To The Summit & Back

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Yellow-bellied Marmot

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer, llama, prairie dog, donkey, bison, coyote, pronghorn, Uinta ground squirrel, black bear, moose, bighorn sheep, yellow-bellied marmot, wolf, least chipmunk, fox

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird, American kestrel, spotted towhee, magpie, wild turkey, mountain bluebird, bald eagle, Canada goose, Clark’s nutcracker, sandhill crane, osprey, red-tailed hawk, mountain chickadee, Northern flicker, great horned owl, Peregrine falcon

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 6

 

One of the places Gloria definitely wanted Shari to experience was the Beartooth Highway, and as luck would have it, the road was going to open for the season on May 22, the day before they were scheduled to leave.  We got an early start and spotted this little fox running along the edge of the road as we made our way towards the northeast entrance.

 

The Beartooth Highway is often considered one of the most spectacular drives in the country and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.  In fact Charles Kuralt, former CBS correspondent, reported that the Beartooth Highway was “the most beautiful drive in America”.  For those who may not remember,

beginning in 1967 he was host of a segment called “On the Road”, and over the next 20 years, he and his crew visited every state in the country in a motorhome, logging more than a million miles. Avoiding the interstates, he preferred to take the back roads in search of America.

   From Mammoth to the pass is a 170-mile roundtrip drive, and it officially starts outside the northeast entrance of Yellowstone and follows Rt. 212 into Montana and back into Wyoming.  As in the past, the plan was to drive to Rock Creek Vista Point, stopping only occasionally along the way, and

then on the way back making more stops including at the summit which you'll see a little further down.  According to our GPS, the elevation at the summit is 11,015 but the official stat measures it at 10,947, the highest elevation highway in WY.

 

    At Rock Creek Vista Point (elevation 9,190 ft.) we got out to admire the magnificent views, and the girls really got into taking advantage of the snow, continually throwing snowballs at each other and me!  The three of us walked
      out to the point where we watched several chipmunks vie for scraps of food and a large marmot scurrying around just below the ledge.  We even managed to find someone to take our picture since Russ was back at the car with Abby.

Yes, Abby joined us on this trip and had a blast at the summit running through the snow, playing, running after the girls, and she even found another furry friend whom she tried to engage in play.

Though the area is beautiful this time of year, we all agreed that it is not nearly as beautiful as later in the summer when the alpine lakes are not covered in ice and snow.  Below left is a picture taken when Gloria visited in Aug. and below right is about the same location on the day of this visit.  But as you can tell in the photo at left, it didn’t stop anyone from having fun!

On our way back we passed by Beartooth Lake that was still partially frozen over and stopped at a couple more overlooks taking in the beauty and majesty of the area.  A storm was moving in, but even with the overcast skies, the views were spectacular.  In Cooke
     City we ate lunch at the Prospector Restaurant in the Soda Butte Lodge.  Miner’s Saloon, where we ate last time, was not yet open for the season which was a shame because we liked their food better.

 

   Once back inside the park, we were lucky enough to spot a couple of moose grazing in a meadow across the river, and further down at the Baronette Peak (elevation 10,354 ft.) pullout we had hoped to see some mountain goats.  Even though there were none to be seen
   (at least not with the naked eye), we did see some beautiful waterfalls.  If you look closely, you can see several of them cascading from under patches of snow though these are only temporary and will be gone once the snow melts.

 

   Sadly their week was up and it was time to return them to the airport.  We had all survived a week in the RV, we made a new friend in Shari, and made memories to last a lifetime.  Unfortunately we never saw any elk calves and every night was too cloudy to see the myriad number of stars and the Milky Way which Gloria so wanted Shari to witness nor were we able to enjoy any campfires.  Our friend Pam was supposed to join them on this trip but a last minute family situation prevented her from joining us.  Maybe another time.

Yellowstone Tidbits:

·         Red fox:  Male (dog) weighs 11-12 lbs., female (vixen) weighs about 10 lbs., young (kit) weighs about 4 oz. at birth; can produce 28 different vocalizations

·         Moose: largest member of deer family; male (bull) weighs nearly 1,000 lbs., female (cow) weighs up to 900 lbs., young (calf) weigh 25-35 lbs. at birth

·         Yellowstone has 5 park entrances, 466 mi. of road, and over 1000 miles of backcountry trails.

