Elephants Cool Down with their Ears, Hear with their Feet, and Lead with their Tails… On Safari (Part 3)

December 18, 2023December 17, 2023 / Curt Mekemson / 36 Comments

The first elephant we saw was when we were traveling by bus from Victoria Falls to Chobe National Park. It was a magnificent animal with the largest ears we would see on our whole trip. I thought it might charge. The odds are it was simply cooling down its body, or curious. I learned it might have been warning us, however. When an elephant looks at you, raises its ears, and makes a short charge in your direction, the message is clear: Back off! The raised ears are to make the elephant look bigger than it is! An even worse scenario (other than the heart attack you could suffer in the first one), is when the elephant lays back its ears tight against its body, raises its trunk, and starts to charge. Good luck. Running isn’t much of an option unless can run faster than 25 miles per hour. The fastest human in the world might just stand a chance. Standing behind a very large tree could be more helpful. Peggy did that once when a giant bull elk charged her in Yellowstone where she was working as a college student. And she’s still here.

I have big ears. They are 3 1/2 inches long. African elephants have provided a new perspective. Theirs can be six feet long and five feet wide. “The better to hear with,” you might note. And elephants do have good hearing with a range from 14 to 16,000 hz. (Humans range from 20 to 20,000 hz in comparison.) The lower range is known as subsonic. Elephants can actually make subsonic sounds with their trunks that humans can’t hear but elephants can— up to miles away! The large flaps also serve to direct sound toward the inner ear. Think of cupping your hands behind your ears. It helps to say “eh.”

Of equal importance, an elephants ears play a big role in helping it to keep cool. The fancy name for this is thermoregulation, the process that allows your body to maintain its core temperature. For example, a message from your skin goes to your brain saying it’s hot. Your brain sends a message back to your skin: Sweat. Unlike us, elephants don’t have sweat glands except around their feet. They cope with Africa’s hot tropical sun using other methods. We’ve already discussed mud baths. Wrinkly skin is another.

One look at this elephant and you might think it’s older than Methuselah given its wrinkles. Actually, even the youngsters have wrinkles. The cracked skin enables elephants to hold up to 5-10 times more moisture on their skin when they take water or mud baths than they would with smooth skin. As this moisture evaporates, it helps to cool the elephant.

A close up of an elephant’s wrinkled skin. Note the hairs. There aren’t many, but scientists believe the thick, bristly hairs serve to transfer heat from the body into the atmosphere, especially if there is a breeze. The impact is apparently much greater than one might imagine.

Ears are different. There are no lack of hairs there. (This youngster might also win a wrinkle contest.) While hair growing out of an older man’s ears serves little purpose other than ugly, elephants find them quite beneficial. In addition to keeping bugs and mud out, they also transfer heat and add to the cooling process that takes place in an elephant’s ears.

Check out the blood vessels and veins in the elephant’s ear above. It’s packed with them. They are close to the surface and covered by a thin layer of skin. The system allows excess heat to escape from the blood vessels into the air and help to reduce the elephant’s core temperature. It is estimated that an elephant passes the blood in its body through its ears every 20 minutes.

This illustration from ScienceGate provides another perspective.

Elephants enhance this process in various ways. Providing air to move the heat away and cool the ear is the most important. Elephants are known to stand in the wind with their ears out. The most common approach, however, is to flap their ears. In addition to providing a breeze for the ears, the flapping also fans the body and blows insects away. (I wish I could flap mine.) Watching a group of elephants crossing the savanna while flapping their ears is so common it’s iconic. Other methods include getting out of the sun and taking mud/water baths.

Returning to our elephant that was bathing and cooling down at a water hole in Hwange National Park in my last post, he paid special attention to spraying down his ears. Given the exposed blood vessels in his ears, it’s easy to understand why this might be an important part of his cooling down effort.

This caused me to think about another aspect of elephant behavior related to their ears. When the elephants came out of the mud bath I featured in my December 4 blog, they gave a vigorous shake to their ears. I thought at the time it was like, “Woohoo!” Thinking back, I wonder if they weren’t shaking the mud off of their ears. Given that the mud in general helps to keep them cool, protect them from sunburn, and frustrate biting bugs, why? My conclusion (for which I couldn’t find back up data) was that the mud coats their ears and reduces the ability of their blood vessels to transfer the heat to the air.

These elephants gave their ears a vigorous shake when they came out of the mud bath. Were they having a Woohoo moment, shaking the mud off, or doing something else?

And now it’s time to turn to elephant’s feet. They’re big too, which shouldn’t come as any surprise considering they belong to animals weighing between 2 and 7 tons, the world’s largest land animals. This is an actual footprint of one that Peggy is holding up. It was made by Jumbo, the biggest elephant at the Wild Horizons Elephant Sanctuary, by pressing his inked foot down on paper. We bought the print and carried it home with us. The paper is rather unique in itself. It’s made out of recycled paper and elephant poop.

To provide another perspective, this is my size 15 shoe next to a fresh elephant print. We came across it when we were on a safari walk with Terry Anders, who, along with his wife, Sheona, is the owner of the Iganyana Tent Camp located on the edge of Hwange National Park. Terry explained to us that its size indicated it was a large bull elephant. He also told us that each elephants footprint is unique like a fingerprint. Eventually the ridges wear down through extensive walking over varied terrain, providing an indication of the elephant’s age.

