Family visits and summer coming to a close

Last week me and Sam had the pleasure of entertaining my mom and the Coleman's here in Yellowstone!  We had a blast and felt like real tourists again after living here all summer.  Watching my family get excited over all the wildlife and scenery was awesome, and we are glad that they enjoyed the trip out here, I'm so lucky that they all came out to visit us!  We tried really hard to show them as much as we could, but it is very hard.  One of the coolest things was when me, Sam, and mom saw the big bull elks bugling near Canyon Village, and when we went to the cookout on the covered wagons.  Also hiking down the Canyon on Uncle Tom's trail with the Colemans was really fun, even though some of the group was a little scared of heights.  And of course, everyone loves seeing the bison everywhere!  It was also really cool that my brother got to celebrate his 16th birthday out here in Yellowstone and Cody, Wyoming.  That was a really memorable experience and I hope that he had a really great time.  But of course, getting to see them only a few weeks before heading home just made me miss all the rest of the family and home even more...but as of right now we only have 10 days left here in Yellowstone!  

Our horses: Bo and Luke!

We have been working on our travel plans, and it looks like it will be a 5 day trip back home.  We will be heading to Sioux Falls, SD on the first day back (leaving the 26th), then on to Toledo, OH.  We will be staying overnight in Cleveland, stopping at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as our tourist spot on the way home.  That is Sam's treat to me since I wanted a really adventurous trip home but we needed to conserve money.  So we will be seeing all of our friends and family very soon! 

In true Yellowstone fashion, the last week has been exciting in that we have seen wolves, grizzly bears, tons of bison, and celebrated Sam's birthday.  There was a bison carcass very near to Fishing Bridge, and a lot of animal activity around it since the animals here are getting ready for the winter season.  When we first heard about the carcass from a tour guide, myself and two friends decided to check it out after breakfast one morning.  We ended up following a wolf as he got closer and closer to the carcass.  At one point, he was coming straight towards us and ended up staring us down from 20 feet away.  It was an incredible experience filled with excitement, and a little fear at being that close to the top predator of Yellowstone.  He was just curious, and soon found his way to the carcass.  The next morning I ventured back to the same spot and saw a mother grizzly with a yearling cub feasting.  The mother was intent on the food, but the cub just seemed to have fun chasing around the ravens that were lurking nearby.  After 3 days the carcass was pretty much picked clean and the animals had moved on to other food sources, but it was very exciting to have that so close.  Sam had gone out to see it while I was working one night, and while everyone was watching the sow with the one cub, another large male grizzly approached from the other side of the road.  She said the ranger made everyone get into their cars while the bear approached.  The sow smelled the male coming and evacuated the scene, while he crossed the road right where all the cars were and proceeded to the carcass.  Super exciting! 

The wolf that was really close!

The bear that sneaked up on the tourists.

For Sam's birthday we headed to Bozeman, MT.  On the way we stopped at the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT.  This is one of our favorite spots out here, it is just so much fun to watch the wolves and bears up close.  All of the bears have been rescued from the wild, but the wolves were raised in captivity.  It is really neat to watch their natural behaviors and interactions with each other.  The wolves are playful, but clearly exhibit a social hierarchy even in the confined settings.  The bears are curious, clearly have a defined routine, but can do unexpected things.  For example, we watched a bear scratching his back on a tree, then proceeded to start shaking the tree around until it snapped in half like a twig.   And he was one of the smaller ones they have!  We had a good time in Bozeman with some of our friends, one of whom turned 21 and had the same birthday as Sam.  The next day we walked around downtown before heading back to Yellowstone.  But before heading back we stopped by the Discovery Center one more time!  This time we got to watch the wolf caretakers provide "enrichment" for the wolves.  They placed bones, fish chum, and other meaty smelly things around the wolf exhibit to stimulate the wolves.  It was really neat to watch, one wolf even jumped onto a tree to shake a bone out of the branches.  In the one wolf exhibit they have a little pond with trout swimming in it, and we saw a wolf catch two fish in a matter of minutes for a little afternoon snack.  Sam took so many pictures of the "wolfies" that our camera died...

