Post #6: Shooting Moose & Bison … With a Camera, Of Course

Mile Marker: 1602 – 1874

“For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”
A quote from the Organic Act of 1872, which created Yellowstone, inscribed at the top of the Roosevelt Arch at the North entrance to the Park.

I arrived in Cody, without any prior knowledge of the city, and drove the streets looking for a wi-fi connection to write and blog the next entry. I had only written the introduction thus far and here I was deep into Wyoming. I was wearing my cowboy hat, which works well in Cody, but instead of a six-gun, my laptop was slung over my shoulder. I tried to make it a bit more authentic, by posing the question, “y’all got that mobile Internet” to the various waitresses and hostesses on the main drag. Finally, I found a steak house where the hostess said I could probably pick up the city’s wi-fi service. Delicious steak, mmmm. I could almost taste it; however, for some reason I couldn’t connect to the city’s service so she referred me to a coffee shop owned by the same family down the street. Feeling I could not afford the time to eat and then blog separately, I decided to head for the coffee shop.

Daylight was fleeting and it was becoming increasingly apparent that I wasn’t going to make into Yellowstone tonight via the Northeast entrance, but the streets of Cody were put together very well and this quaint little town deserved proper exploration. If one thing was clear in this town, they were sure wild about Bill. I decided to quickly choose a campground, set up camp and then enjoy the city a bit. After a few minutes of research, a campground called the Ponderosa seemed like the best choice and was minutes away. RVs were everywhere, but tent sites were still available. The owner checked me in and asked if I’d ever been to Cody. Shaking my head, she went for the brochures, the maps, and the verbal orientation had begun, “well, then of course you’ll have to see the Hotel Irma, once owned by Buffalo Bill Cody, and then there’s the Buffalo Bill historical center museum, which is just down the street here, and then you’ll have to see the Buffalo Bill dam, which was the model for the Hoover Dam….and.” I told her I was only staying for one night and I’d like to get my Buffalo Bill sleeping bag out and get a good nights rest after driving across the state from Douglas.

After speaking with Miss Congeniality for a little while longer, I set up the tent and headed over to the Irma Hotel and bellied up to the bar for a little local flavor. I got to brush up a little bit on my Buffalo Bill Cody knowledge and enjoyed dinner at the bar along with tastings of a couple of area brews. There were two waitresses that took care of me and three hours later, I found I was closing the place taking photos with both of them behind the bar. I took some other shots of the hotel and its historical rooms including one photo of the very famous cherry wood bar which was a gift from Queen Victoria. I had texted friend Phil, who was familiar with these parts. I told him that I was in Cody and asked if he’d ever been here? He replied, “Hey Bill! Yes, I have been 2 Cody 3x. I have eaten @ the Irma hotel a few times. R u having fun?” I replied that I was sitting a the bar at the Irma and explained the situation about the East entrance to Yellowstone closed because of wildfires in the Park and we had a nice exchange.

The campground site was great. It was tucked in a valley, almost in a large pit and was down by a stream forked off the Shoshone River. After packing up the next morning, I decided to take in a little more of Cody before heading to Yellowstone. I negotiated a reduced rate at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center since I was only going to spend a few hours there, but what a great couple of hours that was. You can’t really do this museum in TWO days, much less the amount of time I was going to spend. They had a gun museum which friend Tim would absolutely love. Tim could actually be the museum curator at this place. They had displays from all the great gun manufacturers, a gallery devoted to Remington, the guy who made those expensive western-themed sculptures and tons more galleries and historical exhibits. If there was anything you wanted to know about the West, this was the place to learn about it. The folks in Dodge City could learn a lot by visiting Cody notebooks in hand.

After viewing the dam, which was a smaller version of Hoover Dam as I imagined it to be, since I’ve never been there, I headed to the Northeast gate to begin my Yellowstone experience. Now, I’ve been to Yellowstone, the Tetons, Mount Rushmore, etc.; all stops on a long 10 day summer school trip that I took twenty-two years ago. The trip, appropriately titled “The Western Trip,” was put together by my high school history teachers at CBC. I had some memories of the sites along with some poor quality photos, but it had been a while… a long while. I had planned to try to make it to Jackson Hole for dinner, but the park is pretty big. It’s about the size of Rhode Island and Delaware put together. Now, I realize those are small states, but I just named TWO of them. Believe me this place is big and you can only drive 45 mph unless you want a moose riding along in your front passenger seat.

