Friday, January 1 - New Year's Day in Yellowstone!

5 a.m. on New Year’s Day comes VERY early…especially when you didn’t get to sleep until after 1 a.m. and are awake at 4:15 a.m.. I had left lots of last minute things to do this morning but we were on the road to the airport only 5 minutes late, which wasn't too bad. The check-in kiosk was almost deserted…more employees than passengers. I was happy that my two bags were FREE…sometimes the small things can make you happy.


I breezed through security, which was also deserted, and went to Chili’s for breakfast and a bloody mary. I got carded….I was quite happy to present my driver’s license. At least she didn’t call me “honey” (see my trip reports from early July).

My flight was about 1/5th empty so I had a row to myself. I tried to sleep but kept waking up because of turbulence…I hate flying to begin with, turbulence makes it much, much worse. We finally got below the clouds and I saw mountains…I got very choked up with tears of happiness. I know that sounds sappy and corny but it’s true…to me, Montana and Wyoming mountains feel like “home” and something in my soul just isn’t complete unless I am within sight of them. We went West and then turned and came back so I was on the south side of the plane and could see the Tobacco Root range and then the range that contains Hyalite Peak…a mountain I couldn’t climb last summer due to snow, but I want very badly to climb. It’s south of Bozeman but from the summit you can see into Yellowstone, and it is part of a proposed wilderness corridor that will include parts of the Gallatin National Forest adjacent to Yellowstone.

We landed and I got my rental car before our bags were even in…and it literally took 2 minutes. Gotta love these small Montana airports…they are beautiful and things are very efficient!

After taking approximately 9 minutes to figure out how to adjust the driver’s seat, I called my friend Rebecca and went to meet her for coffee at my favorite coffee place, Rockford Coffee.

But upon arrival, I discovered it was closed…how disappointing! So we went to Perkins instead and had a very nice lunch.

The it was off to Wholesale Sports to buy bear spray (for cougars) and stove fuel and a quick stop at Target.

The east side of Bozeman Pass was incredibly windy….I missed driving my Suburban, it’s much more stable, I felt like my Hyundai Santa Fe was going to get blown off the road.

I stopped at one of my favorite Montana grocery stores, Albertson's in Livingston, for groceries. I had forgotten my Clif Bloks/Shots in Bozeman and they didn’t have them. In the checkout line the man behind me proceeded to unload much of my cart after saying “Happy New Year” and asking how I was. Montanans are so nice!

I stopped for a few pictures driving south through the Paradise Valley. I was struck by how brown everything is…there is just no snow on a lot of the ground. The mountains have some but not nearly what I would expect this time of year. They better get more quickly or it is going to be a busy fire season next year.

Emigrant Peak

Middle of the Paradise Valley between Livingston and Yellowstone

Electric Peak

It was snowing as I drove South

I had planned to stop at the Yellowstone Assn. store but due to the time I just drove on past Gardiner and Mammoth…I wanted to reach Lamar by dark. About 5 miles outside of Mammoth there were two beautiful bull elk near the road…it was interesting to see them with their beautiful winter coats.

Then I saw a coyote in the road in front of me, and stopped to watch him. He crossed, went across a frozen pond and started hunting. He would listen intently and then boing boing POUNCE! He kept coming up with an empty mouth though, and would shove his nose back into the snow as if searching for the mouse he thought he should have had. The snow was deeper here, as I would see it later in Cooke City, but the Lamar area had less.

A mile or so before Hellroaring I saw Rick McIntyre’s truck and pulled off…there were about 6 vehicles. Rick and another “wolf watcher” that I recognize but don’t know (note: would later find out her name is Lynnette, and we had watched wolves the Druid den together last summer), had scopes on a lone wolf far off to the north…they think it was 480M, the probably former Druid Alpha Male who is still suffering from severe mange. These wolves with mange seem to sleep standing up at times but this one had finally, it seemed, found a warmer spot to actually lay on the ground for a while. What a horrible ailment.

I was told the other Druids had been in Little America so decided to make my way there, as I didn’t hav e my own scope (drat!) but the roads were so awful I had to go very, very slowly. I saw several more herds of elk and never did see the Druids, but it was getting pretty dark by the time I went through Little America. It was dark when I reached the Buffalo Ranch. I only passed two vehicles after that, but did have one buffalo Jam on the road. It was much quieter than during the rut. I had the windows open and the heat on, just in case I could hear wolves howling.

The Lamar Valley and the road towards Cooke City are all yours at night in the winter…there’s just no traffic. If you stop and turn off the car you hear water, wind and that’s about it.

I reached the Super 8 and couldn’t find a place to park. They directed me to one spot and then told me to go across the street. I did that but almost got stuck and may not get out tomorrow. I definitely won’t be using any non-plowed pullouts with THIS vehicle. I had a burger over at the “Soda Butte” and then went back to get the rest of my things. I somehow knocked a stray usb cable down between the back seat and the floor of the back of the car. When I reached down to get the cable my hand got wedged…I could….not….get …..it….out. I actually got scared and thought I’d have to start screaming for help but finally I got it free.

Hoping to be up at 5:30 tomorrow to be in Lamar around dawn…I’m exhausted, so we’ll see….

© 2010 Tara Morrison