Sept. 8 & 9
Left Yellowstone on the 8th. Stopped on the way to hike part of the Nez Perce trail thru the park. In August of 1877 Chief Joseph and his band of "non-treaty" Nez Perce passed this way on their flight from the Army - the route that started in the Wallowa Valley of eastern Oregon and ended a couple of months later in northern Montana. The group entered Yellowstone thru what is now the west entrance. The area had only been designated a National Park 5 years before so it was still pretty remote. Nevertheless, one of the advance scouting parties came upon a group of tourists camping along this stream. One of the men must have said exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time, because the indians shot him, left him for dead, and took the other 4 members of this "world's worst camping trip" hostage. They were later released unharmed, but undoubtedly wrote a strongly worded letter to the Secretary of the Interior about the whole experience once they returned home.
Our hike took us along part of Nez Perce Creek for several miles. Beautiful open prairie next to the river as you can see. Felt like walking thru Jurassic Park at one point when we came across a couple of (big) buffalo bulls, one of which was just sunning himself near one of the thermal springs bubbling up along the hillside. Not the best pic but you get the idea. Trust me, the camera makes him seem a LOT further away than he looked to be when on foot.
Also have included a picture of Rita at Yellowstone Falls, a scene along the creek during the hike, and Bob acting as advance scout/bear bait along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment