2023 YELLOWSTONE GROUP A

 

DAY 1 Travel and Camp Set Up - Nandika and August

Today was the first day of our trip! We met at LaGuardia at 9am for our 12pm flight. 

After going through security we saw a giant stuffed giraffe, which Ms. Maggio loved.

 

We then walked around LaGuardia, played card games, and ate snacks until it was time to get on the plane. We experienced Southwest seating and most of us ended up in middle seats (however we appreciated the snacks). Once we got to Denver our connecting flight was slightly delayed, so we explored the airport, ate lunch (early dinner?), and played (many more) board games. On the second plane we had many talkative seatmates for our ~2 hour flight.

Once we were off the plane, we got our bags and met with our EPI instructors, Mary, Carly, and Becca, who had brought us sandwiches and wraps for dinner. Then we hopped in the car for a 90-minute drive to our campsite. At camp, we set up tents in the dark using headlamps and flashlights. We made sure to put any necessary things into the bear bins to prevent any unwanted bear visitors. We were all very tired and went to bed as quickly as possible

DAY 2 Hike and Intro to Yellowstone  --  Morning Estella and Manoel.

This morning, we all woke up at 7:30, to make our breakfast (which was mostly cereal and oatmeal, with added yogurt and fruits tossed in) and pack our sandwiches and snacks for lunch. Then we circled up to play a bunch of first introduction games, including getting to know each other's names and practicing nonverbal communication by sorting ourselves by our birthdays. Then we went over the 5 rules of the EPI program: No drugs/alcohol, no nicotine, no violent behavior (this includes activities dangerous to both others and ourselves, like attempting to pet bison), and no coupling. Then we took a pre assessment test on ecology and our knowledge of Yellowstone. 

Finally, we got into the car and we were off to Hellroaring creek hiking trail, about an hour from our campsite. On our way there, we saw a black bear that was actually cinnamon colored. Our two cars stopped on the side of the road triggered an enormous crowd. Besides that exciting event, we mostly slept in the car on our way to Hellroaring. 

Once we got there, we formed a circle, and talked about bear safety (like carrying bear spray and identifying a grizzly vs. black bear), as well as assigning our research duties for the hike.  Today's research consisted of recording data on how prepared hiking groups were to face bears. This consisted of the number of people in the group, the number of bear spray cans, the firearms, bearbells, and what we thought the hikers were doing on the trail!

Then we started our hike. 

                      

    

First we descended into the valley with gorgeous views all around. We saw llamas and horses hiking up the trails with people riding them. During this time we expended energy trying to avoid the bison excrements on the ground (there were a lot). After a while, we arrived at the suspension bridge and decided to stop to eat our deliciously packed lunches. 

AFTERNOON   Odysseas and Min

The storm started, and we learned the lightning position. You are supposed to keep your feet as close together as possible so the voltage difference is as low as possible. Everyone stood around in the lightning pose to wait around. After we waited out the storm, we crossed the suspension bridge over the rapids.

After crossing the shaky bridge, we went to the Buffalo Plateau, a field of sagebrush. In the field, we talked about what makes the GYE (greater yellowstone ecosystem) unique. The region is very biodiverse, and was considered a model for conservation. The whole time we were in the field, we were getting swarmed by mosquitoes. 

 

Afterwards, we headed back to the cars. We ended up having to sprint the last uphill to avoid the storm, and as we walked, it started to hail. We got in the cars, and we stopped at Mammoth hot springs, to finally use an actual bathroom!! When we got back camp, we had a thirty minute break before cooking a dinner of deconstructed tacos. 

 

After dinner, we had our very first quest for knowledge lesson. The group explained the different types of ungulates in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which are hooved mammals. They told us the different ways to identify males and females, as well as juveniles of each species. We also learned the differences between the scat and tracks of each animal. 

 

After the lesson, the group got us to play pictionary with the different ungulates and scat. Later that evening, a family of elk came to visit our campsite, which had really nice twilight lighting. 

