Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

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where we camped in 1967 on the river trip, 29 years ago. I have only pictures of the Black Bridge from that trip; the Silver Bridge may not have then been built. Reached Phantom Ranch perhaps 2.30 p.m. The Black Bridge, or Kaibab bridge is the oldest. The Silver Bridge was really built for the pipeline; mules will not cross it, as they can see the river below through the gridwork floor. Mileage down 6.3 to river. 6.9 to Ranch. Descent from rim at Kaibab trailhead, Yaki Point, 7260 ft, to river, 2400 ft., is 4,660 ft. Ascent here is discouraged in summer; too steep and hot. About 250 people a year have to be rescued from the canyon. No water on this trail. There is to be an artificial flood in March, to wash out the accumulated sand from the side canyons. Maybe. But the river as a whole has much less sediment than once; it is stopped in Glen Canyon Dam. Phantom Ranch was once Rust's Camp, from David Rust, 1902 onward. Teddy Roosevelt stayed here in 1913, and it took the name Roosevelt's Camp. It became Phantom Ranch from 1922 on. There are some Indian ruins near the river, from about 1100 A.D., but afterwards unoccupied. There were for a number of years several stone cabins, now more cabins, for 2-4 people usually, once and still used by the mule trains. Built in 1976, now there are also 4 dormitories, so called, with ten beds, for men or women. There are usually about 75 here, if a couple take a cabin; if the cabins are packed with children or whatever, there can be 90 at maximum. Campground has about 30 sites. About two pack strings of mules come down each day, plus one supply string. There is a telephone, now via microwave, though once a famous telephone line rim to rim, which is now a historic landmark. Water is taken from Roaring Springs, up the North Rim trail, piped down, through Phantom Ranch and rises by gravity to Indian Springs, from which it is pumped to the South Rim. Also there is an electric line with the pipe, all buried under the trail, more or less. There really is no winter here, no snow, but snow on the rims shuts them down pretty much for half of December and January. There may be show for the first mile or two of trail; too icy to get the mules over and not really that pleasant for hikers. But from February on through November it is steadily booked for 6-9 months. The men in the dormitory with me had booked last May for this trip, now February. This is Lower Sonoran Desert, with the flora of northern Mexico. Flora: mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) Catclaw (Acacia greggii) Prickly Pear. Some willows. Agave High today 82 degrees, low 50. Mule deer in Ranch area. One woman saw a ringtail; I did not. Monday, Feb. 18. Walked out, Bright Angel Trail. Breakfast was at 5.30, and left at 6.15, not moving very fast because it was still too dark to see much but the outline of the white sandy trail. A little more light by the time I went over the Silver Bridge, and soon enough plenty of light to see. Trail goes along the river about a mile or so, then you climb. Relentless climb. But it is a quite good graded trail, never really the virtual stairsteps that the Kaibab trail has coming down. Passed Indian Springs. A few deer here. Two tunnels, or, better, rock cuts, are near the top. Somewhat cloudy, though the trail is in the shadow of the canyon walls surprisingly so that it was really 11.30 before I had my head in any sunshine. There is good water at Indian Springs, and, in summer,
water supplies are put in a couple other spots. Also there are a couple creeks. Got out about 12.10, slightly less than 6 hours out. Mileage out 9.3. Total 18.3 miles. Ascent, 2400 ft., to 6860 ft at Bright Angel Lodge, 4,460 ft., Sore upper legs a bit, and in the last mile got a chafed place on one heel; otherwise o.k. David Thayer, A Guide to Grand Canyon Geology Along Bright Angel Trail. Grand Canyon Natural History Association, 1986. Read at Phantom Ranch and on sale in the bookstores there. Stanley S. Beus and Michael Morales, eds., Grand Canyon Geology. Oxford University Press and Museum of Northern Arizona Press, 1990. Yellowstone wolves Feb. 29-Mar. 8, 1996. Yellowstone wolves. Thurs, Feb. 29, left Ft. Collins at 6.30 a.m. driving north. 24 antelope. 12 antelope, before crossing the state line. In Wyoming: antelope: 24, 10, 50, 12. One adult bald eagle at the North Platte River crossing south of Douglas. 17 antelope. 4 mule deer. Antelope continued: 10, 8, 12, 8, 36. One redtail hawk. 12 deer. Night at Billings. Friday, Mar. 1. Drove from Billings to Gardiner and then to Lamar Valley, Buffalo Ranch facility where the Yellowstone Institute is housed. 11 adult bald eagles, 1 immature on the drive up Yellowstone River from Livingston. 6 deer. Entered the Park about 10.30 a.m. 24 elk. 6 elk. Lunched at Mammoth Hot Springs. Drove from Mammoth Hot Springs toward Tower-Roosevelt junction. 3 bison. 4 elk. 36 bison. 5 coyotes, coming and going from the remnants of a carcass in an open waterhole, having difficulty getting much out of the water (pix). Heard these coyotes howling. 3 bison. Passed Tower Junction. 150 elk. 12 bison. 17 bison. 8 bison (pix). 25 elk. 10 bison. 12 bison. 9 bison. 19 bison. 7 bison in Lamar Valley (pix). 40 bison. Reached the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch, met Pam Goetz, Assistant Director of the Yellowstone Institute, and moved into Cabin 5. Potluck supper at 6.00 p.m., and opening session Friday night. The Idaho wolves were a hard release. They were captured in Canada, Alberta and British Columbia, flown to Montana and just turned loose in the Idaho wild areas. The Yellowstone wolves were a soft release. They were captured in Canada at the same time, and put in acclimation pens in Yellowstone. This was hoped to curb their instinct to wander trying to find their way back home, since the wolves had no idea how far they had been transported from their home territory. There are now four packs presently free ranging. There were three acclimation pens: one on Rose Creek, which is the creek that flows right by the Ranch, a small creek. This is now called the Rose Creek pack, the pack that we saw, presently nine wolves, of which seven are year old pups. This pack is killing about one elk a day. The mother is 9F, the alpha female; their father was 10M, which is the wolf that was shot near Red Lodge about the time the pups were born. 9F, the alpha female has since paired with 8M from the Crystal Bench Pack. One pup was hit by a UPS truck in January
