I woke up early to gray skies heavy with rain. During the night I had been awakened around 1 a.m. to hear coyotes calling to each other, one from off to the east, one to the north. I woke Rosie up to hear them but she didn’t remember it the next day. I love listening to coyotes at night.
I went back to sleep and just as I woke up again around 7:15 and was going to start heating up water, the rain hit earlier than I had expected so we raced to throw things in the tent and then headed into Medora for breakfast. The Cowboy Café was full so we settled for the Elkhorn. We weren’t crazy about it…the waitress was not friendly at all and the food was so-so. I won’t eat there again. We hit the road before 9 and despite rain the first few hours, we made pretty good time. We made a few gas/food stops but for the most part just kept driving.
We arrived home at 7:15 and were just about knocked over by the dogs (and were scratched). They were SOOOOO happy to have us home. Then, after greeting us, Wilbur went to every room in the house. When he went in one of the bathrooms I realized what was going on. He was looking for Hayden. He must have thought she would come home with us. After failing to find her he laid down and just stared at us with sad eyes the rest of the night. It had been 2 ½ weeks since he had seen her and he still remembered and was searching. Who says animals don’t think or have feelings? It was a sad part to a happy homecoming.
It was a wonderful, fabulous, amazing second part of my summer trip, some wonderful mother-daughter time with Rosie.
The problem is, I already miss the West. It seems that every time I leave there I leave more and more of myself behind. I need to find a way to spend more time there or move there…it is where I am meant to be!
Thanks to everyone who helped take care of my kids or who drove them places, who provided moral support, to Bill for cutting his own trip short to drive home with me, to everyone who called/emailed/brought flowers/etc. when Hayden died, and those of you who have expressed interest and appreciation for this blog.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wednesday, August 5 - Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Anyway, after sighting the mystery animal we saw the same large band of wild horses as last night, only this time with 19 horses instead of 14! We stopped and turned off the car since no one else was on the road. Pretty soon we had 4 foals approach the car and check it out. Eventually one of them started nibbling on the car!
We weren’t sure what to do but soon the stallion nickered and 3 of them moved off. One especially curious foal stayed though, and nibbled more. Later on we found teeth marks on the detailing stripe!
The Band Stallion With the Beautiful Blue Eyes
And there is a precocious little colt that is darker grey and a bit dappled…with those same piercing blue eyes. He is adorable. He is lucky to live in a national park…hopefully he will be allowed to grow up and remain in his homeland, unlike his counterparts in the Pryors and in other areas of the west.
We saw over 50 horses this morning as well as quite a few bison. There is one bison cow with very strange horns…one points down and is extremely, extremely long. My picture of it didn't turn out.
We got back to our campsite pretty early (8:30 a.m.) and started searching for a better one. We really wanted a site along the river and there was one open. Not the ideal one that has an awesome river view from the tent spot, but another that has a separate tent site between the river and the table area, and a private path down to the river. This would do nicely! We put chairs and a few things there to hold it and went back to our other site, threw everything from the tent inside the car and drove back down. We walked back and picked up our tent and carried it down the road fully set up…that elicited some funny comments from fellow campers. Rosie walked over to the bathroom and came running back a few minutes later to get me. She had emerged from the bathroom and looked up to see 3 horses at the end of the path looking at her. Suddenly they started trotting TOWARDS her! She ducked around a corner and watched and then ran to get me. They proceeded to meander through the campground…there was a lot of long, tasty grass to eat! It was a band of 3 bachelors. They must go through frequently because Rosie heard the campground hosts greet them with a “Hi, boys!”.
We were set up in no time and were going to get ready for a hike when I looked at the sky. Black front moving in…not good! It was a big one, and the hikes in this park are very open. We wouldn’t be hiking in the next few hours. We secured camp against the rain (lesson learned in Yellowstone!) and went to the campground in town to take showers, then to the Cowboy Café for lunch. We were standing there reading the menu when guy in a cowboy hat who looked like a local said “it’s the best food in town!” so we decided to eat there – we have learned to always listen to the recommendations of the locals when it comes to food! Rosie claims her hot roast beef sandwich with gravy was heavenly, the best gravy she’s ever had (sorry Marc). We had pie too. Then we went to the park visitor center to ask (unsuccessfully) about our mystery animal as I related above. We also talked to the rangers about hike options but it was getting late enough that we decided to nix the hike idea. So it was back to camp for a nap for me and reading time for Rosie. But, the cicadas were deafening and I couldn’t sleep. I walked down to the river and Rosie eventually joined me. The banks were very thick, wet clay. My Teva’s still have that clay on them.
I made dinner (beef stew and cheese-garlic biscuits…yumm!) and then it was wildlife drive time, one last evening of it. Once again, we saw over 50 horses, many of the same ones we’d seen earlier in the day but also a few new ones. I was determined to see the band we’d seen from the highway on our way out the first day…with a paint mare and paint foal. We never did see them but we saw three horses far off in the distance that were in that general area and may have been with their band. There were several elk out there too. We did one very short hike at dusk out to get a better look to the south…it involved climbing over large rocks/boulders and Rosie was NOT happy, she was sure snakes were lurking under everything. St. Patrick had fallen over on the dashboard and she was convinced that it meant bad “snake luck”. On our way back to camp just at dark we had a big herd of cow elk was stopped on the road and then they ran across and off as fast as they could…it was fun to see. The wild turkey from the night before was still in the tree too but it was too dark for a picture. Why does one turkey continually roost in the same dead tree? Maybe it’s normal but it seemed strange to me.
We commented that night that we hadn’t seen any coyotes this trip but knew they were there…it’s great coyote territory.