Wolve love!

The tree after he broke it!  But I beat it was a great scratch!

Until next time!  This has been the Mike and Sam Yellowstone Summer!!!!

A Little Note About the Forrest Fires

There are fires burning all across the Western United States!  Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming and all those other western states.  Yellowstone is no different.  In the park, there are currently 5 fires raging: the Range fire (185 acres), Dewdrop Fire (210 acres), Cygnet Fire (1490 acres) and Camera Fire (0.1 acres).  There are also a bunch that have gone out, the biggest of which was the Blacktail fire (29 acres)1

Cygnet Fire, the biggest fire, was a lightening caused fire discovered on August 10th.  There has been heavy smoke along the roadways especially on the road between Norris and Canyon Village. 1


In Yellowstone, fires are allowed to burn as long as they don't threaten structures, roads and, obviously, people.  There is a Wildland Fire Program that Yellowstone employs which as two goals:

1. To suppress wildfires that are human-caused or that threaten people, property or resource values.

2. To ensure that naturally ignited wildland fires may burn freely as an ecosystem process.

Smoke Over the Lake

 Fire Ecology

 Wildfires have played an important park in Yellowstone's ecosystems for thousands of years, and the goal of the National Park Service is to keep it that way.  Thunderstorms are common in the Rocky Mountains, often have little rain and thus produce "dry lightening."  Some of these strikes are powerful enough to rip strips of bark off of a tree in a shower of sparks, and blow the pieces up to 100 feet away.2  These stikes don't always cause fires because the trees and shrubs have to be dry, and most of the year they aren't, but in summertime they can get very dry and that is when most fires in the park seem to occur.  This year has been a very, very dry summer so we have quite a few fires.

The 87-acre Sygnet Fire burns near Norris on August 19, 2012 3

Nearly all of Yellowstone’s plant communities have burned at one time or another.  Some trees, however, such as Douglas-fir have very thick bark that insulates the tree against heat. The bark protects the cambium (the water and nutrient areas) which will die if exposed to fire.  Thick bark ensures that wildfires seldom kill mature Douglas-fir trees.  Other species like lodgepole pines have cones are glued shut by resin. The heat of a wildfire is needed to melt the resin and allow the cone to open and disperse the seeds within. This adaptation ensures that the seeds of lodgepole pine will not disperse until wildfire creates conditions that favor the establishment of seedlings-- diminished litter on the forest floor and plenty of sunlight.

Although whitebark pine, Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir are also thin-barked, they are adapted to fire by escaping: they grow in places less susceptible to wildfire. Aspen clones are connected by a network of roots which survive even very hot fires because they are insulated underground.

Forrest recovery after a fire in Yellowstone 4

1 Information from http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/12-61f.htm

2 Information from http://www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/fireecology.htm
3 Photo from http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/12061c.htm 
4 Photo from http://live.psu.edu/story/54245

---

Union Falls hike

Last week we decided to hike Union Falls with some friends, but we got lost on a forest service road and never found the trailhead.  We were on this road for about 30 miles before we hit pavement again and realized we were in Idaho.  We ended up in the small town of Ashton, where we bought some chocolately rice crispie treats and drinks from two kids selling snacks on the street.  After talking to some locals, we drove off on a scenic drive towards Jackson, WY, which was about 60 miles away.  Just a few miles into our trip we spotted a moose cow and her calf grazing off the side of the road!  It was a fun drive, and once we got to Jackson we had dinner at the Snake River Brewery and caught a little bit of the Olympics on the TV there.  We continued driving north into Grand Teton Nat'l Park, and stopped for an evening swim at String Lake.  The water was surprisingly warm for the time of day, and it was very refreshing.  We planned to do the hike for next week, since we didn't accomplish our task on this particular day.

Moose!

