6/11/14

We seem to have acquired a campground mascot, at least for a little while.

 

We call him Stubby because at some point, he lost most of his tail and only has a short stub left. He likes the fresh grass in the campground loops and doesn't seem to bother or be bothered by any of the campers. Some of the campers seem to be oblivious to him, since we find him within 10 feet of some campers and they haven't even noticed him.

We've also had our black bear back in the campground a couple of times. One of the campers had a child that got sick and threw up on their sleeping bag. Instead of cleaning the bag or throwing it in the trash bin, they simply threw it out on the ground and left the campground. A bear came in and dragged the sleeping bag away, leaving claw marks in the campsite. All this while other campers near them, slept in their tents and RV's. Fortunately, we didn't have a disaster and have to put an innocent bear down.

On the sixth of June, Don got to be a test subject for the Roosevelt Cookout. The day before a Xanterra run food service center opens for business, they invite other Xanterra employees in for a free meal that gives the cooks and servers a chance to get used to what they will be doing when they have a packed house. The cookout is limited to 150 people, so only the "new" front desk staff of each campground and hotel that Xanterra runs were invited. So the eight of us that had never gone out he cookout before carpooled to the event. Penny, unfortunately, didn't get to go because she isn't part of the front desk staff at the campground.

On the trip from the campground to the event, we went over Dunraven Pass, which is a beautiful drive. Being one of the two drivers, I wasn't able to take any pictures except when we stopped at Tower Falls.

 

At the event, the participants ride a couple of miles in a horse drawn wagon, similar to an old Conestoga wagon used in the 1800's. but these wagons have automobile type tires and (somewhat) padded seats. They were pulled by either Belgian or Percheron horses, depending on which wagon you got to ride in. We didn't see a whole lot of wildlife during the event but we did see a coyote carrying a marmot off for dinner. There were also three bison lounging a little ways off from the dining area (picnic tables). The dinner consisted of steak, corn, beans, corn bread muffins, potato salad, coleslaw, apple crisp and milk or soft drinks. There was also a guy that played guitar and sang country songs during the dinner. The dinner wasn't bad, but I'm not convinced that it would be worth the $60 price tag, if I had to pay for it.

One of the couples that works with us went on the cookout the next day, for their 47th anniversary and got a photo of a bull moose that came out of the hills right next to the dining area.

Monday afternoon, Penny and I went to the Artist Paint Pots and walked the one mile loop. There was a bear off in the woods in the Gibbon Meadows, but there was no room for us to stop and get a photo of it, with all the other cars parked along the road. It wouldn't have been much a photo, as far away as it was.

We got a few photos of the thermal features at Artist Paint Pots though.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Penny and I drove to Tower Falls, since Penny hadn't had a chance to see it.

Dunraven Pass still has quite a bit of snow on it, being 8300 feet high.

The crowds were smaller when we got to Tower Falls and the sun was in a better position than when I went on the cookout. We were able to see a rainbow in the mist of the falls.

 

When you drive around the back side of the falls, you can see some very interesting rock formations.

 

There were numerous traffic jams with people trying to see bears in the area between Tower Falls and the Lamar Valley. One place, a woman parked her car in the middle of the road and walked down a ways to take a picture. The park ranger had a few words for her, in an unfriendly voice. Penny was able to get a couple of photos of one of the black bears while we were driving by.

In the afternoon we went to West Yellowstone for a pizza. On the way home Penny saw another eagle sitting in a tree across the Madison River, waiting for supper to come swimming by. We stopped and took a few photos.

 

Wednesday we went to Bozeman, on a grocery run. On our way out of the park there was a 50 car traffic jam, going the other way, due to bison on the road along the Madison River.

Between Earthquake Lake and Ennis there was an Osprey in a nest near the road.

 

 On the way home, there were a bunch of people rafting the Madison River, near Big Sky.

 

Happy Father's Day