How I Spent My Spring--Travelogue: Part II America's Serengeti

May 12 was Chimene and my 28th wedding anniversary.  We had planned to go up to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone and spend the night on Friday and then enjoy the park on Saturday all day.  Just before we were going to pull the trigger on the hotel room, I found out that I had a rehearsal on Friday and that I might have to work on Saturday.

Chimene was pretty bummed because it always seems that I have a show going on at anniversary time.  We have never really gone anywhere or done anything besides dinner or a movie on the anniversary so this one was going to be a big deal, we thought. 

After Friday's rehearsal, I talked to the director and he said I didn't need to be there as he was going to be rehearsing different things than what I was responsible for.  Chimene and I decided to do the Yellowstone trip but on Saturday only.  It would have been fun to spend the night in the old historic hotel, but we weren't about to miss Mother's Day with the kids to do it.

On the way to Yellowstone, we stopped at Swan Lake because there were three trumpeter swans there.  I've always liked swans.  The last time we were through, there was only one swan on the lake.  Swans always remind me of my Dad.

Three trumpeter Swans on Swan Lake, Island Park, Idaho

We stopped on the Henry's Lake Flats to get a picture of Sawtell.  Legend has it that Chief Sawtell was a great chief and a great man of the native people here and when he died, the wind and the rain carved his likeness in the mountain.  Before Mount Rushmore, there was Sawtell Peak.  When you look at the mountain, it's as if he is lying on his back, his face in profile towards the heavens.  His nose and chin are to the right and the ridges coming down the left side and towards the camera represent the full feathered warbonnet.  I've always liked Sawtell and always look for the likeness.

Sawtell Peak

When we left yesterday morning, we decided we wanted to see a bear and possibly a wolf.  When we go to Yellowstone, we usually decide before we go what kind of a day it is going to be.  Will it be a hot water day?  A cold water day?  A hiking day?  Yesterday was an animal day.  Yellowstone did not disappoint.

I have a colleague that calls The Lamar Valley in Yellowstone, "America's Serengeti."  That was where we decided to go to see the animals.  The largest wild herd of bison in the world makes its' home in The Lamar Valley.  Where there's food, there are predators. 

There are two routes from Norris to the Lamar Valley, the northern route through Mammoth and the southern route through Canyon.  The southern route was closed because several areas of the road had washed out in the spring, so we chose the north by default.  We stopped at Gibbon Falls.  I've seen Gibbon Falls hundreds of times and yet I never tire of it's grandeur.  I usually see it during the late summer, so seeing it in the spring with all the runoff was a treat.

The Hot Chick at Gibbon Falls

Gibbon Falls in the spring

We normally stop to see alot of the waterfalls in the park.  There are around 300 of them and we want to hike to and photograph as many of them as we can.  There's a beautiful one near Mammoth called Undine Falls.  We stopped there for a quick view.

Me at Undine Falls

Throughout the park, from about 7 Mile Bridge on, we saw large herds of bison.  I counted over a hundred individuals in a small herd in the Madison River valley.  I saw several much larger herds as the day passed.  I estimate that we saw over 1000 bison yesterday.

Small herd on the Madison River

A couple of big fellers near Madison Junction

An aggressive bull bison at Mammoth Hot Springs

Bison calf in the Lamar Valley

We also saw hundreds of Elk in the park yesterday.  Mostly females and no young.  We saw some scruffy females that had not yet shed their winter coats at Mammoth Hot Springs, and near the Lamar Valley we saw three bulls with their antlers still in velvet.  I believe it is still too early for the elk to begin calving so we saw no young.  Baby elk are not a common sight in Yellowstone, however because the mothers hide their young in the forest and in the tall grasses.

There was a rock in the Madison River, around a bend in the road that when we were little, my sister mistook for an elk.  Forever after, that rock has been called the "Jolene Elk".  I decided to take a picture of it this time.

