Vacation Journal
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Thursday, June 2, 2005
We decided to drive over to the Yellowstone Lake area and look around. As we went into the park, we saw four Trumpeter Swans near Seven Mile Bridge. We also saw one Bald Eagle sitting on the nest near the bridge. We crossed the Continental Divide twice on the way to the lake, so we remained on the Atlantic side of the divide most of the time (West Yellowstone is on the Atlantic side, as strange as that first seems). We found lots of waterfowl on the lake. New ones for us were Barrow's Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and Western Grebe. We got to watch them in several locations. The place seems overrun with Bufflehead. We also saw Double-crested Cormorants, hundreds of Canada Geese, Violet-green Swallows, many American Pelicans, dozens of Lesser Scaup, three Harlequin Ducks, a Common Merganser, and a close view of an Osprey. Along the Yellowstone River we saw a lone Wolf. We're confident it was a wolf and not a coyote because we got to watch it for a few moments with binoculars. It was about 100 yards from us. It has a different gait when it moves than a coyote and it was large. About 40 minutes later, back in the Madison Valley we did see a coyote and could tell the difference. We saw three swans on the way back through the valley and one Bald Eagle.
We had a nice lunch in the more upscale dining room at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We had a window table with a view of the lake. At one stop along the Yellowstone River we talked to another couple watching birds and learned that they are staying in the same campground as us.
Of course we saw literally hundreds of buffalo and elk. You almost have to shove them out of the way sometimes. Charolette also saw a white-tailed deer near the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. The white-tailed are the rarer deer in Yellowstone, but some of the literature we read implied that they may eventually do in the mule-tailed deer. We did stop for a quick look at the Upper Falls. We plan to take some hikes here later in our trip.
We ended up doing the entire lower loop road. Even though the temperature never got above 45 degrees the whole trip, the weather was pleasant - mostly sunny and little wind. We did see lots of new snow in the higher elevations from yesterday's storm. While we were crossing the Continental Divide, many of the trees still had snow on them. It had not been there on Sunday when we drove through here with the trailer.
It's hard to describe just how great a place Yellowstone is. We take time to see as much as we can. I continually pull into turnouts to let cars pass me. Most people seem to be rushing to be somewhere else. Of course, they probably have deadlines, like going back to work.
We had a nice lunch in the more upscale dining room at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We had a window table with a view of the lake. At one stop along the Yellowstone River we talked to another couple watching birds and learned that they are staying in the same campground as us.
Of course we saw literally hundreds of buffalo and elk. You almost have to shove them out of the way sometimes. Charolette also saw a white-tailed deer near the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone. The white-tailed are the rarer deer in Yellowstone, but some of the literature we read implied that they may eventually do in the mule-tailed deer. We did stop for a quick look at the Upper Falls. We plan to take some hikes here later in our trip.
We ended up doing the entire lower loop road. Even though the temperature never got above 45 degrees the whole trip, the weather was pleasant - mostly sunny and little wind. We did see lots of new snow in the higher elevations from yesterday's storm. While we were crossing the Continental Divide, many of the trees still had snow on them. It had not been there on Sunday when we drove through here with the trailer.
It's hard to describe just how great a place Yellowstone is. We take time to see as much as we can. I continually pull into turnouts to let cars pass me. Most people seem to be rushing to be somewhere else. Of course, they probably have deadlines, like going back to work.
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