What I did on my vacation

Well everyone has something different that they find relaxing and recreational. I speak to folks all the time regarding vacations versus retirement traveling versus recreational life styles.  Everyone seems to have different words and ideations on what is a vacation, how long they last, the difference between a weekend trip and a vacation ……..

So let’s get some definitions down just so everyone is on the same page.  Weekends are just that, 2 or 3 consecutive days of non-work time usually a result of working 4 or 5 consecutive days at some some compensated livelihood. Weekends do not have to fall on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday to be considered weekends.  When your work week is over the weekend starts, no matter what day of the week it is.  There are a scad of hybrid versions of the weekend so suffice it to say that if it is short it is a weekend. Whether it is one day or 4. Anything over 4 days I will consider to be a vacation even if it has some other fancy corporate speak name. It is vacation in my book so just relax and humor me by calling it vacation.  If it runs over 21 consecutive days it is a reeeeeeally long vacation.  However, and here comes the sticking point, if you are retired you can’t take vacation since there is nothing to vacate from.  So retired folks’ time away from their home base falls into the category of travel versus staying home and the length of time does not matter. One last point, if you have an alternate residence then going there and living is not going to suffice as vacation or usually even travel.  It is just going to your other place and living for a period of time. Lake houses, mountain cabins, hunting shacks, and the corner pub (although, remember if you stay at the pub for more than 4 days it is considered a vacation, a bender for sure, but a vacation) are in this category. Time shares and such are a hybrid of this category and I usually use the distance traveled to determine if this is vacation or just alternate living. Dave Letterman travels to Montana many weeks after taping of the show is complete and this falls in the category of alternate residence.

All righty then, with the definitions out of the way we move to what do you do with your spare time.  As you might guess from the earlier posts, my time is spent doing outdoor things. Before I get into that I want to really change the subject -

 I don’t know how many of you have followed the re-introduction of the wolf into the Yellowstone eco-system? I have spent the better part of 10 years following their every report.  Some of this is through the Internet, some through conventional print and video media and some through governmental publications, reports and the like.

Clearly a lot of the web related reporting is anecdotal and while well meant it has varying levels of veracity. Conventional media has a bad case of the squeaky wheel topic and slant and tends to be directed at which ever group has filed law suits against the established managers of the critters programs and they usually get there information from either folks that don’t know what the issues are and are running their own agenda, or governmental or pseudo-governmental organizations that either can’t, won’t and or don’t know what they are talking about either.  The message I keep coming away with is conventional media seldom gets the story right. The web may get it right but it is hard to know.  Documentaries and governmental publications are either so biased as to be laughable or so cluttered with gobble-de-gook that you can’t find the facts for the pseudo intellectual babble that often passes for “research.” So as a regular guy I need to go to the source and see it and experience it for myself and come to my own conclusions.  It is absolutely the case that my own conclusions are clouded with my own bias, misunderstandings and agenda but at least they are mine.

That said, I don’t have an agenda regarding the park and the wolves, unless you call letting the critters that were there return and let the chips fall where they may. I realize that ranchers and cattlemen have huge financial interests in making sure their beeves get to market and wolves stand in the way of that getting done. But with that said, I am usually a laissez-faire, free market kind of guy. There are all kinds of predators in this world and we can’t kill them all just because we are somewhere different on the food chain, so let’s find some better solutions. It can’t always be the best thing to do to modify the eco-system to satisfy our needs. I understand there are times this is the best solution but it can’t always be the solution, sometimes we need to modify our own systems to make it all work. Mother Nature is an amazing force in keeping lots of complex things in balance.

Anyway the wolves of Yellowstone.