 

    With some extra planning, we set out early Tuesday morning to hike, and camp, on the same trail we couldn't find the week before.  This time we had all our ducks in a row.  The trail itself was pretty challenging, but the scenery was beautiful.  We started out pretty easy, with the one obstacle being a river crossing in the first mile, but the water was fairly low so it wasn't too bad.  The trail then climbed gradually up a ridge, where we walked through a beautiful pine and spruce forest for about two miles.  The trail then descended sharply to another creek where we rested, filled up on water, and had lunch.  We met quite a few hikers along the way, many of them Boy Scouts from a nearby summer camp.  After another mile and half or so, the trail began following a nice creek nearly all the way to our campsite.  We took our time along the creek and fished for our dinner.  Our friends, Mikey, Evan, and Cristy all caught a rainbow trout that we would have for dinner later that night.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch any until the next morning, when I caught two rainbows back to back (my first Yellowstone fish!).

Sam crossing the Falls River

Crossing the creek after the steep descent

   

Our friend Evan and his first fish, which would be dinner later

Once we arrived at camp, we found the the creek next to us was unusually warm.  So we all took a swim to cool down and relax.  After setting up camp, we all hiked up to Union Falls.  It is called Union Falls because it cascades right where two creeks come together, forming a union.  It is also one of the tallest waterfalls in Yellowstone.  This was definitely one of the better moments of the summer, it was absolutely breathtaking.  The view from the top was amazing, but a steep trail wound down to the base of the falls which we decided to check out.  Near the bottom the spray from the falls was so intense it was like standing under a cold shower, we were all soaked without even getting in the water!  After a few minutes we had to abandon the bottom because it was just too cold.

the creek at our campsite

Me and Sam at Union Falls

Union Falls!

   Luckily we knew that there was a nice swimming hole in the warmer creek not too far from the falls.  Once we got to the swimming hole we all jumped in immediately, it was amazing.  A small waterfall had eroded a 10 ft. deep hole just made for jumping into and swimming.  The water was really warm too, it reminded me of Panther Falls back home.  There was even a fun rock to jump off of into the water.  We hung out here until just before dark, and headed back to camp to cook up the day's catch.  The trout was delicious, and even Sam liked the fish and went back for seconds.  Catching and eating fish in the back country was definitely a very cool experience.  Not long after eating, we all turned in for the night.  

Jumping into the swimming hole

The next morning, we got up and broke camp to head back home.  I did have time to walk around a bit and enjoy the morning sun.  I also saw a little garter snake sunning on a rock, but he got away before I could get a picture.  Garter snakes are one of the very few reptiles and amphibians that inhabit Yellowstone because of the intense climate here.  We took our time hiking back, especially on the steep ascent up to the top of the ridge.  But after catching those two fish early on, my morale was so high that even my tired legs and aching shoulders couldn't slow me down.  I do believe that this may be the longest hike I will ever get Sam to do however.  But she is always a good sport when I drag her out in the wilderness!

Morale was very high after I caught my fish just after starting to hike back!

July 4th weekend

We were out and about during our whole weekend this week, we luckily had the 4th of July off to celebrate.  Sam had Monday off, and once my shift at the dining room was over, we headed out with our friend Jim to a camping area in the Beaverhead National Forest.  It was a beautiful spot next to Cliff Lake ( if you look on a map it is just west of highway 287, west of West Yellowstone, Montana).  We met some more of our friends there who had arrived earlier.  Since we got a late start, we were only there for about an hour before sunset.  This was also Sam and I's first time using our "new to us" tent we bought from some friends.  They gave us two sets of poles to go with the tent, neither of which actually go with the actual tent.  One set works very well, but the other set not so much.  Guess which set we brought...

   It was fine to sleep in once we rigged it up decently though.  The sun came up early and warm the next morning so we took out our sleeping bags from the tent and slept out on the ground for a little while.  The morning view of the lake was spectacular.  The water was incredibly blue and clear.  Except in the middle of the lake where it was deeper, the water was so clean and clear you could always see the bottom.  So I had to swim in it of course.  I will say it was a little chilly, ~ 65 degrees by my guess.  Once in the water, it was awesome.  Great hangover cure.  Sam thought it was too cold so she just stood on the shoreline with her toes in the water.  We spent some time swimming and catching crayfish in the shallows before packing up and heading back to Yellowstone Lake. 

