July 14th we hiked up to Monument Geyser Basin with our hiking buddies. The morning was foggy and the valley floor was covered with fog but the trail climbs 600 feet up to the top of a hill and it got us above the fog.

This geyser basin is the only place where this particular shape of geyser cone is found in the park.

By the time we were ready to hike back down the trail, the fog had burned off in the valley.

July 21st we hiked Artist Paint Pots in the morning.

It was only a 1 mile hike so we drove a little farther and hiked Norris Geyser Basin. Because the traffic was starting to get heavy and it can be hard to find a parking spot in the parking area, we drove to a little used turn out north of the geyser basin and hiked a 1 mile trail back into the basin.

In the evening we took advantage of one of the company sponsored tours and took the bus ride to Lake Butte for a view of the sunset.

During the drive to the butte we saw a young grizzly bear.

July 28th we drove to the Tetons with our hiking buddies. Along the way we took a side trip at Flagg Ranch, north of Teton National Park. It's a dirt road that you can take to Ashton, Idaho, 43 miles away. There are many forest service camp spots along the way that are nicely secluded. Some are single camp spots, some have two to four camp spots. Many have their own pit toilets that are well maintained. The only wildlife we saw along the road, besides squirrels and chipmunks was a lone mule deer.

Penny and I forgot we were scheduled to go on another company sponsored tour Wednesday the 29th, so we missed a trip to Hebgen Lake, which formed in 1959 when an earthquake caused a mountain side to slide down a hill and dam a river. The lake is sometimes called Quake Lake because it was formed by an earthquake. We'll go there on our own next Tuesday with our hiking buddies.

We made a quick trip to Seattle for our son's wedding on the 21st. we flew in from Bozeman on the afternoon of the 20th. Unfortunately, with changes in the flight schedules (we picked up Sandy coming in from Sacramento) and the time it took to get our rental car, we got to the venue in Union after the rehearsal and by that time the dinner boat had already left. The three of us plus Don's mom and Penny's best friend Jane stayed in one of the cabins at the Alderbrook resort, where the wedding was being held.

The wedding was the afternoon of Sunday, the 21st. It was one of the best run weddings we've ever attended. Matt and Lisa did an excellent job selecting a wedding planner, who did a great job of making sure everything went smoothly.

The bride Lisa, and her father Gary walking down the aisle

The groomsmen

 

The bridesmaids and the bride and groom

The only detraction was when Don's mom fell in the bathroom of the cabin and no one was there when it happened. Luckily, Don returned to the room to change out of his tux about 15 minutes after the fall. After getting Mike to help, they were able to get Elsie back on her feet, unharmed, in the tight confines of the bathroom. Penny missed saying goodbye to some of her family because she had to see what was going on when Don and Mike headed out of the reception.

We flew back to Bozeman (and Sandy back to Sacramento) on Monday the 22nd, as the kids got ready to head for their honeymoon in Alaska. We hope they had a great time. It was good being able to see lots of the family, if only for a little while.

Our normal days off are Tuesday and Wednesday, so we had a couple days to recover before we had to go back to work. We made a Costco and Wally-world run between getting off the airplane in Bozeman and driving back to Yellowstone. We were very tired when we did get home on Monday, so we needed to rest the next two days.

Tuesday, the 30th, we went on a hike with our coworker hiking buddies. We went to Natural Bridge near Yellowstone Lake. Because it's mosquito season, we left early, so we would be done before too many of the bugs got active. On the way we took the north end of the lower loop and went through the Canyon area. Near the North Rim Drive of the Canyon, we saw three male elk - called The Three Amigos because they are usually seen together. The third one stayed behind the hill, so we didn't get a picture of it.

A little ways down the road we saw a flock of pelicans on the shore of the river with a flock of Canada geese swimming in front of them and a few more in the background.

Just a little farther upstream was four Trumpeter Swans in the river.

The hike is an easy one, without too many hills and is only 3-1/2 miles round trip. Don climbed up the trail that leads to the bridge itself and Penny took a photo of him when he got to the top. It gives a good perspective of the size of the arch. Not nearly as big as those in Arches National Park, but still good sized.

Penny saw a marmot lodge near the bottom of the arch area.

