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.

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.