Week 2- Assignments and Roadtrips

Monday 1st September-

It was Labor Day today. Any American I asked about didn't actually know what Labor day is. Oh well, no college for a day so I was happy. When me and Shannen finished our assignment on conservation definitions we headed up north to the National Bison Range. It's a large area around 18,800 acres big set aside as a nature reserve. We were no sooner in the park than we spotted a herd of elk. I thought these would be only just larger than red deer but they are much bigger. We decided to buy the year pass for $15 because we will definitely be back. At the entrance there is a museum dedicated to bison. It explained the difference between bison and buffalo and also between the three subspecies of bison. There was a one-way driveway all around the park which would take at least 1hr30mins ( it took us almost 3hours :P ). When we started the drive the first animals we spotted were some pronghorn antelope and a large bison bull. There were different sections to the park so when we entered the creek section we went through it especially slowly. There were lots of berry trees along the stream so the mother bear with cubs was most likely to be here. Unfortunately today was not the day the teddy bears had their picnic. We spotted a large herd of bison on a ridge further up the valley and I think I saw a bighorn sheep. From the creek there was a switchback road through forest to the top of Red Sleep Mountain. We saw some mule deer on our way. The view from up here was amazing. There was a 1/4 mile trail to an overlook of the Bitterroot Valley, where we stopped to have lunch, and what a spot for lunch! The highest point of the drive was just after this at 1432m (4700ft). The view out over the Mission Valley from here was spectacular. After a steep drive down the other side of the mountain we came to the plains area. We saw lots more pronghorns here, along with a small herd of white-tail deer. We also spotted some bison rolling hollows along the road. We drove along Mission Creek until we spotted a huge elk stag in the river. It was after 4pm by the time we finished. When we got home our housemate Sarah taught us the difference between mule and white-tail deer. Mule horns branch into a Y shape, with smaller branches off of this, whereas white-tails' branch off upwards from one main branch. Later that night Shannen, Dave, Elliot and myself decided to try out Big Dipper ice cream, a local favourite. I tried a scoop of peanut butter and a scoop of mocha chocolate chip, which was really nice and definitely good value. For $4 they fill a huge waffle cone with ice-cream.

Some of the elk.

A stack of antlers found in the park.

One of the bison herds.

A mule deer doe.

Bison in a rolling hollow.

Not a bad ole spot for lunch.

Summit selfie.

Pronghorn herd.

White-tail doe.

White-tail fawn.

White-tail stag.

Tuesday 2nd September-

Had my usual mammalogy lab at 8am. This week we learned about the mustelidae and mephitidae, aka weasels, badgers, otters, wolverines and skunks. Many of these skulls are quite similar but there are subtle difference to look for. We have a quiz on these along with bears and racoons next week. I found my population conservation lab very hard. We were still working on excel with formulas I am not familiar with at all. I handed in my conservation definitions assignment in habitat conservation. When classes finished for the day Shannen and myself went home. I decided to look up classes for next semester and realised that population conservation is also offered in Spring. I decided to drop this class until then. 16 credits was just too much of a workload so now I'm down to 13, which is much more manageable.

Spotted skunk- Spilogale gracilis.

Wolverine skull- Gulo gulo.

Wednesday 3rd September-

For our vertebrate design class we had an assigned reading of a paper on the statistical problems when working with phylogeny trees. I read this in between my 8am lecture and work at 10am. I understood parts but a lot went straight over my head. Luckily when we discussed the paper in class most of the other students felt the same. It's an engaging way to learn, by reading a paper and discussing it in class. I decided to try and start my squirrel journal assignment for mammalogy. I walked the whole way around the golf course at L&C, which has lots of trees, and spotted one squirrel which had vanished by the time I got to it. Deciding I would have to stalk squirrels on campus, where you can't help but find some, I headed home. That evening we had a bit of a cooking disaster. Our fire alarms in our apartment are slightly over sensitive so while we were cooking we managed to set them off all of five times! :P It was like something from a comedy show, every time one person opened the oven the two other waited for the alarms to go off, and waved tea towels around frantically when they did! There wasn't even a whiff of smoke! We went down to the main office, which handily stays open until 8pm, to see what the problem was. Cody, the receptionist, gave us batteries to swap out with the old ones. This seems to have fixed the problem for now.

Thursday 4th September-

I bought a bike for going to work at 6am, so there I was cycling away half asleep when the bus passes me out. Apparently they run from 6am at L&C! I was not expecting them to start that early. Safe to say I'll be staying in bed a bit later on Thursday mornings now. I had my lunch for free because I was working for more than 3hours on the main breakfast line. I was working again after my habitat conservation class, until 5pm. When I got back to L&C, I was no sooner in the door then out it again. There was a welcome back BBQ for all the Lewis & Clark residents at 5.30. This was really nice because we got gift packs of toiletries, coupons and of course a free dinner. Everyone had hotdogs, burgers, salad, taytos and watermelon. They also had the tables covered in sheets for us to sign our names and decorate. There was even a raffle for apartment essentials such as a bathmat, bathroom sets and a blender. There were loads of people around so we stayed for chats before heading home to do assignments and study for our quiz on bones tomorrow.

