Yellowstone National Park - Day 1

August 23, 2018

After rushing to finish cooking and packing, I was late to bed and early to rise. I left my trailer a little after 4:00 A.M. in order to get to Norris Campground, a first come, first served campground. I was surprised to get there a little after 6:00 A.M. to find the check-in spot gone, a sign saying "Do not proceed until you are checked in" and only one man wandering around.  I found from him that it would be 7:30 before anyone arrived and 8:00 before I could check in. While I was delighted that I would not have to fight for a site, and perhaps lose it while exploring, I also could not pick the best site available. The sites on the board I saw were empty, ended up being trailer sites, so I waited for more people to check out. Finally I got site 72 and went to set up my tent. It overlooks a meadow, so I'm hopeful of seeing some wildlife there, provided I can manage to get back before dark.

First picture of the day a short ways out of West Yellowstone

By this time it was 9:00 A. M. and still damp and cold. I crawled into my sleeping bag to warm up and soon fell asleep.  By the time I woke at noon, the day was turning warm and sunny.  I decided I would go to the Tower Roosevelt area and take a hike, then would go on to the Lamar Valley to look for wildlife.  The hike I took was along the east side of the Yellowstone River.  The drive was over an hour away.

It started up a VERY steep incline.  But after only about two tenths of a mile, it came out on a point over a really beautiful section of the Yellowstone river gorge. The sky continued to brighten, and clouds appeared. Bees, flies, butterflies, and other insects were gorging on the last of the blooming rabbitbush. The only negative was that the smoke was hiding distant mountains.

Almost to the gorge's edge

First view of the Yellowstone River

A closer look

I love the patterns the water and rocks make

This EXTREMELY industrious ant was hauling that huge yellow something down the trail

This grasshopper-like bug was on rabbitbush

Think this is a pearl crescent - there were thousands of them feeding and mating

The stream was about two hundred feet below me 

This turned out like a painting

There were occasional large rocks about 

I've taken the pictures of this 'fence" from the western side and enjoyed seeing it closer

Just another wonderful view

More of the clift

This one rabbitbush must have had twenty or more insects on it - this was about one-fifth of the bush.
Click on the picture to enlarge before seeing how many insects are in this picture. 

I felt I needed to say "stay!" as I walked across the path of this rock - and I hoped the tree could hold it back

I went on towards Lamar Valley and found this bull standing along side the road.

Bison

I stopped to check on what a couple was photographing and found an osprey nest with at least two babies it it.   This is a parent.

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A long way off, through the smoke, these pronghorn made a beautiful arrangement

The further I went, the more bison I saw.  Some were almost pinpoints, while others were near or on the road. 

This is a very late calf, under two months old since it is still orange

My turn around point was Soda Butte Creek

I didn't get back home until after dark.  I sat in the car and edited my pictures, then went to bed. I slept all night and was up again before first light.  I headed back home for saws and more warm clothes. Yellowstone is about the same temperature as is Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Area, but it is much damper and the cold goes through you.

I'm writing this in Bozeman Public Library, one of the most beautiful libraries I have seen. I need to buy more groceries and ice, then will pick up my Florida friend, Julie who will be camping and playing with me until next Thursday.  We'll have to be back here Thursday night as she has to go to the airport at 4:00 A.M. But we'll have at least one adventure a day, and probably more.  I had a quiet day yesterday but visited several places. Stay tuned.

Why Buying Groceries Took Four Extra Hours

August 19, 2018

I needed to get groceries so I could cook ahead for my Yellowstone visit starting July 23.  It is my least favorite job and I also spent several days building my list after deciding on menus. I finally got off, for the second time after leaving my coffee, around 8:20.  I had to make a quick stop at the Lower Lake Gauge to take a picture for my boss.   And to take several picture of the pronghorns. Then it was on to Albertsons in Dillon.

But soon I was slowing and stopping as I realized the quality of the light was still really soft, and the landscape was really different with very diffuse or absent mountains. Smoke from several fires, some as far away a British Columbia and one just west of Dillon were contributing to an almost white out of distant landmarks. And the quality of the light made everything prettier.  Once I started taking pictures, I found more and more in dire need of capturing. So the smoke had a bit of a positive side.

The rest of my delays were because I ate a long, slow lunch while reading a really good book. The trip was made even better because I was listening to a book Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal which was totally fasciinating, especially in the design of the experiments to test animal's intelligence and how they run their cultures, including how they cooperate and trick each other.

So this day turned out to be my favorite day of the week, even if I didn't get home in time to wash and detail my car.

A small part of the pronghorn herd

Ducks are gathering in lower lake

My favorite picture of one of the escaped cows

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The white horses made a nice counterpoint to the colorful foreground and the dark blue grey background

I finally stopped for a picture of this barn - been meaning to for four summers

I spotted this rock, calmly overlooking its valley

The light brought out the textures beautifully

This barn looks like it is starting to kneel.  

