Listening to Yellowstone, Day 5: Winter soundscapes, snowmobiles, and howitzers

From Wikimedia Commons

Yellowstone's winters have long fascinated visitors. Though winter tourism was rare before the 1920s, hunters were known to roam the snow-covered park at the time of its establishment and continued to track buffalo, wolves, and other animals long after hunting was banned by the U.S. Army in 1886. By the 1990s nearly 150,000 people visited the park each winter to ski the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs, snowshoe with park rangers, and watch the wolves prowl Lamar Valley.

Listening to Yellowstone, Day 4: Truman Everts's Ear

On September 9, 1870, Truman Everts lost sight of his fellow travelers while attempting to navigate his horse around a thicket of fallen trees on the southern shores of Yellowstone Lake. Such windfalls regularly hampered the company of the now-famous Washburn Expedition, so Everts felt no concern when he realized he had become separated from the rest of the party. He simply steered his ride in the direction he assumed the others had taken and pressed forward.

He emerged from the Yellowstone wilderness thirty-seven days later starving, severely burned, and near death.

Listening to Yellowstone: Day 3, Yellowstone Lake's Mysterious Music

"Here we first heard, while out on the lake in the bright still morning, the mysterious aerial sound for which this region is noted. It put me in mind of the vibrating clang of a harp lightly and rapidly touched high up above the tree tops, or the sound of many telegraph wires swinging regularly and rapidly in the wind, or, more rarely, of faintly heard voices answering each other overhead."

S.A. Forbes, ca. 1890

Of the many sounds heard throughout the Yellowstone ecosystem, perhaps none has proven so fascinating and so difficult to explain as those heard at Yellowstone Lake. Between 1872 and 1937, travelers regularly described hearing "humming," "ringing," and "harp-like" sounds drifting over the waves.

Listening to Yellowstone: Day 2, "Ominous Intonations from Beneath"

Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park.

"There is also a number of places where the pure suphor is sent forth in abundance one of our men Visited one of those wilst taking his recreation there at an instan the earth began a tremendous trembling and he with dificulty made his escape when an explosion took place resembling that of thunder. During our stay in that quarter I heard it every day."

Daniel Potts, July 8, 1827 

When I think of my first visit to Yellowstone, I remember being overwhelmed – like most are -- by its grandeur, by its abundant wildlife and, perhaps most of all, by the vastness of the country. While my parents were content to visit the major attractions, I spent hours seeking solitary refuge from the crowds in order to sit and simply listen to the environment and enjoy the absence of others.

Listening to Yellowstone: Day 1

Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful Inn locked its doors yesterday for the season. Beartooth Pass Highway, winding its way from the park's northeast entrance along the Wyoming-Montana border and through the Gallatin National Forest, closed as well yesterday due to snow and ice. The highway will probably open again in May when plows are finally able to clear the roads. Bull elk still bugle, though their calls are becoming less frequent as the seasons change. Grizzlies are nearing hibernation. Snow is falling. Winter is...well, you get the picture.