 I am really nuts on the Yellowstone National Park.  For those who have never been, alas, what a shame.  For those who have been, good deal, when are you going back? If the trip was made with children, there is a whole different YNP than the one you saw while traveling (do I really mean vacationing?) with kids. There is no more wonderful experience than watching a child awaken to the wonder and beauty of nature in a place like YNP. But watching the kids enjoy nature is much different than seeing it for yourself without the diversion that children add. So if you have not been through the park without benefit of children then please return, and have a totally different experience.  Not better, just different. As an adult you will see the park through a very different set of senses.  The kinesthetic, auditory and visual stimulus will all be different when you can appreciate the park as a mature human with other mature humans. You will have a number of varied reactions and interactions with YNP. One consensual (I have yet to hear anyone who does not feel this way after a day or two) reaction is “I am shocked that YNP is actually one huge volcano!” Second, it is hard to imagine how large the park actually is. Going from Hayden Valley to Tower is pretty straight forward on the map but you will travel through some pretty divergent eco-systems to get from one to the other. Expect rushing waterways of epic movie beauty, high mountain passes of cold blowing snow (yes even in the summer), lush mountain valleys with roaring streams and rocky woodlands and in-between forest fire ravaged evergreen forests and breathtaking scenic vistas that leave you wanting more.  There is good news here, there is more, in fact lots more.  As Bachman Turner Overdrive said, you ain’t seen nothing yet, oh baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet. 

Hopefully the above few words have re-kindled the idea that, “hey, you know I always wanted to go to Yellowstone or I always said once the kids are grown we are going back to Yellowstone” so start making plans. The plans themselves usually take about 6 months for me from start to finish.

So lets take a quick run through the planning process and leave the critters for another days discussion.

First and foremost lets get the big question out of the way. How long can you stay? I always figure it takes 5 days to see the park from end to end.  It can take a lot longer but 5 days will give you enough time to stop at all of the attractions and take the required photos. You will definitely see a lot of wildlife and may even get a chance to see all of the common species.  Buffalo (found everywhere within the park), Elk (found in almost all of the park valleys but they are not as common during the warm months when they head up into the high country), Black Bears and Brown (Grizzly) Bears  (keep in mind bears hibernate from about November until April) also don’t be confused, bears come in every color variation you can imagine, Coyote (the open mountain valleys are all carrying significant numbers of coyotes right now), Mountain Goat (bring your binos and spotting scopes as these guys are going to be over 1/2 mile away), Mountain Sheep ( see explanation for goats), Wolves (commonly viewed in and around the Lamar Valley and several other key viewing locations (again the better the optics, the better the viewing of these wary creatures), Moose (seen frequently this year but I have seldom heard much talk of moose in past years but we saw them every trip this year), Mule Deer (almost anywhere), Antelope (surprisingly frequent viewings) and many more lesser sized critters including badger, marmot, pica, ground squirrels, voles, mice, and so many types of unique birds that I won’t try to mention them.  Notable are the Bald Eagles and the Golden Eagles that are often found around wolf and grizzly kills sites, So when a griz or wolf pack is seen guarding a kill keep you eyes open and you will see all types of other predators and scavengers appear for a free meal. Also keep in mind this is the real wildlife.  These critters are wild and see everything as a potential meal including human park visitors so be careful and do not confuse wild behaviors with zoo animals behaviors.  Zoos have cages and walls for a reason.  YNP does not have wall or cages and if you get too close you can become very involved in the feeding frenzy.  The other side is if we get too close too often they lose there natural fear of humans and once the fear is gone lots of bad things occur.  Back in the 60’s through the 80’s similar problems occurred with bears and many bears had to be destroyed because they became a threat to the tourists. Griz and wolves have a healthy instinct to avoid humans and let’s make sure it stays that way.

So we have looked at how long to stay. If you have 2 weeks don’t assume that is too long.  There are hundreds of day trips, hikes into the back country and trails leading to geysers and special scenic sites that can easily take up your time and you will never see the same thing twice. But my suggestion is if you have 10 days make two trips and stay 5 days each.  Come in the spring and the fall and see the park in two different seasons.

I can spend hours on the critters so suffice it to say that with the exception of mountain lions you can expect to see the majority of the listed critters with almost every trip,  The wolves are pretty hit and miss and I know folks that have made many trips to the YNP and have not seen a wolf.  I know others who see them regularly. I have been blessed with many viewings and some spectacular stories of kills and fights and playful dog behaviors that may end up on this page if there is time.

But more planning; 5 days, but what kind of physical condition are you in?  Don’t answer that just make it a consideration.  You are going to spend several days well over 1 mile above sea level.  Are you a smoker? It will take your breath away. Are you limited in your mobility or do you have a significant physical limitation? All of these things must be considered.  None of them will stop you from enjoying the park but they must be considered. How far and how long you can walk and at what speed make a difference as too how long you will be in the park and where you can go and what you can see and do. They may also dictate how you get through the park, there are professional guides that can show you the park for a day or longer, there are bus tours that make the visiting and viewing easy and provide a social aspect to the park as well, and of course personal vehicles. During the off season the roads get snow packed and there are several snow machine day trips and guided tours that provide a unique view of YNP as only winter can show.