Here’s what an elephant’s foot looks like close up. Like us, an elephant has five toes on each foot, but not all of the toes have toenails. It actually walks on its toes. A thick pad of gristle extends backward, working something like a shock absorber. The bottom line: This foot was made for walking, and walking it will do— up to 30 miles a day. And, if you irritate the elephant, it may walk all over you. (My apologies to Nancy Sinatra.)

This is an elephant’s toe bone that Terry showed us when we were out on our safari walk.

Tracking an elephant after a rainstorm would not be a problem!

Elephants tend to follow the same routes to reach food and water, creating well worn paths.

Given the years I have spent wandering in the wilderness, I’ve always been interested in animal tracks. And that certainly applies to elephants. But what interests me the most about elephant feet is how they ‘hear’ with them via seismic communication. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwel, a Stanford researcher, has been returning to the same elephant watering hole in Namibia for over 25 years figuring out how they do it. Her work has demonstrated that African elephants exchange information by emitting low-frequency sounds through their trunks that travel dozens of miles through the ground. She believes this communication is the key in understanding the dynamics of elephant groups. “Announcements” can include warnings, mating calls and navigation instructions, e.g. “Don’t be alarmed sweetie, but I would really like to make it with you under the acacia tree next to the pond.” In a more passive sense, elephants can also keep track of each other through the sound of each other’s foot steps.

They “listen” with their feet in two ways. One is through touch. Just like us, elephants have receptors in their skin known as Pacinian corpuscles that are hardwired to the brain. On an elephant these are located around the edge of their feet. When an elephant is picking up sounds/vibrations, it presses its feet onto the ground, expanding their surface by as much as 20%. Signals are then sent to the brain for processing. While this isn’t hearing exactly, the message gets through. A second method called bone conduction is closer to real hearing. The elephant jabs its big toes into the ground and the vibrations are carried up through its body via bones to the inner ear where they are heard like sound vibrations coming through the air.

And finally, we reach the tail end of this post. Grin. Tails on elephants serve just like tails on cattle: They swish them around a lot and keep the bugs away. But there is more. Almost everyone has seen photos of a baby elephant holding on to its mom’s tail. It serves the same purpose as moms and dads holding their younger children’s hands. It guides them and helps keep them out of trouble. Unfortunately, we didn’t see it on our trip. The mom also uses her tail to keep track of her baby when it isn’t holding her tail by feeling it with her tail. It’s a lot easier than turning around to check on junior. Finally, holding its tail up can signal that the elephant is fearful, highly playful or intensely excited. “Over here, Big Boy.”

At first, I had planned to do one blog on elephants, then it was two. Now it is three. They are just too fascinating, at least for me. Next time I’ll get more into family life, eyes, teeth, bones, and even poop— a single elephant can produce up to one ton in a week!

Come on in, the Mud’s Fine… Plus a Dramatic Rescue Effort by Elephants in Chobe National Park: On Safari (Part 1)

December 4, 2023December 3, 2023 / Curt Mekemson / 50 Comments

This baby elephant had just wrapped up a mud bath in Chobe National Park, Botswana. It was about to become part of a dramatic rescue effort.

Today, I am starting my series of posts on Peggy and my recent safari to Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. It was an incredible adventure, one of our best ever. We owe a large vote of thanks to Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances for asking us if we would like to join them on the Collette Travel Agency organized trip. Along the way, we visited four national parks, Victoria Falls and Cape Town— staying in accommodations that ranged from a safari lodge, to a tent camp, to a house boat, and comfortable hotels.

Peggy, Frances, John and I with an elephant backdrop on safari in Chobe National Park, Botswana. We were in an open-sided river boat on the Chobe River that provided great views of the wildlife. Since elephants are my subject for the next three posts, I decided repost this photo I used in my last blog.

As for the wildlife we saw? It was incredible! That’s the only way I can think to describe it. In addition to seeing a great variety, we watched them going about their daily business of eating, sleeping, fighting, breeding and even pooping. (Elephants do a lot and hippos whirl their tails like a fan when going. It’s best not get caught in the splatter zone.) What we hadn’t expected to see was the colorful birdlife. It was a plus. Our guides also went out of their way to introduce us to local African culture, which I appreciated a lot, given my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa.

While we weren’t on a photographic safari, per se, we took a few. Make that 5,000. Grin. We will share some of the best. Exploring in open safari vehicles and boats, plus a “walking safari” provided excellent opportunities for both observation and photography. Our approach will be to feature one animal per blog for the major animals and then move to combined posts for the the birds and animals we saw fewer of.

I’m starting today with elephants. I was going to do two posts on these large, intelligent, family oriented animals but decided on three after I noted a rescue effort by family members when I was reviewing our photos of elephants enjoying a mud bath in Chobe National Park. It reflects an important aspect of how elephants care for one another.

But first, let me begin by noting that elephants take lots of baths, both by cavorting in mud and spraying water (and muddy water!) on themselves. Getting clean isn’t the objective, obviously. With minimal hair and few sweat glands, keeping cool in the hot African sun isn’t easy. The mud baths provide an opportunity to cool down, but they also serve as sunblock, and, to a degree, insect repellent. Elephants can get sunburned. And what blood sucking bug wants a mouthful of mud?

Many of the elephants we saw had mud caked on their wrinkly skin like this one in Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe.

This family of elephants had been grazing on an island in the Chobe River and then crossed over to the shore through the river. Along the way, they had washed off much of their mud. It was time for another mud bath.

The bath was located conveniently on their way back into the trees where they would feed on leaves, even if they had to knock over trees to get them. Mom, and the baby shown at the beginning of the post, seem to be having a grand time.

