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Yellowstone in Winter

“We made it!”

Our travel went great, and everything was seamless. All of the participants made it, along with all of our luggage. The weather was also very cooperative. Brittany enjoyed her first plane flights ever.

Group at airport

Just before our early departure from RDU

Once we arrived in Bozeman and started driving toward Yellowstone, we started seeing wildlife almost immediately. The list includes: magpie, raven, elk, mule deer (and maybe white tailed deer), bald eagle, pronghorn, bison, and duck.

Group packed in car

We didn’t get many close ups of the wildlife we saw today… but we looked a little wild after a very early morning, hours of travel, and trying to cram ourselves and all our stuff into our rental cars!

The geology is also amazing! We saw all three rock types on our drive (sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic), and the mountains are very beautiful. There is also evidence of past glacial activity and landslides.

Looking at mountains

Blaire checking out some pronghorn in front of Devil’s Slide, which is a great example of uplifted sedimentary rocks and igneous sills.

It is really exciting to see the biology and geology here, especially since it is so different from what we are used to in North Carolina. We had our first team meeting to share our first impressions and goals, and we started to form bonds with each other before breaking for dinner. We have settled in to the Mammoth Hot Springs area and are eagerly awaiting our first full day in the field tomorrow.

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19 COMMENTS
  • Jerri Aiken

    4 years ago

    What an incredible experience! Have fun!

  • MLK Class

    4 years ago

    We love the wildlife you told us about, and we would like to hear about the plant life. We really enjoyed the pictures, it looks like the team is going to have a fun and educational adventure! We would love to see some pictures of the wildlife. We are glad everyone and their luggage arrived safely!

  • Justine

    4 years ago

    We are so glad you made it safely! We will begin sharing these updates with Ms. Valgus’s class!

    • Megan Davis

      4 years ago

      AUTHOR

      From Mrs. Valgus: First Graders, You know how we enjoy hiking when on our field trips and in the woods around our campus? You would have loved this hike to Trout Lake! We used special snowshoes to walk in the deep snow. When we arrived at Trout Lake it was completely frozen over and dusted with snow! We saw animal tracks all along the way, including some very large wolf prints.

  • Josie

    4 years ago

    Wow! Looks so cool!! Have a great time!!!!

  • Josie

    4 years ago

    Looks so fun!! Hope you all have a great time!! Stay warm?

  • Josie

    4 years ago

    Hope you all have have a great time!! Have you seen any wildlife?

    • Megan Davis

      4 years ago

      AUTHOR

      (From Mom) You would be mesmerized with all of the creatures that we are seeing on the landscape, Josie! Between sunrise and sunset on our first day in the park, we’ve seen bison, elk, raven, moose, coyotes, america dippers, common goldeneye, mallards and mountain goats. I think you would have most enjoyed watching the red fox in the meadow hunting subnivean creatures.

  • william

    4 years ago

    Hi Ms. Dawkins!

    • Blaire Dawkins

      4 years ago

      Hi William!!

  • Mary Beth Barrack

    4 years ago

    Hey Megan, Wow, it looks like you are off to a fabulous start on this Yellowstone in Winter adventure! What a wonderful hike the first day! Take lots more pictures! Love to see everything going on with you guys. Nice that the animals are cooperating with you! LOL! ?❤️?

    • Megan Davis

      4 years ago

      AUTHOR

      Love you Aunt Mary Beth! The animals are DEFINITELY cooperating so far!

  • Ava Thach

    4 years ago

    Ms. Peele,

    I am looking forward to the pictures and you coming BACK!!!P.s.I hope you have a GREAT time!!!

    LOVE AVA!!!

    • Leslie Peele

      4 years ago

      I miss you too! Check out the blogs from yesterday! We had so many wildlife sightings! I wish all my friends were here to share this experience with me! You would LOVE all the animals!!!

  • Barron Allison

    4 years ago

    I know that Yellowstone stores a wealth of geologic and biologic features. Is there something about Earth’s past or, at least, the past of the North American continent that scientists can learn from it?

    • Gretchen Miller

      4 years ago

      Hi Barron! Yes, there are rocks here that go back quite a way into Earth’s history, including fossils. There are even petrified trees!

  • Lauren Rambeau

    4 years ago

    Professor Miller,

    What an incredible opportunity! It must be really neat to see all of the three rock types so close together. Which of them is the most abundant there?

    • Gretchen Miller

      4 years ago

      Hi Lauren! It depends where you are in the park. Volcanic rocks dominate the caldera area, but there are a lot of sedimentary rocks outside the caldera.

  • israel

    4 years ago

    hi

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