Life on the High Plains

I got up bright and early this morning, a very chilly morning (28 degrees), to meet a co-worker for a hike to Shoshone Lake on the DeLacy Creek trail.  We observed a special surprise of a wolf pack on the way to the trail head.  Sorry, no pictures of that, but it will forever be etched in my mind.  So glad that after two years in the Park I finally saw a wolf! DeLacy Creek is in the south end of the park.  It is close to Grant Village where I worked last year.  Last year I did this hike with my two hiking buddies and on the way out it started thundering and lightening so our hike turned into a trail run.  Today the weather was perfect although a little cold. This warning was posted at the trail head.  Would you have continued if you saw this warning? You may have heard about a bear attack in the Park last week by a sow on the Continental Divide trail.  This sow and cub are probably the same pair since the trails are in the same area....

During our trip to Yellowstone's Lamar Valley last week my brother and I stopped for a hike to Trout Lake.  This is one of my favorite hikes in the Park. It's a short mile or so hike rated easy, but it's a steep 200 foot elevation gain to get there. I love the moss growing on the downed trees. One side of the lake had a bunch of gunk on it--I'm not sure what the official term is.  The sky was hazy from all the western forest fires, but it's still an amazing view. A small creek feeds into the lake. This is why I love this lake--the beautiful mountain reflection in the smooth water. It's stunning! I'm appreciative of the trail crew that built this foot bridge. It's hidden treasures like this that most visitors miss.  To me, places like this are the heart and soul of Yellowstone.  No trip to Lamar Valley is complete without a stop at Trout Lake.

My brother and I made a stop at Yellowstone's Norris Geyser Basin last week in hopes of catching an eruption of Steamboat Geyser. A geyser basin is especially beautiful on a chilly morning with all the steam rising. There's Steamboat in the distance. Prior to this year the last major eruption of Steamboat was in 2014.  It sometimes goes years between eruptions.  Steamboat is the world's largest geyser with eruptions up to 300 feet high.  It's much more powerful that Old Faithful. On March 15th this year Steamboat roared back to life.  As of today it has erupted 14 times in 2018.  Eruptions have occurred as often as every 6-7 days, but sometimes it's as much as 14 or 20 days between eruptions. We watched it for quite some time and felt sure it was about to go.  We could feel the rumpling below our feet and could hear the water boiling. No such luck though.  We were a week too early.  It would be another week before...

Last week my brother came to Yellowstone and we got to spend three days together exploring Yellowstone and the Tetons. On day 1 our destination was Lamar Valley.  Lamar Valley is in the Northeast corner of Yellowstone. Lamar Valley is where the huge herds of bison hang out.  It's called the Serengeti of Yellowstone. We were not disappointed.  The herds own Lamar Valley.  They don't hesitate to walk down the road or cross right in front of cars. The little red dogs born this spring have gotten their dark fur now, but they're still dang cute. This is their park and we are the visitors. August is the month for the rut for bison. The boys were doing everything they could to attract the ladies. Rolling in the dirt, pawing the ground, intimidating the other males.  It's all part of the fun of the rut. There was lots of groaning, growling, and hollering going on. There was also a lot of following the ladies around.  Th...

I realized that I had one more post to do about Glacier National Park.  After our hike at Many Glacier on Wednesday and our waterfall hike on Thursday morning we headed out along the Going to the Sun Road. The Going to the Sun Road construction started in 1921 and was completed in 1933.  It's about 50 miles long and connects the west and east sides of the park.  Above is the Jackson Glacier. While in Glacier I learned how most Yellowstone visitors must feel.  The road was crowded, the pull outs were mostly full and there was nowhere to park. The views were fantastic!  I wish I could tell you what the names of all these peaks are, but I'm only a Yellowstone expert not Glacier. My pictures don't even begin to portray how magnificent these mountains are. The valleys are like a rain forest--thick and lush. Whenever we were able to find a pullout we stopped and took some photos.  Here I am with Ranger Susie.  I was...