Not all was well, with the family, however. One was down and obviously having problems, possibly with a rock embedded in her foot. A concerted rescue effort was about to take place.

Members of the family were able to persuade her to stand up and worked out a plan. What happened next was dramatic, to say the least.

At first I thought that all of the elephants had crowded together to share the mud hole. Now I am convinced that they joined together to help push the young female out of the hole. Even the calf was lending a shoulder. The young male on the right may have been offering a trunk for support.

The adults, having achieved their objective of starting the injured elephant on her way, moved on. The two younger elephants continued to provide support.

But then, she fell again, despite their boost…

And ended up back in the hole. The youngsters switched locations to encourage her to get up again.

And put their whole bodies into the effort.

They succeeded and she began crawling out on her own. It wasn’t easy.

Note how she is using her trunk for leverage and balance, pulling it toward her and making the dust fly. I’ll write more about this marvelous appendage in my next two posts.

Between pulling with her front legs and pushing with her hind legs while using her trunk for balance, she inched toward success. The other elephants moving on likely provided incentive.

Finally, she made it! Ears flapping she rushed off to catch up with her family.

Searching on the net, I found where moms help their babies out when they are stuck in mud holes. I also read that when an adult went down, possibly because of old age, the other elephants gather around and help it stand, leaning in to provide support. Such behavior suggests the caring, empathetic nature of elephants. My post today provides a unique example, particularly the role played by the younger elephants.

I’ll conclude today by providing an example of another mud bath, this time traveling into Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Several artificial water holes have been established in the park to provide wildlife with water in dry season. It also serves to spread the animals out to reduce overgrazing. Peggy and I took these photos from an observation tower that had been set up beside one of the water holes.

One elephant left its bath while another remained, seeming to play submarine and blow bubbles. Actually, it was using its trunk and possibly its tusks and feet to stir up mud for its mud bath.

Having stirred up enough, the elephant surfaced. We were amused by the secretary bird who seemed shocked to see this ‘dark creature rising from the black lagoon.’

It seemed to offer a salute. Maybe it was scratching its head…

And who knows what it was up to with this pose. The photo-bombing secretary bird didn’t seem impressed.

It finished off its bath by spraying itself with muddy water it had sucked into its trunk. I’ll leave you with the vision. In our next post, we’ll continue to explore the fascinating world of elephants, plus visit an elephant graveyard.

Hippos and Lions and Elephants, Oh My… African Safari 2023— Up Close and Personal

November 10, 2023 / Curt Mekemson / 47 Comments

Come on in, the water’s fine. How fast can you swim? I can manage 5 miles per mile galloping along the bottom and 19 miles per hour on land.

It took me a while to get back to Africa after my Peace Corps assignment there from 1965-67. When my feet first touched African soil at Roberts Field in Liberia, Peace Corps was a baby of four and I barely qualified as a young adult at 22. That was 58 years ago. I always wanted to go back, but there was a lifetime of other things that needed to be seen and done…

A very young me as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gbarnga, Liberia in 1967 with the senior class. I taught African History, World History and World Geography at Gboveh High School. My students took top national honors in Social Studies that year.

Peggy and I made up for our lack of African travel this year. In February we flew off to Egypt and boated up the Nile to celebrate my 80^th birthday. It was an incredible experience, packed with ancient history and magnificent structures stretching back over 5000 years.

Peggy and I doing the tourist thing after we had just re-entered the world of the living from our trip deep under the pyramid of Khafre at Giza.

Now, we have just returned from a journey to the southern part of the African continent that included national parks in Botswana and Zimbabwe, Lake Kariba, Victoria Falls and Cape Town. It was equal to, if not more impressive than our Egypt adventure. Imagine a herd of several dozen wild elephants joining us for dinner by drinking out of a swimming pool located next to our dining table.

Elephants kept arriving to drink out of the swimming pool which was located about 20 feet away from our dining table at Iganyana Tented Camp in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. One group would finish and another would arrive to take its place. This went on for at least an hour. I was kept busy with our iPhone taking photos. Best dinner show we have ever had!

Our recent trip started with a call from Peggy’s brother, John Dallen. Eleven years ago we took a delightful repositioning cruise with him, his wife Frances and friends Lee and Kathy Saaga, exploring the Mediterranean before sailing across the Atlantic back home. Since then, John has called several times with offers to join Frances and him in exploring the world. There were some great trips. But, as John likes to note, our travel styles differ substantially. If he is going to be out for six months, each day is carefully planned and reservations made, normally at four and five star hotels. If Peggy and I travel for six months, we have a vague idea of where we are going and make reservations a day in advance, if then. We once travelled for a year without making one. Our normal mode of travel is with a van or small travel trailer— or, putting our backpacks on and disappearing into the wilderness.

Frances, John, Peggy, Kathy and Lee in Santorini, one of the many places we visited in the Mediterranean.

This time, John made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. “Would you like to go on an African safari with us?” It took us five seconds to say yes. There would be hippos and lions and elephants to see, not to mention leopards, wart hogs, baboons and numerous other animals and birds. I will be featuring the places we visited and the wildlife we saw in our next several posts.

Today’s photos will give you a taste of what to expect. Peggy was traveling with her usual camera, a Canon EOS Rebel with a 20 to 300 mm Tamron lens. For Africa, I upgraded from my pocket Canon Power Shot to a different version, a Canon Power Shot SX 70 HS. Due to the miracle of modern technology it comes with a 21 to 1365 35mm equivalent lens and weighs just over a pound. It made it possible for us to capture photos like the hippo above.

