My little corner of the world

Well, ain’t we got fun?  I am about to start the 3rd month of entries in this blog. 

Maybe it is time for some reflections; about topics, readership, my input and reactions to what I have written and some random comments which may or may not be relevant to anyone but me.

So, here goes.

I got into this blog thingy from an interesting angle.  One of my kiddos gave me the nudge (not against my will obviously) and assisted me in getting things started.  The topical issues, I take total blame for. They are mine and mine alone.  They derive from how I live my life.  I identify things that either I need to do (e.g. buy a new ATV) or from things that I feel a curiosity about in this world and thus feel a need to better understand (e.g. Yellowstone National Park) and in both cases I jump on the web and begin research until I have enough information to make an informed decision.

In fairness, I don’t believe that everything I read on the web is either truthful or unbiased.  I call it an anecdotal encyclopedia.  Take the information you get for what it is worth.  I suspect that the real encyclopedias have similar flaws but they are much better research and studied.  The flaws are due to misinformation or cultural bias. I still believe they are better researched than web information in most cases.  But much like reading a newspaper, you need to take what you read and compare that to what you know to be true and draw your own conclusions.  Caveat emptor.  Don’t go looking for someone to blame when the information you got off of a web site makes you look stupid. Accept it as a flawed medium just like all other forums are flawed and move on.  Either try to improve it or get over it!

So in 60 days I have written about Yellowstone National Park, ATV s and their selection, digiscoping, ham radio licensing, a little water fowl hunting and lots of opinions about the various and sundry goings on in my head.

I had an assumption, going into this that this exercise (writing a blog) might be cathartic.  Didn’t happen! I carried in some assumptions that this would be inter active with comments and such that I would be responding to every day.  Didn’t happen.  I had an assumption that I would run out of topics pretty quickly.  Didn’t happen. 

So what really matters?

What are the reasons you read this blog?  What topics are you interested in hearing about?  Why do you come here and read this stuff? It would be of interest to me to understand the “market” I serve.  I realize it is voluntary but none the less, you are being delivered a product and I would like it to be something that you can savor for a while rather than just a one time deal.  You pay for this information with your time so let’s make it useful, or recreation or somewhat enjoyable. Jeez, this sounds like girlie, relationship building stuff rather than guy stuff.  Ah well, so be it. If you wish to weigh on this or any other topic that is on your mind give me a reply.

Thanks for your time.  Until we meet again, on down the log.

So you would like to be a ham operator?

Ham radio, does anyone know what it is? “Sure, isn’t that the citizens band stuff that truckers use on the highway? Breaker, breaker good buddy, CW McCall and “we got us a convoy” jargon.”

No, ham radio is something all together different.  While the equipment includes a transceiver and a microphone that is about where the similarities end. 

CB radio does not require licensing of any kind.  Back in the 70’s licenses were required but the FCC dropped that requirement and now if you have the money to buy one you can talk on a CB radio.  Since it is unregulated (that may be a little strong) or loosely regulated the rules are pretty informal and topics and language can be for mature audiences only, sometimes. Many folks have gone to the FRS walkie talkies for mobile to mobile and for family outings at amusement parks and other travel venues just because of the language and topics heard on CB’s.  The FRS equipment does not allow much distance so CB radio can be useful if you need longer distances (up to several miles).

Anyway, ham radio requires licensing for all operators and ham equipment is regulated by the FCC and it is self regulated as well. The hobbiest might find this to be something he/she might enjoy doing as they become less mobile with time or situation. This may also be an interesting hobby for those who have a technical gene and like tinkering with stuff just to figure out how it works.

Many might recall the requirements of knowing and using Morse code to become a ham operator.  As of February 2007 there is no longer a requirement to know Morse code to get an amateur radio license. There is still an awful lot of Morse code being used but it is voluntary rather than mandatory.