So we can stay a week and will be driving our own vehicle, what else do we need to know.  Consider camping, hotels, motels (there are a few hotels in the park but they tend to be pricey), and RV parks. These all work great and depend on $$$, equipment, and your preferences. My wife says “life is too short to drink cheap beer” if we are going to see these places I want clean bed linens every night and someone else cooking my meals. We can afford it so that is the way we do it! Others will have different preferences. One thing to keep in mind is if you stay at facilities or motels outside the park there is that much more driving that must be done to get to where you want to go tomorrow.  From the northern entrance at Gardner to the Lamar Valley is a 1 hour drive so if you want to see the wolves at day break then you need to be in your car 1 1/4 hour before sunrise.  For most of us getting up at oh dark 30 is not something we like to do when we are on vacation, traveling or out for a weekend!  For others of us who duck hunt, being up at this hour is no problem.

The last thing you need to do is make up an itinerary.  Spend several weeks maybe even several months on the web researching the park and environs.  You will be over whelmed at first, but stay with it.  Print out a map of the park and start at one corner and move around the park clock-wise or counter-clockwise. There are not that many roads, so make it easy on yourself and just make a plan based on miles and figure it takes 30 minutes at any attraction and top speed in the park is 45 MPH! For example the upper and lower geyser basins can be done in one day if I am doing it.  I can see most of the famous geysers and Old Faithful Inn and the paint pots and make it back to Old Faithful Inn in time for a 6:30 dinner reservation. Keep in mind you won’t see all of the geysers erupt, as some have periodicity of several days or longer, but you can see what there is to see and the colors will be spectacular. Do your homework as some roads are closed at certain times in the park for animal protection or snow.  Also bear jams, buffalo jams and any other critter sightings can cause significant (read 15 minutes to 2 hours) of stand still traffic until the critter moves off or you finally get through. So be flexible in your travel scheduling.

Alright so we’re getting the planning under control.  I know it is a lot of work, I am in the planning phase for my next trip also (and have been for over one month) but it is the planning that makes it all work right.  Sort of, actually the planning gets the juices flowing and the plan will fall apart the second day when sprain your ankle and were planning to hike to the lower falls to be there for sunrise!

Hey you’re on vacation, traveling, or what ever you call it, relax and enjoy seeing YNP and try to imagine what this place was like when Teddy Roosevelt came through on horse back.

Why do you need an ATV?

OK, so you really want a new ATV. Why? What are you going to do with it? Is it really necessary? How much do they cost?

My needs are pretty simple, expensive but simple.  I have a ride of about 4.5 miles of “Missouri unimproved road” to traverse between highway 36 and our duck hunting hide. So that does not sound like too big of a deal. 4 1/2 miles of gumbo.  Throw that truck in 4WD and let’s go! Or as I understand the saying goes in Texas, “here hold my beer.”

Now let me try to set the record straight. Missouri gumbo is a cross between high slump concrete and 5 minute epoxy. As the mud freezes and thaws it becomes stickier and more adherent. The rut deepens and balls up inside the wheel wells.  High ground clearance and momentum rule the day here and since there are no outlets or turn arounds, once you start in you keep going until you get to your hide.  Then you sweat all day about the rain and snow that is falling and how that will make the road even worse. In between these two events is 30 minutes of the most hair-raising driving this city boy has ever been a part of. As we say in the duck blind, “you are water tight the entire trip.”  If the rain really pours during the day you may have to drive through more than a foot of water getting back up the road to 36 highway. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?  Well it is except you worry about that $40K vehicle that you just washed and waxed and take such good care of.  You are constantly in danger of going off into the bar ditch and getting stuck, getting high centered, or flipping over. That is just getting in.  Getting out has the same dangers, plus you gotta clean that dirty bugger up when you get back to town.  For the record, most car washes want no truck (pun was unintended but after consideration left in place) with this kind of mud.  Their traps fill quickly with that mud and then they have a problem, so they prefer you stay away, which means you have to wash it at odd hours when management is not around. Several have a wanted poster on their wall with my truck’s picture on it.