The King of Beasts, proves his cat like nature by washing his face with a paw bath…

While the Queen of Beasts just looks regal.

It’s a croc! Is that a smile? Maybe he is dreaming of an impala dinner.

“Wait for me Mom. I’m hurrying as fast as I can!” This baby elephant in Chobe National Park, Botswana was playing catchup.

Gulp. Ostriches graze with their heads down and then raise it up to swallow. Obviously this guy had quite a gullet full. We came on him a couple of miles from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

The local bus? Given this photo, it may be hard to believe that the Cape Buffalo is the most dangerous animal in Africa. The birds aren’t getting a free ride, however. They are picking bugs off, which is much appreciated by both the birds and the buffalo.

Would you believe my grey blue tongue is about 19 inches long?

Have you seen any road or lion kill? I’m not particular about where it is or how long it has been there.

We found this cute little fellow on Table Mountain above Cape Town, South Africa. I’m betting you probably don’t know its closest relatives. We sure didn’t. They are the elephant and the manatee.

I’ll conclude today with this photo of Peggy, Frances, John and me on the Chobe River with an elephant backdrop. My next post will feature these elephants and many more we met along the way! John, BTW, has a travel blog you might want to check out at: dallen.posthaven.com. He calls his blog “Are We There Yet?”

The Grand Tetons… Mountains Close to Perfection

March 20, 2023March 19, 2023 / Curt Mekemson / 19 Comments

Photo of Gran Tetons by photographer Curtis Mekemson — If I were in charge of making mountains, I would use the Grand Tetons as a model. A blogging friend of mine told me that the first time she saw them, she started crying. They inspire that kind of awe.

Just before we reached Yellowstone NP on our four month trip around the US last fall, we drove through Grand Tetons National Park. I’ll be featuring photos Peggy and I took of the Grand Tetons and the Absaroka Range today.

As Peggy and I drove across the 9,658 feet (2,943 m) Togwotee Pass, we were excited. We were in the Rocky Mountains and had just crossed over the Continental Divide. We were back in the West! Rivers would now be flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Soon we would get our first views of the Grand Tetons— not that there was anything shabby about the scenery on pass.

Photo of Togwotee Pass by Peggy Mekemson. — As we passed over the Continental Divide at Togwotee Pass, our excitement grew. This area receives over 25 feet of snow a year, a figure that can climb as high as 50, which I suspect it has this year.

Photo of Aspens near Togwotee Pass by Curt Mekemson. — It was in October and the aspens near the pass were displaying their fall colors.

Photo of The Absaroka Range and aspens taken by Peggy Mekemson. — The Absaroka Range, which can be seen from the pass, provided a backdrop for this grove. The range serves as the eastern boundary to Yellowstone NP.

Photo of The Absaroka Range by Curt Mekemson. — My father once painted a picture of the Absaroka Range.

Photo of Herb Mekemson by Glen Fishback — Professional photographer Glen Fishback took this photo of my dad painting the Absaroka Range in the 1980s. Pop, as we knew him, had wandered around the country with his sister, Eleanor, a few years earlier. I took this photo through glass so I couldn’t capture it as well as I would have liked to. Glen used my dad as a model and this photo ended up in a national photography magazine.

Photo by Peggy Mekemson. — A final Highway 26 road shot of the Absaroka Range. The Grand Tetons were waiting.

The Grand Tetons are a baby range, relatively speaking, less than 10 million years old. Compare that with the Rockies at 50-80 million years or the Appalachians at over 300 million. That’s what gives them their rugged, good looks. Erosion hasn’t had time to wear away their jagged peaks. Earthquakes along the Teton fault on the east side of the range are responsible for their height. Plate tectonic movement, which is stretching the region in an east west direction, is responsible for the earthquakes. When the tension becomes too great, an earthquake takes place, usually of 7 to 7.5 magnitude, i.e. big. Seesaw-like, the mountains rise and the valley next to it falls along the 40 mile fault, with each earthquake averaging around 10 feet of up and down movement. It is estimated that the mountain range has risen some 26,000 feet with 6,000 feet showing above the floor and 20,000 buried under it. Geologists estimate that the last major quakes were about 5,900, 8,000, and 10,000 years ago.

Photo of Tetons by Photographer Curt Mekemson — The Tetons were looming above a dark conifer forest in our first views with a hint of the colors to come.

Photo of Grand Tetons by Peggy Mekemson. — Aspens were soon adding larger splashes of color. The high peak in the center is Grand Teton, after which the range is named. It has an elevation of 13, 775 feet.

Photo of Mt. Moran by photographer Curt Mekemson — Mt. Moran dominates the northern section of the Tetons and rises 12,605 feet above sea level. The orange colored leaves are from cottonwoods.

Photo of Jenny Lake and Grand Tetons by photographer Peggy Mekemson — Our road ran next to Jenny Lake and provided some great views of the Tetons.

Photo of Grand Teton National Park by Peggy Mekemson. — The only photo we took of the park that didn’t feature the mountains.

There Is More to Yellowstone NP than Hydrothermal Wonders… Scenic Beauty

March 6, 2023March 13, 2023 / Curt Mekemson / 28 Comments

Peggy and I are wrapping up our visit to Yellowstone today from our journey around the US last fall with pictures of a few of the many scenic views found in the park. All photos are taken by either Peggy or me unless otherwise noted.

