Bighorn Ram, Gallatin Canyon, Montana, USA

“The Value of Fathers”

Hello and welcome to the fourth newsletter of the YellowstoneWildernessMag! As I sit enjoying a sunny June morning, I’m struck by how fast time goes by. I’m also struck by a wish that everyone who may be reading this, and who plans on going hiking in Yellowstone this summer, take a few minutes and read, or re-read, my previous newsletter titled “Safety Meeting” which is now located in the “Newsletter Archive” page. After the events of last summer involving bear/human conflicts which unfortunately resulted in loss of human life, I’m really wondering if the public really needs another, different newsletter, which can only distract from the most important message of the last one, which is to be careful while recreating in grizzly country. But, here goes.

If anyone detects a hint of exasperation in that statement, they’re very perceptive. Especially since one of my main points in the “Safety Meeting” newsletter was that sometimes, when hiking in bear country and seeing bear ‘sign’, it’s best to turn around. That advice was obviously never read, unfortunately, by one of last summer’s victims, who chose to continue a hike after spotting a mother grizzly with two cubs in the distance. Advice to carry bear spray was also not heeded, either out of ignorance or neglect, by all victims of last years bear attacks. This is very frustrating, from the perspective of someone who is trying to educate people on how to safely enjoy Yellowstone’s wilderness. It also jumps ahead to the issue of readership numbers, which, of course, are a factor. The victims never read that newsletter, most likely, so they had no opportunity to heed its advice. I wish EVERYONE who hikes in Yellowstone would read it. Given the fact that I’ve hiked hundreds of days in the Park, I can’t help but feel that this loss of life was needless. It can be prevented with caution, education, prudence and increased readership of the YellowstoneWildernessMag.

I’d like to say a few things about bear spray. I’ve lived in the Yellowstone area off and on (mostly on), for over twenty-five years. I’ve heard the scuttle-butt on bear spray. “The stuff doesn’t work…..” “The bears are actually attracted to it…..” “The expiration date is only for the purpose of selling more cans……” The list of rumors goes on and on. There definitely seems to be some ‘on the ground’ resistance to the whole idea of bear spray. To all this, I just have to say that, at $50 a can, why not at least have it? It’s one more option at your disposal in the event of a problem, and the more options one has the better, when one is out in the wilderness facing a bear.

I’m not saying that bear spray guarantees safety. I know personally that bears can get used to it, and once a bear which has been sprayed repeatedly figures out the duration of the discomfort, it may merely turn its head away from the spray and keep on with whatever behavior was causing it to get sprayed. (This knowledge, by the way, was obtained on the loading dock of Huntley Lodge at the Big Sky Resort in Montana, near the garbage dumpster.) This means that we should all use bear spray conservatively. We want to minimize the number of bears familiar with the spray. It’s best to have surprise on our side.

Another point I’d like to make is that I personally would not rely on bear spray to stop a charging mother grizzly. In that unfortunate event, I truly believe that dropping to the ground and playing dead is one’s best course of action. I say this because mother grizzlies will actually endure real harm from other real bears, in order to protect their young. Myself and a can of bear spray is no real bear. Also, the act of holding the can out at the oncoming bear most likely will appear threatening to the bear. You don’t want to appear threatening to a mother grizzly with cubs nearby. You want to seem like the most non-threatening thing in the forest. So play dead. Bears seem to understand this body language which, by the way, occurs in nature among other mammals. Remember that old saying, “playing possum”? Hard as it may be to actually pull off, statistics show this to be your best course of action upon a real encounter of this type. Hopefully, the mother bear that may be charging you has never fed upon, or previously learned, how easy it is to actually dispatch a human. This is where it can get complicated, as there are no such guarantees in the Yellowstone wilderness. So, bear spray is by no means a sure thing in every situation. It is, however, a very powerful tool which one should have at one’s disposal, to be used with discretion and always carried.

