Days 1&2: Canoeing and Yellowstone

The Teton staff was merciful to us on the first day due to our late bedtime hour. We were allowed to sleep until 6:30 instead of 5:30! There is an unusual alarm clock at the Teton School. We were all awoken at dawn with sound of "Caw!" "Caw!" "Caw!" Below is a low quality picture of this unusual alarm clock, the raven.

You knew the students were awake when all I could hear coming from the dorm windows were echos of "Caw!" "Caw!" "Caw!"

Here are some pictures of the campus.

Teton Science School Campus

Our Dorm - Chez Shea North Lodge

A typical dorm room - We won't say whose

Breakfast at the dining hall:

The red box is a Hoorah box containing their field lunch

Those that went canoeing also played a predator-prey game where the prey stood in one spot with her eyes closed while the predators ran and hid. The prey counted to a number then opened her eyes and called out everyone she could see. They were eliminated as possible predators. She would close her eyes again as the remaining predators got closer. This continued until a predator caught the prey or until the prey saw all the predators. Here are some pictures of the action.

The prey with the instructor

Two hiding predators - can you find them?

They also learned team building skills through a variety of canoeing activities and games.

Learning the basics of moving a canoe forward. In practice, some were not always successful!

Hiking to the canoe location.

Others in the meantime were visiting Yellowstone and learning all about geothermal features such as mudpots and fumaroles. They even measured the temperature of various features using an infrared heat gun! Everyone enjoyed the anticipation of Old Faithful and she lived up to her name by being right on time! For some, the trip also included a five mile hike to Fairy Falls where the cool spray was a welcome relief from the scorching 80 temperature! Everyone was glad that it wasn't Arkansas temperatures up here!

We made it to Old Faithul.

Waiting for Old Faithful to do her thing!

There she blows!

Students studying mudpots, hot springs, fumeroles and other geothermal features. They learned even more about them in the museum.

Here is some of what they saw and studied!

The Grand Prismatic Hot Springs

A variety of geothermal features. Bacteria called thermophiles
give color to the geothermal features

Fairy Falls - a cooling oasis among all the hot spots!

It was a long and exhausting day as you can see by these pictures of the ride back!

Here is some of the wildlife that they saw!

Osprey

Chipmunk which they quickly named "Alvin"

Lots of butterflies

Marmots - Students thought they were so cute!

                                                                              

and . . .

Can you see it?

Can you see it now?

It's a black bear eatings some "beary" delicious berries!



In the evening the students went hiking.

When asked if they had a great day, this was their response!



Yes, it was a resoundingly successful first two days! Students learned alot not only about Nature but also about themselves!

And as the sun set over the Grand Teton Mountains, students were already excited about what tomorrow was going to bring.

I shall try and blog tomorrow night on some of the last day activities. I have many hundreds of pictures and will make these available at a later date. What you see above is only the tip of the photo gallery iceberg! Many of the best pictures and videos are yet to be posted. Please note that most of the extraordinary pictures that you see are pictures that your students took. We have many talented nature photographers in this class. Good night from the Teton Science School!