the grizzly bear - a member of the supporting cast

This male grizzly was digging roots northeast of Lake, Yellowstone.

A Noble Calling and A Sacred Duty both take place in Yellowstone National Park and in the surrounding towns and national forests. The third book in the series, A Just Cause, is set in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. While FBI special agents and park rangers make up much of the books’ list of characters, Yellowstone’s wildlife is an integral part of the novels. And the wild animal with the biggest starring role in the books is undoubtably the grizzly bear. My husband and I have been blessed to visit Yellowstone several times, and we’ve seen as many as sixteen adult bears on a single trip. A few of the photos of those bears are within this blog.

Such a handsome fella!

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is comprised of over twenty-two million acres in northwestern Wyoming, southwestern Montana, and eastern Idaho. It includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and several surrounding national forests. That area contained an estimated 965 grizzly bears in 2022, the largest population within the lower forty-eight states. Grizzly bears once roamed much of the western United States, but by the mid-1970s they had been reduced in number to approximately 136 wild bears. In 1975, the federal government protected the grizzly bear under the Endangered Species Act and hunting was no longer allowed. Since that time, their numbers have grown dramatically, and their range has expanded. As of 2024, there are likely between 150-200 of the bears living within or partially within Yellowstone National Park. Grizzlies are listed as a threatened species under federal law as of 2024, but there have been recent efforts to remove their protected status and open hunting seasons on the bears in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

Momma bear and a yearling cub.

The grizzly bear is one of the most iconic animals within Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  They can be seen throughout the parks and are especially easy to spot during the early spring when the elk and bison calves make up a part of their diet. While photos of bears attacking bison and elk are dramatic, most often you’ll spot them grazing and digging in meadows. Researchers say that an adult grizzly bear eats about seventy percent vegetative matter and thirty precent meat, fish, and other proteins. You’ll often see the bears digging for roots, eating grass and berries, or otherwise grazing. They will tear apart rotten logs and overturn large rocks to consume termites, moths, beetles, and other protein-rich insects. The bears’ three- to four-inch-long claws are ideal for digging, and they can also be spotted moving mounds of dirt looking for hidden rodent dens.

Don’t hike without your bear spray!

The bears are deceptively fast and agile — they can run as fast as a thoroughbred at short distances and turn on a dime. They use that speed to bring down not only elk and bison claves, but also adult animals. Their two- to three-inch canine teeth are formidable weapons and adult bears can weigh well over 500 pounds. The descriptions of the bears within all three of my novels are accurate; they can be unpredictable, aggressive, and dangerous. Never approach a bear, wear bear spray, and always hike in groups when in bear country. Grizzly bears are truly magnificent creatures, but they are wild animals at the very top of the food chain. Marvel at their beauty and strength when you visit their territory, but always give them the respect they deserve. And please do so from a safe distance!

MORE FACT OR FICTION

One of the nice things about writing fiction is that the author conveniently gets to make things up. While most things that I’ve described within Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks are real, I have created a few locations and modified some existing locations to move the stories along.

All of the books in the FBI Yellowstone Adventure series have settings that are described as inholdings within Yellowstone National Park. The locations of the Prophet’s church compound and Luke Bordeaux’s 40 acres are both referred to as inholdings. While the vast majority of national parks and national forests in the U. S. have inholdings — lands within the boundaries that are owned by an entity other than the government — Yellowstone National Park does not.  

The second novel in the FBI Yellowstone Adventure series, A Sacred Duty, focuses a great deal on Yellowstone’s thermal features. I’ve written a separate blog that goes into more depth about the park’s thermal features, but I do want to say that all of those magical features, including the geysers, steam vents, and hot springs do exist. Two of the settings of some of the action within that book are at fictional locations:  Maxwell Springs and Tindell Springs. I made up the names and locations of those springs to keep curious folks from wandering off into the wilderness to find them. Yellowstone is filled with both emerging and dormant thermal fields which are both fascinating and dangerous. Stay on the marked trails and boardwalks!

The Midway and Biscuit Basin thermal areas are sittings within two of the books.

A Just Cause also has scenes set within a remote thermal field, Washburn Hot Springs. The description of the area of the springs is accurate, but one of its features that is mentioned within the book, Inkpot Springs, is not as dramatic as described. The terrifying-looking spring that I’ve described in the book does exist nearby, but it is officially un-named and the real Inkpot Springs is rather gentle-looking by comparison.