Friday 5th September-

After my mammalogy lecture, my classmate Joe said he was going to the vertebrate lab to study for our bones exam so I went too. Shannen came in too. We used the worksheets another classmate, Lillia made up. These were really helpful in helping me learn the lumps and bumps of the bones. Feeling confident I headed off to work. I was working on the grill today during lunch time. As it turns out not too many people want burgers for lunch so it was quiet enough. I hurried from work to my vertebrate lab. We had a half hour before the quiz started so we studied in the hall. The quiz was set as 5 stations with a question at each and an extra credit question. Our T.A, Chris had set out some bones with stickers on them for us to identify. I did ok, but unfortunately I thought we were to identify what bone the sticker was on and not what bone it actually pointed at.. whoops. At least I know for next time. We continued lab as normal and learned the different bones of vertebrate skulls. This turned out much easier as the bones do not change much between the classes. We had to pay special attention to the development of the ear bones in mammals. The quiz on this lab will be Monday. Every Friday night in the University's own cinema there are two movies shown back to back. This weeks were Maleficent and Godzilla. A lot of the international students were going so Siobhan, Shannen and me headed in to meet them. We went to Maleficent, which costs $3 or if you put it through your Grizz card it's $1.50! The food is also really cheap, a small popcorn was $2 and a drink is $1. I've a feeling this might become a Friday night tradition. The movie was surprising good and had me laughing out loud at some points. Angelina Jolie as Maleficent was great. After the movie we went home and got our stuff ready for the trip to Glacier National Park the next day.

A huge loggerhead turtle skull.

Movie time!

Saturday 6th September-

I got up at 5.30am to get ready for Glacier. The bus picked us up at 6.15 and after we collected more students at the International House on campus we were off. The drive to Glacier was around 3hours 30mins. We stopped at Polson, on the south end of Flathead, to get supplies in Walmart. Elliot and Siobhan decided to go to Mc Donalds for coffee and almost missed the bus. They didn't realise that it would be so far away and had to jog back. When we got to Glacier we first stopped at Lake McDonald, where we took loads of group pictures and were able to stock up on souvenirs. We continued up the road to the parks 2nd most popular attraction- The Trail of the Cedars. This is a cedar stand which is almost 500 years old, which is very unusual as usually trees that old would have burned in a wildfire by now. Our tour guide informed us that it is very likely to burn soon due to all the debris on the floor. We ate lunch next to a glacier fed river. A few of us braved the chill and waded into the water for photos. The water was so clear and pure people filled their water bottles here. Our buses took us back to the lodge on Lake McDonald where we met our red buses for the famous Going-to-the-Sun road tour. The Europeans, one New Zealander and two Japanese girls all got in the same bus which was great. The drive up the mountains was spectacular. The road is very narrow in parts and when two cars meet they have to squeeze past each other. The road hugs the cliff side all the way to the top. Our tour guide, Steve, filled us in on the geologic past of the area and how this part of the Rockies was formed. He even pointed out some Stromatolites to us about half way up. These organisms are the first evidence of life on Earth and are responsible for producing the oxygen almost all other life depends on. The fact that they were there shows that the Rockies were once part of the Pacific oceanic crust. When we got to the top of the road we were allowed almost an hour to explore Logan Pass. This point marked the continental divide between watersheds at 2025m (6646ft). We didn't get to see any mountain goats or bighorn sheep but we saw plenty Colombian ground squirrels. We could see many permanent ice patches from the pass and on the drive down our guide pointed out Sparry Glacier, which is moving at an alarming rate of 15cm (6'') a day! A few of us dozed off on the way down because we were shattered. We had some free time back at the lodge so a few of us relaxed on the pier. Our buses were slightly delayed because the battery died in one and it need a jump start. On our way home we stopped off at a roadside Chinese restaurant which was ahh... an experience! :P We were served our starters and main courses on the same plate, and just so you know sweet and sour and kung poa sauce do not mix well. After that most people fell asleep on the drive home. We arrived back at L&C after 11.30pm and I went straight to bed.

Lake McDonald.

The Irish at Trail of the Cedars.

Glacial fed stream.

Kate, Shannen and me.

Aoife, me, Stine, Dervla & Kate.

The stromatolites.

Shannen, me & Elliot on the Going-to-the-Sun road.

Triple arches.

At Logan's Pass.

Colombian ground squirrel.

Relaxing by the lake.

This place is just beautiful.

Sunday 7th September-

Slept  for over 12hours and it was badly needed. When I eventually got up I basically arsed around the apartment for the day, put all my photos on Facebook and studied my skulls for a while. I cycled into work for my 8-10 hoovering shift, which was fun. When I got home Shannen and Sarah were in their room so I studied my skulls some more before bed.

Sorry for the huge amount of photos this week, they were just too beautiful to narrow them down to a few.

Hope you enjoyed reading about this weeks antics- Fiona