August 12, 2021

Day 4 - Yellowstone National Park Student Organized Trip July 2021!

 


                                                                    Yellowstone Day 4

                                                               Written by Claire Duguet




7:00 AM MDT

We all woke up for a lovely breakfast made by Jackson, Michael, Sean, Daphne, and Amy and realized that everyone but Daphne had slept through the star-watching at 11:45 the night before. After getting ready, we played a rhythm game with various hand signs.


9:30 AM MDT

We left camp to go find collared ungulates, specifically bison. After an intense search, we finally found a collared bison, D2, but it was the same one that we had classified the day before :(. Next, we found a collared Pronghorn, P24, but that one had also been previously classified. Back in the car, we saw a bear and a coyote. We continued our arduous hunt, and found a huge pack, but first, we decided to eat lunch in the middle of a creek (on rocks) and Brayden utilized his handy dandy stool.






12:00 PM MDT

Brayden, Abby, Sean, and I used radio telemetry to inspect that large pack, but to no avail. We were starting to get discouraged. After a quick bathroom break, we tried again but still no collared bison.






2:00 PM MDT

After this tedious struggle in the heat, we decide to head to Arch Park to start our research projects on park data. Unfortunately, as we rounded a corner, we saw at least 15 elk lying around the tables we usually work at. Our instructor Sarah then made a calculated decision to instead begin our projects under the gazebo at camp. The highlight of the ride home was seeing Kevin sleep on Cameron’s shoulder.



3:00 PM MDT

After a short break, we gather under the gazebo and form groups, the most notable one being Cameron’s Climate Crew. We pick our subjects and formulate questions and hypotheses. We will be presenting on climate, bison, ungulates, and bears. We had an hour break and played too much Uno.



6:30 PM MDT

Our wonderful badgers prepared us delectable salad tacos, which was perfect because we were all famished. Once we were full, we headed over to the stage to play a game of jeopardy hosted by the pelicans. Danielle drew an amazing wolf on the whiteboard and Cameron led a tie breaker with his favorite female rappers. Team “team” won the game, despite the cheating efforts by the other team. We then had an activity where we discussed the good parts and “superheroes” of the day. Many picked Brayden for his hilarity at dinner! I was Cameron’s superhero for having written this journal entry :).




11:45 PM MDT

We actually woke up to see the stars tonight! We got to see constellations, part of the Milky Way, and even a few shooting stars.

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