Dragon Mouth Spring in the Mud Volcano area is a setting for a scene in A Sacred Duty.

All three books have some hiking trails that are modified or fictional. In A Noble Calling, the road and the trail into the mountain overlook south of Mammoth was modified to fit the story. In A Sacred Duty, portions of the trails leading to the two fictional thermal features, Maxwell and Tindell Springs, were renamed and/or modified. In A Just Cause, some of the trails surrounding the Canyon Campground have been modified by distance or name, and two geological features, Whispering Falls and Dawn Point, are fictional. The numbering system for the park’s primitive campgrounds within the Seven Mile Hole Trail system have also been modified to suit the story. 

Most of the park trails described within the books are out there for you to explore!

You don’t want to meet this couple on a hiking trail in Yellowstone! Always carry bear spray!

Many readers have asked me about the “Russia” parts of my second book, and no, I didn’t get the opportunity to visit Kamchatka, but Google Earth Pro is a wonderful research tool which allowed me to view locations, videos, and travelogues of that area. While air travel between Alaska and Kamchatka was discontinued due to the Pandemic in 2020, my descriptions of Win’s trip, which is set before Covid, is correct. The Eastern Russia settings for A Sacred Duty are real, and based on the comments I’ve gotten from former FBI counterintellegence agents, the book’s descriptions of the espionage scenes and scenarios within the book are realistic and plausible.

The three books in the series are set prior to the devastating floods that impacted so much of Yellowstone National Park in June of 2022. The descriptions of the Boiling River swimming area and the northern park entrance road at Gardiner, Montana are all based on how that area appeared prior to those floods.  

The Yellowstone River roars toward the Canyon waterfalls in June 2022. I can’t imagine it’s ferocity and power during the historic flood that occurred two days after I took this photo.

The third book in the series, A Just Cause, is set within both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The locational descriptions within Grand Teton National Park are all accurate, including the isolated gravel road that parallels the west bank of the Snake River.

Beautiful arrowleaf balsamroot flowers frame the Grand Teton Range. This is near the spot where A Just Cause begins — in front of the mountains along the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park.

If you have any questions about the books — fact or fiction — or anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on my contact page. I’d love to hear from you!

Win Tyler's World in Yellowstone — Fiction or Not?

Most of the places that are described in A Noble Calling actually exist, but some have been modified to suit the story and a few have been made up entirely. For example, there is no FBI satellite office within Yellowstone National Park, yet there is FBI investigative coverage of the park. FBI special agents routinely work with Park Service law enforcement rangers and Park Service special agents to investigate crimes and enforce federal laws. Unlike some other national parks and national monuments within the U.S., Yellowstone National Park does not fall under the legal jurisdiction of any county, city, or state; it is wholly administered by the federal government. A Federal Magistrate lives in Mammoth and has his office and courthouse at the Yellowstone Justice Center. 

If you visit Yellowstone, you can see the structures I’ve described in the book; in some cases I may have taken a few liberties with their current uses and layouts. I’ll describe a couple of those in this blog.

Win’s House

Yes, it is actually in its described location at Mammoth and it is often referred to locally as “the judge’s house.” It was the first stone house built in the park when it was completed in 1894. As Yellowstone’s original “seat of justice,” it contained the judge’s chambers and living quarters, three jail cells, and the U.S. Marshal’s office and living area. The dwelling was officially named  the Commissioner’s House for many years, since the early U.S. judges were called “commissioners.” 

 The house sits adjoining the Beaver Ponds Trail, with only the trail, a driveway, and a small stream between it and the Lower Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. The house’s history and its exterior are accurately described in the book. However, I’ve modified the interior floor plan slightly and significantly updated the rooms. After all, I couldn’t have Win living in a house that hadn’t been totally renovated in so many years! 

The first floor has a living room with a fireplace, which Win refers to as his “den,” a kitchen, dining area, laundry room, bathroom, and large first floor bedroom with a fireplace. The second story is accessed by a narrow staircase and contains four bedrooms and a full bathroom. The roughly 2,700-square-foot dwelling has an unfinished basement. The descriptions within the book envisioned an updated and modernized version of the house. 