We were done early enough to get in on the buffet breakfast at the Lake Hotel. On the trip back to the campground there was a large bison jam in the Hayden Valley, with bison crossing the road almost continually. Lots of babies in the herd too.

This last Tuesday, July 7th, we took another of the company sponsored free tours. This one was the Wildflower tour. Because of the unseasonably warm weather, it probably should have been done a couple of weeks ago to get the best bloom of the wildflowers, but it was still good. It was done like a field survey, where we tried to identify the various flowers. We saw lots of them and we still aren't sure what all we saw, but they were beautiful. Here are just a few of them.

 

 

 

On the way home we took a side trip on the Blacktail Plateau Trail, a six mile, one way, dirt road, between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Tower-Roosevelt area. We didn't see any animals like we had hoped but there is a boulder on the top of a hill that looks like a bear, that you can only see from one location.

We had to make a Costco/Wallyworld run Tuesday the 2nd of June, so we didn't get any hiking in. Wednesday we went to the Canyon area to hike Uncle Tom's Trail that goes down into the canyon in front of the lower falls. When we got there, we found they were doing construction in the parking lot and painting the lines on the roads, so getting around the area and parking were nearly impossible. We decided to drive up Dunraven Pass instead, since it had recently opened and we hadn't driven it this year.

Near the top, we decided to hike up the Mt. Washburn trail. We got about half way up and it turned into fairly deep snow across the trail. Even though we didn't make it to the top this time, we did get some pictures of the view down the Hayden Valley.

After the hike, we went out to West Yellowstone for dinner. On the way back we saw a few bison with their calves and a couple of birds.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday the 9th, we drove to the Old Faithful area with our hiking buddies and walked from the Old Faithful Inn to Morning Glory pool and back, which makes for a nice two mile hike. On the way to Old Faithful, we drove through Firehole Canyon drive - as we always do, since we find it more interesting than the main road. Near the bottom of the canyon, across the river, we found an osprey nest in the top of a dead tree, with a couple of fledglings in it.

 

We also drove through Firehole Lake drive, across from the lower geyser basin for the same reason. We sat there for about an hour, as it looked like Grand Fountain Geyser might erupt. Even though it didn't erupt while we were there, White Dome Geyser did.

 

During our Old Faithful walk, we were lucky enough to see Grotto Geyser and Castle Geyser erupt.

Our friend Al was recovering from a bout of the gout, so much more of a walk wouldn't have been possible for him. He thinks the two mile walk did help him though.

On Wednesday the 10th, Penny and I got up at 4:30 so we could head to Mammoth Hot Springs for a rendezvous with a tour bus at 7:30. It was our first of the season free tours, provided by the company. This tour was the Northern Range, Lamar Valley, Wildlife Tour. The actual tour was given by the Yellowstone Association, which does a good job of knowing where and when to go somewhere to have the best possibility of seeing some of the more elusive animals. They did not disappoint us, as we were able to find three bears and a moose, besides the thousand or so bison in the Lamar Valley.

When we arrived at Mammoth, we drove behind the Mammoth hotel to park. As we got back there, a female elk was grazing in the grass and eating leaves from a tree, immediately behind the hotel.

 

We watched as she chased a worker around a car. It turned out, her four day old baby was laying down between the hotel and a piece of equipment, so she was protecting her baby.

 

While we were waiting for the bus, the mother elk chased another person back into the hotel. There were signs posted at all the exits that she was in the area and everyone should give her plenty of room, but some people never listen. Apparently, she had attacked an unsuspecting security guard a couple nights before an broken his leg.

Except for seeing the bison in the Lamar Valley, our first stop to view wildlife on the tour was on the east side of the valley. Along the way, we made a pit stop so we would be ready for viewing opportunities where no facilities were available. The restroom we stopped at had barn swallow nests ringing its eves.

Nearer the northeast entrance, we were lucky enough to find a black bear and moose in the meadow across the creek. The bear was feasting on the fresh flowers in the meadow.

 

The moose was moving through the meadow, to a thicket of trees. We had to follow it along the river before it finally stopped to eat.

Near the end of the tour, the tour guide lead us on a short hike up to Specimen Ridge. It was interesting being able to see the Calcite area of the Lamar River, from the back side. We will probably do that hike again since we didn't walk the entire trail this time.

We got back to our truck just before it started to rain and it rained the entire drive home.