Prairie weather

The weather on the prairie is a force to be reckoned with. With forceful winds, large thunderheads are blown around in search for the 6 people who live on the prairie. And without fail, these thunderheads have found us every time. Whether the skies actually open up and rain on us or the winds threaten to take our tents to Oz, the storms make their presence known.

I love storms, and the prairie is one of the best places to watch them. With the lack of topography and trees, the storms can be traced from very far away. The rolling thunder is a product of the incredible lightning that allows for some sweet photo opportunities. Better yet, we have had some storms in the middle of the night that consume half the night sky. So one half of the sky displays the Milky Way, and the other half has a angry-looking storm. On these evenings I've come out of my tent and watched the scene.

As nice as these storms sound, they can be a real nuisance. Driving conditions become nearly impassable after a big rainstorm. The prairie roads turn into thick mud and 4-wheel drive is mandatory to get anywhere. I've become a mudding master, getting the car unbelievably dirty and successfully breaking two mudflaps. It's safe to say that my 2002 Ford Focus wouldn't stand a chance out here.

Aside from the storms, the heat is killer. We wake up for early hikes to beat the heat, which means we spend the majority of the day sitting in heat comas. The prairie is not very forgiving when it comes to heat, especially when there is no wind... But I've definitely gotten used to the heat (and so has my skin and hair - I'm freckled/tan, and my red hair is brighter than ever!)

Storm and sunset (4 August 2014)

Beer-drinking and storm-watching, myself and Alex (4 August 2014) (Photo: Jonah Gula)

Lightning west of camp (~9:30pm, 4 August 2014) (Photo: Jonah Gula)

jonahgulaphotography.weebly.com

American Prairie Wildlife

When I first came to the prairie, my impression was that the land was a vast, flat, somewhat boring place with very little wildlife. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Except for the vastness – this place is SO VAST. Montana is named Big Sky country for a reason… Out on our hikes, I have learned that this landscape may look flat, but it is rather hilly (which great for interval training). We are constantly coming across wildlife while we’re hiking and it is a part of our job to document what we see. However, there have been times when the wildlife have come to us. For example, when we came back from Glacier, we woke up to the bison herd about a quarter of a mile away from our camp. Throughout the day, the herd made their way to our camp, surrounding us and stranding us on our picnic table. That night, the new August crew arrived and were welcomed by the bison herd at Buffalo Camp as their welcoming party.

In mid-July, we were headed out for an early hike one morning and saw three badgers looking for their breakfast in a prairie dog town. Badgers are carnivores and primarily eat prairie dogs and small mammals. They often hunt alongside coyotes. Badgers are also incredibly skilled diggers – they can dig through cement! They’re about the size of a large, fat cat and are pretty cute looking, although they could gouge your eyes out with their claws.

We also stumbled across four bull elks one evening on our way to Fourchette Bay for a sunset swim. They surprisingly did not run away from us, but instead stood there, staring at us curiously. After a 4-minute stare down, they decided to scamper off into the sunset. It’s pretty fun hanging out with all these animals!

Bison oftentimes hold up traffic in the prairie

Crew member Jonah Gula (J$) taking a photo of a huge male bison. NOTE: Our large canvas tent broke while we were in Glacier in a huge wind storm. Two poles broke and almost all of them bent. As you can see, the canvas also ripped. In case you were wondering - my tent survived. 

Our badger friends (Photo: Shannon Rebinski)

Our elk friends

Wildfires and Windstorms

Wildfires in Oregon and Washington have completely changed the vibe here on the prairie. With winds blowing east, the sky is a constant hazy-grey color with a small smokey scent. Wildfires are a natural process in many places, including the prairie, so the habitat and animals are used to the environment during this fire season. However, it was awfully surprising to wake up one morning to see the grey haze covering the landscape.

For the environmentally curious folks, here's an article on the ecological importance of wildfires:
http://www.nps.gov/tapr/naturescience/fire-and-grazing-in-the-prairie.htm 

Speaking of wind, two nights ago we had the wind storm of the century. It lasted from ~1-4am (it was hard to gauge how long it lasted because survival instincts can fog timescales).  I was convinced my tent and I were going to get lifted off to Oz.  My tent survived, but some of the other tents were seriously injured. During the beginning of the storm, I braved the weather and tied down my tent in two more spots, and the wind was wildly impressive while I was out there.  I spent maybe 2 hours pushing against the western side of the tent, trying to brace my tent poles from the crazy wind forces. 
Sleeping through this storm? Impossible. The sound of tent fabric flapping in my ears was not exactly a soothing lullaby. And then the tent would cave in on my body every 8 minutes, startling me awake from any soft slumber I may have fallen into. When we all arose at 5am for our hike, we were not exactly the happiest campers (haha). We all expressed how badly we wanted it to rain TO JUST GET THE STORM OVER WITH. But no, not one drop fell from the sky. Just wind speeds that rival Katrina. 

I have a new appreciation for walls and a roof. 


On that note, here is a nice photo of the bison herd: