9/6/18

It’s been a while since I posted anything on the blog. I had to get a new computer after my last one died, then we had to change our mail forwarding service because our old one went out of business. Being in a place that has no cell service makes accomplishing those things difficult.

On the 1st of July we took our usual drive out to the Lamar Valley. We’re still finding bears, but very few grizzlies. We found this black bear just above the Tower area.

The next day we did the same drive to Lamar but finished it off with a drive around the lower loop.

Once again, above Tower, we found a black bear.

On the 3^rd, I was out at 7 Mile Bridge doing some internet work. While sitting in the truck banging on the keyboard I saw a mating pair of Blue Heron with a chick.

 On the 8^th, Penny’s sister and her family came to Yellowstone for a visit. We didn’t see many animals while driving around the park, but on our way back from having dinner with them in West Yellowstone, we saw an elk in the Madison River. 

The next day all of us piled into their van and did most of the upper and all of the lower loop. Although we didn’t see the grizzlies they were hoping to see, we did see a sow black bear and her cubs, between Tower and Roosevelt. Two of the cubs scampered up a tree as the crowd watching them started to grow.

While Penny’s sister’s family hiked up the Fairy Falls trail Penny and I sat in the van. While we were there, we noticed that fishing was good in the upper Firehole River when an Osprey swooped down and grabbed a trout for dinner.

July 16 found us in the Lamar Valley again, as we were coming back across the Yellowstone River a black bear sow and her three cubs were coming down off the hill. Mom was getting her fill of flowers and the cubs were having fun following her.

 We drove around the lower loop to get back to camp that afternoon. As we did we took a side trip through Fountain Lake Drive. Luckily we got there just as Great Fountain Geyser erupted.

As we left, White cone geyser also erupted.

On the 22^nd we decided to take a drive out the west entrance. We hadn’t made our minds up as to exactly where we wanted to go until we saw the traffic coming in through the gate and the miles long back up in created. Seeing that, we decided to take the loop down through Ashton, Idaho and up through the Tetons. Near Island Park, Mesa Falls. Mesa Falls is a beautiful waterfall.

Near the base of the falls was a Blue Heron standing on a rock.

As we got near the campground later that afternoon we spotted a grizzly sow and cub in the Fountain Flats area.

July 23^rd we took another drive and found an Osprey sitting atop a tree along the Firehole River looking for fish and a Sandhill Crane in the Fountain Flats area foraging for food.

We had to do a Costco run July 29^th. The quickest way to get to Bozeman from our campground is to go through West Yellowstone, then north through the Northwest edge of the Park. A fire had been started by a lightning strike in that area. Fortunately, it had not gotten out of hand. All we could see was smoke coming from the various hot spots. The fire was only a few days old at this time, so the smoke hadn’t gotten too bad.

Going out to West Yellowstone the next day, there was a family of geese along the Madison River.

August 1^st found a mother elk and her 1 year old boy in camp. The mother was very interested in a cat cage that one of our neighbors has out on their picnic table. The boy found some clothes and tarp hanging outside someone else’s RV and he proceeded to trash them. We weren’t able to get a photo of his antics, but he did go from RV to RV seeing what he could get into.

On Aug 5^th we drove out to Hayden Valley looking for wildlife. On the way, we noticed that Steamboat Geyser was erupting again, so we stopped to get a few pictures. We had just missed the peak of a major eruption that had happened about 16 hours earlier but it was still pumping out a lot of water and steam.

This year, Hayden Valley has been pretty sparse in that regard. We stopped at the creek at the north end of the valley and found a flock of pelicans along with a large gaggle of geese.

Just up the road from there was a Blue Heron in Alum Creek.

On our way back from the south end of the valley, a storm came rolling in over Mary Mountain. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees to freezing and we got dumped on with hail and snow, with winds that knocked down a number of trees. We couldn’t get over Dunraven Pass due to downed trees so we headed back to camp.

August 6^th and 12^th found us in the Lamar Valley watching the bison in rut.

On the way up to the Lamar Valley on the 12^th, we stopped in the Canyon area to hike Red Rock Trail. It goes down into the canyon to a platform about a ¼ mile in front of the lower falls, for a beautiful view of the falls.

Along the trail itself there are some interesting rock formations.

On our way back to the campground we drove up the Firehole Canyon and found this Osprey looking for fish.

August 13^th we went back to Mesa Falls in Island Park, to see the lower falls that we had missed on our first trip. You can only see them from an observation point but it’s still a good view.

We took another drive around the Lamar Valley August 19^th. The smoke from all the fires outside the park made for a very hazy day.

We were able to see a Trumpeter Swan in a kettle pond near Specimen Ridge trailhead though.

