A Beautiful Drive

This trip took us into the park to go snowshoeing, quite a ways out. The drive with some snow still on the roads takes about 1.5 hours if you don't encounter a bison jam.

We started this trip at our own Palmer's Pond. Bob has been itching to walk on the water as the bison and elk have been doing. So here is his one attempt. As he turned to walk out further, the ice made some interesting cracking noises so he retreated quickly. Check another feat off the list!






The only road open during the winter connects Gardiner to Cooke City, MT. We've made part of this drive 5 times now and can't get over the beauty and difference from summertime. One immediate difference is you can spot animals in the snow much easier. You can also find footprints of species we know are around but are rarely seen. For instance, we've seen fox tracks around our cabins but a sighting is very rare.



We've also had a group trying to track and spot cougar. They see the tracks in the range beside us, but none have shown themselves so far.









All this being said, most of these pictures are just of the landscape as we drive by. We occasionally pull over and Bob hops out to take what you are looking at now. I wish I could put them all in, but even I might fall asleep after a while!

We've reached Lamar Valley. Home of where we have spotted the most wolves during our stays.




Here are bison ranging up the hill. There are smalls herds everywhere in the hills and valleys and quite often in the road.









Bob spotted these Big Horn Sheep on one of the crests. We've never seen then out here before.

This is the Lamar River. It was totally snowed over only a week before. The snow melt is bringing shelves of snow into the water and expanding the width daily.








 Another shot of the river.

Here is the entrance to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch, where the bison got their start when reintroduced to the park.









I can't let this go without a comparison picture of the river and valley taken from the Ranch looking across the road. (August)









This looks like something out of a movie. You can see the ice and snow on the road even after it has been plowed. Places are starting to melt and turn to water and dry up with this trip out.









A last shot (for now!) of the valley.

Mammoth - The Terraces

Our friend Paul drove from Helena MT to visit with us for 2 days. He chose 2 perfect days for getting into the park to see it still in snow.

The first afternoon, Paul and Bob drove in to see the park. I decided to stay behind and catch up on computer work when they left. (Yes, hours in the truck gazing out the windows does get tiring!)




They happened upon a group with scopes looking on both sides of the road. I have circled a wolf they saw up on the ridge on one side, howling.

And there were two more wolves on the other side of the street casing out a herd of bison. They are also circled. After reading this narrative, click on the top picture and you will see each picture full screen. Instead of pin size, they will be a little bigger. I've cropped both pictures to bring the wolves into better focus. They weren't told which pack these are from.

The next day, we 3 drove to Mammoth to walk the Terraces steps. I haven't counted them but they are many. It's a good work out. The Terraces are the hot springs, like if you fall in you will die, hot. Truly! A 20 something man walked up to a hot springs off the boardwalk (illegally) closer to Old Faithful area last year and he not only couldn't be rescued, there was no trace of his body due to the high acidic liquid. His sister and others watched him fall in. Sad, not recommended!

Here are the two friends since age 5. 











Most of the steps were shoveled half way but there were stretches where we were walking on a 6" snow pack.

These are called the Terraces due to the descending levels of limestone. The 'smoke' that shows up is the steam from the burning liquid coming from the springs.









It's hard to reconcile the foot of snow next to a burning river of water.










The water flow moves a few inches each year as the ground shifts so trees that started to grow are burned from the roots but frozen in place.

Terrace Mountain at Mammoth Hot Springs is the largest known carbonate-depositing spring in the world. (Taken from Wikipedia)






This is the view from the top. Bob is taking the picture while Paul and I start back down.

The mountains in the far background are where our cabins are located. It's about 10 miles away.

The small group of buildings in the middle is part of Mammoth.




The sky is falling...wait...the ground is shifting...well at least the tree is stable. (Kidding!)









Bob took some beautiful pictures of the water flowing over all the different algae that grow.

"Algae living in the warm pools have tinted the travertine shades of brown, orange, red, and green." (Taken from Wikipedia)

This is looking straight down into the water. You can see the 'canals' that have formed over time. We've never seen this much water flowing and felt it also contains snow melt.

Hot vs. cold. I wish everyone could have the experience of seeing Yellowstone and the different features!

Slough Creek / Snowshoeing

This just has to be a contrast post. We've been to Slough Creek many times in our prior 5 years, to hike it, and especially for Bob to fish there. Here are some pictures from the past...













This is one of the many fishing trips we've made to Slough.











Looks peaceful and quiet right? Now on to the winter scene...









Here is a sample of about 1/3 of the road to get to Slough.








