Since my last post, we've taken a few drives around the park
but have also been recovering from sinus infections and most recently, a 24
hour bug that takes 4 days to clear up.
On a drive around the lower loop on September 6th, we saw a
buck blacktail deer in the woods near Yellowstone Lake.
On September 7th we took a day drive down to the Tetons, in
part to see some friends we worked with our first year here. They are working
at Gros Ventre campground south of Tetons National Park. On our way to the
campground we saw a male moose in a meadow by a river.
One of the fires that occurred last month was between
Yellowstone and the Tetons. During the fire, one of the campgrounds in that
area was evacuated at five in the morning and the road between Yellowstone and
the Tetons was closed for a while. By the time we went through the area, enough
rain had come to knock down the fire but there were still some hotspots that
could be seen from the road.
We could also see some of the results of the fire where it
crossed the road.
On September 12th we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on
the ground.
Fall colors started coming out about that time and we have
been getting around to see them too. We took a short drive out towards West
Yellowstone on the 13th and saw a few deciduous trees turning yellow and
orange, amongst the hills highlighted with snow.
On the 14th we went out to the Hayden Valley, in the middle
of the park, along the way we saw two bald eagles near the Gibbon River.
More fall colors were coming out as we drove farther north.
Back out to West Yellowstone on the 19th, the colors were
becoming even more vivid.
Tuesday, September 20th, we decided to drive up the
Beartooth Highway, then down to Cody and back home through the east entrance of
the park. On the way over Dunraven Pass to the northeast entrance of the park,
we came across a sow black bear and her two cubs looking for mushrooms and
grubs on the hill above the road.
The Beartooth highway is always a beautiful drive,
especially with the trees changing colors.
Driving south from the Beartooth to Cody, we drove the Chief
Joseph highway. We had never been on that road before. It also has some
beautiful features.
From Cody to the east entrance of Yellowstone were more
colors.
We stopped at the Old Faithful area on our way home and a
geyser we had not seen erupt before was erupting. I'm still trying to figure
out what the name of the geyser is.
On September 28th, we drove to Mammoth. It's a long drive at
the moment. Since the road between Norris and Mammoth is closed due to
construction you have to drive over Dunraven Pass which adds an hour or more to
the trip. It was the elk rut season and there was one bull elk, with a harem of
most of the female elk in the area, resting behind the post office in Mammoth.
On October 5th we took another drive around the lower loop
after stopping at the Old Faithful Inn for a buffet breakfast provided by
Xanterra. We stopped at West Thumb to walk around the boardwalk. It had snowed
the night before and there were still a few inches of snow on the ground and
trees. As we drove into the parking area, we noticed a bull elk lying in the
trees. He seemed to still be half asleep.
A new hot spring had opened up in the middle of the West
Thumb geyser basin. It had drained much of the water out of the adjacent hot
springs. With the reduction of moisture in the mud pots, the mud was thickening
up. We were able to get a photo of a large bubble in the mud pot.
The snow in the area made the area even more beautiful along
the lake shore.
The snow had fallen above 7000 feet, so we didn't have any
at the campground, but the hills were beautiful.
We stopped at the Sulphur Caldrons on the way around the
loop. With the rain and snow we've been getting, the mud pots are a lot wetter.
The sulphur fumes coming up through the fluid made for many bubbles.
This is likely our last blog post from Yellowstone this
season, since we will be leaving here around October 18th, depending on the
weather.
