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.

There's been a sow grizzly with two yearling cubs hanging around within a couple of miles of the campground but we have yet to see it. A couple of times we got to their location just a couple  of  minutes after they left but they didn't show themselves while we were there. We'll just keep trying.

4/19/18

We were able to drive between Gardiner and the Lamar valley a few more times during Don's training. We saw many of the same animals at various times and also saw new sights.

On April 11th we drove out to Lamar and saw the grizzly bear again. This time it came up on the road and passed about 20 feet in front of our truck. There were people out watching and photographing it, when it decided to cross the bridge, so all the people on the bridge had to walk to the other end to let the bear get across.

We also saw a mother moose and her 1 year old baby, not too far from Mammoth. After munching on the branches of bushes in the gully, they decided to lie down and rest in the snow.

 On the 12th we saw a fox walking near the buildings in Mammoth.

 April 16th was the next day we had time to take a drive. On this one we saw big horn rams lying on the rocks above the road.

 There was a black bear sow and a one year old cub between the Yellowstone picnic area and the Specimen turnout.

On the way back through the same area was a two year old cinnamon black bear.

 The bear smelled food in one of the cars parked along the road with people inside watching the it.

While we were out in the Lamar Valley we were able to watch a coyote catch a rodent under the snow.

 Near Tower Junction, on the way home, we saw the first baby bison of the season.

 Yesterday the 18th, we saw our moose family again. this time at Phantom Lake, about 4 miles east of the place we saw them on the 11th.

We are moving down to the campground on Friday the 20th. If you need or want to contact us, email will be the best way. We may not check our email every day though.

4/10/18

We didn't have much to post while we were at Thompson's Mills the last few months, but now we are in Yellowstone again and nature is revealing itself nicely.

We arrived Saturday, after taking a week to travel from Puyallup. We hit a little bit of snow on the road between Pendleton and Baker City Oregon, but didn't have any trouble driving through it. We stayed in Pocatello, Idaho for two nights waiting for the snow storm between there and West Yellowstone to blow over. No snow during that drive, but it rained the entire way. We had to go up to Bozeman and around through Livingston, Montana, instead of through the park. Apparently a large sink hole has developed in the road between Norris and Mammoth, so they aren't allowing any travel through that area until they get it fixed.

Now that we're here we've spent a few hours each day driving the north end of the park, viewing wildlife. 

Lots of bison.

 

More elk than last year.

Big horn sheep.

Pronghorn

A coyote.

The osprey is back in the Lamar Canyon and already catching fish to eat.

Two days before that photo, the nest was covered with snow.

Today we saw our first grizzly bear of the season. It is the darkest grizzly we've seen. We would have mistaken it for a black bear if it weren't for the shoulder hump and deep stop on the nose.

The snow is melting pretty fast up at this end of the park. Nothing's left on the road now, whereas we were driving on snow in some places Sunday.

Work starts on Thursday.

9/24/17

The late afternoon of the 8th of September we went for a drive to Old Faithful and back. There was a beautiful sunset over Fountain Flats

 

On the 9th we went out to Hayden Valley to see what animals might be about. We parked for a while to watch a herd of bison cross the Yellowstone River.

While we were there a flock of geese decided to take off in formation.

 

September 10th we drove out to the Lamar Valley but also decided to take a drive on the Blacktail Plateau. We were lucky we did, as we got to see a black bear sow and cub foraging for food.

 

On September 15th we had our first snow of the late season. We got less than an inch at the campground, but over the next week we had snow another three times, with up to 6 inches one night.

 

A drive out to West Yellowstone on the 17th showed how much the colors are changing with fall coming.

 

On the 19th we had more snow and we took another drive out to the Norris area.

 

On our way to West Yellowstone on the 22nd we saw a black bear roaming around on the side of the hill on the other side of the Madison River near 7 Mile Bridge.

 

On the 23rd we drove to the Hayden Valley again with a side trip to the top of Dunraven Pass. This is a view of the Hayden Valley covered in snow.

 

On our way out of the Hayden Valley we drove the North Rim Drive of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It's a fascinating place at all times but especially so with snow on the hills.

There was about a foot of snow on the hills at the top of Duraven Pass.

 

On the way back, towards the campground, we saw a grizzly bear cross the road ahead of us but weren't able to get a good picture of it, as it went into the woods on the side of the road.

September 24th found us making our last trip to Bozeman for the season. There was a beautiful sunrise along the Madison River as we drove out of the park.