What does this have to do with ATVs? Well, everything.

If you want to turn this entire hair-raising event into more fun than you can expect to have with your clothes on, then get an ATV and ride on down that road.  No worries about getting high centered, stuck, rolled over or any other problem.  You will likely get just as muddy as you would in the truck but you dress for it and hit the gas.  It makes the trip to and from the hide extra fun without the worry and the hassle. I have driven this road in a truck for almost 8 years and on an ATV for about the same time and I can tell you I have never felt close to getting stuck with the ATV and have been stuck several times in a 4WD truck. Plus in the truck I always have some fears of losing momentum and getting stuck while on the ATV I slow down sometimes just because I can!

So we now have some criteria for selecting an ATV, how do we go about making a selection?

Well, here come some experiential principles that may not fit anyone else’s needs but they surely do mine.

If you want to keep your rig out of the shop, my experience says stay with Yamaha or Honda. The others have their loyal followers and I can’t speak for them by my experience says with 4 1/2 miles of gumbo in front of you and questionable cell service from any supplier (subject for another blog) stay with one of the big 2. If you need to ride a Polaris, make sure one of your buddies is riding a Honda or Yamaha to get you back to highway 36. Second, experienced folks in the maintenance field explain that you want to stay with a geared transmission rather than a Honda CVT tranny (read Rubicon and Rincon), the big knobby tires and additional weight that we carry (Dog box, dog, shotgun, gear for a day in the hide (decoys etc.)) plus the extra mud does not sit well with continuously variable transmissions.

So for my needs I need only look at the Yamaha and Honda offerings.  Experience tells me that I need at least 450 cc’s.  It must have 4 wheel drive. Manual shifters are really out of the question with the kinds of footware we have on. Front locking differential and selective 4WD are very nice to haves.  If you are driving through 2+’ of water with 3-5 inches of ice on it, you need the ability to lock in the front end and have 4WD to bust that ice! There are several other ways to do this but the technique I just described is the easiest and quickest. With the front end locked and 4WD engaged you have one of those “hold my beer” moments that is really a lot of fun and not dangerous if you are careful, and know the depth of the water you running through.

Alright, so we need 450 – 700 cc’s of displacement, 4WD and front end diffy locker. A lot of this stuff is available after market if you are mechanically inclined and have the time.  Actually my last couple of rigs have had extensive additions (electric shifters, front end lockers, selectable 4WD, aftermarket shocks, blah, blah, blah) so I know of such things I just prefer to start out with those things installed and engineered by the manufacturer if possible. Again, I have done it the other way but it is risky and time consuming and frankly not nearly as reliable as OEM parts and engineering.

Any way, to make a fairly long story not quite as long, it came down to Honda Foreman and the Yamaha Grizzly. The cost differential is significant but there are some reasons for the cost.  I found a used DU Grizzly 2007 for about the same price as a new Foreman. The Griz has DU camo, electronic fuel injection and few more cc’s and more rack capacity.  Those are all things I can use to my advantage getting to and from the duck blind.  In addition,they are things I can afford and would like to have.

Now with all of that said, the Foreman is a beast of a machine.  It will get you up and down the road (in fact one of my buddies will ride along side of me on his Foreman and we will both make it in and out of the duck club without incident for years to come.)

I guess with any purchase several key issues must be resolved

• How much do you have to spend (figure $6K – $8K)
• What will you be doing with your machine (the road, breaking ice, deep water)
• Are there any special requirements for the usage (heavy towing, extra loads, more capacity)
• Does your experience tell you there are features you need or would really prefer (diffy locker)
• What are the value based (subjective) criteria for your selection (Honda or Yamaha)

In other words, if you gotta have a Polaris (read Arctic Cat, etc.) then please do not use this criteria. If you want to drive your given road in a truck please do so and enjoy.

I am just having too much fun on my ATV to stop and wonder how you do what you do and why. I strongly support your right to get to and from your hide any way you wish as long as you give me that same consideration.

What are the “nuggets of gold” you can take away from this entry?

