6/6/18

While I was out posting our

blog last month, I saw a family of ducks swimming in the Madison River next to the turnout I was parked in at 7 Mile Bridge. This was the first time I had seen Common Mergansers in this area. There were six of them but my best picture was of the parent ducks.

On May 19th, we went out to West Yellowstone and on the way back to camp we ran into a bison jam. It was the start of the migration into the park for the bison in this area.

Up until then we had very few bison in our area and those that were here were all males. Now we have a very large herd of bison with many babies. Within two days this is what the meadow by our campground looked like.

Last week we had a group of bison staying in the campground sleeping in various campsites.

May 20th found us driving around the Lamar Valley looking for animals. There were plenty of bison and pronghorn in the valley and a black bear at Tower Junction. The mother bison were dutifully watching over their babies.

There was still lots of snow on the higher hills, particularly Dunraven Pass and the rivers are swollen with snow melt runoff.

There were Ice Falls still hanging on the walls in Ice Box Canyon too.

We didn't spend a lot of time in the Lamar Valley, so we had time to drive to the south end of the park. Because it's at a high elevation, there was still a great deal of snow between Grant Village and the south gate.

The Lewis River canyon is always a fascinating view. We just wish there were more places to stop where we could see down into the canyon.

 We also stopped to view Lewis Falls, which was running heavy with snow melt.

 

The next day we decided to drive down to the Tetons. Before we got to the north entrance of Teton National Park we saw this sign.

Not far beyond that sign we came across this.

A little beyond that we saw these.

As always, the Tetons were spectacular.

 

We had lunch in Moose then drove down to Teton Village. It is an upscale ski resort just south of Teton National Park and north of Jackson, Wyoming. There was an Osprey nest on one of the telephone poles just outside the resort.

On our next weekend we drove around the upper loop, with a run out to Cooke City. On our way through the Canyon area we saw a small herd of elk running through the meadow.

May 28th we drove around the lower loop, with a stop in the upper geyser basin hoping to see Grand Geyser Erupt. Apparently we were a little late, as it appeared to have already erupted when we got there.

 

Near the West Thumb geyser basin we saw a bull elk in velvet.

 

With all the snow melt running off the mountains the Firehole river and Firehole Falls were running high.

We stopped at Le Hardy rapids but only saw two Harlequin ducks. They should be coming in to nest in the next few weeks.

The wildflowers are starting to bloom too.

Early on the morning of May 29th we found this site in the meadow near the campground.

June 3rd we took another drive to the Lamar Valley. Just outside the campground, at Terrace Spring there was a herd of bison. A few of them were close to the road with their babies.

We took the side road to Virginia Cascades between Norris and Canyon. Usually you can see the underlying rocks beneath the water, but not with all the water flowing right now.

On our way through the Bearmuda Triangle (Tower Junction) we saw three of these guys within one mile.