View Along the Thorofare Trail, Proposed Wilderness Unit #10, Yellowstone Park, USA

Meanwhile, moving on to other matters…. The Sierra Club, as part of their Resilient Habitats Campaign, has opened a new office in Bozeman, Montana, which focuses on the Greater Yellowstone Ecoregion. Quoting from an article in the Bozeman Chronicle, “The Resilient Habitats program is based around the idea that climate change is going to affect the vitality and future health of the region’s remaining wild places. Given this reality, its important to plan for the future and manage public lands in ways that will help the ecosystem live and survive in the warmer years ahead.” Hmmm. Sounds like they might be talking about wilderness designation. The Sierra Club has already endorsed the forward-thinking Gallatin Wilderness and Conservation Area proposal put forth by the grassroots group Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness, and kudos to them for doing so. Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness has the best proposal for ensuring this wild arm of the Yellowstone ecosystem remains intact. Readers may find it interesting that before the YellowstoneWildernessMag.com was a website, this same project was organized in book form and pitched to the Sierra Club as a potential book. While they said very nice things about the project, leading me to believe they were in favor of wilderness status for the Park’s backcountry, they declined to publish it. I now realize that was a blessing in disguise, since I will ultimately reach vastly more people with the message of Yellowstone Wilderness online than I ever could have hoped for by selling a product in bookstores. Armed with hope gleaned from their positive comments, I plan on meeting with my local Sierra Club staffer soon, and getting their endorsement on this Yellowstone Wilderness situation. As one of the largest, most respected conservation organizations in the world, I have to admit their endorsement would be nice. I’ll keep you posted.

I was very disappointed to see that the June 2012 issue of Backpacker magazine contains an article which gives exact directions to a wonderful backcountry hot spring in Yellowstone. My disappointment arises from the fact that I don’t feel it’s necessary to go into such great detail when publicly describing where these features are located. Hot springs don’t need this type of publicity. Really. Articles such as those can lead to sharp increases in use of backcountry areas, which, in turn, leads to overuse and degradation of the resource itself. To the author of said article, if you are hard up for article topics, please contact me. I have a list of over sixty and I just might toss one your way. Oh, and it’s “Mr. Bubble”, in the singular, not “Mr. Bubbles”. Shame, shame.

To those of you who have sent thoughtful, positive comments regarding this website and mission, thank you very much. Unfortunately, spam-blogging and another security issue required that I remove comments posted before summer, 2012. There are some strange people out there, some with way too much time on their hands. To those with excess free time and a lack of positive ideas who have chosen the YellowstoneWildernessMag as their object of wrath, I would politely suggest an active hobby, such as hiking in Yellowstone perhaps. Maybe it would be a good idea to come and see the Park before you attempt to embarrass websites which encourage protecting it. And don’t forget your meds. Positive comments are still encouraged and legitimate ones will be promptly posted!

Pat Wherritt, Sr. at Remote Mist of the Trident Falls, Yellowstone Park, USA

In the ‘Credit Where Credit Is Due’ category, I’d like to tell the story of my first assignment for the book “Guide to Yellowstone Waterfalls and Their Discovery”. It involved a backpacking trip of nearly seventy miles deep into the Thorofare country of Southeast Yellowstone. Naturally, on a trip as long as that in the Park it’s a good idea to have hiking partners. Three different friends assured me, after I got the assignment, that they would join me in this epic journey. That would’ve given us the magic number of four, which increases safety considerably, since no bear in Yellowstone’s recorded history has ever attacked a group of four or more people. With two weeks to go before the trip was to begin, all three, for various reasons, had to cancel. I was then left with the dilemma of whether or not to complete the trip, as it would amount to a solo backpack of ten days or so deep into grizzly country. While this sounds exciting, the moment by moment reality of actually experiencing such an adventure can be quite unnerving, and only marginally safe. On a solo trip there is no one to go for help, no matter how small the emergency.

I had been in contact with my father frequently during preparation for this trip. As my friends bailed, one by one, I was left explaining to him how I had no choice but to still go alone. At the time, I perceived this as my “big break,” and was not about to let someone else beat me to that unknown waterfall for the picture. I couldn’t postpone the trip due to a printing deadline. At this time, my father suggested that he accompany me. Serendipity was on our side, as he had been working out at the gym for the previous few months and was in very good physical shape for a man of fifty-seven who, at that time, owned and published the city magazine for Wichita, Kansas, the “Wichita Register”. My father had joined me on backpacking trips before, including a trip in Yellowstone where we circumnavigated Heart Lake, so I knew he was more than capable. Once I agreed that this would be a great idea, he cleared his schedule, bought the gear he needed online, including all the food for the trip, flew up to Bozeman, and off we went, father and son, into the great forest along the eastern shore of Yellowstone Lake.