The FCC has 3 levels of amateur licensing.  They are titled, Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. The Technician level is the entry level and is pretty restrictive (not much band width) but lots of voice and code opportunities. The next level is General and has very liberal frequency privileges.  Almost all of the frequencies are available and most modes (PSK16 and PSK 31, FAX, Slow ScanTV and several other digital modes) are also available. Finally there is Amateur Extra class which has all amateur radio privileges.  The tests become progressively more intensive. The Technician class is not too difficult and is intended to get folks on the radio and having fun.  The other two classes require testing that is more technical in nature and delves into the circuitry and making of antennas and logic components.  Fun stuff.

The purpose of this blog is to discuss the process where by one can move from the Technician license to the General and Extra licenses.

For most of us, the information that is tested is not stuff we already knew.  So there are some real mental hurdles to overcome. You often hear folks say, “I am not good at math.” Those kind of mental blocks can make getting your radio licenses very difficult.  Electronic circuitry and such are brand new to me and while I understand logic (ANDs, ORs and NAND’s etc) calculating RMS values and oscilloscopes, and frequency analyzers were really new. There is also the test anxiety. I don’t know about you but I have not taken a test of any significance (except my drivers license test) since I left grad school. The thought of failing one of these was pretty debilitating! As I sat in the room awaiting testing this past weekend the 25 or so people waiting with me were practically buzzing with test anxiety.

So let me describe the technique I use and that I would recommend to any who wants to pass these tests.

I enjoy using Gordon West’s Ham Radio books for each of the levels. He does a thorough job of reviewing and explaining the material.  The FCC testing is done in a somewhat unique method.  All of the questions that will be on the test are public information. They are maintained in a public question pool.  There are several sites on-line that provide practice tests and let you verify your knowledge before you every go to take the test.

I have found if I read through the all of the questions and answers and explanations once and highlight the correct answer then I can start taking tests on-line. I used WWW.QRZ.COM and I like to take about 10 repetitions. Make sure you are taking a different test each time. I didn’t worry too much about whether I passed or not. The focus is on learning, not on passing.  Then I reread the entire book, reviewing all of the questions and focus only on the right answers. Then I return to the on-line testing until I pass every time.  Once I am passing every time, I find a place to test (here in Kansas City, Associated Radio has handouts in the their store with the various locations where testing occurs and the dates they are held each month) and clear my schedule for that time. In the Kansas City area you can take test on all but the first Saturday of the month and there is even an evening testing session in Independence.  The test fee is $14. You can take the same license test as many times as you wish until you pass, but you have to pay $14 for each test.  However, if you pass the Technician test you can take the General and if you pass that you can take the Extra all for the single fee of $14.  But if you need to repeat the same test then you must pay an additional $14 for each time you take that test.

Keep in mind I indicated that I work on the tests until I PASSthe tests every time. I know there are some type A’s out there that absolutely have to be perfect and not miss any questions.  You will see reviews on-line of folks who took their test months ago and still remember how many they got wrong!  This is obviously a stressful thing, taking these tests.  But I recommend you focus on learning not passing.  After all, this testing is to allow you to operate a radio and you want as much knowledge as possible, so learn all you can and pass the test so you can get on the air. But much like high school there are several topics that may not ever be relevant to your radio experiences. So strive to pass the tests. Knowledge is always good but generating more stress to do perfect is counter productive.

So to summarize:

Read the entire book and highlight the correct answers

Take 10 tests on-line focusing on learning the material

Reread the book focusing only on the correct (highlighted) answers

Take tests on-line until you consistently pass with a score of better than 85%

VE’s (the folks that administer these tests) indicate that your test results will be within 1 or 2  questions of the level you have had on your on-line tests. So if you have been regularly getting 85% you should expect somewhere between 83% – and 87% on your live test.  Which means you pass!

So buy the book, get on-line and get your license upgrade. It is less than one months worth of work and I believe you will be amazed at how quickly you are ready for your test.

73’s K9RSL

Digiscoping – what is it and why do it?

