Wildlife Encounters

We’ve been in the park for 4 weeks now and just finished working 8 days straight.  We finally decided it was time to make a run to Cody.  It’s 80 miles to Cody, which 26 are inside the park with a speed limit of only 45 mph.  No doubt this becomes an all day event with haircuts, shopping and lunch.  As soon as we exited the RV Park we saw a small deer right beside the road, she cooperated with us and lifted her head for the shot.  Onward to Cody, we had just rounded the upper portion of the lake when I spotted something that look like a bear in a meadow not far from the road.  I ask Dave to stop so that I could get a better look; luckily we were the only ones on the road at that time.   Low and behold it was a large black bear.  As I was taking pictures the bear seem to see us and lifted his head for a good picture.  These pictures we taken with our small Camera, we had decided not to take the camera with the better lens.  I guess this tells me to always carry the camera with the longer lens.  

We completed all our errands and were loaded down with groceries, enough for the next 3 weeks, so we headed for home.  As always I seem to sleep part of the way home as Dave drives us back.  Ya know with a full stomach and afternoon sun makes for a good nap.  We are now inside the park and starting our climb over Sylvan Pass, this pass is 8530 feet with deep valley on one side and a sheer mountain on the other.  The climb to the top of the pass is 4.8 miles with nothing but road, not a place you’d see any type of wildlife.  We saw cars stopping and were looking to see what the problem was.  There in the middle of our lane were two bison making there way over the pass.  Not a place you’d encounter a classic bison jam but we did.   Not only do the bison block the road but also the other cars stopping to take pictures blocking both lanes.  What a mess.  It took us 10 minutes to get through and so frustrated that we didn’t take any pictures.

Looks kind of young

Not a bad shot from the road, you can tell it's a bear.

Taken from Butt Lake Overlook, our store is across the lake behind Dave

We are planning on a hike this afternoon but I have such a great  Internet signal I decided to go ahead and post.

Full Day In The Park

We’ve been very busy these last few weeks.  One we were getting the store ready and then making sure everyone, as well as ourselves was getting the hang of working in the retail market.  This is our second time off so we decided to do some Yellowstone stuff.  We got up and decided to drive thru Hayden Valley to find the wildlife.  That is other than bison, we can see them all the time.  At one point we saw a pelican and pulled over to get a picture.  When I was ready with the camera he decided to take a nap and hide his head.  As we drove further into the valley we saw cars lining the road, this normally means wildlife is near.  We parked on the side of the road and then we saw what everyone was looking at.  It was a coyote and an otter.  We don’t know why the coyote wasn’t interested other than they weren’t hungry.  I have included the picture and the otter is to the right of the coyote.

We came back and had lunch and decided we wanted to go for a bike ride.  We wanted to ride up the Natural Bridge trial but it was closed due to bear management.  Which means bear could be in the area.  Since it was still early we decided to drive over to Lone Star Geyser and road the 2.35 miles to the geyser.  It was a good ride to get our feet wet.  Once we got there the logbook indicated the geyser would not go off for 3 more hours.  We sat around for a little while until the mosquitoes got to us.  As usual on our way out, the geyser had a small eruption.  These pictures are also included. 

As we were turning into the Lake Area again cars were lining the road.  This time we saw a small fox right next to the road and not far from the dorms.  Sometimes you are just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. 

These are our first pictures of an otter and a fox in two years.

Take care, and hope to report again soon.

The Otter is that dark brown 1 inch to the right of the coyote, this is cropped as far as possible.

Bison running down the hill

At Lone Star Geyser after riding 2 miles

The geyser is slowing down and we are heading back.

Fox near the road.

Home Away from Home

Here we are at our home away from home for the next 5 months.  It sure is different than last year.  Last year there was snow everywhere and that was on June 8.  It's not even the end of May and there is hardly any snow.  Hope this is not an omen about the weather this summer.  Check out the pictures.  We will be in West Yellowstone today for orientation and then back for a wonderful summer of meeting people from all over the world and enjoying every minute.

This is our site this year, see no snow.

All set up and ready for 2012

Just for comparison June 8, 2011, a lot of snow.

 

First Day In The Park

We got into West Yellowstone on Monday 14, two days ahead of schedule.  The weather has been great and we not encountered any delays.  So we decided to play tourist and go into the park on Tuesday.  We got up early, pack a picnic lunch and headed out to Lamar Valley.  Dave had read on several blogs that there were bear sighting in that area.  We were hoping that our luck would be better than last year.  On the way our first animal sighting other than bison was none other than a chipmunk crossing the road.  We continued on our drive and came across a traffic jam.  When we saw the rangers along the road we knew it had to be a bear.  There off in the distance was a black bear and her cub.  You can tell from the picture we weren’t very close.

We drove all the way to Slough Creek and still didn’t see anything but a couple of prong horn, nothing earth shattering or worthy of a picture.  On our drive back to Yellowstone Picnic area at the Roosevelt Junction we saw a small herd of prong horn that where going up and down a slop by the road.  We moved further down the road and saw a herd of big horn sheep galloping down the road, what an awesome sight.  They seemed like they wanted to come down the road, but the cars seem to scare them.  Check out the pictures.