The house was used as the residence for the park’s judge from 1894 until recently, when the current Federal Magistrate moved into other housing. Win’s house is currently used for park employee housing. I’ve included a couple of photographs that my husband and I took of the house on a recent visit to the park.

Win’s Office

Since there is not an actual FBI office in Yellowstone, the structure I appropriated for that use for the novel is the old U.S. Army Corp of Engineers building. It is often referred to by the locals as the “Pagoda” because of the unusual shape of its green clay-tile roof. This building was the second stone structure built in Yellowstone, and like Win’s house, it is constructed of gray sandstone that was quarried locally. Its stone walls range from one foot to two feet thick. The roughly 4,000-square-foot, two-story building is on the National Register of Historic Places within the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. 

The structure was built in 1903 to house the offices of the U.S. Corp of Engineers, which was tasked with building the park’s road system. In 1918, when the Park Service took control of the park from the Army, the building became the official park headquarters. In 1980–81, it was repurposed as the location of the park’s court system. It was the location of the smallest federal courtroom in the United States from 1981 until 2008, when the courtroom was relocated to the Justice Center. Its exterior and parts of the interior are described accurately in the book, but it has never been used as an FBI office. The structure is currently used as the offices of the Park Service’s Mammoth District Ranger and his or her staff. It has not had major renovations in many years. As with Win’s house, I completed a much-needed renovation of the structure in the book, which sadly has not occurred in reality. Federal budget cuts, you know.

These photos of the building were taken on a recent trip to the park. The last photo shows me standing in front of the building.

A Noble Calling — The Supporting Cast

Most novels contain some elements that exist and some that are creations of the author’s mind. In A Noble Calling, there is a rich and varied assortment of characters on both sides of the divide that Special Agent Win Tyler refers to as “the good guys and the bad guys.” But with Yellowstone National Park as the backdrop for the story, there are numerous supporting characters who aren’t of the human variety. You’ll likely meet a few of those when you visit Yellowstone, so I’ve shared some photos my husband and I have taken of these supporting characters in the park.

The American Bison—introduced up close and personal in Chapter Four, the massive bison, or buffalo, as Win grew up calling them, are found throughout the book because they’re found throughout the park. It’s a rude awakening when you step out of your cabin in the early morning hours and find your way blocked by 2,000 pounds of raw muscle and horns. They typically don’t respond to “Shoo” and will move along and give you passage in their own good time. Since bison encounters account for most of the injuries in the park, it is best to give them a wide berth and admire their magnificence from a reasonable distance.

In any given year, there are between 3,500 and 5,000 bison in the park.  I’ve watched herds of hundreds in the Hayden and Lamar Valleys. In May and early June, it isn’t unusual to see huge, solitary bulls lounging alongside or even on the park’s roads and boardwalks, or near cabins or buildings, anywhere in the park. The bison shed their heavy winter coats in May and move into the valleys where the new grass sustains them. The bulls join the herds of bison cows in late May and early June, after the birth of dozens of bright-red calves. Wolves, coyotes, and bears stalk the herds, watching and waiting for some sign of weakness—their young ones have to eat too. It is a spectacle of life and death that plays out on a daily basis in Yellowstone. 

By mid-to-late summer the bulls begin to compete for the attention of the cows. They wallow in dirt baths, paw up clouds of dust with their hooves, and clash with rivals in head-to-head combat. By fall, the animals are putting on their heavier coats and consuming as much forage as possible to bulk up for the harsh winter. In whatever season you see them, the bison are truly one of Yellowstone’s wonders.

Creating A Novel - Questions and Answers About My Journey

My three writing partners: Haley, Sable, and Midnight hard at work!

A Noble Calling is your first book. What led you to write a novel?

Writing a book had been one of my goals since grade school; I began that effort in the sixth grade with the help of Rita Roberts, one of my very best friends. We worked on an adventure novel during recess and lunch breaks and enlisted the help of our teacher, Mrs. Ford. Our hero was a girl our age who lived on a ranch. She rode horses, fought rustlers, and tried to be a good citizen. It was great fun and gave me the writer’s bug. I do wish I still had that old manuscript.

How long did the process of writing your first novel take?

