Back to Yellowstone

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to set my alarm clock so I’d be sure to wake up early this morning, and set it I did for 6:00.  However, it decided to go off full blast at 3:56!  Ugh!  One of two things could have caused this.  Either the gremlins are at work again, or I should have worn my glasses when I set it.  I’m leaning towards gremlins, since 3 doesn’t really look like 6, and 56 definitely doesn’t look like 00, and the numbers are pretty big on this clock so I can read them in the dark. 

I was able to rouse myself once again at 6:00, and after a quick outs for Emma, we were on the road.  I had made my lunch last night, so it didn’t take too long to get ready.  I decided since there was a Mc D’s in West Yellowstone, I’d go through the drive-thru for an egg and biscuit sandwich for breakfast.  That worked well, except I wasn’t impressed with the food, as usual.  There also aren’t any $1 meal deals in this tourist town like there are in Minnesota.

Anyway, we headed into the park with the plan to take the route through Madison Junction and on past Old Faithful.
After we had passed the Old Faithful exit, the sun came out and just highlighted all of these geysers along the way.  It was quite a sight.  We continued through West Thumb and headed for Fishing Bridge.
As we drove along Yellowstone Lake, I at first thought it was enshrouded in early morning fog.  When I stepped out of the car to take this eerie shot at a pull off, it was immediately evident to me that it wasn’t fog, but was smoke from a burning fire.  You can hardly tell that the huge lake is in front of the far mountain.  I later found out that there were some prescribed burns happening in the park, but this smoke was pretty massive.  I wonder if there was a fire going on that wasn’t scripted.  Later in the day I saw a helicopter with one of those big water buckets hanging beneath it racing across the sky.  Hmmm…
The smoke cleared some as I made my way around the lake, and I was able to get these shots of a young buck.  I had seen a grizzly bear, some elk, and a bald eagle on the way in, but none presented themselves close enough for a good picture.

I turned right at Fishing Bridge and began the drive to Sylvan Pass and the East Entrance.  As I got to the pass, I turned around and headed back.  It had taken over 100 miles to get this far.
On the way back to Fishing Bridge, I took a side road up to the Lake Butte look out.  At the top you are at an elevation of 8348 ft. (2544 m)  What a view!  On the left, is the view South over Yellowstone Lake.  If you click to enlarge, you will see the smoke haze still hanging over the lake, and just to the left of center near the top are the very distant Grand Tetons.  That’s 40 – 50 miles from this spot as the crow flies.  You sure can see a long way out here.  :)  On the right is the view to the West.  Much clearer air that direction, so you can easily make out steamboat rock.
The drive up to the Butte is a stark reminder of the fires of 1988.  Remember what Smokey, the Bear, always says.  :)

As I made the return trip along Yellowstone Lake, I had to pull off the road as I thought I saw a new bird for me.  :)
Sure enough, there was a small raft of Barrow’s Goldeneyes fairly near the shore.  These guys are into their eclipse plumage right now as they go through their summer molt.  It’s kind of like how we look a little different when we get a haircut.  :)

After we got back to Fishing Bridge, I decided to head north towards Canyon Village so we wouldn’t be retracing this morning’s route.  I have never seen so many bison in the Hayden Valley as there were today.  The valley was covered with them.  It reminded me of seeing the bison scenes in Dances with Wolves.  (I hope you notice that I’m now properly calling them bison instead of buffalo :))  Tatonka!!

As we neared Norris, I decided to take the Virginia Cascade road once again so I could stop at a picnic area along that road.  What a mistake in judgment that was!  As I sat down at the picnic table and got my lunch out of the cooler, I noticed a few mosquitoes.  Ha!  A few is a gross understatement.  It only took two minutes for them to attack from all angles.  I wolfed down half my sandwich, and ran back to the car.  I couldn’t get inside fast enough!  I was wearing shorts, and I bet I took twenty bites on the legs in mere minutes.  Talk about itchy!  Even Emma was rolling in the dirt to try to keep them at bay.  Needless to say, I did not take a photo of our scenic lunch stop today.  :(  We beat a hasty retreat the rest of the way back to the rig, with me bent over scratching away at my legs.  It was not pleasant.

