Moose Alert!

So, how cool is this? We're sitting outside, I'm inside getting some chips & salsa for our "Happy Hour" when Glenda yells "moose, moose"! I think she's calling for me, not to me and then when I go outside she points across the street to the stream/creek/river and there I see two bull moose! I'm very excited and so happy that I bought some film at the lodge when we went to make phone calls (there's NO cell service until you drive about 20 miles south). I open that box of film, load my camera and I'm out the door in a flash! Ultimately, I was about 50' away from them (but always near a tree) while they were busy eating the grass along the banks! I spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of them with both my digital and film camera! It was way too cool! Although they weren't "in" the campground, they were along the edge of the river that runs beside it! So far I've seen moose every single day we've been here except for one and that's because we didn't go looking that day!

Some Moose Facts...

*Height at shoulder of moose can reach 6-1/2 - 7-1/2'

*A mature moose can weigh 1200 - 1500 lbs

*A female moose gives birth (in the spring) to 1-2 calves after a 230 day gestation

*Moose are the world's largest deer

*Moose can easily run 35 mph. They can also swim 10 miles

*Moose antlers are not what you should fear, but their sharp hooves. Hooves are their first line of defense

*Each year in Alaska there are more moose related deaths than bear related deaths

*Only mature bulls (male moose) has antlers. They shed these before winter and they grow back in the spring

*Antlers can reach a width of 6' and can weigh up to 44 lbs!


This is NOT a moose but a deer! We came back from having dinner out and this deer was in one of our campsights. Ray took this picture for me from the driver's seat (that's why you see his mirror and arm in the picture).

Also, Ray was kind enough to stop and let me out to take the first picture when we were driving back up the gravel road to the campground! There are 3 bull moose there, but two of them were laying down. I'm pretty sure this is the same 3 that I saw yesterday. Ray & Glenda think they may even be the 3 Glenda took pictures of last year in the same area. There were 2 younger ones and 1 older and that's what these guys look like! Couldn't get them to come any closer...heck, I couldn't get the 2 laying down to get up at all! Oh well...there's always tomorrow!

I will not....

let this beat me! It takes me hours sometimes to get my pictures and text to "publish" together! Or I can get my pictures here and when I add the text, it's underlined and everything is in blue! Tonight it let me put all my pictures except for one into one post! Not sure why that was or how to get around it, so I created an entirely separate post! Anyhow, here are the pictures I wanted to post with my previous blog! Ha Ha! I made it work!



Maggie...he's still not too sure whether he likes "motorhoming" or not!
Don...on our friends, Glenda & Ray's quad (for the first time). This is where we were "free-ranging".
Tess the Mighty (bear) Hunter...
The motorhome at Sibley Lake. This is right before we left. In fact, the back slides are already in and Don is sitting in the driver's seat!

Sibley Lake & Tie Flumes, WY

From Sibley Lake we decided to “free range”. Free Ranging is where you can go out into the forest and basically park where you like. They have certain restrictions, like you have to be so far off the road, etc. We went up in elevation and about 20 miles south (?). Parked the motorhomes (us, Ray & Glenda Roe, & Ray’s brother and his wife, Mel & Pam) in a triangle and we were set…or so we thought! It only took us two days/nights to decide to find someplace else! Ray and I were the main meal for mosquitos! Both of us woke up EARLY and woke our spouses with our scratching! Glenda, Pam and I set out and found three available sites at Tie Flume. Tie Flume is between where we were camped at Sibley Lake and where we were free ranging. It was almost like heaven having tables and trash service! It’s amazing how little things like that can make one soooo happy, but I guess it doesn’t take much either! ( Guess what we saw when we drove down the gravel road to Tie Flume? Moose! Yeah! Three bull moose were in the trees, laying down! Of course we stopped and took a few pictures! When we were leaving to go back to the motorhomes to let them know we had found spots…there was a cow (female) moose! It was about ½ hour before we got back to Tie Flume and we found the moose (bulls) had gotten up from their resting spot and were out grazing. They weren’t too close and we took a few more pictures! Around here it’s pretty easy to spot the wildlife…when you see some cars/trucks/quads, etc. pulled over…you can bet there’s something to see! Today was no exception! After dinner Glenda and I went back down the road but there was no moose in site. We did spot a couple of deer and a yellow-bellied marmot, but that’s all! I really can’t complain when I did get to see 4 moose today!

Tess - the Mighty Bear Hunter!

This picture was taken by our friend, Glenda Roe. She took it today after Tess had tree-d the bear! That's right...you read it correctly! Tess, the mighty bear hunter had tree-d a bear!