• Hondas and Yamahas rule! (alright that was not fair)
• Mud and heavy loads are not CVT friendly
• Front diffy lockers and 4WD are pretty important selection criteria
• 500 cc’s is a minimum for dog and dog box, mud, my fat behind, and maybe a guest (please no comments on passengers)
• If you gotta drive a truck then drive a truck
• Missouri gumbo is organic epoxy
• 4 1/2 miles of Missouri unimproved road is a long way to walk
• Make the journey to the duck hide as fun as possible (is there a life metaphor here?)

So there you have it, a new ride and lots more fun than you would expect from what can be a pretty stressful situation. Ride an ATV and don’t worry about it.

Mom said, “Go Outside and Play!”

I can remember as a young man coming in from school or getting up on a Saturday morning and asking Mom, ” what should I do today?” Mom’s standard response was, “go outside and play.” She had house work to do keeping things neat and orderly, with my younger brother and I, that in itself was pretty time consuming.  None the less, being somewhat typical, we took Mom’s direction (does anyone remember minding what your mother told you to do?) and headed out the door to do the kinds of things that kids in the 50’s and 60’s did.  We played in the park across the alley and rode bicycles, waded in Blackhawk Creek (could this be a hint as to my origins?) and hunted feral pigeons with BB guns in the west end. As I matured (or at least grew older) these pass times turned into more focused hobbies. Playing in the park turned into hiking, hunting and fishing. Wading in the creek blended with pigeon shooting to become a passion for wild fowling and wild critter observation. Recording these events turned into an interest in photography, especially digital photography. Along the way ATVs, four wheel drive vehicles, Boy Scouting, and number of other outdoor based pass times became the core of who I am and what I value.

That said, I cherish most wild things and the world in which they exist. My personal code focuses the conservation of these things, whether it is water fowl or the Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone. I value the world that let’s us co-exist with nature.  I appreciate the pursuit of wild game and skills needed to make all parties successful, both the predator and prey.

All of that leads to this first blog. Who am I, and what are the things I feel need to be said. In the coming weeks and months I will try and share the world through my eyes.  I have a penchant for research and the logic process needed to come to a conclusion that is useful for me. As with any decision making process the conclusions are never universal. Heck, they often are only valid to my situation for a short period of time. After all they are my criteria so if your posts focus on me and how could I come to that conclusion then please move along smartly on the information highway because I am sharing my thoughts, my process and my conclusions.  If they don’t apply to you, let me know why and how. If you have similar passions let me know about them.  Leave the judgement for those of superior intellect and experience.  You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, so let’s play nice and make this an enjoyable experience for everyone.

You are hopefully going to find me to be a “yarn spinner.” A bit o’ the blarney is not out of the question! Be forewarned.

I will write about outdoor stuff.  Right now it is likely to be duck hunting, selecting ATVs and other things pertinent to fowl hunting in the Midwest. That will quickly give way to more sedentary pass times as the winter sets in for real and drives all of us to cover, where we are safe from mother natures stinging reproach. She’s a crafty one that lady, so beware as the mercury falls deep into the glass vial and the ground hardens, and her north wind blows a sirens song, willing you outdoors for her to have her way with you.  Beware, she’s a tough one. She will play with you until she tires of your folly and then she will do away with you in the wink of an eye.  Be careful. 

So watch for some reports on the the duck and goose migration. Do you know what digiscoping is? We will get into that in a month or so.  As the water fowl season comes to a close that will be a topic of some discussion as a selection of camera adaptors and lenses as well as settings will come into focus. Gosh I may even let my guard down and discuss spotting scopes (I hope that does not happen) and even discuss favorite shotguns.  It is almost a universal truth that discussing other folks fetishes is bad medicine, but we shall see what we shall see. 

As the fowling season closes I want to get some photos of these magnificent birds both as they  head south and then again on their return trip north with their new found partners.  In some cases it looks more like closing time at the local pub than it does mating.

For now it is ducks and I am in the final throws of a decision about and selection of a new ATV so that will get some words very soon. In the mean time if there are technology decisions to be made, I will get after those as well and share my thoughts. I think most of the computer stuff and wireless stuff is put to bed for now. But all it takes is one hardware failure and there we go.  I do have need to discuss some ham radio things (K9RSL) as well, but for now antennas and radios will take a back burner until the winds howl around the window sills and the sleet tap, tap, taps against the glass as we drift off to sleep……