Have you ever wondered how they get those detailed photos of birds and other critters you see on web pages?  Well a lot of times the photographer is using some huge lens set up that sits on the front of the camera like a bazooka. You often see these at sporting events where press photographers are taking pictures.  Nature photographers like to use these as well.  I have spoken here about Yellowstone several times and have indicated that there is a need for significant lensatic enhancement if you want to view the wildlife found in YNP.  It is not a requirement but it will enhance the joy of you visit considerably. But you say, I can’t afford a $1,500 – $5,000 lens for a every couple of years trip to one of our national parks. Amen brother neither can many of the rest of us. 

And this is where digiscoping comes in. Digiscoping is fundamentally using an inexpensive point and shoot camera attached to a spotting scope to achieve similar lens characteristics to those of much more expensive camera and lens set ups.  Before anyone gets too high on their horse, it is not the same, but for $400 ($250 for the spotting scope and $150 for the point and shoot camera) it is close enough for those of us who do not have our photos published in national periodicals. These set ups can provide upwards of 1,000 mm lens equivalence.  Now the light (f-stop) issues are going to be intense so depth of field will be an issue and chromatic (color) integrity won’t be as good as a high dollar lens but for the average viewer it will be amazing and reasonably priced.

The hobby of digiscoping has had its impetus from the birding community.  The birders have been putting more and more pressure on themselves to be absolutely certain of the species of bird they are documenting. To this end they require an inordinate amount of magnification out of their photographic equipment to be absolutely sure that that is a hooded merganser versus a northern shoveler.  Thanks to them this whole hobby has flourished and is quite fun whether you are a birder or some other kind of critter watcher.

Let’s spend a few minutes considering the stuff you need to make this happen.  First a point and shoot camera.  I use a Nikon CoolPix P5000 and a Nikon D 70.  Lest we get into a discussion about stuff that does not matter, any camera over 5 mega pixels will do fine so don’t worry about pixel counts. The bigger concern is the magnification needs to be down under 5X! You can google all of this stuff and find out lots more than I know about it but suffice it to say that cameras with less than 5X magnification will let enough light into the camera and keep aperture size large enough to make your photos not vignetted.  When photos vignette you get a picture of the object with a dark circle around the object which then has to be cropped out with some fancy or not so fancy software.  Keep your camera under 5X ( I never go over 3X) and you will much happier. 

Spotting scopes come in all sizes and flavors.  Something to consider is actual cost.  Sounds obvious but it is not.  Some scopes come without a lens which means you buy a scope for what seems like a good price $300 – $500 and when it shows up in the brown truck, and low and behold you need a lens.  So $150 later your reasonably priced scope is now pretty expensive.  Now here is the real kicker.  It is as important what tripod you use as it is what scope you buy.  Expect a good tripod to have a $300 – $400 price tag.  Now do you have to have that, nope, but eventually that is where you are headed.  So run to Wally World and pick up a Velbon that will get you by but know that it is just the hors d’oeuvre.

Other things to concider include scope lens caps, rain covers, camera mounts and adapters, a bag or case to carry this stuff. Cabela’s and Bass Pro are good places to find cases and whole kits that will get you ready for digiscoping. So shop around and see what bargains you can find. A tip. check out the bargain caves at Cabela’s and Bass Pro for returned stuff that you may be able to latch onto for a really low price.

Now a few comments on spotting scopes.  You are looking for something in the 20 – 60 power.  This is usually noted as 20 – 60x. Which means that stuff looks 20 – 60 times magnification.  There are fixed power scopes that are 28x or 35x or 60x and there are variables that are noted as 20 – 60x and so on.  I like the 20 – 60x variables.  They let me “find” things at 20 power and then get in real close at 60x. A word about the other end of the scope this is also much ballyhooed.  60mm and 80mm are the 2 most popular but you will find everything under the sun from 35mm to 105mm. 60 and 80 both work great and will do everything you want for most digiscoping needs.  and even if you pick out a 20 – 60x X 80mm you will only use it at 20x for digiscoping. But for just fun viewing, and there will be lots of that, you will want a high power magnification.  When that grizz is 3/4 of a mile away the 60x will be in use quite a bit. And folks will be walking up awkwardly and saying, “would you mind if I looked through your scope?” And you puff out your chest a little and say, “sure go ahead, my wife just got me this for our anniversary.”