Tuesday, August 4 Yellowstone to Theodore Roosevelt National Park
My alarm went off and it was still partly dark which I thought was strange, but I quietly began to take down camp and finally woke Rosie to just go wait in the car while I took down the tent. I also had to set up for the woman who had given us money to get a site for her. I kept wondering why there was no one around and then got in the car and the clock said 5:50! Rosie had set my alarm on my phone, forgetting it was still on central time. So, I had gotten up at 4:50 a.m.! So now it was 5:50 and we got to the end of the Slough Creek road at 6, the perfect time to look for wolves. We hung out for a while and nothing was being seen except bighorns (a strange spot for them, I thought…) so we watched them for a few minutes. We finally told Jeff thank you for his help the past few days and moved on to Lamar. Jeff had told us about a car rolled over out there – he had seen it coming in from Pebble Creek very early that morning and had gotten out with a flashlight, etc. but there was no one in it so they’d already been taken care of. I still haven’t seen any details but he speculated that it may have been a case where a bison charged the car, as it was in an area that had been very heavily populated with bison for the past few days. They were still there when we passed the car in the valley that a.m.
On our way back out of Lamar we got into a LONG bison jam.
One bull just stood in the middle of the road and blocked us all for over 10 min. A ranger coming the other way tried repeatedly to get him to move but he didn’t care or even acknowledge her attempts. Finally he decided to go on his way. We stopped a few times to scan the river but there were no bears or wolves. We did see the ospreys on the nest. We stopped at Roosevelt for a few pictures we had forgotten to take and then headed toward Mammoth.
We saw a Yellow-Bellied Marmot while driving up from Roosevelt.
We saw a few elk outside of mammoth but too close to “count”…they are probably tame Mammoth elk. We stopped a few times in the Paradise Valley for pictures…it looks so different driving north through that valley, and we usually only drive it going south.
The only real stop we made on our way to Medora was at the Canyon Creek battle site outside of Laurel, Montana. I never knew it was there until seeing it in a battlefield site book I bought at the Range Riders Museum early in my trip. This was a place that Chief Joseph and his band stopped on their run from soldiers after the Big Hole battle, on their way to the tragedy at the Bear’s Paw Mountains.
It probably isn’t visited very often but there is a stone ring where people have left things such as sweetgrass, etc. I left a rock I’d brought from NW Montana.
We stopped at one of the beautiful Montana rest areas and I tried to take a nap while Rosie did soccer drills. Her ball rolled under a bush tough, and there are rattlesnakes around and she was foraging in the car for hiking poles to try and get it out… and I gave up trying to sleep. In Miles City we drove by the 519 Club, one of the places featured in the “Haunted Montana” book that Scot had been reading to us. Rosie refused to go in so we just took a picture from the outside.
We stopped for dinner in Glendive, it was late enough that we didn’t want to try making dinner, we were still hoping to get a campsite at Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park. The first place we found was Subway, we figured that would be good, lots of fresh veggies. But it was the slowest Subway in existence and we were there over 20 min. even though the line wasn’t very long. And, the cheddar cheese they put on my sandwich was shredded pizza cheese. NOT ok. They also gave me half the amount of tuna that other Subways do. We were not impressed and will not be stopping there again.
We said a very sad goodbye to Montana…I love that state so much and we figured we wouldn't be back for a year. We arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park around 7:30 p.m and got one of the last two campsites…not a good one, in sort of a group area, but it was still a campsite in the park. We quickly set the tent up and took off for a wildlife drive. We saw LOTS of horses, about 50 that night.
One band that we saw was quite large, around 13 horses, and then there was another band nearby that seemed to be separate but the two were tolerating each other. It was interesting to watch the smaller stallion keeping the larger one away from the herd. We saw lots of snaking and other horse behaviors that Rosie interpreted for me. We did see some bison that night also.
On our way back out of Lamar we got into a LONG bison jam.
Roosevelt Lodge Entrance
Leaving Roosevelt Lodge
We saw a Yellow-Bellied Marmot while driving up from Roosevelt.
The only real stop we made on our way to Medora was at the Canyon Creek battle site outside of Laurel, Montana. I never knew it was there until seeing it in a battlefield site book I bought at the Range Riders Museum early in my trip. This was a place that Chief Joseph and his band stopped on their run from soldiers after the Big Hole battle, on their way to the tragedy at the Bear’s Paw Mountains.
We stopped at one of the beautiful Montana rest areas and I tried to take a nap while Rosie did soccer drills. Her ball rolled under a bush tough, and there are rattlesnakes around and she was foraging in the car for hiking poles to try and get it out… and I gave up trying to sleep. In Miles City we drove by the 519 Club, one of the places featured in the “Haunted Montana” book that Scot had been reading to us. Rosie refused to go in so we just took a picture from the outside.
We stopped for dinner in Glendive, it was late enough that we didn’t want to try making dinner, we were still hoping to get a campsite at Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park. The first place we found was Subway, we figured that would be good, lots of fresh veggies. But it was the slowest Subway in existence and we were there over 20 min. even though the line wasn’t very long. And, the cheddar cheese they put on my sandwich was shredded pizza cheese. NOT ok. They also gave me half the amount of tuna that other Subways do. We were not impressed and will not be stopping there again.
We said a very sad goodbye to Montana…I love that state so much and we figured we wouldn't be back for a year. We arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park around 7:30 p.m and got one of the last two campsites…not a good one, in sort of a group area, but it was still a campsite in the park. We quickly set the tent up and took off for a wildlife drive. We saw LOTS of horses, about 50 that night.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Monday, August 3 - Wolves, Bears and Bats
What a day! We overslept somehow after a stormy night (of course it didn’t rain the two nights we were in hotels!!) and headed out the Slough Creek Road. Two of our new friends from yesterday morning were there but only watching bison so we thought we’d head out to Blacktail Plateau. On the way we saw one of the “wolf watchers” headed back where we’d come from so we figured something must be happening. We turned around and returned to Slough Creek and there were over 20 cars now. There were 4 wolves from the Cottonwood pack just laying on a bench (and no, I don't mean a literal bench, I mean a geographic feature called a bench :) ).
