Mystic Falls

Firehole River at Biscuit Basin

Up and out of camp at daybreak today. This time of year sunrise is pretty early...even for me early. It is getting light around 4:30 AM even though official sunrise is quite a bit later around 5:45 AM. We decided to beat the geyser crowd and get on the road early. 

The hope was we'd increase the chance of a good critter encounter. Well it should have, but not on this day. Traffic was fairly light going in the direction we were traveling, but no animal jams...darn it!

Biscuit Basin

The geyser area of Yellowstone is VERY popular. Everyone heads to Old Faithful when they visit the Park. We've learned that it is super important to hit the geysers as early as possible to find a spot to park & enjoy the spectacle of spouting geysers.

The boardwalks are certainly less crowded if you can arrive before 8:00 AM. Otherwise you'll be out of luck & will be circling parking lots rather than watching geysers. There are several other areas that we like far better than the crowds that visit Old Faithful.

Grand Prismatic from the Overlook

Midway Geyser Basin is the location of the Grand Prismatic Spring is one of our favorites and of course it also has the smallest parking lot. A new trail was added a few years ago that lets you get a nice view above the Grand Prismatic...not quite as good as the illegal drone picture we've seen, but it does make quite the impression.

If you're lucky the steam will be blowing away so you can see the pool of turquoise water & bright orange colors.

Mystic Falls

Just down the road from Midway is Biscuit Basin which has several small spouting springs along the boardwalk. It has the added benefit of a couple of trails to a beautiful waterfall, Mystic Falls. The waterfall is about 70 feet tall along the Little Firehole River.

If you hike the longer of the two trails you may even catch Old Faithful Geyser going off without the extra 2000 people. Today we decided to do something different and do the shorter 2.4 mile trail. 

Cindi at Mystic Falls

Yellow-bellied marmot

As we expected no crowds and very few people on the boardwalk. No one on the hike...either going or on the return back to the parking lot. It was wonderful. 

A yellow-bellied marmot made itself known as we got to the Falls. She was very curious & posed on the rocks for quite some time. We assume she was calling to her young, but we never saw any other marmots.

Female yellow-bellied marmot

Golden mantle squirrel

Heading back we ran into...more like he ran up to us... a golden mantle squirrel. One could be confused & think it was a chipmunk on steroids. Cute little bugger though it acted like the 'tourons' have been feeding it. 

We wandered along the boardwalk looking for the dragonflies that are usually hanging out at the Firehole River. A few years back a poor girl starting screaming when she noticed them...afraid that they were going to 'sting' her. Totally harmless and such a pretty bright red color. Sadly none were seen on this trip.

Once back in the truck we headed towards Hayden & Lamar Valleys in the hope of more critter encounters. Those areas usually do not disappoint...although lately Hayden has been mostly misses at finding large animals. The bison herd has been MIA, the grizzlies are MIA, & the bull elk has been MIA too. Still Hayden was a beautiful bright green with large numbers of wildflowers that have not been trampled by the missing bison herd so that was at least something to photograph.

Shooting stars

Hairy clematis, aka sugar bowl

Glacier lily

A few stops were made to photograph a meadow of glacier lily on Mount Washburn & shooting stars. The lily is such a pretty flower that is one of the first to pop up as soon as the snow melts. Bears really like to eat the bulbs too...but none were about while I was photographing flowers. I did have my bear spray & kept a close eye on the woods. One does get a bit nervous about a surprise bear popping out while you're taking photos.

As luck would have we found a black bear out in a sage covered meadow near Slough looking for elk calves based on the 3 elk watching closely from above the bear. 

At least it picked a good spot with plenty of parking so the traffic never backed up.

Black bear

Coyote on the road

On our way back through the bear had disappeared, but a coyote decided to travel the road looking for road kill. It is such a thrill to be the first to spot an animal & have it to yourself for a few minutes. Once he headed off into the sage we drove on ahead to park & wait for it. 

As expected he came out from the brush near us searching for a snack. After a few minutes it headed back towards the road. A bit odd for this time of year to travel the road, but we figured it must be picking up the dead rodents along the way. 

Still no jam once it disappeared off the road.

Coyote

Black bear boar

Heading back towards camp we came across the same black bear boar that had been looking for love yesterday. A park ranger directed traffic & kept the people moving along. Lucky for us found a parking spot so we could take a few photos as the bear wandered by close to the road. 

The poor ranger kept one eye on the bear and the other on the traffic. She really tried to get the bear to move it along a bit faster...he evidently had other plans as he moseyed slowly towards the trees. 

