Looong Bus Trip

Robert, Tuesday, August 26

The bus for the tour makes two stops to pick up passengers. The first is in town and the second is in the park at the information center. When we checked into the campground, we also got our tickets for the tour at the same time. The woman assisting us recommended to us that we should go into town to get on the tour bus. Although the information center is close to the campground, she said that the bus loads up in town we individuals on organized tours. Waiting until the bus gets to the information center might mean a poor choice of seats. We drove into town to catch the bus. Almost all of the seats were quickly filled but we were near the first of the line and got good ones. Everyone on the bus got a box lunch but it was not something to write home about. Our bus driver was very knowledgeable about the park: its history, its geology, its wildlife, and its flora. For the first part of the journey, we saw Dall sheep or as I call them “white dots.” Dall sheep are snowy white and when you see them at a mile away, they are little more than white dots. They live high up in the rocky cliffs where the road doesn’t go. Finally, just before we got to the turn around point, we saw a grizzly bear right beside the road. The bear was digging and eating roots about 30 feet from the bus. There is only one road into the park so you go in, turn around, and come back out the same way. The bus stops about every hour and a half where there are rest rooms but other than that, it is a long bus ride. The bus also had every seat filled and the seats were just not that comfortable. As a result, on the way back it was becoming that everyone on the bus was getting tired. Someone would point out more “white dots” and most on the bus just sat with the attitude of whatever. On the way back we saw a lot of snowshoe hares. They change from brown to white as summer changes into winter. These all had white feet and bellies but the rest of them was still brown. A fox ran in front of the bus but we were too far back to see it and of course we see foxes all the time at home. Finally as we were nearing the end of the trip, we saw several moose. One was feeding in a pond and a little further was a cow and calf. As we didn’t start the trip until 2:30, it was now 9:30 and getting dark so it wasn’t the best light for photographs. We got off the bus at 10:30 and headed back to the trailer. We turned in soon thereafter.