        

DAY 3 - Bison Research Training  -  Morning. Sabrina and sydney

Today we woke up at 7 and had breakfast at 7:30, but not before we melted our beloved ladle.

Our amazing instructors - Bex, Mary and Carly planning for our day!

 

We packed our lunches and headed up the hill to play a game of rock, paper, scissors baseball since we would be in the car for over an hour. In the end, the final score was 5-0, and we were all warmed up for the day.

We  headed back down to have a research debrief about the bear safety data from yesterday's hike. We compiled all our data in order to see similarities between groups. We came to the conclusion that bear spray was the preferred method of bear spray with firearms coming in second and bear bells coming in last.

Then, we hopped into the car for 2 hours, driving to Lamar river valley, intending to study bison and their behaviors. On the drive, there were many bison on the side of the road and caught a glance at a coyote. Once we got to our destination, we took a short hike to the edge of a hill that overlooks bison to sit and eat our lunch.

     

Afternoon- Telemetry and Bison ID Training  Audrey and Odysseas

After lunch, we gathered around Mary to learn about the history of bison in America. We learned that there used to be 30-60 million bison that lived in America, but their population began to dwindle after the 1830s due to western expansion and a total war against Native Americans. By 1872 there were only 23 bison living in Yellowstone National Park.

In 1902 conservationists began to capture the remaining bison in order to breed them with bison from other states. Now, there are 6500-7000 bison living in Yellowstone National Park. 

After our lesson, we split up into different groups to learn about bison demography and telemetry. Carly taught us about bison identification. Males are generally larger, have straight horns and a penile tuft. Females are smaller, have curved horns, and are usually with their young. 

Bison young are called red dogs because they are reddish-brown. Juveniles are slightly larger and older than red dogs. Bex taught us how to use optics equipment such as telescopes and binoculars to identify bison. Mary taught us how to use telemetry equipment to track down collared bison. 

            

Towards the end of our time with the bison, we spotted a coyote crossing the river towards the bison herd. Some of us headed towards the riverbank to get a closer view. We then got into our vans and headed back to camp.

When we arrived at camp, we had a dinner of chili before starting our QFK. We learned about the different geothermal features of Yellowstone and why they occur. These features include geysers, hot springs, steam vents, and mud pots. We learned about the thermophiles that live in some of these geothermal features. We also went over safety procedures, so that none of us deglove ourselves on a steam vent. 

 

During the QFK, a large group of elk wandered onto the campsite, and one of them tried to lick a tent!

We then played a game called salad bowl to review what we had learned. One person had to choose a key term from the lesson, and had to get their teammates to guess it without saying the word. In the first round, people could use unlimited words to guess, but this was reduced to one word in the second round. In the third round, participants had to act out their word. 

After the QFK, we went to bed as a thunderstorm rolled in. The storm created a beautiful sunset, and after dark, there was a very clear moonrise. 

              

Day 4 Morning - Norris geyser basin Christopher and August

This morning we visited the geothermal features of Norris Geyser Basin! We woke up at 7am, ate breakfast, packed up, and got into the cars before our goal of 8:30.

                           

But not before we did some Yoga Stretches at camp. 

    

We got to Norris after a beautiful 90 minute drive through Yellowstone. Once at Norris we were introduced to the first activity: a scavenger hunt! We had 45 minutes to answer ten questions about Norris and then explore Porcelain Basin. One of the questions involved talking to a ranger and we learned a lot about what working for a national park entails. Everyone loved exploring the Porcelain Basin and we took pictures with and of our favorite features.

When we got back, everyone wanted to keep looking around so we went on a second hike to see the Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat rarely erupts but is the tallest Geyser in the world.

We also saw the Vixen Geyser which erupted while we were there! 

 

Once we finished the hike we collected 15 minutes of data for our Bear Safety survey and then walked back to the cars. 

           

We ate lunch in the car so that we could start driving towards the bison for our Home on the Range research.

Afternoon Home on the Range Research Clyde and Caitlin
We stopped three times post lunch to try to locate three collared bison: C1, C3, and C4. We decided to name each of the bison Sheila, Helga, and Geraldine respectively. 

