The Beartooth and a Wolf

10,000 + feet in elevation...Top of the highway

Another trip outside the Park was our plan for the day.  We decided to drive out the Beartooth Scenic Highway.  This is one we have done a couple of times, but it is no less spectacular each time we've driven it.  We wanted to check out how deep the remaining snow pack was for July...maybe catch a few skiers/boarders taking some turns on old snow.  

Way fewer mosquitos...Soda Butte

 Although we were slightly concerned that the mosquitoes would carry us away.  The last time we drove through the darn things would be on you as soon as you stopped the car.  If you got out to take a photo they would be all over you and you would spend the next 30 minutes swatting them. It was difficult for Cooper and we constantly smacked mosquitoes as we drove.  We hoped for slightly fewer than a million bites.

Gray Wolf

Once again we had to drive through "coyote alley", but this time the animal we found was not a coyote.  We actually were able to spot a wolf.  According to the Wolf Gazers (yes people around here pick an animal and spend hours looking through their scopes to find them) there were two, but they "lost sight" of one.  Kind of creepy, but it did not stop us from watching the gray wolf eat his breakfast.

What are y'all looking at?

That whetted our appetite to see other wolves so we detoured to another area the Gazers mentioned to see if we could find another one... no luck.  Only a couple of hawks hanging around the top of Mount Washburn.  We'd have to keep looking for one.

Now delayed from our original plan... although getting a chance to spot a wolf was so worth the delay.  We headed off through Cooke City and on toward the Beartooth.  The mosquitoes did not seem as ferocious as last time so the trip was uneventful... no bears, no wolves and only a hoary marmot alongside the road much to the delight of Cooper.  

Lots of run off from melting snow had all the creeks and rivers roaring with water.  We've not seen water quite like this on our past trips.  Impressive and so loud you could not hear each other talk while we walked along one particular "creek"... it definitely did not look like any creek we've ever seen.

The Bear Tooth...

A roaring 'creek'

Cooper wore himself out on the backseat pacing back and forth... skipping his 3 PM nap completely in order to scare up a ground squirrel... from the car.   He is still persistent in his quest to get up close and personal to his best buds.

Cooper looking in holes for his friends

Glacier Lake below...possible hike

Off to Jardine and Tom Miner

Views from Jardine

Today we drove out of Yellowstone to explore a few of the National Forest roads in the Gardiner area.  It was a perfect day to get away from the crowded roadways in Yellowstone & explore the surrounding countryside.  The road out of Gardiner goes up into the mountains surrounding the town.  

No animals to be seen, but did we flies and mosquitoes... lots and lots of them.  A fly can bite pretty darn hard...ask us how we know.  The flowers filling the meadows were prolific and how I wish I knew all their names.  Just cannot stop taking pictures of each and every new one we spot.

We found a couple more primitive campgrounds... no water and a bit un-nerving to be so out there with the bears.  A bit too secluded for us.  Much prefer closer in to town although we did meet a family that decided to head out that direction for a few days to "really get out there".   

Our weather has been a bit iffy over the last few days... if it looks like rain we drive to town for dinner.  It is less than fun to cook and then clean up with rain falling... not to mention the wet dog that won't stay in the tent if we're not inside too.  Tonight was one of those nights, but once we returned to Mammoth the returned.   We bypassed camp and headed out a few miles to see if any animals were close to the road.

A quick snack

On a section of road that we like to call Coyote Alley we happened upon 2 coyotes.  One chocked down a quick road kill snack and the other hightailed it up the bank and away from the crazies with cameras.  

They weren't quite stealthy enough though since we managed to track them long enough to get our shots.

Great views

Yum...clover!

We figured our night was complete and turned back towards Mammoth, but on our way we were waylaid by a black bear.  I was "kicked out" of the car to capture a few pictures.  Bill & Coop drove off to turn around and find safe parking.  One of those lessons others around here should learn.  You can always tell if it is something awesome by the size and excitement of the crowd... bears and wolves bring out the largest jams.