So who makes these spotting scopes?  Bushnell, Kowa, Leica, Nikon, Leupold, Swarovski and a host of others. If you Google digiscoping you will be amazed.  B & H Photo and Eagle Optics and others provide valuable help in picking out your “package.” I mention these two because I have purchased equipment from both and have found them to be honest and trustworthy in their products and their service before and after the sale. One final word about scopes, Swarovski is the creme de la creme.  There stuff is known the world over as really high quality stuff and their prices reflect that quality.  Do some surfing and you will see what I mean. So if you wish to spend $2,500 – $3,000 you can but I use Bushnell products and have been very happy. I have an Legend spotting scope in 20 – 60X60 and an Elite in 20 – 60 X 80 and find them both to be excellent.

So we have a scope, a camera, a tripod and more memory cards than we think we can use and wonder, am I ready to go? Maybe an entry on photo storage devices is coming soon huh?  Nope you are missing the one ingredient that Mr. Golderg is working on as we speak.  You have to hook the camera to the spotting scope or (and there are a number of really good digiscopers who do it this way, Laurence Poh the father of digiscoping) be able to hold the camera very still while taking your pictures. These adaptors are found in every form and price range.  From $35 – $500 (Swarovski again) and attach your camera via the screw at the base of the camera to the lens via a compression screw system.  None of these are perfect, although the Swarovski one appears to be pretty close, They will allow you to take very nice photos of things so far away you cannot tell with the naked eye what it is you are looking at.

And the real fun of it all is having that stranger come up and say, “what are we looking at? I promised my daughter she would see a grizzly while we were on vacation and we are leaving today without seeing one, are you guys watching a grizzly.”  And your response is, “yeah, right down there is a grizzly laying on its back and over to the left of it are 15 wolves from the Slough Creek pack, sunning themselves.  Bring her over and let’s let her see some wildlife.” At that moment the price of all of that stuff is completely forgotten and it is all about humans relating with humans about the wonder of nature.

Seeing your way through Yellowstone National Park

And as you get up in the morning Old Faithful is letting off her steam as you walk to breakfast.  The sun is just coming up over the Absaroka Mountains and the thin alpine air has a crispness about it that is nothing like what you are used to on a day in the middle of May.

A quick bite to eat and in the car you go in search of what ever this gigantic volcano/park has to offer.  As you head out of the parking lot you turn south and east (this seems counter-intuitive) heading for Grant Village.  Along the way, the maximum speed limit in the park is 45 miles per hour, you see small herds of buffalo and several stray elk singles. The cow elk have not yet dropped their calves and appear heavy and their gate is awkward but they always stay well away from the many tourist.  You observe that even though the park is mostly closed there seem to be a good number of tourists out and about.  If you have not been in the park in July you have no idea what crowds will be arriving in just a few short weeks. Enjoy the “light” crowds as they only continue to build all through the season and until Labor Day, when they will again wane until this time next year.