The clear, blue water and clear, blue sky!

After a nice nap and a good dinner at our EDR (Employee Dining Room), Sam and I set out with a group from our Rec Center for a night hike on Mt. Washburn.  Before I say anything else, this is by far the favorite hike I have done in Yellowstone, and maybe ever.  It is my favorite by means of the time of day, and the amazing views at the top.  There were ten of us in all, 5 kids from China, 2 from Poland.  Only the guide and ourselves were Americans, but luckily everyone could speak English.  On the drive out we spotted an old grizzly right beside the road.  He had a tracking collar on, and a scarred face.  Hence his name (Scarface).  This particular bear is well known throughout the park, he is very old and docile.  The reason his face is scarred is because he keeps scratching his tracking collar off.  The hike itself is relatively short, only 3.2 miles.  The summit can be reached one of two ways:  The first is the one we did, starting from the Mt. Washburn trail parking area, the other starts on the Chittenden road which is not nearly as fun.  The trail itself was actually once a road that allowed people to drive to the summit, but that was a long time ago.  On the way up it was warm and there were wildflowers all along the meadows beside the trail.  We didn't see any wildlife along the trail. 

The lookout tower from farther down the trail

   There were amazing views of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon on the way up as well.  We made it to the summit right about 9:00, and boy was the temperature dropping.  The wind at the top was really intense.  Luckily Sam and I brought jackets, but some of the other people were in shorts and T-shirts.  There is a really cool lookout building at the top where a ranger lives to fire watch and do research.  You can walk in and admire the views all around.  From the top you can see the grand canyon, Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, the Absaroka mountain range, among many other peaks and ranges I don't know the names of. 

At the summit, it was super windy!

Soon after we got to the top, the sun was setting and the full moon was rising at the same time.  It was pretty incredible, and the most memorable sunset I have ever experienced.   The colors were amazing.  It was hard to know which way to look.  On our descent, we didn't even have to use our flashlights because the moon was so bright.  Since there are no lights really out here, the views of the stars are really amazing too.  This is one hike that I will definitely have to do again. 

The sun looked like it was setting right on the mountain!

My artsy shot of the moonrise...

But wait!  Our fun-filled weekend wasn't over with yet!  The next morning after sleeping in (we didn't get back from the hike until 12)  we headed out for another night of camping at a place called Shadow Mountain which is in the Teton National Forest.  We were meeting up with a lot of people from our location who go there every year for the July 4th festivities.  Unfortunately there were no fireworks in Jackson this year because of the very dry conditions and risk of forest fires.  In fact, this morning there was a haze all around the mountains that looked like fog, but it was actually smoke from a forest fire somewhere north of us in the Shoshone National Forest.  The spot itself was pretty cool and we partied down all night.  The Tetons were visible directly across from us and provided some inspiring material for late night drunk ramblings about the greatness of nature...

But for now, it is back to work for the next 5 days.  That gives me just enough time to plan out another fun adventure for next week! 

Below are some pictures of our camping at Shadow Mtn: 

Sam sleeping off the night before.  The better pole set this time.

The view on our arrival at the camping area.

The next morning.  Same view, but all the haze it actually smoke.

The Tetons enveloped in a haze.  We could actually smell the smoke from where we were camped.

Another Trip to Cody

Sam and Bill

A few weeks ago on our days off Mike and I decided to return to Cody for much needed groceries as well as exploring the town.  First we checked out a few stores around the town looking for Father's day gifts and any other things we might have need.  After purchasing a neat topographic map of the Lake Area where we are, we headed over the Buffalo Bill Historical Center which houses 5 different museums. 

It's Bill!

