We had to make a Costco/Wallyworld run Tuesday the 2nd of June, so we didn't get any hiking in. Wednesday we went to the Canyon area to hike Uncle Tom's Trail that goes down into the canyon in front of the lower falls. When we got there, we found they were doing construction in the parking lot and painting the lines on the roads, so getting around the area and parking were nearly impossible. We decided to drive up Dunraven Pass instead, since it had recently opened and we hadn't driven it this year.

Near the top, we decided to hike up the Mt. Washburn trail. We got about half way up and it turned into fairly deep snow across the trail. Even though we didn't make it to the top this time, we did get some pictures of the view down the Hayden Valley.

After the hike, we went out to West Yellowstone for dinner. On the way back we saw a few bison with their calves and a couple of birds.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday the 9th, we drove to the Old Faithful area with our hiking buddies and walked from the Old Faithful Inn to Morning Glory pool and back, which makes for a nice two mile hike. On the way to Old Faithful, we drove through Firehole Canyon drive - as we always do, since we find it more interesting than the main road. Near the bottom of the canyon, across the river, we found an osprey nest in the top of a dead tree, with a couple of fledglings in it.

 

We also drove through Firehole Lake drive, across from the lower geyser basin for the same reason. We sat there for about an hour, as it looked like Grand Fountain Geyser might erupt. Even though it didn't erupt while we were there, White Dome Geyser did.

 

During our Old Faithful walk, we were lucky enough to see Grotto Geyser and Castle Geyser erupt.

Our friend Al was recovering from a bout of the gout, so much more of a walk wouldn't have been possible for him. He thinks the two mile walk did help him though.

On Wednesday the 10th, Penny and I got up at 4:30 so we could head to Mammoth Hot Springs for a rendezvous with a tour bus at 7:30. It was our first of the season free tours, provided by the company. This tour was the Northern Range, Lamar Valley, Wildlife Tour. The actual tour was given by the Yellowstone Association, which does a good job of knowing where and when to go somewhere to have the best possibility of seeing some of the more elusive animals. They did not disappoint us, as we were able to find three bears and a moose, besides the thousand or so bison in the Lamar Valley.

When we arrived at Mammoth, we drove behind the Mammoth hotel to park. As we got back there, a female elk was grazing in the grass and eating leaves from a tree, immediately behind the hotel.

 

We watched as she chased a worker around a car. It turned out, her four day old baby was laying down between the hotel and a piece of equipment, so she was protecting her baby.

 

While we were waiting for the bus, the mother elk chased another person back into the hotel. There were signs posted at all the exits that she was in the area and everyone should give her plenty of room, but some people never listen. Apparently, she had attacked an unsuspecting security guard a couple nights before an broken his leg.

Except for seeing the bison in the Lamar Valley, our first stop to view wildlife on the tour was on the east side of the valley. Along the way, we made a pit stop so we would be ready for viewing opportunities where no facilities were available. The restroom we stopped at had barn swallow nests ringing its eves.

Nearer the northeast entrance, we were lucky enough to find a black bear and moose in the meadow across the creek. The bear was feasting on the fresh flowers in the meadow.

 

The moose was moving through the meadow, to a thicket of trees. We had to follow it along the river before it finally stopped to eat.

Near the end of the tour, the tour guide lead us on a short hike up to Specimen Ridge. It was interesting being able to see the Calcite area of the Lamar River, from the back side. We will probably do that hike again since we didn't walk the entire trail this time.

We got back to our truck just before it started to rain and it rained the entire drive home.