We watched for a while and suddenly they all got up and another wolf appeared. Shortly thereafter Rick McIntyre told everyone to be quiet…they were howling! FINALLY, I got to hear wild wolves howl! I got tears in my eyes…it is such a soul-moving sound. I hear them howl at the Wildlife Science Center frequently but it just isn’t the same.
Then it got better…they all were excited, playful – it was a pre-hunt rally. Then they took off across the bench and up a drainage. Suddenly someone spotted an elk and calf up the drainage. The wolves moved up; the cow and calf saw or smelled them and froze. The wolves split up…two went up and above, one off to the right on a rock and got down on her belly, and a black stayed below her. The elk were still frozen but suddenly they took off and the chase was on. They separated the calf from the cow and chased it down behind a rock where we could not follow. We watched for a long time but they never reappeared. The cow emerged from the woods but very high, looking down behind the knoll. She stood there for a very long time and one of our new friends said he’s seen them stand there for two days. Two days! It was very hard to watch, but on the other hand, the wolves need to eat. It’s the circle of life.
We all moved down into Little America to find a different vantage point. We saw them far off near what must have been the actual kill site. Two more wolves had joined them so we think we saw the entire Cottonwood Pack there. They were pretty visible for a good 45 min. or more. We let a lot of people look through our scope. That is one of my favorite things in life…helping people get their first look at a wild predator. The excitement is so wonderful, whether it’s a child or an adult! I've seen adults on the verge of tears after seeing their first wolf or grizzly - what a privilege to be a part of that.
We decided to go back to camp and make bacon and pancakes for breakfast, it was such a beautiful morning and the wolves had gone out of sight. Along the road to the campground, Rosie saw a small black bear just going over a rise. As we drove into the campground we saw our neighbors from the campsite across from us headed towards us in their car,but they turned around and backed up and followed us to our site. They got out and we soon saw why they’d returned…a black bear was in OUR site (29 for those of you who camp at Slough Creek)!
Needless to say, I was NOT going to cook bacon! I had parked on the road across from our site and got out, Rosie watched from the sun-roof. The bear was tearing into something in the sagebrush between our site and the next one. I went down to let the campground host know, because this bear has been coming through daily and they are trying to teach him not to come in the campground. The host (who had been watching wolves with us earlier) came down and parked in my site and followed the bear on foot as it meandered past our site and into the meadow that is in the center of the campground.
The campground host was waiting for the ranger to arrive. The wasn’t doing anything wrong other than being there… a bear should not be comfortable being that close to people. But she wasn’t approaching tents or trying to get people food. The ranger arrived when the bear had reached the far end of the campground. We saw her run and knew they’d used the paint ball gun (we remained at our site watching from the top of the picnic table for a better view).
But she didn’t run far and didn’t leave. Then the gun and cracker shells came out. We saw her run off and then heard 4 more shots. Despite the ranger telling people at that end of the campground to leave the area, they had not.
Apparently they had also seen the smaller black bear (the one we passed on the road on the way in) and were attempting to haze her away as well.
I boiled water for coffee and boiled eggs, I figured that was safe. We chatted with the “neighbor guys” who we’d talked to before (the ones who thought we were throwing away our tent) and I decided to go investigate what she’d been eating. I made my way through the thick sage and there was a HUGE ant hill that she had pulled up sage roots to get to.
The thousands of ants were all scurrying around moving things. The guys came over and we were discussing how the bear knew they were there and one of them said they have a citronella-y smell. He caught one and held it up and they do have a faint odor. It had HUGE mandibles! We walked back by our tent and suddenly I felt a bite on my leg and after I swatted at it, an ant fell out! Those huge mandibles hurt! Eventually (seemed like a really long time) a different ranger brought the campground host back and then parked and walked over. “I’m here for bacon!” he said! He thought I’d be ok cooking it now but at that point so much time had passed that we didn’t want to. He took my name, etc. and asked many details of what I’d seen, who was where, what the bear’s behaviour was, etc. Apparently it boded well for the bear that there was no one at that end of the campground when she arrived. But her behavior still is not natural. We had a great discussion with him about all the dumb behaviour we’ve seen (people, not bears) both in YNP and Glacier and how I think they need a test…everyone who enters the park must first pass a test proving that they understand they should NOT approach wildlife (and drag their kids with them), how many feet away to stay from animals, etc. He told us about the rangers' thought: the brain bucket. They think many people leave their brains in a bucket at the entrance station. People who are usually sensible and intelligent elsewhere behave like they have no brain when faced with the prospect of a bison/antelope/elk/bear laying in the sage or crossing the road, etc. I love it…that’s exactly what you see over and over. I mean, the guy who dragged his 4 or 5 y.o. son out to within 15 feet of the huge buck pronghorn…he looked like a sensible person and so did his wife who stayed in the car. I almost stopped to tell her to tell him to GET AWAY but she would probably wouldn’t have listened anyway.
Anyway…we had a great, fun conversation with Ranger John (Murray) and then he was getting in his car to drive away and I was going to mine to move it back to our site parking spot. I saw something brown in between the hood and the bug guard where there’s a small channel. Dragonfly? Bird? BAT!?! The other campers were walking up saying “is that a bat?” I yelled to Rosie and she called (I kid you not, she really said this) “Ranger dude! My mom’s got a bat stuck in her car” and he apparently said “This place is exciting today!” as he went to get gloves. Just as he was doing that it finally worked it’s way out the other side. It flew around the campsite opposite us for several minutes. It was very strange and he was obviously very confused…something was not right, he shouldn’t have been out that time of day to begin with. Rabies maybe?
