Where Are They Now?

Monday we visited an incredible museum called “Museum of the Rockies” in the city of Bozman. In this area of northern Montana, very large deposits of dinosaur bones have been found, many of which were on display at the museum. This is similar to the dinosaur park area in Alberta, which is just north of here.

Scientists also have done much research on the geology of this area. It is hard to believe that animals that large once roamed the earth. What a sight that must have been!

tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur in front of the museum

Tuesday we drove into Yellowstone National Park. We have camped in a little town Gardiner just outside of the park boundary. This is indeed a beautiful spectacular area of the country. It was designated to be a national park way in the late 1800’s since even back then they recognized it for being so unique and for the importance of keeping it unspoiled. It is a very mountainous area and as we went up and down and around the mountains the views were really incredible. Temperatures again varied by 20 degrees depending on whether we were on top of a mountain or in a valley. It is thought that the present landscape was formed by the eruption of a huge volcano, which erupted at least 3 different times in the distant past and now lies sleeping underneath the park. Molten rock from this volcano is thought to be as close as 5 km underground. Water from rain and snow seeps down below the surface of the ground where it is heated. Hot water and steam rises through underground fractures created by previous volcanoes to produce hot springs and geysers. The temperature of this can exceed the boiling point and all around the park there are signs warning people not to go near that ground. People have been burned to death over the years as a result of getting too close. Years ago people would catch fish in one of the rivers and then cook them in a geyser or hot spring. This is now illegal since it is too dangerous. We saw many people fishing, camping and hiking as we drove around in the park. There are numerous hiking trails in this 2.2 million acre park and people are encouraged to always carry bear spray while hiking.

Here we are: finally!

many geysers: the soil was boiling hot. Looked like a moonscape and nothing can grow around it

Bison at the side of the road. In error these are called buffalo but are not since buffalo only live in Asia and Africa. Bisons are what the natives hunted. They have massive heads and a hump on their backs. We saw a few of them traveling through the park, as well as a few herd of elk

Petrified tree. This tree at one time was covered by lava during a volcano eruption and the lava went through all its cells and turned it into rock.

Old Faithful geyser. So named because it faithfully erupts regularly every 90 minutes or so. Lots of steam comes out and then a sheet of boiling water shoots up from the ground. In the information center they even post the time of the next eruption. About 1000 people were gathered all around to watch this happening when we were there. The entire eruption took about 5 minutes. An impressive sight!