Wyoming Spring Creek: a Letter to Myself

To Sophia from Six Weeks Ago– Years ago, Wyoming captivated your five-year-old eyes when you saw Old Faithful for the first time. It enchanted your twelve-year-old heart when you came back in the family RV on a yearlong road trip. I remember you thinking Yellowstone was all the natural wonder Wyoming had to offer. How…

Wyoming Spring Creek – A Final Love Letter

My Dear Wyoming, Thank you for reminding me how small I am, Wyoming. Accepting our insignificance on a greater scale is really difficult, and understanding that the world does not only revolve around us is even harder. It is something complex, alive, and working on such a larger scale that none of us can fully…

Wyoming Spring Creek – Road Trip Day 10

We woke up early (as always) on Monday morning in one of the most comfortable places we have stayed in all six weeks. Flushing toilets, fluffy pillows, and lots of hot water elevated the Colter Bay Cabins to the top of the list. It was sad to say goodbye to the Grand Tetons, but we…

Wyoming Trip Around the State- Shoshone National Forest

The main event for our day in Shoshone was a scenic six mile hike through the Beartooth mountains but, before we got started, we spent some time identifying local flora around the parking area. Practicing using the guides to understand the plants in different locations is useful, but more importantly it builds on principles of…

Trip Around Wyoming: A Day Off at K-Z

After a long, rainy, day before, we were given a day off to catch up on sleep and to explore the homey K-Z. The morning of the 5th Day on the trip around the state started off strong with a delicious home-cooked breakfast. The warmth of the food was a welcoming change from the typical…

Wyoming Spring Creek – Shoshone National Forest

On July 28th we stopped in Shoshone National Forest. The morning was spent with our handy dandy plant identification guides and we took some time to figure out some of the flora of the new area. We then trekked six miles through the land, stopping at amazing lakes and hillsides. The beauty of the places…

Wyoming Spring Creek: Hike in Grand Teton

Beautifully insignificant. That’s how I felt craning my neck upwards to see the peaks of the mountains while walking along a rocky trail through Grand Teton National Park. Towards the end of our trip around the state of Wyoming, we hiked 12 miles in the Tetons. We started the day off with breakfast next to…

Wyoming Spring Creek: Hot Springs, Bison, and People

Throughout the course, we’ve used a combination of geological, ecological, and human-centered perspectives to understand the world we live in, and we continued to take this interdisciplinary approach in Yellowstone on day 7 of our 10-day road trip across Wyoming. Our first official stop of the day was an overlook at Yellowstone Lake which formed…

Wyoming Spring Creek – Thermopolis and Museum Ethics

Thermopolis, or “Thermy” as I have dubbed it, was the second stop on our trip around the state. The day started not in Thermopolis, but at a gap between time. We had visited a site just off of the road where we stayed for quite a bit. We were let loose onto the rock face…

Wyoming Spring Creek: Trip Around the State Day 1

Up early on a Saturday morning we shuffle out the door and heap into vans ready to embark on our 10 day road trip around the state. First stop: Independence Rock. A weathered feature of the Granite Mountain range, this outcrop was originally named by Native American tribes across Wyoming and the Rocky Mountains as…