When we got to the picnic area we had eaten our lunch and were sitting there when a man came into the area and told us there was a grizzly and her cub just below the ridge.  They thought she might be moving up our way.  We put everything away and had the doors to jeep open just in case.  However there wasn’t any need, she did come up ridge but immediately went back down and near the road.  We decided to get in the jeep and head out to the road.  There were lots of people standing outside their cars and along the road.  We watch the bear walk along the road and eventually she crossed the road right in front of us.  What a site she was less then 100 feet in front of the jeep.   On our way back we did see another grizzly but I couldn’t get a shot.

All and all it was a great day; we saw 5 bears (2 black and 3 grizzly’s), several bison, and pronghorn, big horn sheep jams.

Check out the tiny black thing in the middle

One of several bison jams of the day

Lots of red dogs (newborn bison) in this crossing

When the red dog is slow the momma's nudge them

Can't decide what they want to do

Pronghorn right next to the road

Running off the road

Big Horn Sheep

Big Horn Sheep running around

Coming off the ridge

What a site to get mom and cub

I guess he was impatient to get across the road

Lazy Elk by the Mammoth Admin Building

Check out the reflection in window of the jeep, I put the camera out the window

Bison Parade

First Snow Sighting

We’ve been staying at the Colorado Springs KOA for the past couple of days and are heading out tomorrow morning for either Rawlins or Lander, WY, won’t be long and we’ll be in Yellowstone NP.  Yesterday we went for a drive out Highway 24, which goes around Pikes Peak.  It was a beautiful drive until we ran into snow about 25 miles outside of Colorado Springs.  Not sure if my pictures do it justice.  We went from 5400 feet to 8500 feet during this time.  The snow was coming straight at us and appeared it might get worse, so we turned around and headed back down.  We were heading to Cripple Creek to check out the casinos, guess that will have to wait for another day.

This one is from the drive before we ran into snow

Accumulation on the windshield

The gas station we pulled into to get gas before we turned around

Starting to stick to the ground, Texans don't know much about snow

 

Today we were driving thorough Colorado Springs on our way to lunch when we saw two small deer right by the side of the road, not 5 blocks from downtown.  Dave stopped and they ran across the road.  We didn't really do a lot here, basically ate out and drove around.

Sure were small

Dave grilling our steaks on Thursday

Our site at the KOA, patio with furniture

Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again:

Well, we’re on our way to Yellowstone National Park to spend another summer working at the Lake General Store.  We have been so looking forward to this summer.  It’s very uplifting to enjoy a job for what is worth and not look at it as means of support.  Working in Yellowstone makes you more aware of how awesome it is, it’s one of the most special places one earth and being able to be there all summer is like a gift to us. This year Dave will be a floor supervisor and I’ll work in food services.

We are currently at Fort Amarillo RV Park in Amarillo, TX and the trip took 10 hours.  We left home at about 7:45 (after the rain) this morning and pull into our spot for the night at 5:30.  The temperature here is very mild, no need for air conditioning.  It’s already nice to get away from the heat.  Tomorrow we're heading to Colorado Springs for 3 days.  I’ll post again from there.

                                               This is our site at Fort Amarillo RV Park

50 MILES AND MORE

At the beginning of the summer we joined the 100-mile club and if you combine both of us, we made it.   Dave’s goal was to complete 50 mile by September 06, so Labor Day weekend we hiked over 11 miles in two days so that goal plus was completed.  On Saturday we hiked Monument Trail, which was only two miles roundtrip, however, it had an elevation change of about 700 feet in six tenths of a mile.  It was much more than climbing steps.  Below are some pictures.

Dave on Monument Trail

View from the top

Momma Moose on the way to Mystic Falls

Our goal for the day was to hike five miles and we had only completed two, two very hard and exhausting miles.  We drove about 10 miles down the road to our second hike that we thought we could do before stopping to eat.  This time we were hiking to Mystic Falls, which we had been told was a beautiful site.  In order to reach the trailhead we had to walk the boardwalk at Biscuit Basin.  Sometimes you have to hunt to find the trailhead; luckily Biscuit Basin had a good map.  This hike was fairly level with minimal elevation change and was only about 3 miles roundtrip.  Below is a picture of us at the base of the falls that we got someone to take of us.

Mystic Falls

Us in front of Mystic Falls

 

 

 

It’s now Sunday and another hike, this time 6 miles roundtrip to Shoshone Lake by way of DeLacy Creek Trail.  Three of the Taiwanese girls wanted to go, so five of us, backpacks and all climbed into the jeep and off we went.  We had to drive about 28 miles to this trailhead, which was very easy.  All we had to do was park and walk across the road.  Shoshone Lake is Yellowstone’s largest backcountry lake and has attracted backcountry travelers and explores for hundreds of years.  The pictures don’t do it justice, this was one of the nicest hikes and we would do it again.  We all had our picnic lunches in our packs to eat at the lake while we rested.  We were there almost an hour when I finally took off my boots and walked in the water, boy was it cold. 

Shoshone Lake from the trail

Me, Celeste, Rene and Doris standing in cold water

One of girls took our pictur

We are having such a great time and have met some awesome people,  hope all is well with all of you