What followed was definitely the most adventurous, enjoyable backpacking trip of my life. Other than perhaps our Heart Lake trip together, I’ve never eaten so well while backpacking. And let me tell you, I’ve done some backpacking! Dad ‘went all out’ and our menu included dishes like huevos rancheros for breakfast and every dinner was punctuated with a wonderful freeze-dried dessert. These were treats I couldn’t afford. My normal backpacking diet usually consisted of granola bars, cheese sandwiches, rice and ramen noodles. Everything was perfect, with the exception of one small argument over camera film, which was bound to happen when two people who love each other, but didn’t see nearly enough of one another, both photographers, end up alone together for many days in a row with the specific goal of a photograph to achieve. The weather was gorgeous, except for two days of snow, which only seemed to add to our sense of adventure and solitude. Both of us were continually amazed at the amount and variety of bear tracks along the trail. There were huge tracks, medium-size tracks and, chillingly, tiny tracks as well, which could only have been left by cubs following their overly-protective mothers. The entire length of the trail was also decorated with wolf tracks. The day we finally located the waterfall, which was over thirty miles in, a large grizzly made itself visible at the far edge of the huge meadow where we camped. Luckily, there were no accidents, and in the entire eleven days we only saw one other couple hiking and a group of rangers hauling supplies to the Thorofare cabin. I was truly amazed at how well my father took to this whole experience of deep wilderness backpacking. He helped me tackle the assignment like we were at war with a nation to defend. I realized, on this trip, where I get my dogged determination and perseverance, as it was demonstrated to me by my own father, who hunkered down and hiked like a champ. Yellowstone certainly seemed the land of abundance as well, with Dad catching two fish on each of his first two casts on fishing day. In other words, the trip was as epic as I ever imagined it could be. It was also, in all our lives, the highest-quality time I’ve ever spent with my father. Only later in life would I realize the value of those eleven days. They were the best eleven days of my life, for sure.

Pat Wherritt, Sr. at Remote Mist of the Trident Falls, Yellowstone Park, USA

As time went on, the waterfall book was published, with the designers using two photos from our trip together in the published version. The project I was working on to photograph the backcountry of the Park was eventually sent off to twelve book publishing companies. Two showed interest, and one of them even strung me along for months, assuring me that they would use my photographs in a book, but with a different manuscript. When this fell through, at a particularly low-point in my less-than professional photography career, my father made a suggestion. “What about doing an online magazine on the Yellowstone backcountry?”, he said while we talked on the phone one day. The idea was so brilliant that it took awhile to sink in. (When I say “awhile” here, I’m talking about, oh, like a year or two!) Anyway, the result, which I am quite proud of, is what you are reading right now. Although my father’s original idea was probably more commercial than the YellowstoneWildernessMag, the idea of going online with this message actually came from the mind of a guy sitting in Kansas. That guy, my father, was trying to come up with an idea that may help his son, who had long ago said goodbye to a conventional career and wrapped himself in the adrenaline and isolation of exploring Yellowstone alone, make something of his life and all the time he’d invested in photographing the backcountry of Yellowstone. That was the same father who wouldn’t let his son commit the possible suicide of a seventy mile solo backpack into deep Yellowstone wilderness, dodging grizzlies and chasing an unknown waterfall. His coming along on the trip was a selfless act of pure bravery, as many of us know a grizzly will tear into two people just as fast as it will tear into a person hiking alone. His coming along also, I felt then and still feel now, was an act that defined fatherhood itself. Not just by my standards, but surely by anyone’s. Not that every father has to do this, or could do this, it’s just that this was being the best father anyone could ever wish for. And there was peach cobbler on top of it all.

As it turned out there WAS a bear mauling on the same trail we took for most of the trip, the following summer, involving two hikers. Our guardian angel apparently was looking out for us that year.