Bat and bear drama over, Ranger John finally got into his car to leave and we finished our brunch and coffee/hot chocolate and got ready to head over the mountains. I psyched myself up for the scary (for me) drive over Dunraven Pass to get to the Canyon area and the Hayden Valley. That is a road that goes very high and you have times you drive along the edge for a while…I don’t like it! But I went slowly and did it. We stopped for gas at the gas station at Canyon and Rosie got ice cream (huckleberry!) and we were helped by the friendliest gas station attendant ever. She obviously is happy to be working in Yellowstone!
Then we headed into Hayden Valley trying to find “grizzly overlook”.
(We also realized today was Hayden's birthday, August 3rd...how appropriate that we were in "her" valley, that she was named for, on what would have been her 3rd birthday).
Many of the pullouts have been given names but they are unofficial and not marked. I know most of the Lamar area ones but nothing down in Hayden. We did find it though. Our reason for going there was to see the Canyon wolf pack’s rendezvous site and hopefully, of course, the wolves. There was one guy there who’d been waiting since around 8 a.m. and hadn’t seen them at all. We set up our scope and decided we’d stay until 8 pm (this was around 12:30) and not leave until then unless we saw them. We spent some nice time talking to this older man, whose wife and grandchildren were hanging out in their RV. Occasionally they’d come out but mainly it was him. Other people would come and go too. Around 2 a storm rolled in and we decided to drive down to Lake.
That took about 45 min. and when we got back just after 3 we had just missed the alpha female come up along the woods from the rendezvous site and enter the woods in a sandy spot. Darn!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was not happy.
We stayed looking again for a while and made a quick bathroom run around 4:30. More and more people were showing up now, some who had seen the wolves early that a.m. or in previous days and some who had just heard (like us) that this was “the place to go”. I absolutely love talking to people while wildlife watching. Sometime it’s the avid wolf-watchers who are there many days of the year and sometimes it is people who are on their first trip to YNP or Glacier and have never seen a bear or wolf. I had a great time talking with so many of them. You really start to get to know people sometimes and then it’s weird…you want to stay in touch with some of them but feel weird saying “can I have your email?”, etc. I’m going to make cards with just my name and email address to use. One woman I talked to a lot lives in Flagstaff and loves Canyon de Chelly like I do and spends a lot of time there and at Navajo Nat’l Monument. I really loved talking to someone who “gets” my passion for that area! We ended up taking her tent and money to get her our site at Slough Creek the next day when we left as she was staying way outside West Yellowstone and had no hope of arriving early enough. Her daughter is a year younger than Rosie. I hope to stay in touch with her. Then there were the two sisters from Germany that I wanted to go have cocktails with…they were hilarious…they turned up repeatedly over the course of 4 hours. There were two really nice guys who had seen the wolves early that morning and who had just come from Many Glacier and didn’t see a single Grizzly! Another guy from CA Rosie and I decided is either an athlete or actor…he had that aura and look. He had seen them the day before and had come back. It was around 7:20 and I was talking to people after we had been watching baby chipmunks. Ok, there are cute baby animals, but have you ever seen baby chipmunks? Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are absolutely adorable. And I forgot to take a picture!
Anyway, the actor/athlete guys was near me and suddenly said, with his binocs up, “I think…” and I said “do you have her?????!?!?!?!” and got mine over there and YESSSSS – finally! It was the alpha female and her black pup! They were over to the left of the rendezvous site and there was a small ridge there, they’d probably been behind it . How the female got back there without anyone seeing I have no idea, there must be a back way. We only had about a half hour to watch so I made sure Rosie got good scope time. She watched some great interaction with the pup licking his mom’s mouth repeatedly (hoping for regurgitation) and the mom didn’t regurgitate and was sort of biting back. The german sisters had come back from their RV and got to see them as well as some kids who had never seen a wolf. It was great, so much fun! We don’t know where the other 3 adults from the Canyon Pack were. Eventually the female (she doesn’t have a radio collar so no number) seemed to tell the pup to stay put and she started heading off to the left (west). She’d turn back, look back, head west, and turn back again. Eventually we lost her and some of us headed to a hill behind us to take a look. I was on the phone with my friend Bill and made Rosie carry the scope, not knowing how steep it was. We couldn’t see a thing up there so went down and she was NOT happy with me and thought I did it on purpose . The next pullout wasn’t any more successful. One guy and I walked out a ways to peek down at the river channel to get a better view but she was just nowhere to be found. More lightning and thunder were moving in. We finally gave up and headed back over the mountain at dusk. It was very pretty, the sunset and haze turning the sky pinkish and the mountains light blue.
You can see so many layers of mountains from up there. The few times I pulled my eyes away from the road to look, that is.
We stopped at Roosevelt to brush our teeth and wash our faces with warm water and first heard, then saw – two owls calling to each other. We’re pretty sure they were long-eared owls (like I often use for education at the Wildlife Science Center). That was a great way to end the evening. We listened for a while, watching them silohuetted against the sky. They finally flew away and we headed back to our campsite in the dark. No wolf or bear sightings on the way, unfortunately.
Then it got better…they all were excited, playful – it was a pre-hunt rally. Then they took off across the bench and up a drainage. Suddenly someone spotted an elk and calf up the drainage. The wolves moved up; the cow and calf saw or smelled them and froze. The wolves split up…two went up and above, one off to the right on a rock and got down on her belly, and a black stayed below her. The elk were still frozen but suddenly they took off and the chase was on. They separated the calf from the cow and chased it down behind a rock where we could not follow. We watched for a long time but they never reappeared. The cow emerged from the woods but very high, looking down behind the knoll. She stood there for a very long time and one of our new friends said he’s seen them stand there for two days. Two days! It was very hard to watch, but on the other hand, the wolves need to eat. It’s the circle of life.