The "Jolene Elk"

Scruffy elk at Mammoth

Bull elk with velvet coated antlers

We also saw about 45 bighorn sheep.  It had been decades since I had seen any bighorn sheep in Yellowstone and only a few at that.  These were fairly close, and were drinking in the Yellowstone River.  We were standing on a bridge and they were crossing under.  It was a spectacular sight.

Bighorn sheep near the Lamar Valley

We viewed a small herd of pronghorns near a bridge over the Lamar River.  Pronghorns are sometimes called antelope around here, but they are not related.  They are their own species.  Pronghorns are also the fastest land animal in the western hemispheres and second only to cheetahs in the rest of the world.  It is thought that their speed evolved during a time when there were faster predators in North America.

Pronghorns

I loved seeing all the large herbivores, but the real story of the day, yesterday were the carnivores.  In the last large meadow before the descent through the Golden Gate into Mammoth Hot Springs, there was a large gathering of people with cameras, binoculars and spotting scopes.  We stopped and saw a very large sow grizzly with two cubs.  They were about 300 yards away, but we got a few photographs of them.  It had been a very long time since I saw grizzly bears in the park.  Later in the day, we saw another grizzly in the Lamar Valley.  That one was so far away that we had to see it with a spotting scope.

Sow grizzly bear and two cubs

Near Tower Junction, there was another gathering of people and this time we saw a sow black bear and two cubs.  That seemed to be the theme of the day, a sow and two cubs.  The sow was forty or fifty yards away from her cubs but seemed unconcerned even though there were about a hundred people out of their cars snapping photographs.  Later on during the day, we saw another black bear sow with two cubs about two miles away from where we saw the first.  We weren't sure if it was the same sow and cubs, but later decided it had to be a different family because they were quite a ways away from where we saw the first group.

Black bear cub

Black bear sow

There were four wolves in the Lamar Valley and we were only able to see them through a spotting scope.  They were around a thousand yards away, so we didn't get any photographs of them.  It was worth it, though to have just seen them.  It was the first time either of us had seen wolves in the park.  Later on as we were heading home, we rounded a bend in the road and I saw cars stopped and immediately looked where the people were looking and I saw a wolf loping off.  I stopped and tried to get a photo, but it was already gone.  One of these days I'll get a photograph of a wolf in the park.

It was very neat to see the bears and wolves.  That was dinner.  The dessert came when we were on our way back and saw a little red fox.  He was unconcerned about the people who had stopped to watch him and proceeded to run around the hillside and pee on everything.  We had hoped to see a bear and had figured we'd see a wolf, but the little red fox was completely unexpected.  I don't think I've ever seen one of them in the park before.

Fox

This was a fantastic day in Yellowstone.  It was a priceless experience.  This was the best animal day I've ever had in Yellowstone Park, and I was thankful to be able to spend my anniversary with the girl I love in this idyllic environment.

How I Spent My Spring--Travelogue: Part I Yellowstone

It has literally been decades since I saw Yellowstone with snow on the ground.  Normally, because of my busy schedule, I am only able to visit Yellowstone in mid to late summer.  Some friends of ours visited last year in early spring and told tales of snowdrifts ten feet tall.  I decided I wanted to see it that way and we have been eagerly awaiting when the park would finally open to wheeled vehicles.

Last Friday was opening day in Yellowstone.  Saturday we went.

Only a few roads were opened, West Yellowstone to Madison Junction, Madison Junction to Old Faithful, Madison Junction to Norris, Norris to Canyon, Norris to Mammoth, Mammoth to Cooke City.  This time of year, most of the back-country things are closed.  Bears are having babies so that's not a good place to be, plus the summer staff isn't yet in place to manage people on the trails, and there is still quite a bit of snow which makes alot of the trails impassable.  Along the main roads though, most of the boardwalks in the geyser basins are clear.  We decided we'd get the most bang for our buck if we went to Old Faithful.  It did not disappoint.

This time it was Chimene and I, our oldest son, Tyler and our two youngest boys, Rhys and Garrett.  Haydn had a service project and couldn't come.