Photo of Gibbon Falls taken by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — When it comes to scenic beauty, one can find plenty in the rivers that flow through Yellowstone National Park. This photo is Gibbon Falls on the Gibbon River.

Photo Gibbon Falls of Yellowstone National Park by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — The river drops some 84 feet and then makes its tumbling way for a quarter of a mile to the Yellowstone Caldera. A paved trail leads along the river providing great views of Gibbon Falls.

Close up photo of Gibbon Falls in Yellowstone National Park by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — A close up. Can you hear the roar? Having cut its way back from the Yellowstone Caldera, the rock will continue to erode its base leaving the Caldera farther behind and increasing in height.

Photo of Fireball River by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — Looking positively serene in comparison to Gibbon Falls, this is a shot of Firehole River not far from Old Faithful and the main hot springs area of Yellowstone. Appearances are deceiving, however. toward the end of the photo you can see where the river narrows. It is about to go tumbling down…

Photo of Fireball River tumbling over rocks by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — A side road runs along the Firehol River and provides views of the river’s rapid descent. I’d say we were no more than a few hundred yards below where we took the ‘serene’ photo.

Photo of rapids in Fireball River In Yellowstone by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — This would probably make a white water rafter or kayaker drool.

Photo of Fireball River by Curt Mekemson. — If I were in a raft and turned around to spot this monster, I might have a heart attack. Can you spot the eyes, nose and mouth? Not to worry, however. Yellowstone National Park does not allow rafting on its rivers. The monster has to eat fish. There is a small section of the river between rapids where Peggy swam when she was working at Yellowstone in 1969. She apparently avoided the monster.

Photo of backdrop to Gibbon River taken by Peggy Mekemson. — The Firehole calms down when it meets up with the Gibbon River. And check out the wall. Isn’t it magnificent? Climb to the top and you will be out of the Caldera. Some rock climbing skills may be necessary. Grin.

Photo of volcanic rocks above Fireball River in Yellowstone NP by Curt Mekemson. — This close up of volcanic rock spires above the river provides a perspective on how rugged the cliffs above the river can be.

Picture of people fishing on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — The Gibson/Firehole river then joins the Madison for a more leisurely pace and great fishing, which is what the two people on the left are doing. We also spotted buffalo and elk near the river.

Picture O Gardner River in Yellowstone National Park by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — We found this little beauty on our way up to Mammoth Hot Springs and its travertine terraces. It was a bonus. Known as the Gardner River, it had carved out Sheep Eaters’ Cliff that we had stopped to see.

If this looks familiar, these are the same type of basalt columns that I featured on my earlier post about Devil’s Tower National Monument. The primary difference being that the columns at Devil’s Tower formed far underground and grew to gigantic size. These were part of a lava flow along the surface and are much smaller.

Photo of Sheep Eaters cliff in Yellowstone National Park by Peggy Mekemson. — I suspect you are curious about the name. I was. The cliff is named after a band of Shoshone Indians who were known as the Tukudika, or Sheep Eaters. They apparently found big horned sheep quite tasty. I get it. I presently have a package of lamb in our refrigerator that I am planning on turning into lamb curry, one of my favorite dishes.

Photo of Cut Mekemson at Yellowstone by Peggy Mekemson. — As we continued our journey toward Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern section of Yellowstone, we came on a wildly colored meadow painted with fall colors. I liked it so much that Peggy took my photo standing in front of it.

Photo of Yellowstone National Park taken by Curt Mekemson. — This comes close to my idealized view of the Western United States with vast distances topped off by impressive mountains. The soft colors of fall, the dark tree lines and gently rolling hills all added to the beauty. Over on the right, you can also see an aspen grove.

Photo of Yellowstone NP back country by Curtis Mekemson. — Another view of the backcountry on our way to Mammoth Hot Springs that we liked.

Photo of buffalo in Yellowstone National Park by Peggy Mekemson. — We even found a buffalo that seemed to fit beautifully into the fall scene.

Photo of Yellowstone NP road by Curt Mekemson. — Ever feel like you are living on the edge? The view around the corner was spectacular.

Yellowstone photo by Peggy Mekemson. — It was the sunlight on the peak that caught our attention. But note the avalanche path along side the peak as well. It has to be one of the longest paths I have seen. And finally, there was the splash of brilliant yellow from the aspens.

Photo of Aspens in Yellowstone NP by Curt Mekemson. — Speaking of aspens, I’ll wrap up today’s post with these beauties. They will also serve to wrap up my series on the Yellowstone National Park. In our next Monday post, Peggy and I will visit two scenic towns along the Rhine River. BTW, as you read this, Peggy and I are on a riverboat traveling up the Nile River in Egypt on my 80th Birthday trip.

The Travertine Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs: Yellowstone

February 20, 2023February 18, 2023 / Curt Mekemson / 35 Comments

Today, Peggy and I are continuing our exploration of Yellowstone National Park, which we visited as part of our four month, 12,000 mile exploration of the US between September and December this past year. All photos in this post were taken by either Peggy or me unless otherwise noted.

Photos of Yellowstone National Park taken by photographers Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — If you are visiting Yellowstone National Park, be sure to visit the colorful travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs.