The first museum was dedicated to Buffalo Bill's life and career.  At the entrance to this one we were greeted by a holographic Buffalo Bill.  Many of the kids who passed by enjoyed walking through him or punching him in the gut which was pretty entertaining to watch...  The museum had many neat artifacts and also quite a few hands on activities that were probably supposed to be for kids, but Michael and I found them very entertaining and educational.  They taught you how to scout like old Buffalo Bill or how to rustle up buffalo on the plains.  They even had a Buffalo Bill board game that you could try out.  (Which I won at).  Next was Bill's childhood home which had been moved from its original location.  It was a small two room house that use to also have a little lean-to kitchen attached pre-move.  It was a quaint little house with yellow clapboard siding and a tiny living space. 

The next museum was all about Yellowstone ecology.  It talked about all the different regions of Yellowstone starting at the highest elevation where the wild sheep and goats live and then heading down to lower elevations where the bears and marmots live.  They had all sorts of stuffed animals, each one showing a different animal that lives in Yellowstone.

Neat Video about Native Americans

The next museum was all about the Native American presence in and around Cody, WY.  It had all sorts of artifacts from Native American cultures as well as some modern art by Indians of today.  They had many videos about the Indian way of life as well as traditions they held such as the different dances and headdresses which were really neat to watch.

The last museum had art pertaining to the West including Yellowstone and Buffalo which used to be essential to the western way of life.  They had some really neat paintings, one of which Michael really liked showing Custer's Last Stand with actually historical characters painted in it.  We looked at that one for awhile, all the way up until the museum closed.  At which point we headed out to dinner at a nice Chinese buffet.  I hadn't had Chinese in forever, and really wanted some so we went to this buffet and it was fantastic!  After filling our bellies and stopping to stock up on groceries, we headed back home to the lake.  On the drive back, as it was getting a little dark, we saw a bunch of sheep up on the hillside and stopped to admire them and take a few pictures before continuing home.  There were a bunch of them just sitting there; more than 10 or so, so we got to watch them for awhile until it got to dark and we left.

Sheep!

Cookout Time!

The wagons

A few days ago us front desk people got to go on a real life cookout for free for what is called "shakedown."  Shakedown is basically where people practice for the real thing.  It's like the shakedown we had at the Dining Hall here at the hotel.  At this one, all the people from the front desk around the park (Mammoth, Canyon, etc..) got to ride in little yellow wagons pulled by these really big work horses.  As we rode along, we had a driver and a guide, both of whom were telling us random facts and information about the area where we were driving.  Mostly they were stories about old west cowboys and the mountain men who once roamed about in Yellowstone.  Also, they pointed out wildlife which was only a few bison, once of which was in our way so our drivers yelled out at them and I have never seen a bison run so fast!  He was running like no tomorrow.



After about a 30 minute drive, we arrived at our destination to see a campfire with coffee brewing as well as the food line all set up and steaks a cooking! When we dismounted from the wagon, there were a bunch of picnic tables set up for us to eat at and some cowboys singing poetry.  When it was our groups turn at the table they told us it was all you could eat steaks (which later proved incorrect, at which point it was all the beans we could eat.  This too soon proved false until it was simply all the apple crisp we could eat.)

An example of the food we ate!

After dinner a few of us joined the guides over by the horses and we were able to pet them and learn some of their names.  They were really sweet and playful and it was so fun to get to see them.  Soon we were packing back into the wagons and heading home.  Stuffed full of steaks and beans, we arrived back at the Hotel ready for the next day of work.

