Something Completely Different...Signs

Thought we'd post a "few" pictures of signs from the road.  Quite a few road signs that speak for themselves and a rather large number of wildlife 'danger' signs.  You would think that most people would understand that wildlife can be dangerous, but based on what we witnessed you'd be wrong about that assumption.

So here we go....road signs alerting you to all the various road conditions- curves, steep grades, brake warnings and animals on roadways.

No bungee or base jumping evidently...though we did  see both on another bridge without a sign

Not sure how you are supposed to 'study sign carefully' since it was sitting on the side of the road in such a way that you could not safely park.











As for various natural warnings we saw a few of those as well...you don't see these in Virginia do you?

Beach warnings of waves

Animal warnings?  Yes we saw a number of these too....heard about the hantavirus deaths associated with Yosemite?  There were already bubonic plaque concerns in the area.

Due to animal carcasses

Yellowstone NP

Where we bought our bear spray

Yellowstone NP

Noticed in the Rest Areas...Nebraska

A few just made us laugh...

Nebraska specialty that lasts

Read the License surround...Cody, WY parking lot

Near Mt. Ranier

Loneliest Road, Nevada

Bear proof can for dog poo...wonder why California is low on cash? 

One Last Moose Sighting

Guess what...we were lucky enough to see moose on our drive out of the Medicine Bow Mountains.  Two bull moose were in a small patch of meadow right along the road.  "MOOOSE" was yelled pretty loud as we whizzed by them.  Of course we turned the car back and pulled out the cameras.  Lots and lots of video was shot...really cool to watch these guys in a natural environment totally oblivious to our presence.

As luck would have it we had them all to ourselves for about 15 minutes...until a Wyoming truck pulled over too.  It was nice not to have the crowds that seem to show up in the National Parks.  The two moose were so distracted trying to get the velvet off their antlers that they ignored us.  We were lucky to capture them in 'battle' pushing into each other using their antlers.  As we watched the smaller one decided things were getting too rough and he turned and ran.  Cooper finally decided he should watch too since we seemed so interested in what was going on outside the car.

Each one tried various ways to get that
darn velvet off...it was not a pretty sight.  The velvet hanging down over the eyes of the smaller one really seemed to bother him as he kept rubbing bushes and trees.  The larger moose was in the same shape trying to get the velvet off any way he could.  We watched these two for 45 minutes or so before we reluctantly headed to Laramie...for breakfast and a resupply of Moose Drool.

The Snowys

Campground view

After a very brief overnight in Denver we made our way back up to the Snowy Mountains for one last camping adventure.  We were really lucky to get the very last spot at Sugarloaf Campground at the base of Medicine Bow.  The campground sits at the elevation of 10800 feet so it's the highest we've ever camped.  It also supplanted our previous 'most beautiful' ... Dead Horse Point in Utah.

Cindi 'helping' set up camp

Sunset

We pulled out the extra long underwear and fleece jackets once the sun set.  It really wasn't too cold...mid-40's.  The wind even died once the sun went down, but we ended up setting up the table and chairs in the tent for our evening card game.  When we settled in for the night we noticed how the moon made the mountain 'glow'...and the total silence.  There were no bug noises, no birds singing, no cars zooming past, there was nothing to interrupt the peace and quiet. 

Heading up Lake Marie Trail

View from Schoolhouse Rock

Waking up early we headed off for one final big hike...Medicine Bow Peak (12,013 feet).  We decided to start from a different trailhead...Lake Marie (10,480 feet) to Medicine Bow Peak and then back by way of the Lakes Trailhead.   This made the hike a loop of a little over 8 miles.  Cooper was excited be included in this hike since he spent the last one at the spa.  He helped us by carrying the water in his pack.

Waiting

Rock scramble

Marmot chirping

We even let him run off lead a bit...he loved trying to 'catch' the marmots and picas.  He's finally figured out that all the chirping noise he keeps hearing are not birds, but the marmots and picas.   Coop still hasn't been able to get close to either though he tries hard.  He was one happy dog running form one chirping critter, back to us and then off to investigate yet another chirp.

Lake Trail view

The route was slightly easier from Lake Marie, but no less spectacular.  We left the parking lot and hiked up to the first ridge.  Wow, what a view.  Actually the trail follows the ridge line up Schoolhouse Rock (11,444 feet) along the backside of The Diamond (11, 720 feet) and The Old Main (11,755 feet) until we made the final accent up to Medicine Bow Peak.  Last time we had snow still on the peak...this year none, but we did have some  tremendous boulders that we had to traverse to reach the trail back down.  Cooper enjoyed being off lead and picking his own route.  We enjoyed not getting pulled along at his speed.

View from Medicine Bow Peak

Medicine Bow Peak View

Once off the peak we headed down the rather steep trail until we hit the return loop along a series of alpine lakes back to the Lake Marie parking lot.   All of us were pretty tired, but not nearly as wiped out as some of us were after Pine Creek Lake.  No walking downhill backwards from any of us this time...thank goodness.

Heading down from the Peak

A perfect ending to our trip...can't wait until next time.

Sunset over Medicine Bow

A Few of Cooper's Friends

Coop missed the elk

One thing we've enjoyed about having Cooper along on this trip is the looks on his face as we pass big animals on the roadways.  It is surprising the number of animals we have seen traveling along the roads and wander through camp.  He's been totally quiet with his ears perked up...no whines and no barks.  Coop just watches intently as we pass by the elk or the buffalo.  Usually his head is outside the window, but on occasion he's pulled back in just as we get to the animal...especially true of the buffalo.

Can you see the buffalo?

We're pretty sure Cooper thinks 'his people' are nuts.  We drive along, we see something, slow down and park off the road.  He jumps up ready to get out to investigate too, but most of the time he sits inside watching us watch animals.  He ends up getting bored with all that and snoozes his time away in the back seat.  His excitement occurs when he sticks his nose (and head) out the window to sniff the air.

Cooper has perfected the art of getting 'his window' open...he sits behind the passenger seat and sticks his head over the seat waiting for the magic to occur when the window opens.
He prefers about 30 MPH...over 40 is 'too much' and he'll sneeze on the passenger which is not appreciated.

Buffalo passing by

Our last evening in Yellowstone we headed into Lamar Valley after dinner.  We got to watch the herds of bison head up the hillsides from their usual haunts down by the river...stopping all traffic in the procession.  Cooper did not like it when Cindi stood outside the door to take a video.  The huge bull was making more noise than usual...lots of grunting and snorting.  Unfortunately we can't get Blogger to play upload the darn video...will have to play a bit with it when we get back home.

We guess he thought that it was 'dangerous' for his personal assistant to be outside the vehicle...might interrupt his breakfast plans.

More elk watching

Buffalo eyes

 More watching