5/14/18
On April 20th we moved down to the campground. Fortunately,
they had done some work in the construction zone and had repaired the two foot
deep ruts that had been gouged into the unpaved section of road., so other than
covering both our truck and trailer with mud, the trip was nice.
There was still a good deal of snow on the ground the whole
drive.
The campground was still covered, except for the roads and
site pads. Unfortunately, they had plowed all the snow in the sites to the back
of the sites, so we weren't able to back our rigs all the way into the sites
for another couple of weeks.
We even had to dig out our utility connections before we
could back our trailer into our site.
On Sunday the 22nd we went on the company sponsored bus ride
from Old Faithful to Canyon Village. While we were at Old Faithful, waiting for
Old Faithful geyser to erupt, Beehive geyser erupted. This was the first time
we have been in the area when Beehive erupted and it was , in my opinion, a more interesting eruption than Old Faithful's.
In the Hayden Valley we saw a couple of Sandhill Cranes and
two Trumpeter Swans but not much else.
April 26th was our first day off since starting work at the
campground and we went to Roaring Mountain, then back down to Old Faithful.
Near Roaring Mountain we saw another pair of Sandhill Cranes. Near Old Faithful
we saw another Trumpeter Swan and a Coyote.
On the 29th we took a run out to Lamar Valley, since that's
where it seems the animals are hanging out at the moment. Along the way, near
Gibbon Falls, we found a grizzly bear munching on a carcass near the Gibbon
River not too far from the Campground.
In the Lamar Valley we saw a couple more baby bison, but not
the hundreds we will see in the next few weeks.
We went all the way to Ice Box Canyon in the northeast
corner of the park and had a chance to gaze at the frozen waterfalls.
On the way back we came across a herd of Bighorn Sheep near
Tower Junction.
April 30th we drove out to West Yellowstone while it was
snowing. On the way we saw an eagle in a tree.
May 6th found us out in Lamar Valley again. As expected,
more baby bison had been born. Some of them were getting to know each other.
Coming back through Mammoth on the way home, we noticed
Rustic Falls was flowing heavier than usual. During the summer, it is little
more than a trickle, but with the snow melt it was beautiful.
We drove to the Hayden Valley on May 7th and saw a Redtail
Hawk sitting in a tree along the way.
After sitting there a while, it took to soaring around the
area.
The snow was still quite deep in the Canyon area.
Coming back through the Gibbon Meadows we stopped at
Chocolate Pot and took a couple of photos of the waterfalls across the street
and the rapids upstream in the Gibbon River.
At the end of our drive we stopped by Fountain Flat Drive and caught a glimpse of an eagle cruising the area.
