Tuesday, April 13, 2010

3:01 PM Today is Tuesday and we just found out the southern entrance to Yellowstone National Park is closed to all traffic until Friday because they're not finished plowing the roads. It's 31 degrees and snowing pretty heavily now, but it's not laying on the roads. Because we need to travel over the summit on Rt#22 on the west side of Yellowstone, we have to disconnect the car. It isn't safe to tow anything because the grade is 10%!!! It's pretty icy and steep! These mountains are called the Grand Tetons and it's snowing and sleeting!
We are now in Tetonia, Idaho- they have a grain silo in the middle of their US Bank. You know what's important to them. In Ashton, Idaho is the Western Gateway to Yellowstone.This road is called a "chains-on road" to go over the mountain.In Driggs, Idaho we saw cows, pigs,horses and llamas!There is a reforestation project in the Targhee National Park; signs for trees planted in 1981 and 1985..
The Grand Tetons are a story of faulting and uplifting. They are so impressive because they rise up so quickly with no foothills. Being formed 8 millions years ago, they are the youngest chain of mountains here with a range up to 13,000 feet. It formed on the Teton Fault when a large earthquake caused the west side at the Idaho and Wyoming border to rise up many thousands of feet and the east side(Mt. Leidy and Gros Ventre) to sink. This revealed the extremely hard granite and the lower portion filled in with rocks and silt to form the valley.Every 1000 years there is a significant (over 3.5) earthquake here; so the mountains are constantly changing. Dr. Bob Smith of the University of Utah uses a GPS to measure the seismic activity of the earthquakes and ground movements. It's ready to change dramatically again with a large earthquake.
Grand Tetons is an 18 million acre geosystem with craggy peaks and sharp edges. The ice age glaciers formed Jackson Lake. A tiny stream trickles through Yellowstone and becomes the Snake River and travels for thousands of miles to the Idaho and Oregon border. The first human inhabitants came 14,000 years ago; they are the ancestors of present day Shoshone, Blackfoot, Bannock and Gros Ventre. These tribes were identified by their diets: buffalo eaters, sheep eaters and Salmon eaters.
The Indians called the mountains "Teewinot" which means many pinnacles. There is evidence they have been up to those peaks. When the French came they named them Les Trois Tettons- which means 3 breasts. The French-Canadians and American fur traders were the first Euro-American to live here; they came for the beaver furs to make top hats. When silk top hats became the fashion the furriers dropped away. Then Jackson Hole was left alone until the 1800s when the US government gave settlers land. The ranchers came out and built in the valleys raising cattle. When people from the east came to see the wranglers, they were called the Eastern 'dudes', shortened to just "dudes"; therefore 'dude ranches". The Indians still consider the Grand Tetons to be a spiritual place.
It took 50 years to convince the US government to declare the Tetons a National Park thereby preserving this beauty for future generations. Albright, in charge of it as a state park invited Rockefeller,Jr. to visit. He fell in love with it and in 1927 bought up 35,000 acres of land and started the Snake River Land Company to preserve the land. When offered to Congress, they refused his land gift in 1929. Finally Truman combined the 1929 and 1943 offers and Congress accepted the gift of land for a National Park.
In 1931 Glenn Exum climbed Grand Teton and had to jump over a wide ravine to get to the top. This was momentous because nobody had ever done it before. This started the sport of mountain climbing. You need to be experienced to try it. The Park Rangers have to rescue 30 people a year who try.
From April to May the pronghorns (antelopes) return here from their winter stay down south. Yellowstone is the only Elk Refuge in the US.
Life of a Geosystem
1. tree dies, decomposes, adds nutrients to soil; wildfires hasten this process
2. Aspens grow
3. Elk eat aspen shoots
4. Aspen leaves fall into streams and insects eat them
5. Trout eat the insects
The Wetlands are recharged by snowmelt-ie. Snake headwaters
The Sagebrush lands are many shrubs that are drought tolerant. The valley soil is young; porous and dry.
The Meadows is a community in transition- 1st was a pond, then filled in with silt and soil from the mountain runoffs. Then it fills with vegetation; small at first- then shrubs and trees.
Then it becomes a Forest with Aspens then pines and called Alpeni.
5:50 PM we see a Montana sign- the roads are worse here than in Idaho. Guess it's because of state taxes.
6:00 West Yellowstone- the same town that Jon, Tim, Daddy and I came into on snowmobiles 16 years ago!
Glaciers create moraines that retain moisture to assist the lodgepole pine trees to grow. Their roots flourish and the ground becomes protected so the spruce can grow. They eventually tower above and prefer the cool, moist and protected soil. They creep along the ground in a dwarf form and the forest is called "Krummholz" or "crooked wood". Cottonwood trees also survive here along reliable streams. The3 Aspens are the first trees to grow after a fire. The Alpine area is an extreme environment with very little soil, intense sun, short growing season and bitter winters. The plants that survive here are in dwarf form with fuzzy leaves. There are 3 stages of a glacier- peaks, glaciers then u shaped canyons. The last ice age ended 14,000 years ago and it left cirques, aretes and horns and 3 lakes in Yellowstone. New glaciers formed 1000 years ago in the Upper Elevation, but they are disappearing .
This area averages 400" of snow a year, a long winter and a short spring and fall. The snow is absolutely beautiful! It's laying on the ground but not the roads. We couldn't find a RV park that is open to stay in overnight; so we parked on the lot belonging to the Wolf and Grizzly Bear Discovery Center. Hope they won't chase us away!