July 23rd & 24th

I took a hike around the OF area on Saturday while Jim was home with
the flu bug.   Caught OF erupting from the overlook and then on to
Solitary Geyser.  This geyser was used to feed a swimming pool in
front of the Old Faithful Inn back in the early teens and twenties. 
Tapping it lowered the level of the pool by three feet and the eruptions
stopped.  When they did away with the pool the geyser filled back in
and began erupting every few minutes. It is not a tall one but fun to
watch.  You can see in the first picture the number of tourists seated
around Old Faithful  We are definitely in busy season now with big
crowds every day.  Hear lots of stories from our guests on all the
animal sightings and there seems to be a lot of bear sightings.  But of course Jim and I have yet to see one.  I have suggested hiring ourselves out as bear repellent.  If you don't want a bear around your campsite, just hire Jim and Ann and there won't be one for miles around.  We won't give up though. 

Took a drive to Jackson Lake Lodge on Sunday via the south entrance to the park.  Drove by Lewis Lake (3rd largest in the park).  This empties into the Lewis River, named for Merriweather Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame.  This river joins the Snake River to form Jackson Lake.  The view of the Tetons from Jackson Lake Lodge is breathtaking. 


On the way home, we spotted the coyote strolling down the middle of the road and of course holding up traffic in both directions.  He did stop to pose for us on the log and then took off for the woods.

More to come

Ann & Jim

Sunday, July 17th

Tower Falls was located just beyond the Bighorn sheep jam we ran into Saturday. The falls empty into the Yellowstone River and it is surrounded in this area by the calcite cliffs pictured.  There used to be a path to the bottom of the falls along the river but a lot of it has washed out so the park service has closed it for now.


We caught the deer on a little side drive past Firehole Lake on our way home. They were really funny when they came upon each other. They sniffed each other then did a little dance around each other and then just stood together and finally took off together.



Sunday we took a hike to Fairy Falls, 3 miles each way (farther than I used to have to drive to work). No rise in elevation so not too strenuous but it is a really popular trail so we saw lots of tourist and not many animals. I usually let Jim lead because he has the bear bells and bear spray but since it was so busy I led for a awhile and of course that would be when a snake and a yellow bellied marmot ran across the path right in front of me. Just past Fairy Falls is Imperial Geyser. This is one in the back country so not many people see it and you can walk right up to it and the mud pot pictured. The runoff from the geyser streams alongside the path and about fifty yards away we stopped to feel if the water was still warm and it was almost too hot to touch. Can't imagine what the temp is right in the pool. It erupts constantly - about 20 feet at the highest.




All for now - more later
Ann & Jim

Saturday, July 16th

Started our Saturday with an early morning drive to Bozeman, MT through West Yellowstone and up through the Gallatin River Canyon. Lots of steam coming off the geysers and hot springs in the cool morning air that you don't notice when the air temps are warmer.  Caught some elk still bedded down for the morning....  you can just see their heads showing above the grass.  Currently all types of flowers are in bloom and some of the fields are just colored with them.  Hope to include some pictures of them on the next blog.  Went to Bozeman for the essentials -  hair cuts and stops at MacDonald's and WalMart to resupply our junk food, Coke & wine.  Up until now we thought driving to Carmel from Fishers was a long distance to drive for a haircut and will no longer take all our nearby conveniences for granted.

Headed home along I90 out of Bozeman to Livingston, MT then south through valleys that follow the Yellowstone River. Beautiful drive with a lot of dry farming and ranching along the way.  Stopped at Chico Hot Springs in Pray, MT to check out the hot springs. 
Thought we might take a dip but it was 87 degrees and warm water didn't sound
refreshing in that temp so will try again when the weather cools in the fall.


Saw some whitewater rafters along the Yellowstone River but it is hard to consider it "whitewater" rafting as the water is still so high with continued spring flooding. Still can be dangerous though as a rafter drowned on the near by Gallitan about 3 weeks ago.


Short stop at Devil's Slide and Dome mountain.  Millions of years ago the "slide"  was horizontal but has been pushed up over time to a vertical position.

Dome Mountain is along a major migration path out of the park for bighorn sheep, deer and elk in the winter.  They travel this route annually by the thousands to the valleys north of this pass for winter grazing.


We entered back into the park through Gardiner, MT and the north entrance portal.  Stopped in Mammoth Hot Springs to take some pics of elk that hang out there.  Quite a few of them stay close to the buildings all Spring and Summer...most likely for safety reasons although that didn't stop a few grizzly bears from rushing in and snatching several newborn calves just a month ago.


Yellowstone was patrolled by the US army from 1886-1916 until the Park Service was created.  The pictured barracks are now used as employee housing and administrative offices


From Mammoth we headed around the northern loop of the park to Roosevelt Lodge where we stopped and had dinner in the employee dining room and rested in rocking chairs on the lodges' front porch.  Roosevelt lodge is very small compared to others in the park and guests stay in  "primitive" cabins  (which translates to "no bathrooms").  Only communal showers are provide for their guests.  They have a large horse stable there and offer stagecoach rides out to an evening chuck wagon dinner in the back country.  This is on our list of to dos but haven't been able to fit it in yet.


Ran into a bighorn sheep road jam at Tower Falls.  They came down the side of the mountain onto the road next to our car and strolled along the road for a few minutes.  They were neat to see because they are pretty rare and not often seen in the park. We eased by them but traffic was stopped for quite awhile.  They were all females and some little ones so no males with the large curved horns.

More to come

Ann & Jim

July 9th & 10th

We had some more visitors from home. Pat & Mary DeHeer and family were visiting from Carmel and we met for a drink Thursday night and dinner on Friday night. Jim took the younger ones on a hike up to the Old Faithful overlook. Ran into a couple coming down full speed that said they saw a bear farther up the path. But our group made a LOT of noise and continued on to the top. No sign of the bear but they did pass an elk browsing about 30 yards off the path on the way down.


Saturday we took a hike on Elephant Back trail. 3.5 miles round trip to an overlook over Yellowstone Lake with a rise in altitude of 800 feet. Doesn't sound like a lot but sure seems that way when your hiking it. It took us about 4 hours including a little time spent at the top. Ran into quite a few hikers on this trail and some from France & Austria were kind enough to take a pic of us.




On Sunday we hiked a short trail to Mystic Falls on the Little Firehole River out of the Biscuit Basin area. It was a beautiful hike but the most memorable thing on this trail will be the mosquitoes. They were in swarms the whole way. We had to put spray on three times and ran into some hikers that didn't have any and were literally covered with them. We stopped and shared our spray with them. The swarms are a byproduct of the really wet spring and the later than usual snow melt. We're told by August they will be a thing of the past. We even have them in the store in the evening. Bug spray is a big seller right now.


More updates next week
Ann & Jim