Another old barn.  Usually it has mountains showing behind it

I often mistake rocks for animals.  These looked like a herd coming through the draw

Up into the void

Another lonely homesteader house

Usually this is a great view of Lima Reservoir. 

Another old house

The light made this more beautiful

Haying is going on big time. 

A colorful ranch 

View from the highway

Another big rock formation 

I took this on the way home from the South Valley Road

The smoke continues to get worse - Monday we have a combination of smoke and clouds and I have lost
 my front door view of the mountains. 

For comparison, her is one of my earlier pictures from the front door, when only the clouds were filling up the valley. I could barely see the close mountain in the right of this picture this morning.

When this publishes, I'll be madly finishing up my packing for a really early departure for Yellowstone National Park. Hopefully, I'll stop by the library in Bozeman and give you an update, before picking up friend, Julie at the airport.

A Truncated Big Sky Weekend

I spent Saturday trying to find a good dispersed campsite near Spire Rock Campground, north of Big Sky in the Gallatin National Forest. After setting up my hammock, I spent the hot part of the day reading and hanging out.  Between the smoke and the unusual heat, I didn't feel like exercising.   In the evening, I drove to Big Sky and thought about doing a short hike. But when zi discovered a Classical Music Festival was in progress, I grabbed some supper, set up my chair and enjoyed the concert by Time for Three. This is a group of three guys playing a mashup of classical music with modern genres. They use two violins and a double bass, along with singing. Click on the link to hear their Tiny Desk Concert. 

In the evening I went into Big Sky and thought about doing a short hike. But I discovered s a classical music festival, so I ate supper and stayed for the concert by Time for Three.  They are a group of two violinists and a bass player who play mashups of classical music with various modern genres. Click on the link to he

Next morningafter daylight,  I had packed up my bedding and hammock and was driving out  to get to the Bee Basin Trail when I decided to stop and read a sign at a kiosk . I discovered I had a completely flat tire. I got my donut on the car and slowly started off toward Bozeman which was in the opposite direction from Big Sky. I drove until I got a phone signal, then checked for tire stores. None were open on Sunday. My next plan was to go back to Big Sky and do my planned hike, then give up Monday to get my tire fixed or replaced, and get my oil changed.

I planned to start my hike by 7:00 A. M., but it was after 10:00 before I got started and the smoke from fires all the way to California was rising hiding most of the surrounding peaks. 

Beehive Basin Trail has a 4.8 rating, so I expected great beauty. The beautiful long views are a major reason for that rating, but by the time I struggled a few miles up the trail to where those views were available, the smoke had left almost whiteout conditions. And by the time I finally arrived at the lake at the end of the trail, a storm was threatening and the light was gloomy.  But most of the trail was through a flower filled meadow that held early spring through early fall flowers that were being visited by huge numbers of several species of bees, along with many other species of wasps and flies. 

I took me over four hours to hike the three and a half miles with about 1500 feet of  elevation,  mostly going straight up. But it took only about one and a half hours to come back down  with a lot of help from gravity.  In my defense, I got engrossed in the bees several times.  I also had to take lots of pictures of a female moose that was feeding about sixty feet from the trail for an hour or more, ignoring dogs and people.

View of the Gallatin River from a bridge built by the CCC. 

I  was appalled to find lots of spotted knapweeds, one of the invasive weeds, I look for on the refuge,
where I parked my car to take the first picture

My campsite was up this road

Highway 191, which leads to Big Sky, near is along the Gallatin River.

This guy was right on the highway in Big Sky

I was amazed and disgusted  at the huge summer homes in the hills around Big Sky

Busy bee

Bees really loved this coneflower

Sometimes different species shared a bloom

The mountain has fallen - this was just before the climb got serious

The trail led to just before the mountains in the background and.....

....this moose was calmly grazing just to the left of the man in the picture above, down near a tiny stream

Another species of bee

Getting higher and rockier

A piece of the lake at the end of the trail

A lake view from the middle of it

I beautiful stand of buckwheat

The sun in smoke,  near the end of the day, after I had stopped for a light supper in Big Sky

I actually spent money on a campsite in a county campground so I would not have to travel on a rocky road with my little donut.  On Monday, I  eventually hunted down a new Hancook tire just like the ones on my car and also got my oil changed. After a quick pass through the grocery store, I started home, getting back in time to put up my groceries, take a little rest, then shower and dress for my last bee talk at the college next door.

I'm sure this trail is MUCH prettier in June.  I probably has even more wildflowers, while the air is clear and there are still patches of snow on the mountains.

I'll probably be off line for several days.  I'm going to be camping in Yellowstone National Park with a friend.  I'm going to get a site and set up camp on Thursday and then pick her up in Bozman on Saturday.  But I'll have a few experiences to share. Stay tuned.