Our son and daughter in law came for a visit the week of August 28^th. We were driving from just after sun up to sun down seeing the various sights in the area. The 29^th we drove the Beartooth Highway loop from the northeast entrance of the park to Cody, Wyoming and back through the east entrance. Not far outside Cooke City is a waterfall that flows down a geologic crevasse and out under the highway.

A couple miles farther up the highway is a turnout to the Beartooth Butte fire lookout tower. You can see the entire valley from there.

On our way down from the lookout we found a few grizzly paw prints in the drying mud.

A little ways up the road is another waterfall called Beartooth Butte Falls.

This is the first time we’ve made it all the way to Red Lodge, on the other side of Beartooth Pass. It’s a quaint little tourist town.

After having lunch at one of the eateries in Red Lodge, we headed for Cody. Along the way was a historic site called Smith Mine. It’s the scene of the worst mining disaster in Montana history. Seventy four miners were killed in 1943, due to an explosion.

The rock formations between Cody and the east entrance to Yellowstone are always interesting.

The next day we went to the geyser basins in and around Old Faithful. On the way to the Geysers we drove through Firehole Canyon. While there taking pictures of the river and falls, we saw an Osprey in flight.

At Black Sand Basin there’s a hot spring that looks quite a bit like Grand Prismatic Spring at Midway Geyser Basin. It’s called Rainbow Pool.

There’s also a very colorful spring called Emerald Pool.

We were fortunate to have a number of the predictable geysers go off with time enough between eruptions for us to get to them during their eruptions. First was Castle Geyser. Although not as tall an eruption, nor as famous a geyser as Old Faithful, we think it is a more enjoyable eruption and it has a much longer eruption than Old Faithful.

After Castle Geyser, we drove to Firehole Lake Drive to watch Great Fountain Geyser erupt. On the way in, we stopped to see a couple of hot springs.

Even though Great Fountain Geyser has a four hour eruption window, we didn’t have to wait too long for it to go off and we had good seats.

While there, White Cone Geyser also erupted.

After Great Fountain Geyser, we decided to hike up to the observation platform above Grand Prismatic Spring. At the start of the hike, Penny decided she needed a picture of us framed by the roots of an old fallen tree.

Late afternoon is the best time to get photos from the lookout platform because the air temperature is high enough to reduce the amount of steam coming up off of the pool, the crowds have started to head towards dinner in town and the sun is behind the viewing platform.

 As we were heading home, the storm we thought was going to drench us most of the afternoon started to break up and let the sun shine through.

 On our last day of touring with Matt and Lisa, we drove around most of the upper loop, from Canyon to Mammoth then down through Norris and then back to the campground. We first stopped at a lookout on the north rim drive of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to view the 308 foot high lower falls.

 At Mammoth Terraces, Matt and Lisa did some power hiking up the boardwalk.

 We stopped at Roaring Mountain and were greeted by these two guys.

 Along the drive home we stopped at a turnout and hiked down to a place we could see Snoopy Rock.

We didn’t see the wolves Lisa wanted to see but, as we were driving past the Norris Geyser Basin we did see a coyote.

Matt and Lisa headed for Craters of the Moon National Park on September 1^st, while we went back to work. We only had to work one day to get back on our normal schedule and found that a one day work week is something we really like.

Don drove into West Yellowstone early in the morning of September 2^nd. The sunrise over Madison campground was beautiful.

A little farther down the road the rising sun was lighting Mt. Haynes.

Later in the morning we headed out toward the Lamar Valley again. On the way up the Gibbon River Canyon Penny spotted an Osprey looking for fish from a tree.

Entering the Lamar Valley a Pronghorn was on a knoll very near the road. 

Farther out in the valley, Penny found a Redtail Hawk in a tree.

Monday, September 3^rd, we drove down to Mesa Falls again to see a few things we missed the other times we went down there.

Matt and Lisa had come down here their first full day at Yellowstone because we had to work that day. They told us about a natural spring that is the headwaters of the Warm River. Warm River runs into the Snake River, so the spring is actually part of the headwaters of the Snake River.

Next we drove to Cave Falls. Cave Falls is inside the southwest corner of Yellowstone Park, on the Bechler River.

We hiked about half way to Bechler Falls. Bechler River trail has some very nice views.

On the way back, a Blue Heron was walking along the trail. As I tried to get a photo of it, it ducked around a bend in the trail, then took off. I was able to get a photo of it in flight though.

There were some interesting rock formations along the road from Cave Falls.

On our drive back to the campground we stopped at Seven Mile Bridge so Penny could make a phone call. While there, a herd of elk crossed the road into the meadow and across the river and a Blue Heron was wading in the river grabbing snacks out of the water.