When we triangulated their location, we drove to the point that the telemetry gear pointed us to. There, we found two herds that could possibly have a collared bison. We took out the telemetry gear and the optic gear.  Mary found made us a snowball from the lingering snowpack. 

With binoculars and the scopes we tried to see if any of the bison had collars around their necks. The telemetry gear was leading us to focus more on the herd on the right side of the road. 

 

We weren't able to see any bison with collars from the point we were standing but we thought that some bison could benhinding behind a rock. A group of us followed Becca to the top of a different hill to see if there was a collard bison behind the rock. Unfortunately we weren't able to find the collared bison so we are going to try another day.  Luckily Clyde got some amazing shots of the bison with Maggio's scope

After we came back from the park, we all settled back in and started cooking dinner and making the QFK for the night. It started raining, but we persevered and finished cooking our meal. While we were eating a fantastic tikka masala, a double rainbow appeared in the distance! 

We then began the QFK, which was centered on amphibians, which we'll be exploring tomorrow in detail. We learned about the different types of amphibians you can find in Montana and Yellowstone Park, and how the life cycle of amphibians works. We learned about the western toad, columbia spotted frog, boreal chorus frog, and the tiger salamander in detail. 

As the sun was setting, we saw the silhouette of an elk on a ridge illuminated by the sunset, and soon later a second elk joined them. It is a full moon tonight, which hopefully we can see around the clouds.

DAY 5 Morning - Amphibian Surveys!:  David and Min

Today we woke up to pouring rain that shook our tents. It was freezing cold and everything was wet as we stumbled out of our tents, disoriented. After breakfast, we packed up and played a rock paper scissors evolution game. 

The final evolution stage was a Beyonce, and all the Beyonces had to perform to single ladies.

Afterwards, we learned about the environmental stressors on amphibians, and their responses/the consequences of the changes in the environment. We were then put into groups, and given five minutes to try and design an experiment to figure out the population of amphibians. 

After a quick bathroom run, we headed to Casey Lake, the site of our amphibians survey. They explained the protocol. Other people put on waders to go into the pond, but we went with Mary to do habitat. We wrote about  things like weather condition and the pond conditions, and took photos of the pond from different directions. After the other group got out of the pond, we went to eat lunch and noticed a detached elk leg on the side of the road.

        

Afternoon - More  Mimi and Eisei

After lunch, we began our search of the lake for amphibians. We all put on waders so we could search without getting soaked, and they made us look both very comical and scientific. Each group consisted of an adult testing for depth and three students: one recording the data, another visually finding and identifying frogs, and the third sweeping the water with a net to find larvae. 

       

                 

   

      

     

        

    

Overall, we found mostly adult Columbia Spotted Frogs and tadpoles, which meant the lake was a breeding ground. We also found several metamorphs, which are in-between tadpoles and adults and have both a tail and legs, and even a tiger salamander larvae! 

As we were packing up to leave we thought we saw a moose and became very excited, before realizing it was just two male elk. 

Next we went back to Gardiner to take a photo in front of the Yellowstone National Park sign, as well as the Gardner Arch. 

In nearby Arch Park we did a lesson on scientific procedures and our research project was introduced. We spent some time looking at past data and brainstormed possible research questions, before heading back to camp. 

While cooking crew started making dinner, several of the other students took on the ambitious project of washing their hair. A combination of water bottles, raincoats, and teamwork was successful, and by the time we finished, the dinner of pesto pasta with vegetables and sausage was ready. 

After eating we went to the other Stuyvesant group's campsite to celebrate the 4th of July with a campfire and s'mores. The other group had set up a surprise relay race to test which was the better group, and naturally we won. We then made a fire, roasted s'mores, and played some Frisbee, before returning to camp to prepare for our early wolf morning.

            

   

  

    

DAY 6 WOLF WATCHING!!  Morning - Manoel and Odysseas 

We woke up at 5 AM to a freezing morning and pulled ourselves into the car. On our way to see the wolves, we played wolf-themed music. We also saw a bear and 2 cubs on the way; The cubs even climbed a tree!  Black blob in picture below is one of the cubs!

