travels with janne

Winter
whispers in the wilderness,

Muffling
sounds and chilling breaths.

Snow falls
gently,

Settling on
stones and trees,

Softening
sharpness and

Transforming
angles to curves.

All things
look round and gentle,

Like tufts
of unbaked meringue.

Dawn
blushes pink,

Dusk veils the
day in a warm shawl of orange.

Leafless
trees stand in stark silhouettes against the sky,

Reaching
craggily upwards like bony hands.

A brook
babbles dark and cold

Under an
icy shelf.

An upturned
tree root

Becomes an
abstract sculpture.

We turn our
heads at the sound of a soft moomf of
snow

That falls
from a fir branch and

Scatters
sparkling flakes

On its
downward fall.

We catch a
whiff of sulphur.

We hear a
coyote yipping to its friend,

That yips
in comradely reply.

Bison break
trail in the deep whiteness,

Buried up
to their rumbling bellies,

As they
sweep their mighty heads

In their
search for blades of grass.

And wolves,
ah wolves!

Brainy,
social,

Charming,
controversial.

Tails wag,
ears perk,

Tongues
loll.

Like dogs,
but not.

Let us be
satisfied with a wander in this wilderness.

Let us
suffice with wonder.

Let us be
inspired, enthralled, enchanted.

Let us not
disrupt or change

Or believe
we can improve what Mother Nature,

The
ultimate artist and masterly scientist,

Has
created.

Just let
be.

In addition
to big, furry predator species like grizzly bear, black bear, bobcat, mountain
lion (cougar) and coyote, Yellowstone National Park is also home to about 100
wolves. At the same time, there are up to four million human visitors per year
including backcountry hikers and campers. This goes to show that people and
“dangerous” wild animals can live in harmony. We just need to understand how to
do it properly.

When wolves
were re-introduced to Yellowstone from Canada in 1995-1996 it had a dramatic,
healing effect on the landscape, which quickly found its old balance again
after 70 years of being wolf-less.

The return
of the wolf has had a cascade effect on a whole range of plant and animal
species in the ecosystem. The numbers of elk and coyote are kept in check. This
means smaller predators like owls, foxes and pine martens thrive because they face
less competition from coyotes. Pronghorn, which are coyote prey, are also
having an easier time.

Plants like willow, aspen and cottonwood are given peace
to grow because the elk no longer stay put for long periods and therefore no
longer chew them down. This in turn benefits beavers, which love willow. The
beavers flood land and create new ecosystems and this turn of events benefits
insects and birds. Wolves usually do not eat up, which benefits scavengers like
ravens, eagles and even grizzlies, who feed on the leftovers.

This is
such a heartening story of the resilience of nature. I only wish we humans
could be better at butting out and just leaving nature to do its thing.

Moose photo by Linda Thurston.

With its 8,983
km2 Yellowstone National Park is somewhat smaller than Cape Breton
in Nova Scotia (10,311 km2) but a bit bigger than the Danish island
of Zealand (where Copenhagen is) with its 7,031 km2. I hope these
facts and comparisons give my readers a feeling for the size of the park.

It has
mountains and valleys, rivers and brooks, and stinky, steaming geothermal
springs. Here in the winter much of the land is covered in fluffy snow. Red
willow branches give a bit of colour to the otherwise stark white, black and
grey landscape. Fragrant grey-green sage bushes stick up here and there.
Cottonwood trees stand leafless and naked against the horizon. Snow provides
its own soft and pristine landscape.

We go snowshoeing every afternoon in this wonderful winter wilderness. It is my first attempt at snowshoeing and I love it.

One day our guides Linda Thurston and Nathan Varley lead us to lovely Pebble Creek Canyon. After this easy and peaceful walk things get more challenging. We meet up with a hill and deep, virginal powder snow. Nathan calls it the Hill of Death and instructs us to take turns to break trail because it is quite hard work. After a short while he lets my friend Tove, who is right behind him, take over. Superwoman Tove breaks the trail the whole way up the slope, never faltering, never losing momentum despite the fact that with each step she sinks down in the snow to mid-thigh. Amazing! Her impressive feat is the talk of the group the rest of the afternoon.

Another day we visit National Geographic photographer Dan Hartman in the small town of Silver Gate at the park border. After a visit in his cozy gallery and private home, from which we spot a Clark’s Nutcracker at the bird feeder, he takes us on a snowshoe walk.

With great enthusiasm and knowledge he expounds on the nature we pass through while eagerly pointing out ermine tracks in the snow. He interprets the patterns of small footprints and explains where the ermine has paused to sniff for a mouse. We also see mouse footprints and those from moose, coyote and fox. At one point our jolly host breaks into a song about the Northwest Territories. As Canadian as that song may be I am afraid I am not familiar with it so I just hum along as best (and quietly) as I can.

Not a
morning of our Yellowstone adventure goes by without spotting wolves. How
wonderful to view these intelligent, social and resilient animals in their
natural habitat, just doing their thing.

The first pack we see does not really
do much of anything except sleep. We get excited when one of the wolves lifts
its black head. Through the spotting scope I can see its pointed ears
silhouetted against the snow before it drops its head back down to the ground
for some more snoozing. Another ruffle of excitement occurs when we spot two
grey wolves in the same pack wander in from the left before they plunk
themselves down to sleep. This particular pack (Junction Butte) consists of 12
wolves including six pups, but from our long distance we only see a few of the
animals.

