The Review, September 2015, Vol. 13, Issue 9

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SEPTEMBER 2015 • VOL 13, ISSUE 9 THANKS TO OUR ADVERTISERS, IT’S STILL…

FREE!

NORTHWEST

The Best of the Pacific Northwest!

Y

Yellowst one

crown jewel in the national park system

ellowstone National Park is a great place in the 150. The population of black bears is a little more than United States to see wildlife in a pristine, natural double that. From our experience, the grizzlies cersetting. My wife Courtenay, 11-year-old daughter Brooke tainly seemed harder to find. And when they were seen and I took a driving trip to Yellowstone National Park in they were often at great distances. June. We camped in the park for nine nights in the During May and June, black bears really seem to be Canyon area and had many fabulous wildlife sightings. highly visible from the Grand Loop road between Yellowstone was the first National Park designated in Tower Falls and Phantom Lake. During our stay in the the world in 1872. Much of Yellowstone is a huge volpark we did this bear loop where we drove between the canic crater that has been formed by major eruptions two points mentioned and back. Eleven out of twelve spanning the last two million years. These eruptions are times we saw at least one bear. We would also add a side estimated to be up to 2,000 times the explosiveness of jaunt out the road to Lamar about two miles and back. our own local Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980. The park This took us just across the Yellowstone River into the literally sits on the Rocky Mountain Range with the area people call Little America. This year in that area continental divide going through the park. there was a black bear sow with two cinnamon bear One of our favorite activities in Yellowstone is to cubs. They seemed to have a foraging pattern that would STORY AND PHOTOS BY DOUG SCHURMAN watch for black and grizzly bears. Overall, we had 49 intersect with that area each day. We were fortunate to bear sightings during our June trip. Some were duplicates because we were seeing the see them five or six times. Many of those times the sightings would create quite a traffic same bears on different days. Seven of those were grizzlies and 42 were black bears. jam on the road. In the park this is referred to as a Bear Jam. Official reports estimate the number of Grizzlies within the park boundaries at about We often found rangers at these bear jams ensuring that people either pull off the road completely or keep moving since most of Yellowstone has only two-lane roads MAIN PHOTO: The view from Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone looking at Lower Falls. INSET PHOTO: A Flame Skimmer dragonfly—attracted to hot springs, this dragonfly is seen in many places in Yellowstone. photos by doug schurman

YELLOWSTONE—cont’d on page 2


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