Ranger pleads to move faster

A few miles later we saw a black bear sow with 2 yearlings on a hill above the road. By the time we'd safely parked they had started crossing the road behind us...darn it all. Oh well a distant shot is better than no shot. Quite a long day in the Park...a marmot, golden mantle squirrels, 5 black bears, and a coyote were the highlights of our day.

Black bear sow with 1st cub crosses road

2nd cub finally crosses late

Our Favorite YNP Campground has REOPENED

As I mentioned in the last post we returned early due to the power issues in Tin Can Allie. Thankfully it was a quick 'fix'...at least we think it is fixed. The problem seems to be an incompatibility problem between the oldest lithium battery and the two newer ones. Before we left Utah the old battery was only showing 3 volts on the meter and the other two were at 8 volts...that's really B.A.D. We disconnected all the batteries from each other & the trailer before hitching up & hitting the road. 

Once back in town all the batteries were rechecked...the newer two had recovered back to 13 volts, but the older one displayed a code "check with customer support". Well that can't be good & certainly seemed like a quick fix...remove the old one and hook just the two new ones together. All three batteries worked well during our last camping trip this past August so we are not 100% sure the solar system is actually fixed. 

Everything charged back up fine in the driveway so we thought we'd look for another camping opportunity close to town. As luck would have it Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs Campground reopened on May 24th. 

North Entrance Road post flood

It has been closed since June 2022 due to the 1 in 500 year Flood. We were camping in Mammoth and actually left the day before it hit. 

We decided after returning to camp late afternoon to pack up & head home. Between the weather calling for heavy rain throughout the night and next day, Bridger having Giardia & a grizzly wandering around camp looking for elk calves the decision was pretty easy...as it turned out we dodged a very big event. 

The rain started as we hitched up the trailer with both Yellowstone & Gardner Rivers looking very angry as we left the Park. These shots were taken in August 2022 when the Park allowed you to hike or bike out on the destroyed road along the Gardner River. We biked in and then hiked a bit further along the canyon. 

North Entrance Road post Flood

We were awestruck at the devastation to the roadway. Water does what water does and made a new path through the area...wiped out the sewer lines and moved rocks that we never thought would move in our lifetime. 

After being closed for two years the campground opened while we were in Utah. Since no one anticipated it opening there were sites available for the week. Bridger went back to his spa and we headed to the Park. Perfect weather to test the system and our new cameras.

June has always been a great time in the Park. The early wildflowers are blooming and everything is bright green. The weather is usually cool so lots of animals are out & about during the day. After getting the trailer all set we wandered off to see what critters we could spot during the late morning.

Trumpeter swan on nest as mate feeds nearby

First stop was Swan Lake to see if the Trumpeter Swans had a nest. Not sure if it is always the same pair, but the last few years there has been a successful nest on the lake. Even during the flood year when it looked like the nest had been flooded cygnets were hatched and fledged before the lake froze in October. 

This year there is another nest in the same spot as last year's nest. One swan was sitting on the nest with the mate swimming nearby. We could not tell if any eggs have hatched since the swan did not get up off the nest. Unfortunately, We never saw any cygnets.

However, since we were there a few photos of 5 cygnets have surfaced on a Yellowstone site we follow...we've got to head back & check it out soon.

Pair of trumpeter swans at nest

It is always difficult to decided where to head next...toward Hayden Valley or back toward Tower Junction. We decided to head toward Hayden Valley and have a picnic somewhere along the road over Mount Washburn. The Park wasn't crazy busy which was a surprise...no bear or bison jams which was nice. 

Harlequin drake sits on rock

After our lunch we decided to see if one of my favorite birds, Harlequin ducks were still hanging out on the Yellowstone River. They usually show up in May and hang around until late June.

The drake is such a beautiful bird when the sun is shining brightly on its feathers. A bit tricky to get a good shot of them since the sun never seems to be in the right spot. 

The female is a drab brown color with white cheek patches. We seem to see very few females so have assumed they are sitting on nests. No idea where & we've never seen any ducklings. 

Female Harlequin

This duck has the ability to 'swim' through rapids in search of food. In the Yellowstone River they hang out in the middle of Le Hardy Rapids during June. 

According to Cornell's All About Birds these ducks pick out the most dangerous whitewater areas to breed and feed which leads to these ducks living with broken bones. Its nuts watching them move through the rough water. This year there were only four hanging out on a log and a couple of others swimming the rapids. 

Harlequin ducks...one in the rapids

After some time watching their antics we headed off to Mount Washburn and toward Lamar Valley. Hopefully we could spot a bear or two somewhere along the way. 

