This week has been a tough one for the Yellowstone Park. We've had so much snow melt and that makes the rivers run high and fast ! As a result a pipeline that runs under the Yellowstone River was undermined and ruptured causing an oil leak. It happened 150 miles downriver from the Park and doesn't affect anything here. It does affect some farmland and tributaries though downstream.
On Wednesday, the road into Artist Point near Canyon was closed. Apparently a couple was hiking into Wapiti Lake (Norm & I have hiked this trail several times) and came across a Grizzly Bear sow with two cubs. Instead of retreating they continued into the lake. On their way back, they surprised the sow and got between her and her cubs. She perceived it as a threat and charged the couple. The man screamed at his wife to run ! He was mauled, to death, and the wife dropped to the ground. The Grizzly grabbed her by the backpack, shaking her violently, then turned and left with her cubs. Another group of hikers heard the wifes screams and called Park Rangers. Within a very short time the Rangers were there and secured the area, closing all the trails in that part of the Park.
This was such a tragedy. It was the hikers fault for continuing to the lake and not leaving the area. They knew the bear was around and had cubs but disreguarded all the precautions. All the books and pamphlets, about the Park hikes, give detailed instructions about bear sightings. These people didn't adhere to any of them and unfortunately paid the ultimate price.
Just to let you know the momma and her cubs are being moved to a remote spot in the Park. The Rangers said she was doing her job and didn't want to destroy them.
Last night, about 1:00am we had a Black Bear come into our park. We keep telling folks to put their coolers and barbeques inside their vehicles but not everyone did. As a result the smell of all those barbequed burgers and hot-dogs was too much for this hungry bear to resist. Two coolers and a grill were destroyed! It wondered around the park, here, for over an hour before dissappearing into the forest.
Today, we had a weird storm roll in for about two hours. The skies went dark, the temps dropped from 85* to 59* in just a few minutes and the rain came down ! Thunder and lightning was so loud we could hardly hear and we watched, as the lightning struck the nearby mountains! The power to everything went out for about 45 minutes, even the computers and phones in the office were down. Was nice to have a few minutes to get caught up but when things came back on line the phones and messages went crazy ! WHEW !
Never a dull moment this week ! Hope the rest of you are enjoying calmer weather.
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