Yellowstone and the Lamar at its finest–wolves, bears, and high drama

Yellowstone is at it’s finest in May, especially in the Lamar Valley.  Just less than an hour away from my home, I’ve been three times this week.  May is my favorite month.  First off, because I’m south of the NE entrance, the road into the Park is not plowed on the Montana side during the [...]

Close to Open–Yellowstone Park

The NE entrance will be open on May 11th, they say.  We’re always the last for the Park to plow and I’m not sure why.  Its only a nine mile stretch and a heck of a lot easier to plow than the east entrance over Sylvan Pass.  Must be politics and economics driving the decisions. [...]

Yellowstone adventures and a close call

I came back a few weeks ago from an advanced tracking class with Jim Halfpenny in Gardiner.  But before the class, I spent a day and an evening hiking around the Park. Tuesday late afternoon called for a trek up Mt. Washburn, which I’d never done.  They say if you only have time for one [...]

Yellowstone in June

A blustery, unpredictable June brought with it fantastic wildlife watching in my three days in the Park.  I spent two nights in Mammoth and did several hikes.  On one, we ran into that herd of Rams you see.  150 years of no hunting leaves the wildlife very relaxed around people.  The rams hardly noticed us, [...]

Grizzlies and elk calves

Its unusual to see  the Cody backcountry herd grazing every morning and night this time of year.  Usually, by now, they’re headed over the passes to calve in the Lamar. But the snows in the high country are still too deep and the melt hasn’t even begun. I’ve been watching this small herd from my [...]

Shapeshifter

This is a great documentary, free online, by Canadian Geographic on coyotes.  Humans have been trying to eradicate coyotes for years, unsuccessfully.  In fact, whereas coyotes were confined to a small area of the West a hundred years ago, now they are ubiquitous, all over North America, from cities to suburbs, on islands and the [...]

Yellowstone spring

I’m doing some work here, adding a utility room.  With all the noise and construction, it was a great opportunity to escape to the park and let the workers watch the dog. Since it only takes me 40 minutes to the NE entrance, I escaped around eleven and was back by 5.  The day was [...]

Yellowstone for mine eyes only

A friend came up late morning to help me plant more trees.  A squall came in and with it a fierce cold wind.  After several minutes the weather settled down, the sun shone through brilliant cumulus clouds but it was still hovering above freezing.  This continued several times all morning until I’d had enough.  Hungry [...]

Old first hand Stories of Yellowstone

My old neighbor JB told me this story today.   Its impossible to place it in time.  In JB’s mind it was like yesterday, but probably in reality sometime in the late ’50′s or early 60′s. “My job was to plow the road from Mammoth to Cooke City.  There were two plows going and it was [...]

Yellowstone in winter

Planning a trip to Yellowstone?  I recommend the winter! There are so many reasons to choose winter over summer, but I’ll just give you a few. First, the lack of crowds.  Yellowstone might get 100,000 visitors a week in the summer, whereas they get that total for the whole winter. Next, the wildlife.  The wolves [...]