 I began A Noble Calling near the end of 2014 and typed “The End” on the first draft on June 24, 2016. I was working over sixty hours a week as a real estate appraiser during much of that time. My best friend, Suzie James, was hospitalized for eight months during that period and I sat at her bedside for days at a time and did very little actual writing. She was one of my most faithful encouragers and would ask me so often as I approached her bed, “Is it finished yet?” That was a tremendous motivator. After she passed away in April 2016, I finished the book and dedicated it to her. I sent the book out to five beta readers during the summer of 2016 and began making revisions. I began querying agents in late 2016. Since it is a lengthy book for the suspense/crime/thriller genre, most agents wanted it cut down considerably.

During 2018 and 2019, I had taken elements of A Noble Calling and written a completely different book. Very respected literary agents wanted me to make so many fundamental changes: remove the Christian elements, make Win a woman, have a more urban setting, remove the wildlife descriptions, and on and on and on. One of my wise friends finally counseled me, “You wrote your book. Everyone you’ve sent it to wants to make it something it is not—it needs to be your book.” How simple. So, the move to self-publish was on in 2020! 

What part of the writing process was most gratifying?

 Initially, I didn’t write with an outline or any structure to the story; I wrote in scenes that weren’t necessarily consecutive. As the book progressed, I loved it when those scenes seemed to flow together without any effort on my part. It is hard to describe, but it seemed that the characters were directing the plot of the book. It’s the “wow” part of writing a novel.

The many hours of research were also fascinating and lots of fun. Bill Temple, my husband, had a thirty-one year career in the FBI; he introduced me to colleagues and Bureau friends who answered my endless questions about life within the law enforcement community. I met some wonderful people who were willing to share their expertise with me. Those folks ranged from the man who compiled the history of Yellowstone National Park to the retired head of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, to the Deputy Chief Ranger at the park. Park Ranger Kevin Moses even took me along on cliff and white-water rescue training missions and read the draft manuscript! All those generous folks took the time to make sure I got things right in this book. Any mistakes in the book on those technical matters are mine alone, because I had some great advisers.

What setbacks or roadblocks did you run up against?

 Well, life interferes when you’re trying to do more than one job at a time, and I never had the luxury of just sitting down for months at a time and writing. But my biggest frustration was dealing with literary agents who didn’t respond after I’d submitted manuscripts they’d requested or made changes they’d asked me to make. Months would pass with no word and every day seemed like a failure. Often, I didn’t even receive a reply that the requested material had been received, and they seemed perfectly okay doing business that way. I had several agents decline the query when it wasn’t their thing or whatever, and that was entirely reasonable, but to get a new writer’s hopes up and then dash those hopes with silence was not acceptable to me. I had come from a vocation where respect and plain old good manners were expected; I wasn’t really prepared for what I found in the world of traditional publishing. Thank goodness self-publishing is a viable option.

Any advice for new writers?

 Keep at it! I heard the word “persistence” over and over in interviews of successful authors. It is so true. It’s an amazing feeling when you finally write “The End.” But that is only the beginning of the process. There will likely be revisions of your manuscript—maybe several of them. Enlist a group of dedicated beta readers who will go through your manuscript and give honest advice. Hear what they say. Enlist professional copyeditors and proofreaders––let them help you make your work better. Listen to criticisms, listen to critiques, but go with your heart. Remember it is your book!

            I also attended four writers’ conferences before I decided to self-publish, and I would highly recommend new writers attend reputable conferences. The seminars I attended helped me improve my writing, and the encouragement I received from other writers kept me going during difficult times.

There are also consultants who will help with the process. Jane Friedman offers hourly videoconference advice on publishing. My online hour with her made a huge difference in the direction I chose in self-publishing. The team at Girl Friday Productions was consistently encouraging during my journey to get the book ready for its debut. They were thorough, professional, and cheerful. Believe me, cheerful goes a long way in the publishing industry. I’m very intimidated by technology, and I don’t think I could have done it without them!

What do you hope your readers take away from your books?

 I want my readers to be entertained throughout the book, to learn some things they didn’t know, to think through some things that have deep meaning, and to sit back and smile when they read that last page. I want them to leave the book with a real desire to read more of Win Tyler’s stories. Even more importantly, I want them to have felt God’s gentle touch in those moments when Win struggles with his faith, and when his mother and other characters nudge him toward a life well lived. Long after they set the book aside, I hope readers will be reminded of God’s presence whenever they see a striking sunset or raging river. I’d love for the book to motivate readers to go looking for their life’s victories and find a little adventure along the way.