                             

When we arrived at Lamar Valley, we met with Jeremy, a wolf biologist here in Yellowstone. 

Almost immediately after arriving, we sighted a 3 year-old wolf who had split from a pack and was likely trying to find a mate through the scopes set up on a hill. We also spotted two wolves from the pack in Lamar. One of the wolves interacted peacefully with the first wolf. 

  

Jeremy then taught a fascinating lesson about wolf biology and conservation. He taught about how they catch and track wolves in Yellowstone, as well as gather information about the wolf kills. He also taught about how wolves were once prevalent across the contiguous U.S., but were purposefully exterminated by colonizers using various methods. After much debate, wolves were finally reintroduced to Yellostone in 1995, and have since thrived in the park. We learned about how wolves affect the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and why they are so important to its stability. We also learned about the politics surrounding wolf conservation and how wolves are not considered an endangered species in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, and can be hunted and killed. 

         

        

                           

  

  

After taking a photo with New York Times bestseller author Rick McIntyre, and saying goodbye to Jeremy and Rick, we got back in the car to drive for a quick bathroom break. 

We then had a lesson on wolves, and had our lunch while reading articles on the various perspectives regarding wolves, including the National Park Service, the hunters association, and the ranchers that live and work on their ranches outside Yellowstone.

      

       

Afternoon - Sabrina and Audrey

After lunch we had a mock town hall meeting where we represented differing points of view regarding wolf reintroduction. Some examples include elk hunters, farmers, and owners of wolf tourism businesses. 

  

Then we packed up and drove around in search of collared bison to get fecal samples. 

Then we packed up and drove around in search of collared bison to get fecal samples. However, we did not find any collared bison, but found collared pronghorn antelope instead. We set up telescopes and assigned groups of people to monitor the collared pronghorn as well as the other pronghorn.

       

    

The collared pronghorn kept on moving away from so the group assigned to it had to quietly follow it. Finally, at 2:22, after 45 minutes of meticulous observation, the group spotted the collared pronghorn pooping. Some of us were so happy that we danced. This is because pronghorn only defecate several times a day and they do not like to do it in front of people. 

                          

Meanwhile, the other group (Eagle Eyed Estella spotted it first!) was also able to spot a mother and a baby pronghorn pooping. We then waited for the pronghorn to walk a safe distance away from their scat so that we could make our way to collect our poop samples. 

                        

We took three scat samples from both the collared pronghorn and the other mother pronghorn, but not the baby pronghorn since it was not old enough to be an accurate representation of the herd. Meanwhile, a small group continued to follow the collared pronghorn to attempt to visually confirm the ID number of the pronghorn. Unfortunately, they couldn't visually confirm the ID and we instead resorted to telemetry to confirm the ID of the collared pronghorn. After a successful day of spotting multiple wolves and collecting two pronghorn scat samples, we headed back to our campsite. We arrived around 5:30 and the cooking crew started to make quintessential quinoa for dinner. After dinner, instead of our usual QFK presentations, we worked on our research projects and solidified our research questions for the next day. Then we all hurried to bed after a mind blowingly amazing day. 

     

  

Day 7 Invasive Species Pulling - Morning: August and Caitlin

We woke up at 7, ate a yummy breakfast, and packed lunch for the day. Then we played two games before we got in the car. The first game was called yeehaw where we passed yeehaws around in a circle with some extra special moves like stampede and Ford shifter gear box. If someone hesitated or did the wrong move they were out of the game. At the end Eisei and Caitlin dueled for first place by acting out what they thought an egregious eggplant would look like. At the end Caitlin reigned supreme.  After our game of yeehaw we played a game were we first had to pick two other people. Then silently we had to create an equilateral triangle with those two people and ourselves as the points if the triangle. Then Becca told one person to sit down and for people who were in a triangle with them to also sit down. This game was used to model the importance of keystone species. 