We all moved down into Little America to find a different vantage point. We saw them far off near what must have been the actual kill site. Two more wolves had joined them so we think we saw the entire Cottonwood Pack there. They were pretty visible for a good 45 min. or more. We let a lot of people look through our scope. That is one of my favorite things in life…helping people get their first look at a wild predator. The excitement is so wonderful, whether it’s a child or an adult! I've seen adults on the verge of tears after seeing their first wolf or grizzly - what a privilege to be a part of that.
We decided to go back to camp and make bacon and pancakes for breakfast, it was such a beautiful morning and the wolves had gone out of sight. Along the road to the campground, Rosie saw a small black bear just going over a rise. As we drove into the campground we saw our neighbors from the campsite across from us headed towards us in their car,but they turned around and backed up and followed us to our site. They got out and we soon saw why they’d returned…a black bear was in OUR site (29 for those of you who camp at Slough Creek)!
Needless to say, I was NOT going to cook bacon! I had parked on the road across from our site and got out, Rosie watched from the sun-roof. The bear was tearing into something in the sagebrush between our site and the next one. I went down to let the campground host know, because this bear has been coming through daily and they are trying to teach him not to come in the campground. The host (who had been watching wolves with us earlier) came down and parked in my site and followed the bear on foot as it meandered past our site and into the meadow that is in the center of the campground.
The campground host was waiting for the ranger to arrive. The wasn’t doing anything wrong other than being there… a bear should not be comfortable being that close to people. But she wasn’t approaching tents or trying to get people food. The ranger arrived when the bear had reached the far end of the campground. We saw her run and knew they’d used the paint ball gun (we remained at our site watching from the top of the picnic table for a better view).
But she didn’t run far and didn’t leave. Then the gun and cracker shells came out. We saw her run off and then heard 4 more shots. Despite the ranger telling people at that end of the campground to leave the area, they had not.
I boiled water for coffee and boiled eggs, I figured that was safe. We chatted with the “neighbor guys” who we’d talked to before (the ones who thought we were throwing away our tent) and I decided to go investigate what she’d been eating. I made my way through the thick sage and there was a HUGE ant hill that she had pulled up sage roots to get to.
Anyway…we had a great, fun conversation with Ranger John (Murray) and then he was getting in his car to drive away and I was going to mine to move it back to our site parking spot. I saw something brown in between the hood and the bug guard where there’s a small channel. Dragonfly? Bird? BAT!?! The other campers were walking up saying “is that a bat?” I yelled to Rosie and she called (I kid you not, she really said this) “Ranger dude! My mom’s got a bat stuck in her car” and he apparently said “This place is exciting today!” as he went to get gloves. Just as he was doing that it finally worked it’s way out the other side. It flew around the campsite opposite us for several minutes. It was very strange and he was obviously very confused…something was not right, he shouldn’t have been out that time of day to begin with. Rabies maybe?
Bat and bear drama over, Ranger John finally got into his car to leave and we finished our brunch and coffee/hot chocolate and got ready to head over the mountains. I psyched myself up for the scary (for me) drive over Dunraven Pass to get to the Canyon area and the Hayden Valley. That is a road that goes very high and you have times you drive along the edge for a while…I don’t like it! But I went slowly and did it. We stopped for gas at the gas station at Canyon and Rosie got ice cream (huckleberry!) and we were helped by the friendliest gas station attendant ever. She obviously is happy to be working in Yellowstone!
Then we headed into Hayden Valley trying to find “grizzly overlook”.
Canyon Pack rendezvous site - center of picture in the distance, below the mountains.
Anyway, the actor/athlete guys was near me and suddenly said, with his binocs up, “I think…” and I said “do you have her?????!?!?!?!” and got mine over there and YESSSSS – finally! It was the alpha female and her black pup! They were over to the left of the rendezvous site and there was a small ridge there, they’d probably been behind it . How the female got back there without anyone seeing I have no idea, there must be a back way. We only had about a half hour to watch so I made sure Rosie got good scope time. She watched some great interaction with the pup licking his mom’s mouth repeatedly (hoping for regurgitation) and the mom didn’t regurgitate and was sort of biting back. The german sisters had come back from their RV and got to see them as well as some kids who had never seen a wolf. It was great, so much fun! We don’t know where the other 3 adults from the Canyon Pack were. Eventually the female (she doesn’t have a radio collar so no number) seemed to tell the pup to stay put and she started heading off to the left (west). She’d turn back, look back, head west, and turn back again. Eventually we lost her and some of us headed to a hill behind us to take a look. I was on the phone with my friend Bill and made Rosie carry the scope, not knowing how steep it was. We couldn’t see a thing up there so went down and she was NOT happy with me and thought I did it on purpose . The next pullout wasn’t any more successful. One guy and I walked out a ways to peek down at the river channel to get a better view but she was just nowhere to be found. More lightning and thunder were moving in. We finally gave up and headed back over the mountain at dusk. It was very pretty, the sunset and haze turning the sky pinkish and the mountains light blue.
We stopped at Roosevelt to brush our teeth and wash our faces with warm water and first heard, then saw – two owls calling to each other. We’re pretty sure they were long-eared owls (like I often use for education at the Wildlife Science Center). That was a great way to end the evening. We listened for a while, watching them silohuetted against the sky. They finally flew away and we headed back to our campsite in the dark. No wolf or bear sightings on the way, unfortunately.