Located 50 miles north of Old Faithful, the travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs are one of the most unique and beautiful of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal created landscapes. The terracing is a result of underlying limestone. Hot water dissolves the limestone and deposits it on the surface. The bright colors, like the colors of the hot springs in the Yellowstone Caldera to the south, are created by thermophiles, tiny microorganisms that thrive in the hot springs. Different types of thermophiles have different tolerance for the heat and come in different colors based upon their exposure to sunlight. Those that can tolerate the most heat live deep in the pools and tend toward blue and green. The ones living on the cooler outer edges are more in the brown and yellow range.

Peggy and I took a day to drive up from where we were camped in the town of West Yellowstone to visit Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way up we saw a lot of great scenery that I will feature in another post and two hydrothermal features I haven’t covered in this series yet: mud pots and fumaroles.

Photos of Yellowstone National Park taken by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — Mud pots occur when hot thermal water is flowing under a layer of clay that blocks the water from escaping to the surface. Steam from the water, however, is able to make its way through the clay. Certain microorganisms convert the sulfur dioxide in the steam to sulfuric acid which turns the clay into a gooey, sticky consistency. Bubbles are created as a result of the steam bubbling up through the goo. It sound like plop, plop, plop.

Photo of an exploding bubble in a Yellowstone mud pot by Curt Mekemson. — I included this exploding bubble in an earlier post. I liked it so much you get to see it again.

Photos of Yellowstone taken by photographers Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — A fumarole is similar to a geyser but lacks the water to create eruptions. Instead, the heat from the volcanic rocks turns what water is available into incredibly hot steam that escapes from vents and ranges in temperatures up to 280°F (138°C). It can be noisy. This is a shot of Roaring Mountain that received its name from the noise created by the escaping steam. It could be heard from miles away in the 90s. It’s quieter today.

And now it’s time to visit the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. A convenient road takes you around the terraces. Walkways off the road take you to the lower terraces. The following photos were taken from the walkways.

Photos of Mammoth Hot Springs by Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — Canary Springs is one of the most popular sites along the lower terrace trail at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Photos of Mammoth Hot Springs taken by photographers Curt and Peggy Mekemson. — A broader, softer perspective of Canary Springs.

A view of the travertine terrace just above Canary Springs.

Cupid Springs. I don’t have a clue on how it got its name.

The road snakes around the upper terrace. There are several pullouts that allow close up views of the various formations.

Photo of hydrothermal mound in Yellowstone NP taken by Curt Mekemson — We were driving back to West Yellowstone when we came across this very colorful small dome. The steam coming from the back suggests a fumarole. We simply had to stop and photograph it. That does it for today. Our next post will be on Heidelberg Castle. After that, it will be back to Yellowstone and its scenic beauty.

Badlands National Park: Sunset

October 14, 2022October 14, 2022 / Curt Mekemson / 22 Comments

I was cooking beef pot-roast in our insta-pot and time was running out. I had miscalculate the time it would take and we were going to miss the Badlands at sunset. “Go ahead,” Peggy told me. She knew how much I wanted to catch the colors. “I’ll finish up here. We can eat when you get back.” My sweetie didn’t have to offer twice. I was out the door and into the truck. The sunset was quite impressive and the food tasted delicious when I returned. Following are some of the photos I took. Enjoy.

Next week we will be returning to our summer trip up the Rhine River. Please join Peggy and me along with our kids and grandkids as we explore the Rhine, castles, colorful towns, the Black Forest and a couple of impressive cities.

The Wildlife and the Beauty of Sage Road… Badlands National Park

October 7, 2022October 6, 2022 / Curt Mekemson / 37 Comments

Photo of big horned sheep along Sage Road in Badlands NP by Curt Mekemson. — I was getting the ‘look’ when I snapped this photo of a bighorn sheep on Sage Road.

Sage Road in Badlands National Park is known for its easily accessible wildlife population. We drove out it during our recent stay near the Badlands to see what we could find. This fellow, along with a few other bighorn sheep, was hanging out along side the gravel road. Its look seemed to say, “Don’t mess with me.” Big horn sheep were first re-introduced to the Park 1922 with more being added later. The park’s herd now numbers near 250.

This youngster is busy chewing on weeds. Bighorn stuff themselves with tough-to-eat grass like this and then retreat to somewhere high and safe where they can regurgitate it and chew it more thoroughly. (Remember your mom urging you to chew your food!) What we don’t have that the sheep do, however, is four stomachs to help in the digesting process. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

We also found a few buffalo along the way. The National Park website, which is where I found the details on the wildlife included in today’s post, gives the buffalo’s scientific name as Bison, bison, bison, i.e. they are of the genus Bison, of the species bison, and the subspecies bison. Buffalo was derived from the French “bœuf,” meaning buffalo, and given to the large creatures by early French fur trappers. The Lakota name for bison is tatanka. Bison were incredibly important to the Lakota and other Native Americans of the Great Plains who carefully used every part of the buffalo they killed. An estimated 30 million roamed the area prior to the arrival of Euro-Americans who hunted the buffalo almost to extinction for their hides and tongues. An even darker reason is given for the slaughter: The US government wanted to disrupt the Indigenous people’s way of life to make way for the Euro-Americans. One way of doing this was killing off the vast herds of buffalo that the natives depended on to live.

Photo of Buffalo beside Sage Road in Badlands National park by Peggy Mekemson. — These large furry creatures paid zero attention to us as they grazed beside Sage road, which is what we wanted! They do look like something that would be fun to pet, however. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Don’t. The fur says pet me; the eyes say don’t even think about it. One does not want to irritate a creature that can weigh up to 2000 pounds and run fast, really fast. Sign after sign in national and state parks where the buffalo roam, warn people to keep their distance. Despite the warnings, some people insist on a closer view, which can result in a bad ending. I watched a video of a guy standing five feet away from a buffalo waving his arms and shouting. A few seconds later, he was taking flying lessons. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Peggy did not take this picture. Unlike her husband, Peggy does not take photos of poop to put in the blog. I tend to go along with the philosophy of the bison: Let the chips fall where they may.

