Vacation Journal
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Thursday, June 9, 2005
We got up optimistic about the weather, even though a clerk at one of the stores had told me that we had already had summer last Friday. Someone else told us that there are only three seasons in Yellowstone Park - winter, late winter, and early winter.
The temperature rose quickly to 45 degrees so we left with plans to do some geocaching and to take a two-mile walk in the Old Faithful area. After we did the first geocache and experienced the cold west wind, we decided the walk was out. I'm still a wimp.
On our way into the park we drove through the Madison Valley. We saw three individual swans. We stopped to watch an Osprey sitting on a rock in the middle of the river eating a fish. We saw the pair of Sandhill Cranes with their young crane. We saw Bluebirds, Cassin's Finches, many Canada Geese with young, and Ravens. An elk walked across the road in front of us. All of this took only 30 minutes for the 14 mile drive.
Then, it started snowing lightly off and on. We decided to drive the complete lower loop road. As we crossed the Continental Divide twice, we saw lots of new snow that wasn't there Sunday. There was even snow on the trees which probably means snow from last night. We get as high as 8,400 feet in this area, so it gets a lot colder than West Yellowstone, Montana, which has a nominal official elevation of 6,666 feet.
We stopped to eat lunch at Grant Village on Yellowstone Lake. As we started around the lake we encountered a drizzle, then snow, then sleet. It sleeted for about 20 to 25 minutes. The ground and road were covered with sleet. The temperature stayed between 34 and 38. When we finally stopped at Lake to find the second cache, my front license plate was totally covered with slush so as be be unreadable. We did find a couple waterfowl in our drive to Lake - Bufflehead, Western Grebe, and Lesser Scaup. From Lake we drove a couple miles and stopped at the Fishing Bridge area for a scoop of Moose Tracks ice cream.
Then we drove through the Hayden Valley area. We had more snow. We did see a lot of bison and elk. We also saw some Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Barrow's Goldeneye, Pelicans, and Canada Geese. At one stop we saw a Brown-headed Cowbird land on top of a bull bison. I got a picture with my film camera. Then across the road we saw another bison with three cowbirds on his back. I got another picture.
As we made our way back west, the sun came out. It warmed up so much I had to use the vent to cool the truck. As we neared Madison Junction, we got stopped by a bison jam. A herd of about 50 bison was standing in the middle of the road. A ranger in a Crown Victoria came along passing the backed up cars by using the left lane. She drove into the bison, honked her horn, and did short blasts with her siren until the herd started moving on down the road. They were trapped between a steep dropoff to the river and a steep hillside, so they had to move down the road. The backup on the other side that we passed was almost two miles long. They couldn't start moving yet because the bison were walking in their lane. Our lane got to move on.
When we got back to the campground, it was sunny and 55 degrees. We did laundry and took a walk around the campground. This was the best weather we've had since Sunday. Tomorrow we will try again to take a hike.
One of my vacation bills got entered in Where's George today in Oregon. That is the sixth state so far.
The temperature rose quickly to 45 degrees so we left with plans to do some geocaching and to take a two-mile walk in the Old Faithful area. After we did the first geocache and experienced the cold west wind, we decided the walk was out. I'm still a wimp.
On our way into the park we drove through the Madison Valley. We saw three individual swans. We stopped to watch an Osprey sitting on a rock in the middle of the river eating a fish. We saw the pair of Sandhill Cranes with their young crane. We saw Bluebirds, Cassin's Finches, many Canada Geese with young, and Ravens. An elk walked across the road in front of us. All of this took only 30 minutes for the 14 mile drive.
Then, it started snowing lightly off and on. We decided to drive the complete lower loop road. As we crossed the Continental Divide twice, we saw lots of new snow that wasn't there Sunday. There was even snow on the trees which probably means snow from last night. We get as high as 8,400 feet in this area, so it gets a lot colder than West Yellowstone, Montana, which has a nominal official elevation of 6,666 feet.
We stopped to eat lunch at Grant Village on Yellowstone Lake. As we started around the lake we encountered a drizzle, then snow, then sleet. It sleeted for about 20 to 25 minutes. The ground and road were covered with sleet. The temperature stayed between 34 and 38. When we finally stopped at Lake to find the second cache, my front license plate was totally covered with slush so as be be unreadable. We did find a couple waterfowl in our drive to Lake - Bufflehead, Western Grebe, and Lesser Scaup. From Lake we drove a couple miles and stopped at the Fishing Bridge area for a scoop of Moose Tracks ice cream.
Then we drove through the Hayden Valley area. We had more snow. We did see a lot of bison and elk. We also saw some Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Barrow's Goldeneye, Pelicans, and Canada Geese. At one stop we saw a Brown-headed Cowbird land on top of a bull bison. I got a picture with my film camera. Then across the road we saw another bison with three cowbirds on his back. I got another picture.
As we made our way back west, the sun came out. It warmed up so much I had to use the vent to cool the truck. As we neared Madison Junction, we got stopped by a bison jam. A herd of about 50 bison was standing in the middle of the road. A ranger in a Crown Victoria came along passing the backed up cars by using the left lane. She drove into the bison, honked her horn, and did short blasts with her siren until the herd started moving on down the road. They were trapped between a steep dropoff to the river and a steep hillside, so they had to move down the road. The backup on the other side that we passed was almost two miles long. They couldn't start moving yet because the bison were walking in their lane. Our lane got to move on.
When we got back to the campground, it was sunny and 55 degrees. We did laundry and took a walk around the campground. This was the best weather we've had since Sunday. Tomorrow we will try again to take a hike.
One of my vacation bills got entered in Where's George today in Oregon. That is the sixth state so far.
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