Yellowstone

Rita on the Beaver Ponds trail

We're just wrapping 5 days in Yellowstone - this time it was a Spring visit. We were here last September too, which seems to be the better time of year to visit. Most of the park is at an elevation of between 7,000 and 8,000 ft. so Spring tends to come late and leave early. The local saying is that there are two seasons in Yellowstone - 10 months of winter, then two months of tough sledding in July & August.

It was still a little drizzly and cold this week, although the weather cooperated for the most part (ie not too much rain) and the temperatures on the trail (mid 50's) made for pretty nice hiking conditions. There was some mud but not enough to turn us around on any trails, and the water level in the rivers & streams was quite high. There's a lot of bear activity this time of year since they're just emerging from winter hibernation & looking for food. For that reason some of the back country trails were closed, including one of our favorites - the Nez Perce Creek trail near Old Faithful - we hiked it last year and liked it so much we wanted to do it this time too, but after driving 50 miles to get to the trail head we found a sign at the entrance advising that it was closed because of foraging grizzly bear activity in the area. Not wanting to become bear poop we heeded the warning and went somewhere else.

There were lots of lower altitude options (lower than 7,000 ft that is) to choose from so we stuck close to the Mammoth area in the northern part of the park. Here are some photos of the treks.



It being early Spring in the park, the meadows were full of wildflowers. The yellow ones that Rita is standing in are called Arrowhead Balsamroot.




The Aspens were just leafing out too. A little further down the hill the cottonwood trees were sending out their seeds - something they were doing when we left Vancouver nearly two months ago.


On the Trail to the Beaver Ponds


Lots of nice views along the trail, especially those along the high plains on the Wyoming-Montana border



This pretty meadow is usually home to grazing buffalo, elk, and deer



Came across this "Trail Marker" on one of the hikes along the Yellowstone River. This big elk bull obviously didn't make it thru the winter and became a meal for one of the grizzlies.


Creature sightings: we finally stopped taking buffalo pictures because we saw so many, but here are a few animals that we hadn't seen before.


This little guy is a Rock Marmot - usually rather shy, but he popped up to check us out as we passed by on the trail. We were about 5 miles into the back country so he probably wasn't used to company.



This is a Uinta ground squirrel. They're similar to prairie dogs but don't group together quite like the prairie dogs do, although you usually see several together.

During one of our hikes we happened upon a baby ground squirrel that apparently got disoriented and stayed just ahead of us on the trail for several yards as we proceeded on. We stopped to let him escape into the brush and get back into his den, but instead he turned around and approached us - trying to figure out what we were I guess. He actually hopped right up to my hiking boot, at which time I was considering what I was going to do if he made a dash up my pants leg, when he finally lost interest and bolted into the sagebrush. Made for an interesting interlude on the trail.



Saw a LOT of elk this week, including these two cows that watched us pass by one day. Not too skittish, but did move off into the trees if we stopped to watch them.



This coyote was cleaning up some previous road kill as we drove by (and trying not to become road kill himself in the process). We had seen lots of scat on the trails but this was the first live one we saw. They forage near the ground squirrel colonies looking for easy meals. Based upon all of the fur we saw in the Coyote poop they're apparently pretty successful at it.

We didn't complete one of our hikes until after 5 PM after we got a late start one day. We were surprised at the number of animals that were out in what was basically twilight - really had to be careful on the roads, especially since the tourists are famous for just stopping suddenly for no reason (in the middle of a two lane road) to watch whatever critter is nearby. They must have about twenty rear-end collisions a day here. It's as if some of these folks leave their brains at home when they go on vacation.

Heading out tomorrow for the last leg of the trip back to Vancouver. Going to take the scenic route thru the mountains of western Montana & Idaho - along the route that Lewis & Clark passed in 1805 enroute to the Pacific, and which was also the route of the Nez Perce in 1877 as they fled the US Army. Should be home the evening of the 19th.