Heading to South Dakota

8/5/16

Dear NH,

How are you? By the time you get this letter, camp will be over, and you will be back home. How was camp? Did you get my two letters? I hope so.

I have traveled a long distance. I left Grand Tetons National Park yesterday and made it to a town in Wyoming called Casper. Casper is the 2nd largest city in Wyoming.

This morning, I started my day by visiting the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. This center is a museum that provides information about the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, California Trail, and Pony Express Trail. I hadn't realized there were so many trails. Even though some of these trails shared some of the same pathways they all ended in different places.

Here, I am trying to see how hard it would be to pull a handcart.
A handcart is one of the ways pioneers carried their luggage.

After visiting the interpretive center, I made my way northeast toward South Dakota. My plan was to visit Mount Rushmore yesterday, but I ran out of time, and that didn't happen. However, I still did some cool things. I went to a place called Devils Tower. Here, the land looked like it had risen up to form a flat table on top with long lines going up and down the sides. Up close, you could tell that the lines were formed by hundreds of columns of rock in geometric shapes. Basically, you could see rock tables that had 3-7 sides. I had never seen anything like it!

In the land near Devils Tower was a prairie dog community. They are super cute!

After visiting Devils Tower, it was getting a bit late, but I went off roading in the Black Hills and found a place to camp. (Off roading is basically driving on a dirt road.) Today, I will continue off roading east through Black Hills National Forest until I hit a paved road in South Dakota. I look forward to hearing about camp!

Your teacher,

Elaina

Jackson to Casper, Wyoming

8/4/16

Dear B-,

How are you? I hope preparations for going back to school are going well.

I have so much to tell you about my trip.Yesterday, I left a city called Jackson, Wyoming. This city is famous for skiing. Of course now is the wrong time for skiing, but there were still many people there because it is so close to Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone National Park. The most interesting things about Jackson are that you can see the Grand Tetons from the city, and you can walk on wooden sidewalks since the city has them everywhere.

Those are elk antlers!

View of the Tetons from Jackson

Downtown Jackson with ski runs visible in background

A cowboy on a bucking bronco, Wyoming's symbol!

I decided that my next big destination is South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. After leaving Jackson yesterday morning, I traveled north back through Grand Tetons National Park. I stopped at a place known for seeing lots of animals. In fact I had already been to this spot and saw elk, moose, and beavers. This time, I was there at the wrong time of day and only saw a beaver den and a couple of beaver dams.

beaver dam

beaver den

I left the park and went east through the state of Wyoming. I ended for the day in a city called Casper, Wyoming. One of the stops I made on the way was to a place called Hell's Half Acre. Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans hunted buffalo by herding them off a cliff and into a canyon full of spiky towers of rock. The buffalo couldn't escape, and the Native Americans got their food.

Hell's Half Acre

I look forward to reading about what you've been doing.

Your teacher,

Ms. Elaina

Grand Tetons National Park

8/3/16

Dear NS,

How is your week off going? Have you done anything interesting? I hope that things are going well for you.

I've been in National Park area the last couple of days. First, I visited Yellowstone National Park. Yesterday, I finished up seeing the sights in Yellowstone. I saw more bison, pronghorn antelope, and even a bald eagle.

After finishing up with Yellowstone, I traveled through Grand Tetons National Park. The park is famous for three large mountains that you can see from pretty much anywhere in the park. In Grand Tetons, the main activities are looking at lakes, looking at mountains, and looking at wildlife.

One of the sights to see is a Mormon village from the 1800s. These Mormons lived together in this farming community on land that now belongs to Grand Tetons.

 The amount of wildlife I saw yesterday in this park was incredible! I saw a herd of bison in the afternoon. I had already seen bison in Yellowstone, so I didn't spend much time watching these. What I really wanted to see was a moose. I had asked a park ranger where to go, and he told about two different spots. He also advised that I go near sunset since that is when the animals will be more active.

Last night, I tried the first spot. There were animals there, but these animals were elk. Elk are one of my favorite animals; however, I really wanted to see a moose.

After driving around for awhile in the are of the first spot, I tried the second spot. A park visitor pointed me in the direction of a moose eating near a river just a short distance from the forest. Following in the direction the visitor pointed, I was easily able to find the moose. I took a bunch of photos and watched him until it was almost too dark to see.

At that point, I decided to take a walk around the area. As I walked further upstream the river, I made out two beavers on the opposite river bank. If I looked carefully in the fading light, I could see two beaver dams, a beaver den, and at least two beavers swimming. I even heard a beaver chomping on sticks.

I look forward to hearing about your week.

Your teacher,

Elaina

P.S. I also saw a grizzly bear eating a bison carcass in Yellowstone!