First thing this morning we had heard of a bear encounter within the campground. Seems a bear knocked into a tent and even bent the tent poles. Well, this afternoon, dinner was just about ready...we were all eating inside our motorhome because there was a threat of rain. Anyhow, someone was coming in the door and Tess took that opportunity to run right out. About an hour earlier, there was a deer at Ray & Glenda's and we thought Tess was after it. She had seen it earlier and had been barking and barking at it. She took off like a streak of lightening, ran around the loop of the campground, made a mad dash towards where the deer had been, back up and then back down past where the earlier deer sighting had been. I went inside to retrieve two of her favorite toys...a sure way to get her back - NOT WHEN THERE'S A BEAR IN HER SIGHT! I was yelling at her "get it" to try to get her attention to the fact that I had her toys. There was a couple in a tent trailer and they yelled "why are you telling her to get it? It's a bear!" They didn't realize I wasn't telling her to get "it"! Anyhow, that's when Don and I saw the bear! Now I'm not real familiar with bears, but this one didn't look too big to me, but I know that bears can be mighty dangerous! I wasn't getting to close to it, but it didn't seem to faze Tess one bit! The closer I got to Tess, the closer she got to the bear! Don went back to the motorhome to get his gun...in case the bear decided to attack Tess. I'm still trying to get Tess's attention but even after she saw her toys...she didn't care! Finally, the bear heads up a tree...about 6 or 7 feet and Tess is just barking and barking at this thing! Then the bear slides down and sits/lays on this rock. I shouted as loud and as serious as I could at Tess "NO" and I think she knew I meant business! After several "NO"s, she looked at me and I threw one of her toys...she finally went after it! It took us about six or seven throws before we got her. Meanwhile, Don had given Lloyd his gun and told him he was probably a better shot...if the bear needed to be shot! Jerri and Glenda had gotten their cameras and were busy taking pictures! At one point in time...between thinking what would I do if Tess actually got into a fight with the bear and what I would do if the bear started coming towards me...I was thinking "damn, I wish I had my camera"! So, we're not sure why the bear was so complacent towards Tess...maybe it had already eaten? It didn't feel too threatened (not sure about that one since it did try to go up the tree)? It's sick or injured? But whatever the reasons...we feel very lucky this story didn't end up with a trip to the vet for massive amounts of stitches...or worse!

After we got Tess away, we were able to get some pictures and then we left the bear alone. It wasn't too long before it sauntered away, very close to motorhomes, trailers and tents on the back row. The campground hosts were notified and I think they notified the park rangers. I guess, from what the campground host told me, a trap was set at Prune Creek which is a few miles from us, but now maybe one will get set here as well.

As for us...we'll be leaving here tomorrow and going about 15-20 miles away. We are going to "free range" for a few days. In Wyoming, in certain areas you can park your vehicles within the park as long as you are a certain distance away from the road. Hope we encounter some more moose (or elk as we saw the other night), but the bears can stay away! Tess doesn't seem the least afraid of them...she was within about 4-6 feet of one today. I might have been 10-12 feet away...and don't really want to experience anything closer! It was a very exciting day...one we don't wish to repeat too soon!

One Cool Moose!

Buffalo, Sheridan & Sibley Lake

For those of you that know me, you know that I collect moose! In fact, before we sold the house and most of our belongings I had well over 1,000 different moose “things”! One thing though is that even though I collected moose, I had never seen a real one in person! Even during a trip to Canada a few years ago I never saw one! Well, now I can say that has been changed!
Don and I headed out of Gillette, WY with friends, Glenda & Ray Roe and also, Jerri & Lloyd Wood. We stopped in Buffalo, WY at the visitor center, left the coaches and headed for the Crazy Woman Canyon. We had only gotten about 5-6 miles when it began to rain, and rain and then the rain turned to hail…lots of it! It’s hard to see the beauty of the canyon as a passenger in the back seat so we had all driven our own vehicles. We had FRS radios to communicate between the three of us…let me tell you, hail on your car can be REALLY loud! Several times we pulled off the side of the road hoping to let the rain/hail slow down. Once we got into the canyon, it was truly beautiful and a site to see! I especially loved the creek running through it!
After Buffalo, we stopped in Sheridan, WY to spend the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot before heading up to the Big Horns. It was amazing to see the number of campers, trailers and motorhomes in the parking lot! I have never seen so many in one spot! There was even a tent trailer…guess there’s a first time for everything! While in Sheridan, we went to the Chop House, a very busy, well-known restaurant in Sheridan. There was quite a wait so we had a drink while we waited. Jerri and I had ONE margarita and later found out that they had a limit of 2…and we know why! They were pretty potent! Once we got to our table, we all ordered our meals. Salads and soup were delivered along with the appetizer we had ordered. Ray, Glenda and I received our ribs…they were DELICIOUS! We had just about finished our meals when the waitress came out with the rest of our food…only she didn’t serve it! She helped another waitress deliver another tables food! At that point, the rest of our table was pretty unhappy. They told the waitress that they wanted to cancel their order since the three of us were already done. The manager came, said she understood they wanted to cancel their order, didn’t apologize, didn’t offer any discounts, etc. Needless to say…we paid our bills and left. Stopped on the way home for Subway’s for those that hadn’t eaten!
Glenda & I headed to Wal-Mart (a SuperCenter) to purchase some of our non-perishable grocery items. Jerri didn’t make it…one margarita did her in! The next morning we were all up pretty early…it was getting warm already! The gals headed back to Wal-Mart, the post office, etc. so we could stock up before heading to our campground! We all had lunch at Taco John’s and then we were off.
When we arrived at Sibley Lake we made quite a stir! We unhooked our cars at the bottom of the road and all drove up separately! It was quite a sound and site to see the three diesel engine motorhomes driving up the road! Several people in the campground got up and watched as we arrived! We got parked, set-up and settled in.
After dinner we all headed out for a “wildlife” drive! We had almost given up and had turned around when Glenda spotted the first moose! It was getting dark, so the lighting wasn’t very good and the moose were pretty far off…but it was my very first real live moose! I took pictures, but none with my digital!

