An Indescribable Experience
For immediate release ‐ June 26, 2023
Contact: Jon Pishney, 919.707.8083. Images available upon request
Sagebrush, meadows and hills at sunset in Lamar Valley. Photo: Melissa Dowland/NCMNS.
Twelve North Carolina educators recently returned from Yellowstone National Park on one of the Museum’s Educators of Excellence Institutes. They spent ten days exploring the ecology and geology of our first national park, learning from experts and getting ideas and information to bring back to students in North Carolina.
By the Yellowstone Institute 2023 team
How does one describe the indescribable? Language does not possess the capacity to capture the totality of the past ten days and all that we experienced. In an attempt to express how we have been impacted, some words that have emerged over the course of our time here include awesome (in the true sense of the word), renewal, humbling, surreal, grateful, overwhelming, inspired, connection, relationships, and sublime, to name a few. Such words only begin to reveal the deep meaning found in such a short time and the experience that is indelibly imprinted upon each of us. We are — as people and as educators — forever changed in ways both known and unknown. While we are all changed in different ways, it has been the combination of the people we have met and learned from, the vast and diverse landscape, and the abundant and varied wildlife and lifeforms we have experienced that have produced a life-altering effect.
Furthermore, it is not coincidental we have been so profoundly impacted; it is thanks to our thoughtful, knowledgeable and dedicated leaders, Melissa, Greg and Martha, all of whom have not only given their time but have truly given all of themselves. Their passion, insight, patience and flexibility have been unwavering and instrumental in making this trip like nothing else, especially Melissa who, even after forty visits, exudes awe, wonder and joy for the wild majesty that is Yellowstone. From all of us, thank you!
Yellowstone contains worlds within worlds, rich with life and history on a scale that is immeasurable. First arriving in the park after an especially early flight, we emerged from a sleepless haze and were quickly introduced to the impressive mountain landscape, winding rivers, and fascinating wildlife: bison, pronghorn antelope and elk. The excitement was palpable. The massive Roosevelt Arch stood as a gateway to the unknown as well as a reminder of the long and complicated history of the land. Our first five days in the Lamar Valley and surrounding area was a foray into our first world within the park. This vast landscape of rugged, looming mountain peaks with steep and stark cliff faces covered in dense groves of Douglas fir trees, sloping into expansive valleys blanketed in lush grasses patchworked with sagebrush and rushing rivers, is truly a sight to behold. Dense layers of clouds could not fully hold back the rays of sun creating a kaleidoscope that shimmered down to the Earth and cast shadows that undulated like waves across the sea.
Each day in the Lamar Valley was full of wildlife and wonder. Despite the cold and wet, a sense of curiosity and inspiration quickly spread throughout our group as new friendships bolstered the shared excitement. Our first full day we were greeted by a moose near our rustic accommodations and shortly thereafter a mother grizzly bear with two playful cubs on a hillside near the road — a truly special and memorable experience that already made us question, how could things get much better? This question was a recurring theme each day, yet somehow each day managed to unveil new depth and beauty.
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