Before we left our cabin we checked the weather. It showed a high of 42 degrees and cloudy with a 50% chance of snow around 3:00pm. We had been told it is colder and snows more out in this easterly direction. We fixed sandwiches and headed out around 11:00am and got there around 12:00. The road is closed into Slough Creek for the winter but we could see where others had created a path where the road should be. We were out on the road leading to the corrals, camp ground and Creek by 12:15. Here I am showing off my snowshoes.


This is the view to our left or to the west as we head north.










In the summer the bison frequent this area and fisher-persons have to be careful around them as the bison are heading into the rut season. This lone bull slowly made his way thru 1'+ of snow to go up and over a hill to our right (or east). He knew something we didn't, that the weather was changing and coming from the west quickly.





And this is looking north. Some people had driven snow mobiles on the road and it looked deceptively easy to walk on. I found myself sinking 6" in soft snow several times, even with the snowshoes on. It's an easy task to turn your ankle in these conditions.






We walked 3/4 of a mile out, it was slow with soft snow testing the snow shoes along the way. We also had to watch for the bison. He made his way up and over the hill and disappeared. We walked until we were both starting to feel tired and turned around. The 3/4 of a mile took about 1 hour to accomplish.






In the west the dark clouds started coming in earlier than predicted which gave us another reason to turn back. We made it back a little faster but barely. Snowshoe walking is slow and arduous when the snow still gives out and lets you drop in a hole now and then.

Here you can see how dark it is getting to the west. It made me think of a quick thunderstorm coming up in Florida on a warm afternoon...but this wasn't warm, ha!








By now we're sure we will get caught in this snow shower, with it dark all around us we picked up the pace as much as possible.

Going out and playing in the snow is one thing, getting caught in a white out still 1/2 mile away from our truck is called motivation!





Scary and beautiful. This is not a black and white picture setting!

We made it back to the truck as it started to snow. Getting back on the road was easy enough but the nicely plowed road was now turning white. About half way back the snow flakes grew in size to beautiful, white, fluffy, windshield and road sticking flakes and we found ourselves in near white-out conditions for 25-30 minutes.




With a large 4-wheel drive truck and an awesome driver (Bob, not me, I'm too impatient!) we made it back to Gardiner just as the snow maker was passing on.

As an added bonus, we spotted this coyote carefully making his was across the snow. He was headed to the hill crest and tree line shown in the background. Even as light as he is, he continued to fall through the packed snow also.

Another fun, tiring day and mini but tough hike!

Snow Shoeing / Wraith Falls

Oh yes, we had to try it! We are Georgia-Florida raised and lived, both since the age of 5, so we are Southerners. This is probably the biggest snow adventure we will have. Cody (our grandson age boss from last season) gave us snowshoes to use for March. And he told us where to go to have fun with them in the park.

In my imagination, the picture to the left is what I pictured they would look like.






Was I surprised to see the hard plastic shoes they use now with the stretchy straps to keep them on your shoes. Very comfortable and easy on and off.

First adventure was to Wraith Falls. It's a .5 mile hike to (what else?) a waterfall. We got to the pull out parking area and thought we'd be able to walk it with the "bear trax" on our shoes (spikes and chains). There was another lady there and 2 guys from Germany, we all pulled in together.






We had to wait a few minutes before starting due to bison running down the hill. (Is that normal? Not really). Once the danger was past, I began walking up the hill. After walking on top of the snow about 10 yards, I went right through the crust up to my thighs. The only way I could get out was to roll onto my back and roll down onto a more packed area to stand back up. Soo, Bob and I went back to the truck and pulled out the snowshoes. A 2nd start up the hill was more successful.


The other 3 had plowed their way along ahead of us but we were able to stay on top of the snow with the shoes.We made it another 500 yards or so and Bob made a comment I couldn't hear. So I went to turn around, and stepped on the planted snowshoe. If you've ever seen a tree fall, you have an idea of what I looked like as I went down...laughing. If you've ever fallen on a bed of feathers, you have an idea of what it feels like to land softly. I would do that again anytime! I was laughing so hard I had to roll around again to get my feet back under me to continue. Bob would have helped me but he was taking pictures. Alas, he had his camera on the wrong setting so they didn't turn out. (Whew!)



We made it to the top and saw the frozen falls, unfortunately they are frozen with no water visible. The falls reside up the crevice in the hillside to the right of Bob. (I posted a summertime picture at the end.)







The views allowed for looking over some beautiful, pristine snow. Even though the snowshoes felt like we were basically walking with large platforms it requires energy that walking doesn't. We decided that my rolling around in the snow and the 1 mile hike was enough excitement to start with.





I was somewhat wet but since we love to hike, it was a good beginning.

The snow shoes are a real hit!









This snow is deceptively deep. We figured it was at least 2' along most of the trail.











And here are the falls in the late summer.