Sunday, August 2 - Otter-Watching and Horseback Ride in Yellowstone
Yellowstone mornings always begin early, and this was no exception. Even in July, it is always quite cool or downright cold at 5 a.m. - even in a cabin. We dressed in our warm clothes, winter jackets and hats and headed for the Lamar Valley. I had been here earlier in July but for Rosie it had been almost a year. We all love this valley. On our way, we saw Rick McIntyre stopped at a pullout near the Slough Creek road, but he didn't seem to be actually watching anything so we went on to the valley anyway. The morning light hitting this valley is so beautiful...the water in the Lamar River glistens and the yellow grasses seem to positively glow at times. I love to spend my mornings here.
We didn't see any wildlife so we went back through Lamar Canyon and noticed cars parked near the end of the Slough Creek Road. We were lucky to get a parking spot (they later made people parked along the road move). We got there just in time for me to see a few wolves that we were told were the Cottonwood Park, a new pack this year whose Alpha Female is a former Slough Creek wolf who was born a Druid - her parents are the infamous 21M and 42F. They went in and out of sight at one point I was the first to see them reappear again uphill and pointed them out to Rick McIntyre. Hearing "Good spotting!" from him is high praise, I was quite happy! Poor Rosie never saw them despite some new friends, Jeff from Alberta and a guy that we thought was named Joe (but we later heard him called Doug we think so we're confused) who manages an inn in Silver Gate, letting her use their scopes which are better than ours.
The wolves were gone so we went to the campground to see if any sites were available and we were very lucky to get one. Then we immediately went out to Lamar again. We were driving just before the confluence, where the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek join, when I saw something in the river...it was a family of river otters!
They are in the park but we have never been lucky enough to see them. They were so cute...there is just no other word. They would swim, then float back downriver, then swim again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsPwvP0-3AI
We were the first to see them but soon there was an otter jam...our first.
Then at one point the otters came out of the water on the road side of the river and looked as if they might want to come up and cross.
I tried to get people to stay back and give them some space (you've heard this before) and of course only a few people listened. I now suspect they had been fed by people and that's why they came out and were looking at us..they were looking for food. The people talking are not us, except at the end where Rosie (who is taping) makes a comment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vagabondmom1#p/a/u/1/igfHWjaHOtA
These aren't the greatest videos...we're new to video camera use. But they are better than nothing!
After that we went back to camp to cook brunch but somehow it took way longer than we thought and we had to rush to get to Rosie's horseback ride. I had promised her a ride in Yellowstone and the longest ride available at Roosevelt Corrals (or Canyon) is 2 hours. By the time I looked into it they only had one spot open that day so I said she could go alone...not a problem for her, she's a very independent girl (she just might take after me, do you think?).
Rosie was given a horse named "Spud"...at least it wasn't the one named "Ug". They left and I spent time reading my book in the shade and watching the other horses play. I give Roosevelt Corral a lot of credit...I have never seen riding stable horses have such great accommodations and be so happy. These horses were not tied in the hot sun, they were loose in a large paddock that was surrounded by many trees. Some of them were chasing each other around and being very playful...that was great to see.
Ouch!
Bison Crossing the Lamar River
The rest of the day was spent wildlife-watcing.
We didn't see any wildlife so we went back through Lamar Canyon and noticed cars parked near the end of the Slough Creek Road. We were lucky to get a parking spot (they later made people parked along the road move). We got there just in time for me to see a few wolves that we were told were the Cottonwood Park, a new pack this year whose Alpha Female is a former Slough Creek wolf who was born a Druid - her parents are the infamous 21M and 42F. They went in and out of sight at one point I was the first to see them reappear again uphill and pointed them out to Rick McIntyre. Hearing "Good spotting!" from him is high praise, I was quite happy! Poor Rosie never saw them despite some new friends, Jeff from Alberta and a guy that we thought was named Joe (but we later heard him called Doug we think so we're confused) who manages an inn in Silver Gate, letting her use their scopes which are better than ours.
The wolves were gone so we went to the campground to see if any sites were available and we were very lucky to get one. Then we immediately went out to Lamar again. We were driving just before the confluence, where the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek join, when I saw something in the river...it was a family of river otters!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsPwvP0-3AI
We were the first to see them but soon there was an otter jam...our first.
Then at one point the otters came out of the water on the road side of the river and looked as if they might want to come up and cross.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vagabondmom1#p/a/u/1/igfHWjaHOtA
These aren't the greatest videos...we're new to video camera use. But they are better than nothing!
After that we went back to camp to cook brunch but somehow it took way longer than we thought and we had to rush to get to Rosie's horseback ride. I had promised her a ride in Yellowstone and the longest ride available at Roosevelt Corrals (or Canyon) is 2 hours. By the time I looked into it they only had one spot open that day so I said she could go alone...not a problem for her, she's a very independent girl (she just might take after me, do you think?).
The rest of the day was spent wildlife-watcing.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 1 - Garnet Ghost Town and Back to Yellowstone
We slept in today and it felt great! I had been awakened at 1:40 a.m. by someone pounding on the outside stairway door of the hotel, and yelling. I called the front desk and the clerk seemed to wonder what I expected her to do about it. I pointed out it was a security issue. I was not happy, I’d been sleeping really soundly. I woke up at 7:30, showered, and got all the dry camping gear packed up before waking Rosie. We were in the car at 9 (quick hotel breakfast eavesdropping on german-speaking Harley riders. Is it eavesdropping if you can’t understand what they are saying? I wonder…).
We planned to drive another “ new road”. By now you know I love new roads (meaning roads I've never driven before, so new to me), especially those in Montana and Wyoming. We took Hwy. 183, which goes down the western side of the rocky mountain front and eventually between the Mission Mountains and the front.
It’s a lot like northern Minnesota, a long, ribbon of a highway with tall pine trees on both sides of the road.
