Learn to be cautious around wildlife

…from Naomi.  Naomi enjoyed our trip to Yellowstone. Well, she didn’t like the carsickness.  But she liked almost everything else.  Unfortunately for Naomi, we watched a National Geographic video about Yellowstone last February.  She latched on to the section about the grizzly attack.  (Thanks for the family friendly movie, National Geographic!  Bear attacks, sheesh!)  She did not want to go after that, although we convinced her.  But then, we got into the park and saw all the signs warning to stay 25 yards from wildlife (Elk are DANGEROUS!  Bison are DANGEROUS!) and her fears generalized from bears to all largish animals.

We stopped at the Market before our trip to get some fish.  Naomi liked the pig. 

On this hike, we saw ground squirrels and lots of different scat, besides this cool waterfall.  Naomi enjoyed that.  Ground squirrels don’t have any signs about their danger, so we figured that we were safe.

The petrified tree – covered millions (millions!) of years ago by a volcanic explosion – was interesting, although getting the idea of millions of years into my own head is nearly impossible, so I’m not sure how much of it the kids absorbed.  But petrified trees pose no danger, so this was a fun little detour.

Naomi enjoyed seeing wildlife from the safety of the car.  This elk popped up from behind a rise as we were driving, and then he walked along near the car, crossed the road behind us, and continued on his way.  Cool!  He’s the only antlered elk we saw up close.  You can still see the velvet on his antlers.

This encounter, though, pushed Naomi’s limits of wildlife viewing.  We got out at a bear jam (traffic jam caused by a bear sighting) and walked along the road to see the bears.  There were two, but I was so busy watching that I forgot to take pictures of both bears.  I think the only reason this encounter was remotely acceptable to Naomi was that there were lots of other people there, many hefting lots of photography equipment.  She did end up enjoying herself, and talked about how cool it was to see the bear. 

Bison jams are usually caused, not by bison sightings, but by bison being on or really near the road, like this one.  Our first close encounter like this, Naomi said, “Dad!  I’m not 25 feet away!  I’m not 25 feet away!”  (That’s the distance they tell you to stay from wildlife in Yellowstone.)  Once she understood that there was a bit of a difference between being on foot and in the car, she calmed down.

 

We got a close look at a coyote while on our stagecoach ride.  Naomi didn’t seem to mind this guy, but we were in the stagecoach and he was the size of a medium-sized dog, so maybe that’s why.  He was clearly stalking something, not deterred even by two stagecoaches passing right by him. 

Geothermal features were exciting and not dangerous, as far as Naomi was concerned.  She enthusiastically walked the trails through geyser basins and mud pot areas, exclaiming over the colors, smells, and sounds.  Reading the warning signs here didn’t seem to worry her much, perhaps because staying on the path seems like something more in her control than staying 25 feet from wildlife, or staying out of the path of bears.  In any case, we enjoyed her eager exploration on these outings.

Waterfalls (even when the weather was 34 degrees and windy – whew!) are always acceptable.  This particular morning was really, really chilly and windy, but we wanted to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, so we’d planned to drive along and get out at particular viewpoints to see it.  We were glad we hadn’t planned a hike, because it was – did I mention? – really cold and windy.  However, Naomi was game to check it out.

Waterfalls with rainbows are even more acceptable!  Again, despite cold and wind.  Happily, I’d packed both fleeces and jackets for everyone, so we were able to get to the viewpoints in a state of some warmth.  Michael even had his gloves with him. 

But when a hike brought us a sight of this awesome moose, Naomi nearly lost it.  Not when we saw the moose, but when both the moose and our family continued into the forest near each other.  Naomi began crying about staying 25 feet away and wanting to head back.  We did decide to go around the loop the opposite direction, but then Naomi was scared of bears and wolves.  We’re not altogether sure why it was more scary than the waterfall hike from a few days before, but she was pretty upset.  I tried to reassure her that no bear (or wolf) in its right mind would stay put when it heard us coming (between the crying on her part and the singing of Clementine from the rest of us – hard to do at high altitudes).  This did not help.

The rest of us were totally excited about seeing a moose – the only one we saw on our trip – because they’re pretty rare.  This one looked like a gangly adolescent moose.  We watched him for a while, then he went into the woods.  When we came back from our hike, he was walking across the meadow in full view of the road, causing a moose jam. 

Once we’d gotten through the hike and nearly to the car, Naomi was able to settle down and enjoy using the binoculars (but she and Sim pronounce it vinoculars – totally cute) to look at the moose, which was now many more than 25 yards away, so rendered no longer scary to Naomi.

I think Naomi really enjoyed Yellowstone, with just a few patches of fear thrown in to make things interesting.