Black bear

As luck would have it just before reaching Tower Junction we spotted a young black bear eating its way along a hillside. The Tower area has quite a number of black bears. We rarely pass through without at least one sighting. The jam wasn't too bad for a bear jam. Most people moved along fairly quickly on our side which was quite surprising. 

A few shots were taken as we waited for people to start driving in front of us. Black bears never seem to look up...just keep their mouth open and eat whatever comes to them.

Bald eagle

A Bald Eagle was spotted in Little America. It was sitting on a rock facing toward us. Most people just kept going, but we pulled over to watch for a bit. 

Most of the time the big birds never take flight if we stop to shoot pictures...always seem to mess with us & take off when we drive away or turn the camera away from them. Bald eagles are fierce looking birds...those eyes are a bit scary.

Sandhill cranes with 2 colts

Little America has a number of birds at the various ponds this time of year. The Sandhill cranes were out and about with 2 colts this year. It is the second time we've been lucky to spot their young. Goofy little things with extremely long legs. 

The red-winged black birds were none to happy having the family move through the wetland area. Diving and squawking didn't seem to bother the adults as they ate bugs. The colts were a bit more concerned about all that action overhead.

Blackbird attack

Blackbird's not happy

Cinnamon black bear

As we headed back to camp for dinner we came across a courting pair of black bears. At least we think that's what was going on between a beautiful cinnamon black bear and a fairly large black bear boar. This is not the first time we've found bears courting in the area. 

The cinnamon didn't stick around too long and kept moving away from the boar. It appeared that the boar was content to hang back and follow from a distance. We feel pretty certain we'll be seeing this guy quite a bit over the next few days.

Black bear boar

Elk

Once we got to camp we had some of the local neighbors wander by as we had dinner. A much larger female elk headed across the old road into the campground. After a few minutes 2 much younger ones crossed and followed her through camp.  

We wondered what the elk were thinking after not having any campers for 2 years. Afterall, it had been a good long break from the tourons invading their space. They certainly didn't seem to pay much attention to us at the table or anyone else. 

 

Elk looking for the others

Young elk crosses road toward camp

Tomorrow we're going to head into the crazy busy portion of the Park and my least favorite area... the geyser basin. I'm less than thrilled at the prospect, but hopefully we can find some quiet on a hike to Mystic Falls. 

The Unplanned

Interesting roadside stop Hwy 191 & I-70

Well sometimes things don't go quite as planned. Today was a prime example of the unplanned and its a big one. We had planned on heading out toward St George, UT and camp a few days in Snow Canyon State Park. Lots of great biking trails in & around the area so we were pretty excited about it. Thought we'd be able to head up to Zion National Park too. 

Unfortunately when I got up a bit before 6:00 AM I noticed something wasn't right with our solar power. Mmm, do I wake up someone or let him wake up on his own. Yup, I let him know we had lost all power at some point overnight. The panels and controller were not working. Bill checked the batteries and all were reading really low...as in how was it even possible to use up all that power?! Nothing was left on except for a few things we cannot turn off...carbon dioxide detector, etc. 

He disconnected the batteries and we talked about options. Do we continue forth for the 6-hour drive and head to St George? Do we try and troubleshoot where we were until we had to vacate the site? Do we try to change our reservations to campgrounds with shore power? Do we pack up and head back to Bozeman? 

Since we had no power we could not use the electric hitch, the water pump so no shower, the refrigerator fan, the fantastic fans to keep cool, or heat when we hit the Nevada mountains later in the trip. If we couldn't find & correct the issue we were essentially pulling a 6500 pound tent through the Utah desert. It was decided to scrap the remaining 10 days and return to Bozeman rather than drive further away from home.

Once in Moab & a phone signal we cancelled the reservations for Snow Canyon, Ward Mountain & Thomas Canyon. It then hit that now we'd be driving through Salt Lake City...so much for planning a trip that avoided pulling the rig on I-15 through Salt Lake. Thankfully for a Saturday afternoon the traffic wasn't too crazy...picked a lane and stayed in it. We were hoping to get to West Yellowstone & through the Gallatin Canyon during daylight...which we managed to do pulling in to our driveway about 9:30 PM.

We had a whiskey once everything was parked. Tomorrow Bill gets to troubleshoot the issue. Fingers crossed the problem can be found & it is a quick fix! 

This trip certainly had its issues...1st the battery chargers were left behind, 2nd the rooftop solar panels stopped working for a period of time, but pulled a fuse and things looked okay (or did they fool us?), followed by the third & trip killer a total solar breakdown and batteries drained too low. 

Our first trip with multiple issues. Let's hope the next trip is issue free!