Be Our Guest

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*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer, llama, prairie dog, donkey, bison, coyote, pronghorn, Uinta ground squirrel, black bear, moose, bighorn sheep, yellow-bellied marmot, wolf, least chipmunk

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird, American kestrel, spotted towhee, magpie, wild turkey, mountain bluebird, bald eagle, Canada goose, Clark’s nutcracker, sandhill crane, osprey, red-tailed hawk, mountain chickadee, Northern flicker, great horned owl, Peregrine falcon

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 6

 

Three years ago one of my best friends and her husband came to Yellowstone for the first time and stayed with us for an entire week in Aug.  Though both had hoped to make a return trip, only Gloria was able to do so this year bringing another friend, Shari.  Gloria wanted to return in the spring in hopes of seeing some newborn critters and scheduled their visit for mid-May.

 

We picked them up at the Bozeman airport and after getting their stuff settled in the RV, we got the Yellowstone tour underway with Russ as tour guide (he’s so good at it!).  This was going to be a short trip with hopes of seeing some critters, and when we got up to the top of the hill, we saw several people gathered outside the houses

on Officer’s Row.  There up in the tree was one of the Great Horned owls!  After a few pictures (and getting to hear it call which we’d never heard before), we headed towards Swan Lake Flats.  Almost immediately I spotted something high in a tree across the meadow, and my binoculars confirmed that it was a bald eagle!  We stopped in a pullout and Russ took out the spotting scope so they could have an even better view.  They were thrilled with this great start!

 

The rest of the evening was spent in the RV chatting, munching, and getting acquainted with Shari.  Though I’ve known Gloria since high school, and she and Shari have been friends for years, Shari and I only knew of each through Gloria’s stories and more recently emailing before the trip.

 

After a hearty breakfast the next morning, the plan was to head out to Lamar Valley.  We decided to check out the Tower Junction area first in hopes of spotting the black bear sow and her 3 cubs but no luck so kept going so they could see Tower Fall.  We had also heard about a Peregrine falcon sitting on a nest not far from there and managed to catch a glimpse through a spotting scope. However one guy had his scope pointed across the road at a cinnamon colored black bear that was napping in the crook of a tree!  I took a

picture but it’s too hard to make out out.  As we made our way back to the junction, we came upon a traffic jam and guess who was causing it?  The black bear and her 3 cubs!

 

     We continued our way out to Lamar Valley passing several pronghorn and lots of bison plus a couple more black bears.  As we approached the Hitching Post, we saw quite a crowd up on the hill, many with spotting scopes.  Standing in the river was an elk

cow and on the riverbank a beautiful black wolf!  Normally wolves are best seen around sunrise or sunset because they sleep during the day, but this was 1:30 in the afternoon!  We were told that she had nipped the back leg of the elk earlier at which time the cow retreated to the river, and the wolf stalked and bided its

time.  We watched for awhile, but this could take hours, and Gloria really didn’t want to see a kill so we left.  We found out later that this wolf was 926F, the 4-year-old alpha female from the Lamar Canyon pack, and she did finally take down that elk.  What another great viewing day for our guests!

 

The next day I took the gals up to Mammoth Hot Springs for a tour.  We started at the newly remodeled visitor center, and then over to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel to show them what I refer to as a hidden gem.  Just off the lobby is the Map Room that contains a large wooden map of the United States created in 1937 from 15 different types of wood from 9 countries.  It measures 17’ 10” x 10’ 4” containing 2,544 inlaid pieces of wood.

 

From there we headed over to the Terraces, starting at the Lower Terraces where a nice man took our photo for us.  Just up the road starts the one way Upper Terraces Loop Drive which offers the opportunity to see some thermal features not easily seen from the main road such as Orange Springs Mound.  This thermal feature is a large mounded shape created by a very slow water flow, mineral deposits, and bacteria and algae that give it the orange color.  Another is Angel Terrace which was dormant and dry for decades but then suddenly became active again in 1985.  The pure white sections along with some colorful microbes attest to its re-activity.

The following day it was back out to Tower Junction and Lamar Valley for hopefully more critter sightings, and not far from the junction we once again came across the black bear and her 3 cubs.  Some of you may have seen online or on the news recently a video of a black
     bear and her 3 cubs trying to cross a bridge here in Yellowstone with lots of people around.  Well, this is them!  Gloria has dubbed them “the famous bridge bears”.  This time they were not far off the road and we were able to get a perfect parking spot in a pullout just
across from them.  Rangers were on duty keeping the folks in their cars so she could cross the road if that’s what she wanted to do.  We watched for several minutes as they grazed and made their way towards the road and eventually crossed.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

 

Gloria’s husband and two sons opened a fitness club 2 years ago called JD’s Gym (www.jdsgym.com/), and since she had given me one of their t-shirts last year, us girls had decided to wear them one day so we could be representin’ in Yellowstone.  Russ found the perfect backdrop for our photo shoot as we made our way back home.  Along the way we also encountered some bighorn sheep that decided to cross the road right by our car, and we had to wait a bit for a herd of bison to get off the bridge before we could cross.