The only difference, of course, is the glimpse of mountains on both sides. I’m not as “keen” on the mountains over on the west side of the rocky mountain front.
It’s just a little too green…I love the rocky, exposed eastern front mountains. But it’s still very pretty.
Rosie was writing a story so we spent some of the time thinking of names for characters. There are some beautiful, small campgrounds along the road and south of the town of Seeley Lake there is a beautiful lake called Salmon Lake, with a state park, a lodge (resort) on an island, and a campground. Very pretty!
We had decided (let me rephrase that…I had decided) to visit Garnet Ghost Town, an old, abandoned mining town between Hwy 200 and Missoula. Due to all of the ghost stories Scot had been reading, Rosie was not at all interested in visiting anything with the word "ghost" in it. On the map I looked at (admittedly not good for topo things) the route looked pretty level and normal, just a gravel road. After we turned off and started going steeply up a gravel road I realized I was VERY mistaken…this was in the heart of the Garnet range of mountains, I discovered.
Flat it is one thing this road is NOT. That will teach me to use the appropriate maps! After a very long 11 miles on washboarded roads and a coyote sighting we reached the town. We had also stopped at an old cemetery where 5 miners are buried.
It’s a high, lonesome place and I wished we had brought flowers. The setting and stark appearance of the graveyard and headstones made me imagine the lives of the men buried there.
I was surprised to discover that one of the graves did have flowers…artificial ones, but they had been placed there within a year, I’m sure. A relative? Maybe...I like the thought of at least one of them not being forgotten.,
We reached Garnet Ghost Town, which is high in the mountains in the middle of a heavily logged area. There are still there a lot of trees around. Rosie had been very apprehensive, expecting that we would be the only people there and she was "freaked out" by that thought. She was happy to discover a ranger and a dozen other visitors.
Part of the town had burned at one point but many original buildings remain. It’s interesting to see the original wallpaper, very faded and often in shreds, but still on the walls.
We liked the hotel and the store. I take that back…one other eerie part was in the back of the store in a half underground room where it looked like logs had been let down into from above and it was dark, lit by lanterns. I got a very creepy feeling in there...like I should get out and I wasn't wanted.
Then the REAL fun began. We wanted to get to I-90 without backtracking on what I thought was a slow, bad road. There were two options, First Gulch Road and Cave Gulch Road. Cave Gulch says “one lane road with few pullouts” and looks like a bulldozed track, not a road. First Gulch Road says “Trailers and RV’s not recommended”. Hmmmmm….I didn’t like the sound of EITHER. We talked to the ranger and he said to take Cave Gulch, “that’s the way we send RV’s”. I asked about the one-lane problem and what we do if we meet another car. “You won’t.” he replied. “Well, what if I do???” “One of you has to back up to a pullout”. This doesn’t sound good, but I was in a hurry. We start down Cave Gulch Road and I am immediately regretting it. I forget to breathe. It’s steep, it’s barely wide enough for one car, and the pullouts are indeed few and far between. I finally realize I am not breathing and gulp some air and slow down even more. How long will it take me to go 11 miles at 5 miles an hour? Is there a lower gear than 1st gear? No? S!$%! I say a quick prayer and tell myself “You can do this!” and think about other fears I have recently conquered and decide I am fine, I will get us down. I even at times enjoyed the view of blue, hazy mountains in the distance. At one corner of a switchback (remember, it was not a road….it was more of a track in the woods) we came to a spot where there is one road going to the left and slightly up. The other goes right. There is a sign in the middle (that I should have taken a picture of) with an arrow pointing straight. But, you cannot tell which road it refers to. I know that is hard to picture but trust me, the sign makes no sense. I decided they couldn’t possibly expect me to go UP again, so we continued down. It was the right road, thank goodness! At one corner of a switchback, I made Rosie go get me a rock. She gave me a look as if to say, “Are you KIDDING ME!?!? We are driving this road and you want a ROCK??????”. But she did it, she found me a flat one for my rock cairn. We were joking around at that point and it still wasn’t easy but it was better knowing I was almost down. I may never have been so glad to see the end of a road, ever. EVER.
Rosie was quite glad that due to our long journey to Garnet Ghost Town (I thought it would be 45 min. extra…it was over 3 hours) I had to give up my plan to visit the old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge that was in Scot’s ghost story book. I was going to have her sit at the restaurant across the street and wait since since she was far too scared to go with me. Next trip…
We arrived in Bozeman at 5:15 and headed straight to the world’s greatest Laundromat, yes, Duds and Suds AGAIN. We did our grocery shopping while the clothes dried and were back on the road by 7. We picked up Arby’s for dinner, our new timeframe did not allow time for a picnic. It was only our 2nd fast food stop of the trip…not bad!
We got to our cabin at Roosevelt at a little before 10 pm. The only wildlife we saw on the way in was about 5 or 6 elk a mile or so outside of Mammoth. I do not “count” the elk at Mammoth as wildlife sightings (just like I don’t “count” the goats that are right by the visitor center at Logan Pass in Glacier) so I have to decide if elk a mile away “count”. Still pondering that.
We had a nice little Roosevelt cabin again that I reserved 2 days ago when I called on a whim once we finally knew when we were leaving Glacier. I was shocked to find a room available. Thank you, whoever cancelled! Tomorrow a.m. we will be up by 5:30 and out the door to the Lamar Valley and then to get a campsite at Slough Creek. We are hoping for spectacular wildlife watching!
We planned to drive another “ new road”. By now you know I love new roads (meaning roads I've never driven before, so new to me), especially those in Montana and Wyoming. We took Hwy. 183, which goes down the western side of the rocky mountain front and eventually between the Mission Mountains and the front.
Llamas at the gas station-probably pack animals headed to or from the Bob Marshall Wilderness
It’s a lot like northern Minnesota, a long, ribbon of a highway with tall pine trees on both sides of the road.
