Outdoors

Opening day in Yellowstone marked by ‘March for Science’

Opening day can only mean one thing  to baseball fans. But “opening day” only means one thing to Yellowstone fans – the first day you can drive to Old Faithful in the spring.

Opening day this year was April 21, but  for the folks who had to wait for the weekend, Saturday felt more like the real first day.

I headed south from Gardiner with an old friend, and we had plans to rendezvous with another friend entering through West Yellowstone.

FWP offers “Becoming an Outdoors Woman” class for horse packing

Wanted: Women interested in learning how to pack a horse. 

The popular Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks program, “Becoming an Outdoors Woman,” will sponsor a horse packing workshop May 6 near Whitefish. 

Packing into the backcountry by horse can be fun and rewarding, an FWP news release states. Participants will learn about the variety of packing equipment available, defensive horse handling, how to pack a decker, sawbuck and riding saddles, and leave-no-trace camping.

THE RIVER: A PLACE OF REMINISCENCE

I thought of Rodney on Sunday morning while fishing the Yellowstone River.

I think of Rodney on many spring mornings while preparing for a river trip.

You see, Rodney lived for those first spring mornings when the cutthroat trout rose to slurp bugs off the surface of north Idaho’s St. Joe River.

Rodney Wolfe lived and worked along the Joe, the river where he spent his life casting dry flies and finger wagging the very thought of insulting a trout with a nymph or, God forbid, a streamer.

RUN TO THE PUB: Locals pound the pavement over the hill for pints

Who would want to run a foot race in a silly costume for a beer, a cupcake, and a chance to win a trip to Ireland waiting for you at the end?

About 4,000 people, to be exact — the number who participated in Saturday’s half-marathon and 10-kilometer run in Bozeman Saturday morning.

After about a week of uncertain weather, including snow, the clouds opened up just enough for a good day to enjoy exercise and beer during the Run to the Pub race on Saturday in Bozeman.

Hard Boiled — An Oregonian’s winter plunge in Yellowstone’s Boiling River

As I approached the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park, I marveled at the stone masonry and chiseled declaration of 1903: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”

I envisioned a mustachioed President Theodore Roosevelt and his toothy grin admiring the work of the Organic Act of 1872, the legislation that would bring the United States its first national park and usher in 58 more protected areas available for all to enjoy. 

Mysteries of Pike Peak

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Eric Swab was glancing at aerial satellite images of his next destination, another remote wilderness along Pikes Peak, when he spotted something peculiar. He squinted at his computer screen: two white smears through the pines.

Maybe, just maybe, he thought he was looking at forlorn mining residue. This is the kind of thing that thrills Swab, who at 78 is showing no signs of slowing down in his quest to uncover the secrets of the mountain’s deep past, reported The Gazette.

Learn how to make a snow cave

LOOKOUT PASS, Idaho — A group of Spokane Mountaineers shouldered packs and snowshoed out from Lookout Pass with shovels and positive attitudes for their first winter camping experience in snow caves.

“Everybody who heads out in winter should know how to make one,” said Sara Schmelzer, the outing organizer.

They didn’t have to, but they wanted to build snow caves and sleep in them.

A Local Trapper's Education

The debate over animal trapping for sport has created sharp differences of opinion in the outdoor community and probably won’t be resolved any time soon. The Rocky Mountains have long been an abundant source of fur both at home and abroad and for now, will continue that role. 

Backyard racers chomp the bit

There are few sports that can bring cowboys and hippy ski-bums together.

Welcome to the world of skijoring, a winter sport growing in popularity around Montana that involves horses or dogs pulling skiers through an obstacle course.

Local and national skijoring competitions have become commonplace at Red Lodge, Jackson Hole, Bozeman, Whitefish and Driggs. 

Ice climbing Yellowstone’s Lost Creek Falls

The packed snow squeaked loudly beneath the climbing party’s boots at Yellowstone’s Tower Junction parking area, ice axes glinting in the afternoon sun. Their walk soon gave way to undisturbed, gossamer stretches of powder as they passed Roosevelt Lodge and entered into the blueish shadows of Lost Creek Canyon.  

About a half mile in, Lost Creek Falls appeared through the pines – an imposing but beautiful tower of solid ice.