A quick note about the wild life.  You are spending time amongst a set of wildlife that you may have only seen in zoos and pictures. You are in their living room and should be respectful of their wildness.  It is after all the thing you came to see.  Please don’t take your fancy cameras and other optics and try to get 10 feet away from these critters.  They are wild! They have a set of rules and requirements you likely do not understand. They are in a life and death game of survival and if they do not eat this afternoon then they are in danger of not surviving. This is true of all of the parks’ animal life.  Some are hunters and some are hunted but all must have safety and food to survive.  Leave them alone and observe them for their beauty at a distance. The higher on the food chain the creature the more important it is to keep your distance.  You have no idea how quickly a mature grizzly can cover 100 yards. Suffice it to say a human can do it 10 seconds and a grizzly can do it about twice that fast! Just consider how far you can move in 5 seconds.  Can you get back to your car? Find your car keys, unlock the car and get in? What about the baby?, your spouse. These are wild animals with food, safety and territorial issues on their minds.  You are just a curious food source to them, and while they are conditioned to avoid you because you cause them problems, if they are unwell, super hungry or unable to catch their normal prey you can become their next meal without any regrets.  It happens several times a year in one of our parks that humans are the victim of grizzly attacks. Imagine if they can kill another 400 – 600 pound grizzly, that you, defenseless as you are, are an easy target for them.  You are not their primary food source but if you are all they have for food, you will do nicely, thank you very much. So please be careful and respectful of their wildness.

So we finally get to Grant Village and head north toward Hayden Valley.  As we round a curve we see 20 cars all stopped in the road and another 50 cars pulled off to the side in both directions.  Park forest rangers are directing traffic and every make of camera is in someones hand and everyone is walking at a fast clip up the hill to see whatever is causing all of this commotion. Bears are less than 30 days out of hibernation and it is mating season so it might be a bear. It could be a grizzly or a black bear. It might just be a herd of American bison blocking the road. They often just lay down in the roadway and chew their cud for 30 – 60 minutes The rangers have a special recording they use to entice the sleeping buffalo to move on.  This in itself is an interesting photo op. Maybe it is wolves or something even more interesting. It could be mountain lion which would make this a truly rare event.  Their are less than 50 lions in all of the Yellowstone National Park eco-system.  No, it is even stranger than all of those, it is a cow moose and her young calf.  The last few years have seen a resurgence of moose in the park.  For a number of years they were almost as rare as lions and now are seen pretty regularly. They are solitary critters so you won’t likely see more than a couple at a time but they are quite a find. So you grab a couple of quick snap shots and back in the car heading north toward the valley.  On your right is the beautiful Yellowstone Lake and as you near Fishing Bridge you begin to look for the osprey nest you heard someone talking about during dinner last night. You ask yourself, “what in the dickens does an osprey look like?” Your co-pilot whips out their phone to try and make an internet connect to check Wikipedia for a picture of an osprey. No such luck, even with Verizon, cell service is pretty spotty. None the less on the right side of the road is a nest the size of your hotel room and that must be it.  Alas the osprey is out shopping for groceries and you do not get a glimpse of the pair for now.

As you head further north you see a few folks with spotting scopes all trained to the east into a flat area along the Yellowstone River.  DO NOT STOP, THIS IS THE SIRENS SONG AND IT WILL COST YOU DEARLY, BE FOREWARNED. You stop anyway and with camera and binos (remember the binos from yesterday’s discussion?) you casually walk up to where everyone is intent on something off in the distance. Then someone says, “there he is, man is he a beauty.  Is that his kill or did the Haydens make that kill last night?” meanwhile you have your eyes crawling through the glass of your binoculars trying to see what they are seeing.  Your brand new 7 x 50 Bushnell binoculars are not getting the job done (the guy at Wal-Mart said he uses these all the time to “glass for deer” and has found them to be the best binos he has ever owned” as your eyes strain to see anything that looks like what they are talking about.  Finally you do what every one of us has done before and say “what are we looking at? and where is it we are looking?” A woman says “a grizzly is laying on an elk kill made over night by the Hayden Pack and he ran off the last of the wolves about 30 minutes ago and has been feeding and laying on the elk ever since.” And then she says something that until you hear it it makes no sense and once you do it makes total sense.  “OK, can you see the two fir trees with the fallen down log next to them down by the river’s edge? Go about 50 yards further beyond that and there is a big clump of brown grass. The bear is right behind that.  I can’t seem him right now but that is where the kill is.” This dialog will go on all day long so enjoy it for the small piece of Yellowstonecana it is. Describing where something in the park is to someone, when that object is more than 400 yards away maybe even more than 1,000 yards away is a lingo all its own and is almost as useless as it reads.  But most park visitors understand that we are all here to observe nature on its’ own terms so they want to assist you in finding the object of discussion.  Unfortunately most of us have little or no prior experience viewing objects at that distance and our vocabulary at describing natural landscape items and flora is woefully inadequate. And thus these silly but necessary conversations occur.  And amazingly enough you finally find the object in your binos and almost instantly say something like “boy that is so small it can’t be a bear” or ” are you sure that is a grizzly?” You have watched The National Geographic channel as they watch grizzlies in Alaska and they are HUGE! This thing is so small you can’t even describe where it is and with the naked eye it is almost impossible to see.