I am a fairly slow eater, but today I set a personal record for fast food consumption.  It reminded me of my daughter, Robyn.  As a child, she was always a picky eater, and took forever to get through her meal.  That is until she went through basic training in the Army.  Her first meal after basic training she fairly inhaled!  Goes to show you, under duress, anything is possible.  :)

For tomorrow, I’m debating where to take myself out to eat for my birthday.  I usually like to do a Red Lobster, or fancy seafood place on the coasts if that’s where I’m at.  But, I’m in Island Park, Idaho right now, and I’m not sure they’ve heard of a lobster.  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Another Yellowstone day

Emma and I were on the road well before 8:00 this morning.  Our plan was to drive the upper loop of the figure eight roads of the park.  We did that in addition to the West entrance road and just about all of the Northeast entrance road.  I was hoping for some outstanding photo opportunities.  The forecast said partly cloudy skies, but the morning was spent with overcast skies.  :(
First up was this doe elk just relaxing and “chewing her cud.”  The chewing can be seen better in the header picture.  I think it looks like she wants to say something.  Couldn’t you just picture one of those cartoon bubbles coming out of her mouth with a snappy comment?  Some people know how to do that with their pictures, but not me.  What do you think she wants to say?

I don’t have too many scenic shots from today’s 200+ mile drive, since lighting conditions were not very good, and I couldn’t take the hikes to see Tower Fall and a few other views because of having Emma along. 

The thing that was most noticeable to me on this drive was the dramatic increase in visitors.  There were so many cars on the roads that it reminded me of being in a major city!  I don’t blame all those people for wanting to see this magnificent park, but I just wish they had come until July.  :)


I’m trying a new technique with two pictures side by side here that I learned from a post in Rick & Paulette's RV Travels blog.  It’s lunch time on the left, and a minor disagreement between two cows on the right.   Rick is quite the guru with Live Writer, and I’m trying to implement some of the things I’ve learned from him.  :)

As Emma and I moved on from Tower/Roosevelt toward Mammoth Hot Springs, I was getting hungry and wanted to stop at a picnic area to walk Emma and consume the lunch that I had packed.  Every place that we pulled into was jam packed with no where to park.  Ugh!  So, we drove through Mammoth Junction (what a mass of humanity that place was!), and turned south towards Norris.  The reason I wanted to stop at an official picnic area is that they all have a bathroom!  That was a paramount need by this time.  :)  Finally, about 2/3 of the way to Norris, we found one vacant picnic table!  What a relief!  Emma was, literally, relieved as well.  As I enjoyed my sandwich, Emma investigated the area.
“I know something’s in this log…I can smell it!”
“I’ll try the other side!”
“I know it’s here somewhere!”
Here’s the little culprit that Emma couldn’t quite get to.

In all my drives through the park, I have seen evidence of the great fires of 1988.  As I think I’ve mentioned, I was here during the summer of 1988 and experienced the magnitude of these fires.
Twenty-two years later, the devastation of these fires can still be seen.  This area had a dense population of Douglas fir twenty-two years ago.  Douglas fir is usually quite resistant to fire, but the high winds in the summer of ‘88 produced such hot fires that most trees did not survive. 
You can see some rebirth on the forest floor, but it is a slow process.  Other areas of the park have seen a better natural reseeding of the forest.  Some species of trees only open their cones, for seeds to emerge, after a fire.  In the great scheme of things, 22 years is just a blink of an eye, and that was really brought home to me today.

This has been a rather long post today, so I’d better say…
THE END….once again.  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Holy Geysers, Batman!

It was overcast when we awoke this morning, but it wasn’t raining, so we decided to make another trip to Yellowstone, and hope for the best.  Yesterday, we saw quite a few geysers (including Old Faithful) and we saw many more today.
The first stop was the Artist’s Paint Pots.



It was quite a hike up to the top, at this altitude, to get this view.  It was worth it, though.  :)  It was supposed to be a 1/3 mile hike, but both Pam and I agreed that it had to be much longer than that!

The eleven mile stretch of road between Madison and Norris was under construction, but we lucked out and weren't delayed for very long. 










The next stop was the Norris Geyser Basin.  Once again, the hike down and up was taxing.  It is astounding to me that so many of the visitors to our National Parks are from foreign countries.  And it won’t be long before it seems like most of the RVs on the road will be inexperienced rentals.  It happens every summer in the West part of the country.

Our original plan was to only go as far as Norris today, but the construction eliminated several of the spots we were going to tour today.  So, we continued on north.
There were several “buffalo jams” along the route, but we finally made it to Mammoth Hot Springs.
 
What a selection of geysers we have seen in the last two days.  Rain is forecast for the next six days…yuck!  We will probably take a day off from Yellowstone tomorrow to catch up on laundry and such, but who knows.

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

P.S.  Mrs. J asked about all the felled trees in some of my pictures yesterday.  Most are the result of the great fires in the park in 1988.  As it turns out, that is the last time I visited Yellowstone, and it was during all of those massive fires.  It has been great to return, without the fire and smoke, and see how much the forests have renewed themselves.  :)