Now, the goal of this website is to publicize the fact that the backcountry of Yellowstone is still waiting for required wilderness designation and that the backcountry of Yellowstone will never be permanently protected until such designation takes place. The Yellowstone Wilderness issue is definitely the biggest issue concerning Yellowstone that goes unnoticed. And to those who think our national parks, and wilderness areas for that matter, are safe forever, I urge you to think again. A bill which just passed the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 4089, the so-called ‘Sportsman’s Heritage Act’, contains provisions that would open up large areas of national park backcountry to development, as well as undermine the Wilderness Act itself. Whether this bill reaches a full Senate vote remains to be determined at the time of this writing. (By the way, readers can contact their congressional representatives by clicking on the “How You Can Help” line on the sidebar at the top of this page.) Those of us who care about America’s public lands and their heritage as well as preservation for future generations can apparently look forward to these types of legislative onslaughts on a regular basis from now on.

Oh, joy.

All the more reason, however, to push for wilderness designation for Yellowstone’s backcountry.

Pelicans on Madison River, Far Northwest Corner of Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Sticking up for wilderness often seems like a thankless task. The group Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness are giving me a valuable education on what it means to sacrifice one’s energy and time for this great, worthy cause. This is a tough battle, though, where progress seems measured in millimeters at times. Yet, it is immensely rewarding to see progress. More and more people, in and around Yellowstone, are now aware of this issue, largely due to this website, and the group Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness, who won’t let it rest either. That’s progress. This website is also offered, for free, as a download by a third-party ebook site, and none of those downloads count towards search engine rankings. Other websites have also taken bits and pieces of the YellowstoneWildernessMag, such as the Organic Act which I posted on the “Laws Regarding Yellowstone Wilderness” page, and offered these tidbits as premiums for whatever point, or dollar, they are trying to make. This doesn’t bother me a bit. Those are more eyes seeing the cause and borrowing from this website only gives it more credibility. As the creator of this, I benefit indirectly from it enough to make it worthwhile to keep up with it, and keep it focused and to the point, without advertising. Youngsters sitting in a cubicle somewhere, reveling in the perceived power of their first tech job, who have most likely never been to the Park, can say anything they want about the name I chose. Personally, I don’t think much of the name ‘domometer’ either. Thanks for the laugh, though, ‘domometer’!  So, numbers at first glance can be misleading. I know some of the right people are seeing this, and eventually the balance will tip toward congressional action. It’s only a matter of time.

Recently, I was very inspired to continue on with this cause. The source of my inspiration was a poem written by twelve year-old Chris Myers, of Pasadena, California, sent to me by his father, Tom. With their permission, I am publishing the poem, which was such an inspiration to me. It reminded me of what it’s like to see Yellowstone for the first time, as a young person whose life seems so full of promise and wonder. This is something we all need to be reminded of occasionally, and I consider myself fortunate that this was sent to me when it was.

THE SENSES OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
by Chris Myers

When I think of Yellowstone National Park
I think of vast forests of trees
And land formations dotted in abundance around an enormous park.
When I see Yellowstone Park,
I see endless vistas of evergreen trees
And a land impossible for one human to fully explore.
When I hear Yellowstone Park
I hear the ceaseless cries of animals big and small
And the deafening roar of an enormous waterfall
Releasing thousands of gallons of water every second.
When I smell Yellowstone Park,
I smell the sweet, fresh aroma of the thousands of pines surrounding me.
And the foul odor of sulfur emitted by the many hot springs.
When I taste Yellowstone Park,
I taste s’mores around a warm campfire
With sometimes a bitter taste from roasting my marshmallow too long!
And when I feel Yellowstone Park,
I realize that sometimes sightseeing isn’t enough
And to fully experience a place you must explore it yourself.
Yellowstone Park provides resources to sustain the lives of the creatures which call it home
And holds endless, unventured possibilities.

We adults need to make sure that young men like Chris are able to have this sense of awe forever. The way to do this is to support wilderness designation for Yellowstone’s backcountry. Thanks, Chris, for reminding me why I do this. Thank you also, Tom Myers, for sending me your son Chris’s poem. And thank you, Dad, for putting yourself on the line with me down in the Thorofare.

Patrick Wherritt, Jr.
Publisher
YellowstoneWildernessMag.com