As I entered the park, a little wide-eyed and naive, I envisioned a bear sitting there like a limousine driver at the airport holding a “Welcome Mr. Kay” sign. “Hello, I’ll be your personal bear during your stay here at Yellowstone. Where would you like to go first? Perhaps Tower Falls, Mammoth Springs or how ’bout family-favorite, Old Faithful? How you doin’ on gas, Mr. Kay? By the way, Mr. Kay, I’m going to EAT you at the end of your trip.” It’s not really like that, plus bears are generally vegetarians anyway. You are kind of on your own to see that park at your own pace. So initially, you’re driving along and looking around and it doesn’t look that much different than the rest of western Wyoming. But then … you see him. You’re first bison sighting in 22 years. Wow, lucky me, I’ve heard horror stories about people roaming the park and seeing no more than a ground squirrel during their entire trip. I’m taking pictures of the bison now, taking video of the bison, careful don’t get too close … can’t wait to blog about this, what a story this will be! I shared that same experience with another guy, who I also think had just entered the park and we’re both shaking hands, wow, can you believe our luck? Take care, my new friend with New York plates. Then I drove down the road a bit and see about 300 bison grazing in a field, some crossing the road, little girls petting them (ok, that last one didn’t happen). Bison are everywhere, though. Maybe that’s why they’re prominently featured on the Wyoming State Flag.

Once I got comfortable with the Bison roaming around, I did shoot a lot of video and took a lot of photos. There was a situation that was a little wild. Bison really aren’t always crossing the road, so if you get a chance to see that, it is a treat. I was driving alone on stretch of road and obverved another bison on the opposite side of the road from me and walking perfectly along the road creating a great photo especially because of the mountainous background and the sunlight. Got the picture? So I’ve got my video camera trained on him and he’s walking along. The perfect shot. I’m out of my car standing by the trunk, got my tripod set up. National Geographic here I come. This is beautiful, but I’m kind of ready to move because he’s not that far away from me. That and I read that these guys can run up to 30 mph and last time I checked, I’m pretty sure I’m not that fast. Camera still on him, he turned out into the road and this RV comes cruising by and I guess the driver didn’t see him, but clips him with the back of the vehicle and I think kind of grazed him in the horns or the face (I haven’t review the film yet). He makes this noise and starts jogging toward me. Now this is only a two lane road, so he was on my side in seconds and I grabbed the tripod and kept the car between him and me and he slowed down, walked slowly right next to the car on the passenger side. My window was wide open and there was an open bag of kettle corn from the Wyoming State Fair in the front seat. He didn’t seem to be interested, takes a look at me, though and heads down the into field and away. Captured some great video though. I can’t wait to watch that part in slow motion.

Life in Yellowstone for visitors is definitely different. It’s all about the wildlife. You’ll come up on a cluster of cars, diving for the shoulder and people flying out of there cars. Picture a two lane road with cars everywhere and people out running around all looking in one direction. You get used to this, but the first day, you’re wondering, car accident, domestic disturbance, money falling from the sky. None of the above. I lean out of my car and ask, “what do we see,” Moose, ’bout 50 yards over there in the trees. Wow! I swerve for an open spot on the shoulder and get out just like the rest of them. Armed with this new information, I can now smartly answer the questions from the folks driving by, “what do you see,” they ask. “Lady, it’s a moose ’bout 50 yards over there in the trees, don’t you see him?”

With all that stopping and playing around, there was no way I was going to make it through the park to Jackson. The weather was chilly but comfortable but threatened of rain in the distance. Stories of 105 degrees fahrenheit back home made me chuckle. I could have easily titled this blog, Changing My Mercury! I had been enjoying comfortable temperatures since I left Dodge City. Weather around Yellowstone and the surrounding areas was spotty though. I made it out of Yellowstone but was still inside Grand Teton National Park. I stopped at the first campground. Packing as many activities into the day as I could and racing for a campsite before dark was becoming a familiar routine. I turned into Flagg Ranch, one of the many campgrounds at Grand Teton. It was lightning and it was starting to drizzle. By the time I pulled in, registered and paid for the site, it was starting to really come down. Deciding that I should just suck it up, use my last five minutes of daylight and get the tent up, I started to put it together. A guy traveling by motorcycle and camping two sites away, comes over and says, “let’s me help you get this tent up.” I immediately thought of the guys in the Village People, but assessed the situation and decided to take him up on his offer. We had the tent with rain tarp up in a matter of minutes and guess what? It stopped raining. It was kind of a dicey campsite though, my small site was among very tall pine trees and it was pitch black, much different than any other site so far. The lightning and thunder throughout the night made for worse conditions but I was grateful to have missed any significant storm.

The next day I would make my way just south for Jackson Hole. It was a stop on that high school trip, but one whose memories had all but faded. It was now Friday, August 17.

~ by williamkay on August 24, 2007.