Then your spouse ask the woman who has been assisting you in your viewing challenge if she can look through her spotting scope.  Then your wife says “oh, yeah, he is a pretty light golden color” “boy he is a big one isn’t he.” You are about to make one of those watershed decisions, and I encourage you to think this through completely before doing it.  But you won’t, you turn to the woman and say, “mind if I have a look?” Don’t do it.  I beg you don’t do it.  At least think it through.  But no, you bend over and peer into the telescope shaped thingy and all you see is a black circle that keeps moving around. She says “can you see it?” Your spouse says “it is right by that clump of grass by the log. You say, “I don;t see a thing.” “The lady suggests you take off your glasses ands have a look.”  You indicate you have not had you glasses off during waking hours except to clean them, in years.  The woman smiles and says “we can adjust the diopter for your eyesight” and quickly turns a knob and….. low and behold (wives please note this moment in time as it was one of those several thousand dollar moments) you say, “ohhhhhhhhhh, there it is.  Holly sh-t look at that.  It is like he is right here.”  You ask, “can I move this around a little” and you say, “ahhhhhhh, geez is this cool?”

I will leave you with one thought.  I warned you about doing it and you went ahead and did it. You ignored my advice and heeded the Siren’s song.  That is what free will is all about, but it is gonna cost ya. So for the next few days maybe weeks and maybe months you will spend a significant amount of time on the web checking on spotting scopes and grovelling for a few extra bucks in the budget so you can buy your first scope.  I warned you.  A little later in the week I will talk some about scopes, their features and uses and the ways you may be able to talk the CFO into letting you spring for an “inexpensive” one.  Note to all CFO: you are aware their are no inexpensive ones that will meet his needs but play along and let him squirm a little, it is as much a part of the process as the research he is doing.

Anyway enjoy the rest of your day in the Hayden Valley and take lots of pictures as this is an especially scenic part of the park (not the most scenic but it is very scenic) and get back in time for a good dinner and a restful nights’ sleep.  You will be dreaming about spotting scopes and wolves, and grizzlies and whatever else you saw today.  But sleep well my fellow park visitor as tomorrow you will have an opportunity to see the most beautiful (in my opinion) section of the park and the wildlife will be more abundant than anywhere to this point and you are without a spotting scope! I warned you.

You must be up early as you have almost 2 hours of driving to get to your next destination.

None the less, have a good night sleep listening to Old Faithful erupting as you drift off…………..

So you are going to Yellowstone, what can you expect?

Welcome back everyone.  We have discussed the planning phase of making a trip to Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and so I thought it might be fun to relive a couple of trips I made this year and see what kinds of exciting things you can expect to see. We made a trip in the spring just before the park opened and then another trip back in the fall after the park had closed.  When I say it was closed don’t think of unable to enter.  Just imagine that all/many of the park services (stores, gift shops, hotels and motels and other tourist support businesses may not be open because they are open with the tourist season and close when the horde has headed back to school and work.  So we headed west and north in mid-May for a couple of weeks of touristy fun.  We came up from the south through Colorado hitting Pikes Peak and coming up through Jackson and the Tetons entering YNP through the south entrance.  The scenery  coming up through the Tetons is truly breath-taking for a flat-lander.

