Jake’s Shortcut to the Canyon
By the time we had settled into Yellowstone for our unexpected month-long stay, we had developed a routine.
One day would be spent exploring the park, while the next would be a quieter day back at the campground. Those rest days gave me time to upload photographs, sort through hundreds of images, recharge camera batteries, clear memory cards, and prepare for the next adventure.
On our exploring days, we packed lunches and spent hours wandering the roads of Yellowstone.
One morning we decided to venture onto some of the less-traveled back roads. We hoped that getting away from the crowds might improve our chances of seeing wildlife.
We loaded our lunch into the rental car, gathered our camera gear, and, of course, brought Jake along.
Jake was our nine-year-old Golden Retriever and our faithful traveling companion. Before coming to live with us, he had spent the first eight years of his life confined to a backyard in Sacramento. He was never allowed inside the house and had seen very little of the world beyond his fence.
When his owner passed away, Jake became part of our family.
The final years of his life were filled with adventures. He traveled thousands of miles with us, rode in RVs and cars, explored forests and mountains, and saw more of the country than many people ever do.
He absolutely loved it.
The day began quietly. We wandered through beautiful stretches of Yellowstone’s backcountry, stopping often to admire the scenery.
At one point we came across an old abandoned cabin standing beside a pond. Weathered and leaning slightly with age, it looked like something from another era.
Frank and I laughed and joked that it would make the perfect retirement home someday.
As the hours passed, however, we still hadn’t seen any wildlife.
Eventually we found a scenic overlook where a river wound through a canyon below us. The canyon was perhaps thirty feet deep, and from where we stood we had an excellent view of the water.
“This looks promising,” I said. “If animals are around, they’ll probably come down to drink.”
We pulled over and let Jake out to stretch his legs.
Jake wandered over and stood near the canyon’s edge while I scanned the river below through my camera lens.
For several minutes nothing happened.
Then I turned to say something to Frank.
At that exact moment I heard a strange sound behind me.
Whoosh.
It sounded almost like something from a cartoon.
I spun around.
Jake was gone.
Where he had been standing only seconds before, there was now a small cloud of dust hanging in the air.
I rushed to the edge and looked down.
There was Jake.
Thirty feet below.
Fortunately, he appeared more surprised than injured.
He stood at the bottom of the canyon staring upward with an expression that seemed to say, “Well… that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
The relief of finding him unharmed lasted only a few seconds.
Then another thought entered my mind.
What if there actually was wildlife down there?
A few minutes earlier I had been hoping to spot a bear.
Now the last thing I wanted was for a bear—or a wolf—to discover Jake before we could get him back up.
Jake attempted to climb the steep embankment but quickly discovered it was far too steep.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Frank began walking along the rim of the canyon, calling to him.
Jake followed from below.
Eventually they reached a section where the slope wasn’t quite as severe, and after some scrambling, Jake managed to climb back to safety.
Once he was standing beside us again, we decided our adventure had provided enough excitement for one day.
We headed back toward the main roads, grateful that our traveling companion was unharmed.
As it turned out, Yellowstone wasn’t finished with us yet.
Not long after returning to a more populated area, traffic suddenly slowed.
Cars lined both sides of the road.
People stood outside holding cameras and binoculars.
We had stumbled into what Yellowstone visitors call a “bear jam.”
A mother bear and her two cubs were feeding near the road.
After spending an entire day searching for wildlife, wildlife had finally found us.
I managed to capture a photograph of one of the cubs before the bears disappeared into the forest.
As we drove back to camp that evening, I couldn’t help but laugh.
We had spent the day hoping to see wildlife and instead ended up worrying about Jake falling into a canyon and praying no wildlife showed up!.
In the end, we got both stories.
And thankfully, Jake was around to enjoy many more adventures afterward.