Recap of the last 2 weeks: Post 1 Coyote Creek Camping Trip

So a lot has happened since our last post.  I will attempt to go into all the fun stuff that has been happening on our days off as well as a small update about work and all the extreme fun that goes with it. This is the first post of the updates
   To start with, we had our first overnight backpacking and camping trip last Tuesday ( the 5th).  It was Sam and I, and our friend Anna that works at the front desk with Sam.  For those who don't know, if you are going camping in Yellowstone, at any place other than a designated campground, you need a back country permit.  You can get these at any ranger station.  It is a safety precaution mainly, but is also useful so that you will know which camps around the park are open so that you won't have to worry about hiking 10 miles to find out someone is already sleeping where you wanted to be.  They briefly make sure you are aware of the dangers of the backcountry (bears, river crossings, etc.)  while also letting you know about the condition of the trail.  It so happened that the trail we were going on only had one campsite where fires are permitted, and this camp was just past a creek crossing.  So I chose that one since it was still getting pretty cold at night and we would want a fire.  Turns out we probably would have been better off to not cross the creek, but that comes later.  On the way to the trailhead, which is the Hellroaring Creek Trail, we spotted a gray wolf in a meadow, and a coyote on the road just before reaching our destination.  We got a somewhat later start than anticipated, but hit the trail at around 3:00.  Our campsite was 5.4 miles ahead of us.  Also, this was Sam's first ever backpacking experience.
    After going down a series of switchbacks (which were terrible on the way back), we crossed a suspension bridge over the Yellowstone River.  After hiking through a small patch of pines, we crossed out into open sage meadows which would take us through the rest of the trail.  The weather was beautiful and warm, and a couple miles later we spotted a little gray fox watching us from on top of a nearby hill.  There were also little towns of prairie dogs along the way, we could hear them squeaking at us when we got too close!  Hiking in, on our left was a tall rocky mountain alongside Hellroaring Creek.  We were steadily going uphill the entire way, which we noticed on the way back more than on the trip in.  It was a nice easy grade, but 5.4 miles is still pretty tiring with a 30-40 lb. pack.  The neatest thing along the way was the amount of elk shed antlers along the trail.  I spotted the first one and thought it was the coolest thing ever, but after finding bigger sets, and eventually a complete giant pair, I couldn't believe it.  Unfortunately, you are not allowed to remove any natural thing from Yellowstone or you can face pretty heavy fines. 

    By the time we passed the first campsite along our route, we had been hiking for about 4 hours.  It was getting close to 7:00, and the temperature and sun were starting to drop.  We knew we only had about a 1/2 mile left so we were getting pretty excited about setting up camp and hanging out for the night.  Then, we came to the creek we had to cross.  By my definition, it should have been a small river based on how fast it was flowing.  It was only about 6 feet across, but we decided to cross because it didn't look very deep even though the water was very fast. 

So, we changed from our boots into water shoes, locked arms for stability and support, and began to cross.  I went first, Sam next to me, and Anna last.  Needless to say, the water was freezing cold.  Before I knew it, I was waist deep in the middle of the stream.  It was happening pretty fast, and because of the cold water we were trying to rush across and Anna lost her footing.  She went down in the water pack and all, but luckily Sam was able to grab her by the chest strap on her pack and hold her head above the water.  So then, Sam loses her footing and goes down in the water too.  At that point I was mostly across so I was pretty stable, and was able to grab onto both of them and help get them out of the water.  The adrenaline was definitely pumping after that.  They were both freezing cold and needed to get warm quick or hypothermia was a real possibility.  So I gave them what extra clothes I had brought and ran ahead to the campsite to get a fire going.  Once we had finally made it to camp we got the tent set up and they tried drying all of the wet clothing near the fire.  Luckily, the sleeping bags had been spared by the creek. 

The campsite was actually very nice, and even though morale was pretty low after the swim, we slept soundly that night and were ready to go the next morning.  Most of their clothes were still wet, and Sam lost one of her hiking boots.  She had to wear her water shoes back the whole way!  The hike out was pretty uneventful after we found a much safer crossing.  The weather wasn't as warm as the day before, but the sun was still out for most of the way.  We even caught sight of a pronghorn antelope heading down the trail ahead of us. 

Overall it was really a fun experience despite the girls being a little cold during the night, and we learned a lot of lessons about the Yellowstone back country along the way.  Next time we will be smarter and more prepared about being out in the wild. 

Day Hike at Storm Point, Lunar Eclipse, Wildlife watching in Lamar Valley ( a full week of Yellowstone fun!)