Sites from Wyoming...

Devil's Tower - America's First National Monument

Vore Buffalo Jump

"Why" Wyoming!

Don and I took a trip to Devil's Tower, which is America's First National Monument, with the Wood's (Lloyd & Jerri). We hiked around the tower which is a little over a mile...up and down; of course they couldn't make it flat, could they? The temperatures were higher than those we've encountered so far this summer but a little lower than those that Southern California is experiencing right now! We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed it before we started our hike! We didn't see any wildlife (well, Don said he saw a chipmunk, but the rest of didn't see anything) but we did get to see several "different" things! June is a sacred time for Indians in the Devil's Tower area and there were many prayer bags and prayer cloths hanging in the trees. Some fairly close to the path and others higher up in trees! Another interesting site was the climbers! They asked you not to climb the Tower out of respect for the Indians but it was strictly voluntary. As we got around to the back side of the Tower we saw a few climbers. Actually, we think they might have been instructors as it seemed like they were teaching someone how to repel off or from a ledge that is there. The reason we think they might be instructors was because you could hear them talking from the ledge down to the person on the side of the Tower!

After we finished our hike we headed back in the direction of the campground and stopped at the Vore Buffalo Jump. Vore is actually a sinkhole that was used in the 1500 - 1800's as a natural hole to lure the buffalo into. It was incredible to see all the bones that were left in the sinkhole after the Indians were through butchering the buffalo! It was also neat to see how they used parts of the buffalo for their everyday needs! I am eternally grateful that I was not alive in that era! I do like the comforts we now have! :-)

On Wednesday, we packed up and headed the 75 or so miles to Gillette. Found the campground with no problems and one of the first persons we ran into was Robb Steinheider, a long-time friend of ours from Kountry Kampers in So. California. Robb is on the parking committee for FMCA. Before we could get the car un-hooked, Ray & Glenda Roe arrived. There are about 11 of our Monaco friends who are supposed to be parked with or near us. We got into our sites and set-up when Sue Steinheider came by to say “hi”. Sue just had her second knee replacement surgery (for the same knee) and had trouble getting up the steps. I told her I’d come down to visit with her so she didn’t have to struggle getting into our motorhome. I was able to visit with Sue and catch up with some of the Kountry Kamper news but couldn’t stay long! A trip to the grocery store was a MUST! Jerri, Glenda and I headed for the grocery store where we stocked up for a few days! When we got back, Bob & Maribel Clerc and Andy & Linda Clarkson had arrived. We invited them to join us for dinner and we ended up with plenty of food! Enjoyed catching up with everyone and had a nice evening.

Today we relaxed and took our time getting around. Jerri, Glenda and I took a trip to Wal-Mart (not a Super-Center and under construction) and then stopped at the “Trading Post” which is a Wyoming Gift Shop that is almost across the street from the Cam-Plex. I ended up finding a couple of unique Wyoming moose items! It was a fun shopping experience. I even found something there that Don could buy for me! Again enjoyed another great meal with all of us, and enjoyed socializing for the evening.

Tomorrow we are going to take a tour of a local coal mining operation. It should be fun and different!

A Trip On the Black Hills Scenic Byway

We headed west from Rapid City, SD today. We only traveled about 90 miles to Beulah, WY. Our purpose was to be centrally located to Devil’s Tower, WY and Spearfish, SD. It didn’t take long for us to reach our new destination so we loaded up in the car (Jerri & Lloyd Wood and Don & I). Took a drive on the Black Hills Scenic Byway (14A). Stopped for a quick glance of Bridal Veil Falls and then onto Roughlock Falls. We got out at the Lodge and took the trail…it’s about 1 mile. Got to the top of the falls and lo and behold, there’s a parking lot up there! Guess we could have driven to the falls, but the walk was probably MUCH better for us! Jerri & Lloyd had said that they had heard of some place good to eat at the top of the Canyon. Well, we didn’t know if we were at the top or not, so we continued on! Once we got so far…it was clear that where we had gotten out for Roughlock was probably where we were supposed to eat, so we shifted gears and went into Deadwood. Don and I had been there several times already (last year) so there wasn’t too much new to see. It was fun to show Jerri around since she had never been there before. We found one of Don’s favorite places to eat – a buffet and headed for it! After we finished stuffing ourselves, we finished walking along the famous Main Street of Deadwood. Something amazing that we saw…what was once a hole (last year) was quickly becoming a new-old building! It was still daylight and they were working on it as we walked by! It was a fun day! Tomorrow we will head to Devil’s Tower before heading to Gillette, WY for the FMCA Into Rally.