Half-way through the summer and still not bored

We’ve passed our half way point in our stay here at Yellowstone National Park. There is more to see and do here than can be done even in a entire summer. We have a list of things we want to be sure to do before we leave and in the last few weeks we have been able to cross off some of the listed activities.

Just outside the Park in West Yellowstone, MT there is the Grizzly and Wolf Recovery Center. They have excellent displays on wolves and bears and the outdoor exhibits with live wolves and grizzly bears are wonderful. We have yet to see any wild wolves (one of the items on our list) but we have seen quite a few grizzly bears and a few black bears.

We took a drive around the park a few days ago hoping to see some wolves. Again they eluded us but the trip was far from uneventful. We stopped in the Mammoth area and hiked around the travertine terraces. They are really interesting. We were there near mid-day so the bright sun on the bleach-white terraces made for some difficult picture taking.


From Mammoth we headed east through the Lamar Valley to the Beartooth Highway. What a ride. The Beartooth is considered by many sources as the most scenic highway in the Continental US. It is easy to see why. The pass is nearly 11,000 feet high and the wildflower blankets in the alpine meadows were beautiful. Glacier lakes filled by melting snow (this was in July) and the scattered rock outcroppings make for some real “eye candy” as does the view from the high elevation overlooks.


Returning from the pass we again came through the Lamar Valley. At 6 PM the wildlife was more active and we saw perhaps 300 bison, 4 black bears, 2 coyotes, a dozen pronghorn, and 4 sandhill cranes. The one black bear was feeding on a carcass by the river and the two coyotes were just waiting their turn at the remains. The other bear, a sow with two cubs, was seen way in the distance.

On another outing to the Hayden Valley we experienced the bison rut. Bulls were butting heads, exhibiting strength by pacing with tails raised, and vying for the attention of available females. We stopped at the Otter Creek picnic area where the Hayden Valley wolf pack’s alpha female has frequently been seen with her cubs, but again we were not there at the right time.


We rode out bike back to the Lone Star Geyser and waited and watched the 20 minute eruption. Impressive. The 2 mile bike ride along the Firestone Ricer (creek) is beautiful. Fresh bear scat in the roadway forced us to keep up our vigilance.


My backcountry experience this week was an overnight hike to Shoshone Lake to try to catch my first ever Lake Trout. I did manage to land one but I was very disappointed in the fight.
I have hooked on to sticks that fought better. The fishing may not have been great but seeing otters, eagles, osprey, and geese was more than enough to sustain my euphoric state. The scenery was beautiful and at dusk a nearby ruffed grouse kept strumming. Interesting music to go to sleep with.