One afternoon, a few of us went on an exploratory hike, and when crossing a stream, we met a park ranger who was fishing with a snare pole in a clear and crisp creek. He showed us how he poked the snare under logs and clumps of grass to chase fish into the sunlight so he could scoop them up. Even though it was early in the spring for fishing, the ranger had success. Jose had bought us a truly massive rainbow trout for dinner, and we watched as the ranger cleaned the fish with a single slice of his blade. This connection with local people who are at home in this landscape was a highlight of the trip. The fish made a delightful addition to our burritos as the evening wind picked up again.
The group fans out and I find myself drawn to murmurs and shouts of more scat peppered throughout this flat and open terrain. Dr. Watine visits each person and I notice a smile curling on her lips. She marches proudly to the front of the group and clears her throat “This might very well be a wolf rendezvous site…” An explosion of whispers erupts between us but is quickly silenced by Dr. Watine “…and therefore I will be performing a wolf call in an attempt to bring some in.”
The process is simple; find the temperature loggers, which are small devices buried underneath rocks that track temperature data over a year and download the data onto a computer for research. Probably sounds easy to anyone who hasn’t looked for a temperature logger before. But the catch is, one of them is always nearly impossible to find. It’s like a game of hide and seek with your friends, but one of them goes into the yard and digs a hole in the ground to hide.
he park hosted us a dance and with much enthusiasm and energy we learned the Russian waltz. This waltz is easy(ish) to learn and looks great the faster you can do it. By the time night fell we were spinning and swaying together to the sounds of Mongolian music and Amka and Badmaa’s singing.