It’s Fat Bear Week, as anybody who hangs out in social media is probably aware. The prairie dogs of the Badlands want you to know that they consider it discrimination that there is no Fat Prairie Dog Week. When their size is taken into consideration, they are willing to take on any bear when it comes to putting on the pounds/ounces!

“Bring it on bears!” this fat prairie dog seems to say as he prepares to stuff more food down his gullet in preparation for winter. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

When it seems like just about everyone wants to eat you (the fatter the better), it is wise to look both ways. Prairie dogs have a distinctive set of whistles that warns their fellow dogs of what danger exists. Is it a hawk, or a snake, or a coyote, or a black footed ferret, etc. that considers you part of their menu? There is a whistle for each. Or is it a camera carrying human who only wants a photo?The black footed ferret, btw, was close to extinction. It is now being reintroduced to areas where their main source of food, prairie dogs, live. This suits the ferret just fine. It can eat up to a hundred a year. I doubt that anyone asked the prairie dogs if they wanted to participate in the “Save the Ferret” campaign.

There is a Prairie Dog Town located along Sage Road. Park publicity and a pull-off guarantees that tourists will arrive in significant numbers to capture photos of the fat, furry squirrels. Sharp whistles warn of the two legged visitors. Here’s a fascinating fact that I read on the Badlands NP website: An estimated 5 billion prairie dogs once lived on the Great Plains in their underground boroughs. The largest of their historic towns has been estimated to cover over 25,000 square miles (64,749 kilometers)! For perspective, that’s larger than West Virginia and 9 other smaller states in the US or Croatia and 23 other smaller countries in Europe.

Beyond wildlife, Sage Road shows a different type of beauty than that found along the Loop Road, which runs along the Wall and through the badlands seen in the distance.

We loved the contrast between the golden grass on the gentle hills and green stands of trees found down in the gullies. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

The lone tree caught my attention in this photo.

Peggy captured me heading for another tree I found interesting. Given my wandering ways, she wondered if I would stop there.

I did stop, even though the stand of trees up ahead was calling to me. This is one of a number of photos I took of the tree.

Meanwhile, Peggy had found a flock of turkeys that caught her attention. This was just a few of the flock. The others had disappeared down into the gully. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

As we drove back up Sage Road, returning to our camp, we stopped for a final photo that had more of a Badlands feel to it. Late afternoon colors were beginning to seep in. I’ll feature sunset photos in my next post. I was impressed. I imagine you will be as well.

Badlands National Park: WOW! …Plus Wall Drug

October 1, 2022 / Curt Mekemson / 27 Comments

Badlands National Park has great beauty. it also has interesting— and amusing— wildlife, such as three curious prairie dogs that posed for Peggy. With winter and hibernation coming, these guys have obviously been putting on the pounds— or at least ounces! (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

The Lakota people, who have occupied the area for hundreds of years, called it mako sica. To early French fur trappers, it was known as les mauvaises terres. Both names mean the same thing: Badlands. If you can’t hunt it, fish it, farm it, or mine it— what good is it? Fortunately, our tastes have changed. We have come to appreciate areas for their natural beauty and Badlands National Park has an abundance. BTW, where there is a will there is a way. People have finally found a way to make money off of beautiful places. It’s called tourism.

Speaking of tourism, we stayed in a small campground near Wall Drug, a tourist attraction that has mastered the art of pulling people off of the road. It started with offering them free ice water in the 60s and 70s by advertising on 3,000 small wooden road signs throughout South Dakota and neighboring states. I first came across the signs in the 60s. It was impossible not to be curious. This time, Peggy and I found the small wooden signs had been morphed into numerous billboards as we crossed South Dakota on I-90.

Wall Drug still uses come-ons to lure travelers off the road with large billboards along I-90. The small, original drug store has turned into a massive tourist attraction with the drug store occupying maybe 1,000 square feet out of the 76,000 square feet the attraction now claims.

Wall Drug advertises that its store has something for everyone. Including Jackalopes.

One of the billboards along I-90 advertised “Come to lunch— or be lunch at Wall Drug.” This smiling T Rex was apparently offering the latter. As an aside, numerous fossils have been found in Badlands National Park, but not dinosaurs. The area was part of an ocean at the time dinosaurs roamed the earth.

The term wall, in Wall Drug, comes from the primary feature of the Badlands, a hundred mile wall from which the Badlands have been eroding at an inch per year for the past 500,000 years or so creating mesas, ridges, and gullies with unique structures of considerable beauty. The 31 mile Loop Road the National Park features takes visitors along the wall and down into the Badlands, providing a great introduction. We will feature views from along the Loop Road today.

Erosion, cutting through some 45 million years of geological history between 75 and 30 million year ago, has left behind unique structures of great beauty. The upper right corner shows the wall from which the Badlands have eroded. Look carefully and you will see vehicles parked at one of the many pull-offs along the 31 mile Loop Road that winds its way through the park.

One thing that is guaranteed along the Loop Road: Great variety. Compare this picture with the one above. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

What caught our attention here, was the contrast between the green trees and the white ridge. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

The erosion here had created a mesa left standing alone above the smooth mounds below.

