9/4/17
August 1st, while out at 7 mile bridge (the closest place to the
campground where we get cell service) doing some computer stuff, I noticed a
Blue Heron resting in the Madison River, preening itself. It stayed there
longer than I did and I was able to get a couple good pictures.
There was also a family of ducks swimming in the river.
On the 5th we drove out to the Lamar Valley again to watch
the bison in rut.
There were a couple of young bison playing like they were in
rut also.
After they played a while they decided to take a nap
together.
On the way home we stopped at Midway Geyser Basin and hiked
the newly opened trail to the Grand Prismatic overlook.
As we were leaving the sun was shining through the clouds,
making a beautiful sun burst.
We took another drive out to Lamar on the 6th, for more
bison watching. One of the bison apparently had the job of bus driver that day,
with seven birds hitching a ride on its back.
On the way home we saw members of the newest wolf pack in
the park. The pack lives very close to the campground we work in and we
sometimes hear them howling in the evening. They were quite a ways off the road
when we saw them, so we weren't able to get a very good photo of them.
We repeated our visit to Lamar the next weekend to watch the
bison again.
On the 17th two adult and one baby elk came by our trailer
eating the grass. We were able to sit in the door of our trailer and watch them
from about 20 feet away.
On the 18th we saw an bald eagle on our way out to West
Yellowstone. It was sitting in a tree looking for fish in the Madison River.
On the 19th we hiked around Trout Lake in the northeast
corner of the park. We've done this hike before but this time we took a side
trail that follows the creek that runs into the lake. It is a spawning ground
for the cutthroat in the lake.
The wind was fairly calm during our hike and we got a good
photo of the lake with the reflection of the background mountains in it.
On our way to the lake we saw a Redtail Hawk along the road.
August 20th we hiked Monument Geyser Basin. Looking down the
Gibbon River canyon, you can see how much smoke is getting into the park from
fires in Canada and Montana.
We were in the 98% totality area during the Aug 21st solar
eclipse. You're nowhere unless you're in 100% totality but we did get some
photos of the sun at our location.
On August 26th we hiked the Elephant Back trail. When you
get to the top of the hill, you have a pretty good view of the north end of
Lake Yellowstone. It would have been better with less smoke though.
August 27th the mother and baby elk returned to our trailer.
We are now less than 8 weeks from the end of the season in
Yellowstone. We haven't decided whether we will be coming back again next year
or not but it is probably more likely than not.