Mission Mountains
Sign at Summit Lake. I guess we shouldn't take loons in Minnesota for granted.
Rosie was writing a story so we spent some of the time thinking of names for characters. There are some beautiful, small campgrounds along the road and south of the town of Seeley Lake there is a beautiful lake called Salmon Lake, with a state park, a lodge (resort) on an island, and a campground. Very pretty!
We had decided (let me rephrase that…I had decided) to visit Garnet Ghost Town, an old, abandoned mining town between Hwy 200 and Missoula. Due to all of the ghost stories Scot had been reading, Rosie was not at all interested in visiting anything with the word "ghost" in it. On the map I looked at (admittedly not good for topo things) the route looked pretty level and normal, just a gravel road. After we turned off and started going steeply up a gravel road I realized I was VERY mistaken…this was in the heart of the Garnet range of mountains, I discovered.
View from the road to Garnet Ghost Town
It’s a high, lonesome place and I wished we had brought flowers. The setting and stark appearance of the graveyard and headstones made me imagine the lives of the men buried there.
We reached Garnet Ghost Town, which is high in the mountains in the middle of a heavily logged area. There are still there a lot of trees around. Rosie had been very apprehensive, expecting that we would be the only people there and she was "freaked out" by that thought. She was happy to discover a ranger and a dozen other visitors.
Part of the town had burned at one point but many original buildings remain. It’s interesting to see the original wallpaper, very faded and often in shreds, but still on the walls.
Saloon
Woodwork On the Bar In the Saloon
Broken dish piece
We have no idea what this was!
Two-door outhouse
The only “eerie” part was that in a mirror in a hotel bedroom someone had written “get out” in the dust. Probably a tourist. But who knows?
This was part of a "What Am I?" table but we have forgotten what it was!
Hotel
Store
We liked the hotel and the store. I take that back…one other eerie part was in the back of the store in a half underground room where it looked like logs had been let down into from above and it was dark, lit by lanterns. I got a very creepy feeling in there...like I should get out and I wasn't wanted.
Then the REAL fun began. We wanted to get to I-90 without backtracking on what I thought was a slow, bad road. There were two options, First Gulch Road and Cave Gulch Road. Cave Gulch says “one lane road with few pullouts” and looks like a bulldozed track, not a road. First Gulch Road says “Trailers and RV’s not recommended”. Hmmmmm….I didn’t like the sound of EITHER. We talked to the ranger and he said to take Cave Gulch, “that’s the way we send RV’s”. I asked about the one-lane problem and what we do if we meet another car. “You won’t.” he replied. “Well, what if I do???” “One of you has to back up to a pullout”. This doesn’t sound good, but I was in a hurry. We start down Cave Gulch Road and I am immediately regretting it. I forget to breathe. It’s steep, it’s barely wide enough for one car, and the pullouts are indeed few and far between. I finally realize I am not breathing and gulp some air and slow down even more. How long will it take me to go 11 miles at 5 miles an hour? Is there a lower gear than 1st gear? No? S!$%! I say a quick prayer and tell myself “You can do this!” and think about other fears I have recently conquered and decide I am fine, I will get us down. I even at times enjoyed the view of blue, hazy mountains in the distance. At one corner of a switchback (remember, it was not a road….it was more of a track in the woods) we came to a spot where there is one road going to the left and slightly up. The other goes right. There is a sign in the middle (that I should have taken a picture of) with an arrow pointing straight. But, you cannot tell which road it refers to. I know that is hard to picture but trust me, the sign makes no sense. I decided they couldn’t possibly expect me to go UP again, so we continued down. It was the right road, thank goodness! At one corner of a switchback, I made Rosie go get me a rock. She gave me a look as if to say, “Are you KIDDING ME!?!? We are driving this road and you want a ROCK??????”. But she did it, she found me a flat one for my rock cairn. We were joking around at that point and it still wasn’t easy but it was better knowing I was almost down. I may never have been so glad to see the end of a road, ever. EVER.
Rosie was quite glad that due to our long journey to Garnet Ghost Town (I thought it would be 45 min. extra…it was over 3 hours) I had to give up my plan to visit the old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge that was in Scot’s ghost story book. I was going to have her sit at the restaurant across the street and wait since since she was far too scared to go with me. Next trip…
We arrived in Bozeman at 5:15 and headed straight to the world’s greatest Laundromat, yes, Duds and Suds AGAIN. We did our grocery shopping while the clothes dried and were back on the road by 7. We picked up Arby’s for dinner, our new timeframe did not allow time for a picnic. It was only our 2nd fast food stop of the trip…not bad!
We got to our cabin at Roosevelt at a little before 10 pm. The only wildlife we saw on the way in was about 5 or 6 elk a mile or so outside of Mammoth. I do not “count” the elk at Mammoth as wildlife sightings (just like I don’t “count” the goats that are right by the visitor center at Logan Pass in Glacier) so I have to decide if elk a mile away “count”. Still pondering that.
We had a nice little Roosevelt cabin again that I reserved 2 days ago when I called on a whim once we finally knew when we were leaving Glacier. I was shocked to find a room available. Thank you, whoever cancelled! Tomorrow a.m. we will be up by 5:30 and out the door to the Lamar Valley and then to get a campsite at Slough Creek. We are hoping for spectacular wildlife watching!
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About Me
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- Vagabond Mom
- Minnesota
- Adventures on the road with (and sometimes without) my kids. Check back soon for the infamous Summer of 2008 trip (aka: how many flat tires can one mom have in a single trip?) and more! This blog goes in reverse...older trips being added weekly. Please sign up for the RSS feed so you will know when there are updates. Or, email me to be put on an update list!