We had to work the next two days but loaned the girls our car so they could venture out on their own.  The first day they traveled down to Old Faithful and points in between (where they were lucky enough to spot a grizzly not far from the road), and on the second day they explored the Canyon area. To be continued....

 

Yellowstone Tidbits:

• The park encompasses 3,472 sq. miles (2,221,766 acres), larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
• Bald eagle:  Became the national emblem of the U.S. in 1782; has a wingspan from 72-90 in., can fly to an altitude of 10,000 ft. and achieve speeds of 30-35 mph, weighs 10-14 lbs., can live 20-30 years, and mates for life.
• Great horned owl:  Grows to a length of 17-25 in. with a wingspan of 36-60 in., can weigh up to 3-1/4 lbs.; baby owl is called an owlet and can fly competently by 10-12 weeks; group of owls is called a parliament.

One Lucky Day

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Red-tailed Hawk

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer, llama, prairie dog, donkey, bison, coyote, pronghorn, Uinta ground squirrel, black bear, moose, bighorn sheep, yellow-bellied marmot

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird, American kestrel, spotted towhee, magpie, wild turkey, mountain bluebird, bald eagle, Canada goose, Clark’s nutcracker, sandhill crane, osprey, red-tailed hawk

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 6

About a week after our arrival, we awoke to snow!  It continued to snow off and on most of the day without much accumulation but it does create some lovely scenery.

 

We were able to get out and about into the park during the first couple

of weeks, mainly Lamar Valley, and on one particular day we saw quite a bit.  We had heard that a black bear sow and her three yearling cubs were being spotted on a fairly regular basis in the Tower Junction area which is on the way to Lamar.

      As luck would have it, we spotted a large group of cars and people near Calcite Springs, and it just so happened they were watching this family of bears.  Mom is always nearby and was busy grazing while the kids played.  We enjoyed

  watching these cubs last year when they were just little bitty, and their personalities seem to have stayed the same.  Last year two of them would wrestle and play together while the third one would be off sniffing flowers, looking at bugs,

     just meandering and seeming to daydream by itself.  Nothing has changed…they still behave the same way though occasionally the daydreamer will join in some fun with its siblings.

 

   After awhile we decided to head on out to Lamar, sometimes having to stop for the natives to cross the road.  It is their park after all, and we are just visitors!  A herd of pronghorn were on a nearby hillside but this young lady (below right) seemed to say “what are you looking at?”

 

We continued driving out towards Pebble Creek Campground hoping to spot some more bears along the way, and though we didn’t see any, we did find a couple moose grazing just off the road.  Moose are relatively scarce in Yellowstone since the 1988 fires destroyed much of their vegetation, but they seem to be making a comeback and sometimes you just get lucky!

 

As we started our way back home, we spied this yellow-bellied marmot sunning itself on a boulder just above the river. We had seen it as we passed by, and it stayed right there while we found a spot to turn around and park so I could snap a few pictures.  What an agreeable little critter!

 

Continuing on down the road, we came upon a minor animal jam caused by folks stopped in the road and on the sides checking out a half dozen bighorn sheep.  There was another one on the other side of the road that they were keeping a watch on, and eventually they all
     crossed to join it.  Not far past the sheep we spotted these two bison cows with their calves…just too sweet!

 

We decided to turn onto the little side road that takes you to the Petrified Tree exhibit because
sometimes you’re able to spot a bear or a moose in the vicinity but no such luck today.  This redwood became petrified some 50 million years ago when it slid down the mountain during a massive landslide following several volcanic eruptions.  At one time there were 3, but souvenir hunters gradually chipped away at the other two and this one was enclosed with a wrought iron fence for protection.

 

What a day this had been, and just think…all these critter sightings occurred within the span of only about 3 hours on one very lucky day!

 

Yellowstone Tidbits:

·         Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, the first national park in the world.

·         Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states.

·         Yellow-bellied marmot:  Adults grow to 30 in. long and weigh up to 11 lbs.; young are born within 30 days; one male will have a colony of 2 or 3 females; can live up to 15 years.

·         Black bear:  Color can be black, brown, blond, or cinnamon; male (boar) weighs 210-315 lbs., female (sow) weighs 135-200 lbs., young (cub) weigh 8 - 10 oz. at birth.