consult the backcountry office for permits and current conditions, carry bear spray and know your bear safety!

 
 

  Leaving Yellowstone

    When we left the park we used a new (to me) exit, the city of Cody, and the landscape changed drastically. I asked W if he still thought this was grizzly country, because I surely did not think it looked anything like it. Literally 5 minutes later, we see this grizzly below getting up on its hind legs as we approached with the car. He started to cross, before he changed his mind and we could see his friend in the bushes. One of the coolest things I ever seen. Didn't capture him/her getting up on the hind legs, but man that was so cool!

 
 

    Have you ever seen anything cool on a roadtrip, or any other time for that matter?

 
Posted on August 12, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, Photography, The great wide open, Science, Yellowstone, Montana and tagged Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park National Parks Photography Details Flowers Lodgepole pine cone grizzly grizzly bear brown bear Forest Boreal Forest Burn Wildfire Fire Science Research ecologist roadtrip road trip flowers Summer Adventures Summer dalahäst Adventure Spruce Pine Nature Mountains Bears field National Park Fieldwork Rocky Mountains 2016.

Fuzzy Animals in Canada and the US

Roadtrip

Today we are hanging out in Bozeman and taking a break from being in the car. So far on the way we have seen:

  • 3 Grizzlies, one mama with two cubs (probably less than a week old)

  • 10 Blackies, including one cub

  • A couple of Mountain Goats

  • A couple of Bison

  • one Fox

  • A couple of Deer,

  • one Antilope

  • A couple of Elk

  • one Colombian Ground Squirrel

Tomorrow we will continue our journey through Yellowstone and then towards my new Home with W in Madison, WI. 

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Nature, The great wide open and tagged Fuzzy Animals Alaska Canada Alberta British Columbia animals blackies grizzlies cubs bearcubs into the wild landscape Yukon Yukon Territory YT roadtrip Alcan Alaskan Highway Summer Adventures Bison Wilderness Elsewhere 2016 Adventure Bears.

To outrun a Bear?

Springtime

    Spring in Alaska not only mean green-up or bud-burst, but this is the time when bears are starting to wake up. Carrying a bear spray is something I always do when I go for a short hike or so. That being said, there have been times when I have forgotten to bring it...luckily I have not seen any bears during those times.  When we are out in the field we see bear tracks almost all the time, but no bears. Well, I did see the butt of a black bear running away once, and last year I warned a girl who was going to one of my field sites about the bears there. 

    My field site is really remote and brushy and it's extremely important to make lots of noise, and I did feel uncomfortable about her going there by herself.

Bear Encounters

    I was thinking about her that morning after we left her and I just couldn't stop thinking about it while riding the ATV, and after about 2 hrs we ran into her on the other side of the larger watershed (my site is just a sub-catchment of the larger one). She saw us coming behind her so she stopped and I was like heey, you finished early. And she told me that she ran into a bear. Every time I take a bear safety class they always talk about the fact that you might think that you are loud, but you should actually really really be louder, so louder than what you think. The worst thing you can do is to surprise a mama bear with cubs. 

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Nature, Science, The great wide open and tagged Outdoors bear tracks USA pepparspray Spring Adventures Alaska 2016 Adventure Nature Bears field Fieldwork Life in Alaska.