Last Tuesday, Sam and myself along with two new friends (named Anna and Robbie) took a day hike near to where we live, called Storm Point.  We set out walking through a nice meadow by a small pond, walking towards a small pine forest.  The trees lay right on the edge of the lake on a dropoff of about 15 feet.  The lake was starting to thaw at this point so it was a mix of thin ice and free flowing water ( at the time I write the lake is almost completely thawed now).  The weather was beautiful during the hike, sunny skies and mild temperatures in the low 60s.  After crossing a small stream with a log bridge built across it, we entered into another rock strewn open area.  Looking across at one of the large rocks we noticed a small animal resting on top of it.  It turns out this area is home to a large family of Yellow-Bellied Marmots, and they were sunning on nearly every rock in sight.

We hung out on the point right on the lake for a little while, seeing as this was a very short hike and we wanted to sit out and enjoy the sun.  Our marmot friend in the picture above hung out with us, from about 15 feet away.  He didn't seem to have a care in the world about us, and we just wanted to enjoy the same sunshine. 

Once we continued the walk over the next hill we came upon some bison grazing in the field right where our trail was headed.  There were only two but we kept our distance and walked around on the edge of the trees.  Once we took back up the trail I looked over to the left and there was Big Papa bison looking at us through some pines.  I can honestly say he is the biggest one I have seen yet, and he just lay there staring straight back at us.

We continue our walk through the pine forest until we crossed a small creek out into the field where we started our hike.  Of course, there were more bison out there blocking our path.  So we took the long way around, which happened to go through a nice marshy area.  Luckily Sam and I wore our boots but our two friends had opted for low cut sneakers and they got wet feet.  This one bison decided also to follow our path across the field so we had to keep going out of his way...eventually we made it to the road and back to the car where he had continued to follow us and was only about 10 ft. away when we got to the car.  Storm Point was an excellent little 1.5 hour hike that I will definitely do again if I just want to get outdoors somewhere close by.

The next day we were supposed to go on another hiking trip overnight, but decided to visit the Old Faithful area instead.  Though we didn't actually see Faithful erupt, we took the walk around to look at all the other geysers, hot springs, and colorful pools around the area.  The fact that Yellowstone has more combined thermal features that anywhere else on Earth is pretty impressive.  So what we walked around and saw in an hour here you couldn't see in any other area without touring the entire world basically.  There are really too many to put pictures on the blog, but I will upload some into our photostream.  There are some geysers that can be predicted like Old Faithful, but none are as regular or as often.  We didn't see any of the others erupt on this particular day either, but plan to go back and give it another shot some other time.

Looks like the sun is resting on the treetop!

On Sunday night we went with a big group of people from the dorms to the Lake Butte Lookout point to watch a lunar eclipse.  It turned out to be nice sunset, and with only cheap sunglasses we couldn't see much, but there was definitely an eclipse happening.  We stayed up there about an hour watching the sunset and enjoying the scenery, but it was only partly an eclipse with a small crescent visible in front of the sun.  I got some neat pictures of the sun, but unfortunately they don't show the eclipse. 


On Monday, Sam and I decided to head to the Lamar Valley to try and see wolves.  This has been the most popular spot for wolf sightings in the park that we have heard, though some have been spotted just north of us in the Hayden Valley as well.  The wolves are usually more active later in the evening so first we took a short hike at a place called Trout Lake.  There was a steep 1/2 mile hike up to the lake, which was beautiful.  The lake was very small, but the scenery around it was beautiful.  We made sure to take our bear spray with us, since this was a prime bear habitat.  Luckily we didn't see any.  We walked around the small lake, and saw a bison resting under a tree on the far side (he didn't seem interested in us at all).  I didn't see any of the trout swimming in the lake, or the otters that live there, but we did see some ducks swimming around.  The two males were fighting over the female duck, it was pretty interesting to watch.  On the way back down we met a Russian fellow with a very large camera lens.  He didn't speak English, but did manage to show us something interesting through his camera...mountain goats on the steep cliff-side opposite of our hike down.  They were so far away my binoculars could barely make them out but they were there right on the top of a steep mountainside. 