On the way to Yellowstone, we passed through Island Park and saw a swan on Swan Lake.  It has been quite some time since I saw a swan on Swan Lake.  I remember when I was young, and we'd be driving back and forth to Yellowstone, Dad would always say that the number of swans on the lake corresponded directly to the millions we'd make at The Playmill Theatre.  I think Dad's figuring was always slightly off...



Swan Lake

On the Henrys Lake Flats, there is a stand of aspen that has a gravesite.  It's one of the landmarks that I used to look for when I was a kid and I've passed it on to my kids.  Whenever we take the trip to Yellowstone we make a game of looking for the landmarks.  This time we actually stopped and got out to look at it.  There is a simple wrought iron fence but no stone.  I had stopped decades before and there had been a stone but all the writing had weathered off.  I believe this to be a very old grave.  People still care for it, though because there were flowers on it and a teddy bear had been left.



The gravesite

When we got to Yellowstone, it became apparent that it would be an animal day.  Within the first seven miles we had already seen more Elk and Bison than we had seen on our last two trips in the park last summer.  We saw our first large mammal, an elk at the river road turnoff.  The river road is a small section of the old highway through the park that is flanked by the Madison River.  Dad always liked to take that road and so do I.  The elk still had it's heavy winter coat so it looked a little scruffy.  Just as we left, two other elk came into view.



Scruffy Elk

The animals we saw all seemed to be well fed.  The winter was relatively mild this year and I think the animals benefitted greatly.  It's not uncommon after a hard winter to see the animals' ribs through their coats.

As we approached 7 Mile Bridge, a small herd of bison sauntered down the road, oblivious to the twenty or thirty cars that were stuck behind them.  They were in no hurry to get to where they were going.  I think they are magnificent animals and I enjoyed seeing them pass so close to our vehicle.  One of them was close enough that I could have touched him.  I didn't because my Dad did that once and the bison kicked his car.



Bison on the roadway

Garrett started counting the number of animals we saw and about halfway through the trip he abandoned his count.  It was a good animal day.

We also saw Canada Geese and Ravens.



Canada Geese

Raven

For the last several years we have focused on cold water in Yellowstone, and have been on a quest to see as many of the waterfalls in the Park as we can.  We've been doing pretty good.  Most of them, however are in the backcountry, on trails that aren't open just yet so we decided to hit some hot water things this time.  I'm glad we did.  It was nice to see some of the geyser basins without so many people there.  It made for a very relaxing time.  First we stopped at Fountain Paint Pots and then we went to Midway Geyser Basin.



Elk tracks in bacterial mat at Fountain Paint Pots

Beautiful blue pool at Fountain Paint Pots

Mudpots at Fountain Paint Pots

Spasm Geyser at Fountain Paint Pots

A view from the bridge at Midway Geyser Basin of the old swimming hole

I used to skinnydip here when I was a kid.  It was legal then, but too many people left debris on the cliff face, like beer bottles and cans, bras and panties.  The rangers made it illegal.  I asked one of them once why and he said he got tired of cleaning it up every day.  Too bad because it was a really cool place to swim.  It was much like the Boiling River at Mammoth, alternating cold and hot water.

After Midway, we drove into Old Faithful.  There was quite a bit of snow on the ground there.  The geyser wasn't set to go off for about forty minutes, so we decided to climb up to the observation point to watch the eruption from there.  I hadn't seen it from there in about thirty years so I was kind of excited to do it again.  The view was spectacular.  It's not a tough climb.  There's around 200 feet in elevation gain over half a mile.  Afterwards we poked around the Upper Geyser Basin for a little while, then headed for home.




Snow at Old Faithful

Rhys and Garrett on the snow at Old Faithful

Random trail sculpture

Chimene and Tyler on the trail

Rhys and Garrett on the trail

The eruption from the observation point

Us at the observation point

Finally, one of the coolest things I saw on the whole trip were black bear paw prints in the bacterial mat at the Upper Geyser Basin.



Bear tracks in the bacterial mat

This was a nice day.