Off he goes...

This bear was fairly close, but in the fading light hard to get a truly sharp image.  Still we always feel happy to get the opportunity to even see a bear.  So far we've seen 3 black bears and one grizzly and we are still searching for more.  Weird, right?

Thistle

Undine Falls

The last time we stopped by Undine Falls on Lava Creek we don't believe it had quite this amount of water.  This year it had quite a bit of water pouring over...much more stunning than our last view of it.  Between the winter snows and spring/summer storms there is still plenty of water filling the creeks and river.

A Visit to Canyon

Elk and her young right at the camp

After a much better night of sleeping we woke and had breakfast watching the elk on the hillside above our site.  Cooper just laid there with his water dish and watched them too.  

After some discussion on our day's plan we headed off the Canyon area of the Park.

Our Mammoth campsite...much quieter

Wraith Falls

Only a few miles away is a short hike out to a water fall... Wraith Falls.  We've hiked to it in the past and it really isn't much to it... except this time the large amount of water coming down it had cleared away the debris and moved it down the face to the bottom of the falls.  

Cooper enjoyed looking at flowers and searching for his elusive ground squirrel friends while Bill hiked out to falls.  I shot a few pictures of flowers, knitted and swatted flies.  Those darn things are worse than the mosquitoes.  The bite hurts and itches for days.

Looking for bison bones

Once back on the road we decided to see if we could find the remains of two bison carcasses from the winter.  Lots of flowers, but no remains to be seen.  That seems hard to believe that nothing was left behind from such huge animals... not a speck of hide or bone.  The meadows were covered with green grasses and so many flowers... wish I could grow flowers like this back home.

Wildflowers

Storm rolling through

Lower Falls on the Yellowstone...Canyon Area

Since the winter and spring (snow and rain) have been so wet the Park is definitely greener than last summer.  The waterfalls are SPECTACULAR and the Yellowstone River is running faster and higher than we have ever seen it.  We each killed time waiting with Cooper while the other took a turn hiking out to see the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  
 

The Yellowstone running through the Canyon

Opsrey and three young

We discovered a family of Ospreys nesting right below the walkway on one of the rock pillars.  It was pretty neat to peer down into the nest and watch the parents feed their young a fish. 

Baby ospreys are really ugly... just saying.

Lake lunchtime views

 

First bison herd

Sunset at Mammoth campsite

The Grand Loop...Yellowstone

First views of Yellowstone

After our drive through the Snowy Mountain Scenic Highway we turned toward Cody, WY.  We thought we may get lucky and reach Mammoth Hot Springs early enough to get a campsite.  Actually looked as if we might just pull it off based on the big board at the Northeast entrance (Cooke City, MT).  It claimed that Mammoth still had open sites... of course by the time we drove the hour to Mammoth the sites were all taken.

Hayden Valley

Thankfully there are a number of Forest Service Campgrounds within a few miles of Yellowstone.  We chose Canyon since it is one of the closest to Yellowstone.  Once the trailer was set up we headed back to the town of Gardiner, MT for a buffalo burger.  Our "order taker" just happened to be from Virginia and a recent William and Mary Grad... taking the summer to work/play in Montana before she "starts looking for her real job".  She was enjoying herself in Montana.

Bright and early (who could sleep with the cars whizzing by the campground) we packed up and headed to the Park.  We got our site, but we found out later in the evening way too close to the road.  The traffic noise was like you were trying to sleep next to an interstate... traffic late into the evening and construction trucks started up the mountain before dawn.  One of us was concerned he would not sleep well...

 

Our first Hawk...still unknown

We set up our camp anyway and headed off for a bit of critter gazing.  The Grand Loop Road is the main loop that circles the Park.  Along the way are several turnouts and side roads where one can always find something interesting to watch.  One of our side trips along the Firehole River we came upon a rather large Hawk.  We still have difficulty identifying large Hawks... this one chose a tree right alongside the road.   Perfect viewing and no one else bothered to stop and watch the hawk.  