 

Wild life was not as abundant as I had expected but the scenery will leave you speechless. Your travel will bring you ever higher in elevation north through the Tetons and finally into Yellowstone Park. As you enter you will purchase a pass from the ranger station for (I think) $25 for 7 days entrance to the Grand Tetons National Forest and YNP. We were headed for Old Faithful Inn so our excitement was pretty out of control and with the exception of several elk our wildlife spottings were nil.  Not to worry the best is yet to come.

After getting settled at the Old Faithful Inn we did a little exploring and sat for a while and watched the Old Faithful geyser spewing steam and acting like it was about to blow.  The schedule is posted in the Inn and at the rangers information office and it was not going to blow for quite a while, we just did not know any better.  Basically it spouts about every 90 minutes and a quick web search will give you more information than I can provide plus a live streaming video camera feed of Old Faithful. So seeing it in person might probably be anti-climactic, no way.  This is a truly beautiful event and do not leave the park without at least one eruption on camera. What you will learn is that you are in the midst of a gigantic volcano and this is just one of many many geysers and they are all located within fairly close proximity to where you are standing watching Old Faithful. So get a good night sleep and let’s get started in the morning heading to the Paint Pots and fumaroles so we can finally get to see some critters.

So where do we eat in the park?  We ate our evening meals for 3 days at the Old Faithful Inn dining room.  Pretty pricey but an easy meal and then a stroll and head off to bed. Make sure if you wish to eat there, that you make reservations early (like before you leave home!) The Inn has NO television in the rooms. So everyone will have to find their own ways of amusing themselves. Get up early and grab a bight or nosh on some of the stores you brought with you and get ready for a day that will live in your dreams for ever.

The geysers and other volcanic landscape features will keep you busy most of the day so pack a snack and plan to be out until evening. As you leave the Inn parking lot you will see critters and that will remain the predominant theme all day long.  Buffalo, elk, mule deer, black bears, maybe a grizzly and lord knows what lesser sized creatures you will happen upon.  If there is one thing I encourage all to purchase before heading to the park is more camera memory than you can imagine you will use. If you have a photo storage device (I use a 30gb FlashTrax drive and love it) then you are set, if you have enough memory for a long days shooting.  If not them buy twice what you can imagine you will use or borrow it and prove me wrong.  I bet one in three folks I talked to had been out for 2+ weeks and were only taking low res pictures on a “once in a lifetime” basis because they did not have any more memory. My problem is I can’t tell a “once in a lifetime” photo op from an “ah forget it” photo op until the next day so I take it and go on.

Tomorrow we head up into the Hayden Valley and will likely see bears (maybe a grizz?) and there is an outside chance we will see a wolf! Have I suggested that optics are a topic of serious consideration?  You cannot be overly equipped with optics for Yellowstone.  You have terrain that stretches to far off mountains and valleys that seem to go one for miles (well actually, they do.) Binoculars and spotting scopes are really something to be seriously considered.  If you have the finances and several trips are in your future then do the research for a good quality spotting scope ($500 – $2500) and get hooked up.  Without it you will need to be prepared to ask to look through a scope of one of the many watchers.  They will be glad to let you look, by the way, so do not be too shy to ask.  Part of the fun of owning a good spotting scope or a good set of binos is letting others see what you have “found” in some far off mountain plateau. So now you have been forewarned.  Gals this is generally a “guys” topic.  Guys enjoy the gear side of things.  But that, like all other generalizations is proved wrong more often than not so gals if you are gear heads then listen up and spend a couple of months searching out the web sites that will give you plenty of good information regarding spotting scopes and get your credit cards ready for that purchase.  I think this weeks’ post might be on spotting scope selection and optics and why they are important, or at least why I think they are important. In my travels they are repeatedly an important topic of discussion. While I am at it maybe we can discuss digiscoping.

Another good night’s sleep and tomorrow we will head into the Hayden Vally and have a better chance of spotting grizz and wolves, bald and golden eagles and who knows what else. G’night……………..

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……