After our hike we headed back down the road where we watched for the wolves for nearly an hour, this one tourist apparently spotted one but they were very far away and never reappeared.  We cut our losses and headed home, seeing many buffalo (with their young, called "Red Dogs") and elk along the way.  The Red Dogs were really fun to watch since they run around and play with one another and butt heads.  That's all for now, but next post will be about our trip to Jackson and the Grand Tetons!

Lamar Valley has the largest herds we have seen so far!

Little Red Dog

Curious Fox Day

A few days ago (on Mother's Day), after a long day of work Michael and I decided to check out the Lamar Valley where wolves and other such animals are known to be all the time.  We didn't see any wolves unfortunately but we did see some other cute animals!

We started the trip by heading to Mammoth Hot Springs for dinner where we ate at the Employee Dining Room where we ate with a bison outside the window! He was just sitting there while everyone ate their dinners; he was eating his dinner too!

After diner and a call to our moms to wish them a happy Mother's Day, we headed out to the Lamar Valley.  On the way we saw lots of animals.  First we passed some Elk eating grass in a field.  Next we came across some bison who were play fighting and huddling around the Roosevelt Ranger station.  On the other side of the road were the females and their youngsters called red dogs.  Some of the red dogs were jumping around and playing on their new legs, bumping into each other and falling on the ground.  It was very cute.


Continuing on our journey, we found ourselves stuck in our very first bear jam.  Tourists were crowding the side of the road and so we slowed down to see what the fuss was all about.  When we looked over on our left we saw to black bears in the field below looking around for food.  So we pulled over and got out of the car to take a closer look.  Michael manned the camera and I had the binoculars.  We watched them for awhile as they ate berries and wandered around.  As we were leaving, one of the bears ran across the road right next to one of the tourists and I was sure we were about to see a bear mauling.  I'm sure glad Xanterra made sure we are bear aware, so we won't have such a close encounter.  And if we do we will be prepared.

After this we arrived at the Tower Falls where we hiked around for a bit and saw the falls which are 132 feet high.  The view was spectacular.  The trail was closed off at one point down near the Yellowstone River but of course Mike had to go check it out.  We went on for about another 50 yards and saw why it was closed, a landslide had washed away 20 ft of the trail ahead.  We could see where it picked up on the other side but there was nothing in between.  Then we journeyed on to go back to the Lake area and we took the road that is closed to tourists.  Here the snow was still pretty high across Dunraven Pass, but we were on the lookout for any animals, particularly wolves since I really want to see some. Suddenly, while we were driving Michael hit the brakes and backed up a bit.  Looking out his window, I could see a fluffy orange face peeking over the snowbank.  It was a cute little red fox!  He was the most curious fox I have ever seen.  While we sat watching him he came right over to the car and sat there looking at us.  He was very curious.  We got lots of good pictures of him and then decided to let him keep hunting for little critters and rolled on towards home.  I'll let Michael describe what happened next:

"Well, we were just drivin' on down the road talkin' about that fox that we seen.  We were all tickled and excited about it since he came right up to the car window that we were startled when we saw another critter right in the road ahead of us.  Guess what, another grizzly bear!  He must have heard us comin' cuz he was haulin A** down the road!  Before we had time to stop he had crossed the road and jumped right into a 5 ft tall snowbank...without even rolling the window down I could hear the weight of the bear hit the snow with them paws.  It had the same kinda sound that big rocks make when they hit the water...SKADOOSH SKADOOSH.  Buddy, let me tell ya, we musta gave that bear the scare of his life cuz he didn't stop runnin' the whole time we were in view of him, even when he reached the safety of the pine forest.  There won't no time for a picture, but I believe he was the biggest one we seen yet.   We didn't want to disturb him anymore than we already had so we kept on goin' once he was safely off into the woods."

See you next time for the next Mike and Sam Adventures!!