After our games we got into the cars and headed towards Cutler Lake to Save The World! (pull invasive vegetation). However, on our way to the lake we made many wrong turns and Carly and Becca got to practice their u-turns. (It was the GPS's fault not theirs). Once we arrived we got our introductions from Jabus at the US Forest Service and Bethany from the parks and community council we headed into the fields. 

We then split into  arrived we split into two groups, one starting with pulling weeds and the other taking a vegetation survey. In the survey we split into three groups and each expanded a tape measure 30 meters to establish a sampling area. Each group threw a 1 x 0.5 meter frame at 6 random points and then wrote down the percentages of noxious weeds, grass, moss, litter, and bare ground.

     

        

         

         

During the survey we heard two rattlesnakes and Carly, one of our instructors, saw one! We were all very excited but the adults responsibly had us take a break for lunch (we moved to a rattlesnake-free area after lunch!).

                                                        
Afternoon Estella and Christopher - Invasive and Research Project Planning

During lunch it started raining, which led to us sitting in the car hiding from the lighting. After lunch, since there were too many rattlesnakes around the area we were supposed to count weeds, so instead we all pulled out the invasive weeds, most of which were the Canada Thistles. 

  

       

            

We were all so into it that even when the adults called us back to the cars because of the thunder, we refused to leave. Pulling weeds was super satisfying. Afterwards, we went to the library in archpark to work on and finish up our research projects.  A retired park ranger at the library fed us some anecdotes from his time in the park. 

   

     

     

After finishing up our projects we head back to camp while jamming to some songs. For dinner, we ate delicious stir fry and tofu with rice, and we also got to listen to two guest speakers. 

Hannah is a geneticist finishing up her PhD at brown University, focusing on the plants in Yellowstone. Echo is a rising senior in the Gardiner High School told us about her life in a small town near Yellowstone. 

Day 8
We woke up and had to repack our bags to prepare for switching campgrounds. After breakfast we split into groups to take inventory, repack the van, and take apart the tents.

 As a group, we reflected on the natural beauty around us and our trip as a whole. We took a moment to find a place near the campground where we could sit and just think about our experience. We were then able to finally go into Gardiner and do some tourist shopping. We tried huckleberry ice cream and several of us got matching bison and reddog stuffed animals. So now we have a herd of bison to take home!

Then we went to Montana Whitewater where we geared up for rafting. We drove in a school bus to our departure site where we pushed and pulled the raft into the Yellowstone River and set off on our whitewater adventure! The first 5 miles were along the boundary of Yellowstone so we were all glad to see it one last time, but the whole rafting trip was cloudy and cold even though it had been sunny an hour ago and would be sunny right as we got off the water. We spotted some ospreys, an area in the water called "Maneater," Electric Mountain, and heard some cool stories about dead bears and houses collapsing. We also all got to "ride the bull," or sit on the front of the boat. We also had three designated swimming spots and we all very bravely hopped in for the last one even though the water was 60⁰! We couldn't feel our feet by the end but it was worth it.

After rafting we drove over to the BBQ place, "Follow Yer Nose" where we had pork and turkey sandwiches, baked beans, coleslaw, and pasta salad. Then we headed to the KOA and got our cabins assigned to us (with real beds! And lights!). After settling in we started our presentations about Columbia Spotted frogs, bear spray, bison and other ungulates, and tiger salamanders. We filled out some post-course paperwork and then received our diplomas from Beqs, Carly, and Mary which meant we were officially EPI Yellowstone graduates!

Then we performed our song parodies and skits about our experience camping for Carly's birthday (we wrote it all in the car over just a few hours with help and dedication from all 15 of us!) and had some brownies. We were all very happy about how our last day had turned out, but also sad it was ending. But the day wasn't even over yet! There were two more things left to do: s'mores and showers!

Some people went to shower for the first time in a week of camping while others roasted marshmallows for s'mores. The showers were kind of gross but worth it for most of us. We looked at some constellations and then headed to bed. In my cabin, we stayed up until 3am talking and another cabin was up until 2 playing poke

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