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Published: July 26th 2008
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Its been awhile since I had internet. We are now in Red Lodge Montana. I have tried to keep notes of all we have seen and done, but they are incomplete to be sure. As it said in the beginning of the Sierra Club's guide to the area, and I mis-quote, "...there are really no superlatives that can describe the Yellowstone experience."
I had a hard time taking pictures that would in any way capture the vastness off the vistas, the grandeur of the valleys, the beauty of the forests, or the violence and size of the falls. You just have to see it for yourself. Rather I am going to give a description of our activities as a memory jog for myself and to help associate some of the photos. Unfortunately I did not start this until we were in Yellowstone.
7/22
Woke up GRUMPY. We drove north into Yellowstone and spent some time finding a camp ground. We ended up at Indian Creek just south of Mammoth. It is a great site again; quiet, small (78 sites) with no generators running and little noise. We were really surprised. After checking out several sites that looked like trailer
parks or worse we were pretty happy. During the drive we past geyser basins of stark white, crossed the continental divide 3 times, we got pictures of a grizzly trotting across a meadow and then taking a quick dust bath before heading into the woods, saw bison for the first time and then went to Mammoth Hot Springs around dusk. There was almost no one there which was amazing. We saw the most amazing sunset there. Sarah actually ran up like 500 steps she was so excited by it.
7/23
We visited Yellowstone falls and the canyon which was incredible. The orange glowing rocks were like a maxfield parish painting. The strength of the surging waters and the depth of the canyon was incredible and indescribable. We saw some elk with huge racks standing along side the road. I fished Indian Creek and the Gardner River near camp for pocket sized Bull Trout. We had delicious salads at Canyon area lodge. We saw some Osprey nesting near the upper falls. Artist point view of the Yellowstone Canyon was breathtaking.
7/24 Wednesday
Fished the Gardner river this morning before Sarah was out of bed. It was a bust. These
rivers are so unfamiliar to me with their grassy banks and unfeatured bottoms I don't really have a clue. Also, my box of scraggly rusty flies isn't helping. We left camp at 1pm for Canyon to do the Yellowstone Lake Loop. Passed by the Hayden Valley which is a huge open meadow where trees won't grow with rolling hills on one side and the yellowstone river on the other. There were large herds of Bison roaming and munching. At Sulpher Basin (stinky!) there was a Bison lounging near one of the gurgling pots relaxing like he was at a Bison Spa. We saw a White Pelican in an oxbow on the Yellowstone and a metalic blue Tree Swallow flew right in front of my face. We had a pause for a good scratching in a beautiful woods along the river (the mosquitos have been unstoppable).
We then got pulled over for having a tail light out and I could not produce proof of insurance. We used the nearby phone and had the proper documents faxed to void the $435 ticket. Trip milage at 1786, we crossed the cont. divide for the 5th then 6th time. Visited Kepler Cascades which
was gorgeous; a basalt canyon with a 1/4 mile of cascading falls. The vertical cliffs were littered with trees alive and dead growing out of small fissures in the rock. We stopped at Old Faithful (Six Flags over Yellowstone) and the I fished the Firehole river for a short spell. There was the thickest hatch of size 10 grey caddis I have ever seen and yet I could not get a nibble. We took a quick detour to take in the Firehole Canyon Drive, which has a swimming hole that looks amazing, except it was closed due to high water. Saw some more elk and spotted a coyote close up.
7/25 Friday (I think I lost a day somewhere, let me know if you find it)
Left camp after a liesurely morning. We drove out of the park via the Northeast entrance alony the Lamar Valley. More Bison herds and gorgeous rolling hills. Then onto Hwy 212, the beatooth Scenic Hwy. No words to describe this. It is about 60 miles abd summits at 11,000 feet. We had nothing to compare the views here with. 360 degrees from the top of the world looking out on the mountains. Wildflowers
growing thick in the hurried season. Everywhere looked like a perfectly unplanned rock garden. Alpine lakes and ponds, glaciers. BREATHTAKING, one of the highlights of the trip. If you ever have a chance, take this hwy, you will be shocked. 212 lands you in Red Lodge where we are now staying at the Beartooth Hideaway (a former Super 8) motel.
7/26 Saturday
We will be driving to the Bighorn NF.
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anonymous
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Thanks for the details. Heading that way this Friday and looking for tips - yours have been helpful!