The same
day we spot another pack. This is Mollie’s Pack, which consists of 16 wolves.
They are pretty sleepy too. Their most dynamic activity while we watch them
comprises getting up, re-grouping a bit and then lying down again. They lie in
a huddle, except for one that seems ostracized and lies at a distance from the
rest. This pack also includes animals with various colour shades. Although the wolves
in Yellowstone are grey wolves (Canis lupus), about half of the population is
actually black. They carry the K allele for melanism (opposite of albinism)
carried over from domesticated dogs. Interesting genetics, eh?

The next
day we see Mollie’s pack again. This time the wolves are busy eating. Sometime
during the night or early morning they have killed an elk. From a distance we
can see the antlers of the carcass and the wolves tugging on the meat.

In the above photo there are at least eight wolves, five of whom are black. If you look closely you can see the elk antlers sticking up in the bottom right of the scene.

One wolf liberates a huge chunk of meat – about the size of a good roast beef – and ambles over to a wolf lying a few metres away and not engaged in feeding. It is almost as if the wolf with the hunk of meat intends to share with its best friend and no one else.

Young,
light-coloured wolves leave the dinner table to play. They romp and jostle
with each other like domesticated dogs.

I took the photos of the wolves with my iPhone through the spotting scope. This involves standing so perfectly still that breathing is almost impossible. In the above shot there are at least seven wolves scattered here and there. Two black wolves are at the carcass and a light-coloured wolf is approaching. A light wolf sits to the far left and three black ones are behind and to the right.

We see wildlife every
day.

One day, a coyote sits unmoving in the snow, not far from our vehicle. It tips
and turns its head this way and that and cocks its pointed ears in various
directions, trying to tune in on the movement of a vole (rødmus in Danish) underneath the snow. Suddenly the coyote pounces
head first down in the snow, tail straight up in the air. Unfortunately for the
coyote, there is no catch. After several unsuccessful attempts, it howls and
yips. Its vocalisations are answered by a coyote buddy standing a bit further
away from us. Coyote number one trots over to coyote number two. There is
tail-wagging and bum-sniffing before they join a third coyote who serenely just
sits and waits for them. Then all three pals meander down to the frozen river
and out of our sight.

Herds of big, brown
bison are a common sight, forming a dark and wooly contrast to the clean white
snow. They sweep their massive heads from side to side to push the snow aside
and get at the grass underneath.

We also
see bighorn sheep balancing on a rocky slope while nibbling daintily on
winter-yellow vegetation. The rams have formidable horns that swirl backwards.

Another day we spot a
lone, shaggy, creamy-coloured mountain goat way up on a mountainside. And yet another time we see
three bull elks with majestic antlers – three hunky bachelors, at peace with
each other, lying in the snow, probably chewing cud.

We spot a
couple of moose lumbering through the deep snow. They are such strangely shaped animals
with their ridiculously long faces and odd dewlap thingy hanging under the chin
but they are nevertheless very endearing.

One of our guides, Linda Thurston, took
the moose pictures with my iPhone through the spotting scope.

Snowflakes
twist and glimmer like diamonds as they quietly fall, adding more white cover
to the already white landscape. Our steps crunch and squeak on the path that
leads to the cozy little log cabin that will be my friend’s and my home for the
next few days.

Tove and I are on a winter adventure in the northern section of Yellowstone
National Park. We stay at Buffalo Ranch in cabin number 13 – funnily enough the
exact same cabin my American cousin Janis stayed in last November.

The
wildlife viewing and landscape enjoyment began before we even entered the park
from the direction of Bozeman, Montana. We crossed the Yellowstone River
several times. Along the way, we spotted a soaring bald eagle, dainty pronghorn
antelope, and what we believe might have been a red-tailed hawk.

Once
ensconced at Buffalo Ranch, we fall into the daily rhythm: Sumptuous and
healthy breakfast at 6:15, drive out at 7:15 to view wildlife, hot lunch at
midday, snowshoeing in the afternoon, more delicious dining in the evening followed
by interesting and informative talks by wildlife experts. There is no time to
get bored, just pleasantly bone weary from all the activity, impressions and
fresh, cold air.

As I have said many times before, Mother Nature is the best artist. The strokes and colours on her canvas inspire and invigorate me. So now I will lay down my own pen and let Mother Naure have the last word in these photographs of some of her works.

With the
driving this past week we can now add
approximately1000 km more to the trip, making a total tally of about
5575 km driven in three weeks in eight American states and one Canadian
province. We have also hiked about 90 km in seven national parks and other
places of astounding natural beauty plus a sojourn in laid back San Francisco.
Whew! Quite the whirlwind tour!

Fortunately,
we still had time to get up close and comfortable with a few of Nature’s
fascinating creatures – both the small and the mighty. I particularly like the
squirrels and chipmunks even though some people say they are just rats wearing
fur coats. So what’s wrong with dressing up?

The
important thing is to embrace and protect all the animals and their habitats so
that we are not one of the last generations to have enjoyed them. Or, in the
words of Chief Dan George of the Tsleil-Waututh people:

“One thing
to remember is to talk to the animals.

If you do,
they will talk back to you.

But if you
don’t talk to the animals, they won’t talk back to you, then you won’t
understand, and when you don’t understand you will fear, and when you fear you
will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, you will destroy
yourself.”