Eagle in flight

Once back on the Loop we pulled over in Hayden Valley to look for eagles, wolves or maybe a bear.  The valley was lush and green with only a single buffalo here and there along the banks of the Yellowstone.  Suddenly off on the river bank we discovered TWO bald eagles sitting on the bank... seemed odd.  We did managed a few pictures as they took to the sky.  Beautiful birds, but they never seem to be close enough for the 'perfect shot'.

First Grizzly...AKA Scarface

The best was yet to come... traveling back down Mount Washburn there is a huge meadow area that always looks as if it is perfect habitat for bears.  This time of year it is covered in wild flowers... bright yellows and pink cover the hillside.  Though we've never actually seen anything other than a few elk and bison we always stop at to look through the scope and binoculars.  Until today...a Grizzly bear in all his glory right down the hillside.

Scarface enjoying his meadow

The Park rule is 100 yards and he was well past that, but still closer than we have been to one.  According to one the the Bear Gazers this bear's name was Scarface...his face was supposedly covered in scars.  We never could get a clear view of his face since he kept mowing through the high vegetation.  Lots and lots of pictures were taken while he ate his way through the grasses and

flowers until he disappeared into the trees.  Pretty darn impressive animal.

Our first black bear sighting

We left Mr. Scarface behind and headed back to camp to get some dinner.  Wouldn't you know that we'd see another bear...a black bear motoring through another meadow.  He was very nonchalant going about his business of eating and basically ignoring the mass of people clicking away along the roadside.  

Once he disappeared into the trees we continued out trek back to camp feeling pretty excited that we'd seen two bears in under an hour on our first day in the Park.

After a night where one half of us (Bill) had difficulty sleeping through the traffic noise whizzing by all night we asked if we could move to another open site.  Thankfully the Campground Hosts agreed and we moved to a site much further from the traffic noise.  Now it reminds us of Hull Street Road noise off in the distance... much improved and better sleeping.

As a side note... always have ear plugs which I thought worked really well since I was able to sleep through the night.  Someone laughed at me when I said I'd packed a set.

Lunchtime...no bugs

Our view for lunch...

Coming down Mt Washburn...grizzly habitat as far a the eye can see

Drive Through...Snowy Mountains

After our two day trip across the US we arrived about dinnertime in Laramie, Wyoming.  Unfortunately the timing was just as a thunderstorm struck town so poor Cooper was stuck sitting in the car listening to the radio while we enjoyed pizza at Joe's.  He did manage to get a few scraps of pizza crust even though we really wanted to eat the whole thing.

 

 

Our plan (such as we plan) was to head up to the Snowy Mountains to see exactly how much snow was still laying about and to scope out open campgrounds.  The weather was pretty iffy leaving town and we almost bailed on driving through the Snowys.  Thankfully we decided what the heck... driving through on a bad day is still pretty amazing.  The place just does not take a bad picture. 

 

The weather started clearing the higher we drove so by the time we reached 10,000 feet we were out of the clouds.  We decided we had plenty of time to take a small hike out to a waterfall.  Basically that was a mistake...the flies and mosquitoes were awful.  As soon as you touched the meadow we were swatting and Cooper was trying to eat any flying bug.  

 

Look closely...mosquito midair

Good thing the weather was not going to be perfect since the bugs would have made our lives pretty unbearable.  

 

Ever onward we left with the idea that we'd reach Yellowstone by evening where we hoped to find an open campsite.  Yeah we know that will be highly unlikely.

 

Hoary Marmots watching Cooper

Still water full of mosquitoes...but beautiful

Cooper looking for his friends

 

Snowy Mountains

Perfect car advertisement

Poof

Bill seldom falls so when he does it is a good one...




Now Cindi on the other hand does fall...usually a heel kick out and she lands on her bum.  Not this time...