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Trail Log 1995-1997 Holmes Rolston,
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1995 January 4, 1995. Wednesday. Ad
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"Winnow" - the root is wind, vent,
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Worker's Directory. He gave me a co
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7 year. Leaving the hospital comple
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9 Bougainvillaea. Many kinds, all w
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11 Gerenuk - a very long necked ant
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13 I took a bird walk on my own, as
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15 francolins egret, unidentified e
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17 2 males, old males 3 females, wi
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19 somewhat better on the return tr
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21 mahogany trees wild fig trees ga
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Continuing, we crossed a long, flat
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25 50 zebras 1,000 zebras on one si
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27 impala giraffe and baby zebras c
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29 Robin chat stone chat northern d
Page 39 and 40: 31 We drove back around in the lake
Page 41 and 42: 33 small park. Jane Goodall's resea
Page 43 and 44: 35 July 6. Thursday, continued. Met
Page 45 and 46: 37 July 10. Monday. Drove to Kruger
Page 47 and 48: 39 The guides go first, Jan up fron
Page 49: But it was getting dark and we didn
Page 54: 43 Lions roaring as we got up in th
Page 57 and 58: 45 little egret giant kingfisher pi
Page 59 and 60: 47 At Skukuza, I separated from Joh
Page 61 and 62: stand your ground. Be bold and nois
Page 63 and 64: 51 Red-billed woodhoopoe, with call
Page 65: 53 we found a rhino horn (pix), whi
Page 69 and 70: 55 giant kingfisher darter (anhinga
Page 71 and 72: 57 distance away to the four winds.
Page 73 and 74: 59 We were visited that evening by
Page 75 and 76: 61 the township with an enrollment
Page 77 and 78: 63 University of Cape Town. Lovely
Page 79 and 80: 65 the trashiest of all. Afternoon.
Page 81 and 82: 67 August 16. Wednesday. Day of mee
Page 83 and 84: 69 momentary. Went in to the Shelte
Page 85 and 86: 71 on the limousine down. December
Page 87 and 88: 73 birds than we thought we might r
Page 89: lawn). A near relative is Araucaria
Page 93 and 94: track in the snow. We left about 11
Page 95 and 96: 4 coyotes in snow. 1 immature bald
Page 97 and 98: Two coyotes came down the road in f
Page 99 and 100: Spain, surprisingly, as there are i
Page 101 and 102: Australia July 1 - August 19, 1996
Page 103 and 104: July 10, Wednesday. Drove to Laming
Page 105: We drove through the rainforest and
Page 109 and 110: QUT. Elizabeth Saxon, sat beside me
Page 111 and 112: Eucalyptus trees here are often dea
Page 113: and barely survived. Antechinus stu
Page 118 and 119: floods and drought, much compacted.
Page 120 and 121: it later deteriorated. Wombat kille
Page 122 and 123: Seminar at 2.15 p.m Chris Mortenson
Page 126 and 127: Then to Murdoch University, lecture
Page 130 and 131: This cave is the pouch of the femal
Page 132 and 133: Huge streams pour off the rock in a
Page 134 and 135: ut not all that messed up. Turned a
Page 136 and 137: Trail Log 1997 February 22, 1997, S
Page 138 and 139: much better in the lower, protected
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To Tower Junction, then to Tower, l
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Back to the ranch. The coyote was a
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crows are unusual inside Yellowston
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as a bell in contrast to yesterday.
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I went up on a higher hill to try t
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Siberia and Lake Baikal June 15-29,
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Russia has an 80-year old system of
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In the dining car, there never seem
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Reached Zilovo, about 10.15, about
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City tour on a nice day. Population
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second oldest 2,000,000 years. It h
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Communism unraveled, and that, we t
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Thalictrum foetidum Grimmia calcare
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Walk to Shaman Rock. From the rock,
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Viola rupestris Euphorbia alpina Pl
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Lychnis sibirica Schizonepetala mul
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wapiti, elk (American term), red de
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July 16-18, 1997, Tuesday through F
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Events in Ft. Collins area: July 28
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Camped at Sarto Creek, in flats nea
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Shuttle back to Missoula, arriving
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Polygonum viviparum, Alpine Bistort
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