Rabbit bush added a touch of yellow here to complement golden hills above. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Jagged peaks are also found along the 31 mile drive.

A close up of one of the peaks along the way.

Pink and mauve top off yellow hills. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Another example. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

I liked the tiered look here and the way erosion had cut through over 40 million years of geologic history.

We wondered how long it would be before the finger rock on top of this peak fell. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

One of the pull-offs along the road is dedicated to Chief Bigfoot of the Lakota tribe. He was ill when he reached this site on the wall. His followers helped him down. Not long after that, he and some 150 member of his tribe, including women and children, were massacred at Wounded Knee. it was one of the darker moments in US History.

I conclude today with this photo of the Badlands taken near the Visitor Center. Peggy and I will take you for a drive along Sage Road in our next post. It’s noted for its wildlife. Get ready for buffalo, turkeys, big horn sheep, and a raucous town of prairie dogs!

Amsterdam: Just Ducky… Things that Entertained Us

September 23, 2022September 22, 2022 / Curt Mekemson / 25 Comments

We are never bored when we wander. There are always things that capture our attention. It may be something we find beautiful, or educational, or interesting, or simply amusing, like the whacky-quacky characters above. The store caught us by surprise with its large duck and all of its ducklings that represent a multitude of professions and occupations from kings to rabbits. We had a traditional rubber ducky for awhile. It lived beside our bathtub and was occasionally known to go for a dip. I suspect we still have it, packed away for the time being. Do you have a rubber ducky? Are you willing to confess to it? Note the bike reflected in the window. As I said in my last post, it’s hard to take a photo in Amsterdam that doesn’t include one.

I found drinking this large beer amusing. And it became more so as I worked my way through it. Peggy stuck with the smaller one. I’m used to drinking pints. There are a multitude of brew pubs found in the US and it’s always fun to sample their wares. The locals in Amsterdam seemed to love their beer even more. I noted many of them were sipping out of mugs that we would call pitchers. My elder bladder would have little sense of humor about that! I’d be up peeing all night.

A walk down any of the streets is heaven for cheese lovers like Peggy and me. Alas, we had no way to pack it up and carry it home. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Just one of these large blocks would have fed us for months. You’d certainly want to sample it first. Imagine getting it home and discovering you didn’t like it!

This woman, carrying her large blow-up doll certainly caught our attention. We could only wonder about the large pink appendage. 🙂

We had never found a take out place that featured only French fries. Peggy loves them. She almost divorced me once before we were married because I stole one of hers. This store featured the fries cooked in a multitude of ways.

Peggy went in and ordered their smallest container. The fries were soaked in garlic, and, at Peggy’s request, smothered in ranch dressing. It became dinner for both of us. Heartburn!

I like fries. I certainly ate my half of Peggy’s score. But this tasty grilled lamb rib is more to my taste. Finger food, right? My hair was looking wild because we had dodged into the restaurant during a downpour. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

We had failed to notice the name when we dashed in. El Pimpi: The Pimp.

Maybe it was the reason I found the poster of this cool cat in the men’s room.

This cat was the major attraction of another restaurant we ate at.

Just across from the restaurant, someone had found a unique way to keep his window propped open.

At first I thought this dog in the window was part of the show at the Orphaned Art Gallery. Then it wagged its tail. The description of the gallery on its website noted: “We are definitely not a typical gallery. OODE brings the work of young Dutch designers together with orphaned art – art from closed museums and art institutions. For this we work together with the Foundation of Disinherited Goods (Onterfd Goed).

Not all coffee shops are alike. Our Uber driver was taking us into our B&B when Peggy noted a nearby Coffeeshop. “Oh good,” she exclaimed, “We can go there for lattes in the morning.” “Uh, Peggy,” I noted, “they might serve lattes but the primary purpose of most Amsterdam coffee shops is serving marijuana. Your morning pastry would probably be laced with cannibis.” “Oh,” she smiled, not the least bit daunted.

Unique art is something else that always catches our attention. Birds had added their decorative touches.

It’s impossible to walk up and down the canals of Amsterdam without admiring the unique look of buildings. And the unique method of getting furniture in and out of the apartments… (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Let me note in advance, how narrow the stairways are. And steep. This led up to our room. Imagine trying to maneuver a couch up this stairway. Or refrigerator!

The buildings compensate by having a pulley system using the upper arm that can haul furniture up to rooms and then in through windows. Note the decorative sculpture.

The imagination that has gone into the narrow homes of Amsterdam seems almost endless.

Larger buildings also had both beauty and personality. This is the main train station. Numerous restaurants and shops are inside.

Now it has been repurposed as an attractive indoor mall.

The Droogbak office building is another repurposed building of beauty. It was originally designed in 1884 as headquarters for the Dutch Iron Railway Company. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

Several large churches dominate the Amsterdam skyline. I took several photos of this one.

A view from across the canal. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

We caught this impressive spire from a canal boat we were riding in.

And finally, a Catholic Church reaching toward the sky.

Our next major series will be on our Rhine River trip where we will take you along the river, introduce several castles, visit cities like Heidleburg, and make a journey into the Black Forest. But first, I thought it would be fun to take a quick break and catch you up to date on our present journey where Peggy and I will take you into Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Get ready for seeing rock spires instead of church spires and communing with prairie dogs, big horn sheep and buffalo, up close and personal from the safety of our truck.

Wandering through Time and Place

Exploring the world with Curtis and Peggy Mekemson

National Parks