Along for the ride: Yellowstone

Ohhhh... looks like the campground host at Beaver Creek was right. It's raining by the time we get to West Yellowstone (the most heavily used entrance). When we stop for fuel, I ask the guy behind the counter what his take is on the weather. He points to a weather printout saying the chance of rain is only 30%. I point to the window and remark, right now it's 100%. He just laughs and says perhaps it will clear up by afternoon. Sigh - so much for the crystal clear blue skies I had imagined when thinking about this trip.

We enter Yellowstone National Park planning to head first to Indian Creek campground. Although most of the campgrounds are now reservable via concessionaires (and thus more expensive) a few are still first-come, first-served (and cheaper). It's early in the day and we've always managed to find a good campsite in Yellowstone on previous visits. Just inside the park we spot a large herd of elk in a wide grassy pasture. Our spirits lift and we hope the rainy weather won't put a damper on our visit after all.

Rain in West Yellowstone

Large herd of elk greet us just inside Yellowstone

Three does in a row

Gorgeous large male is off to one side guarding his harem

Although Indian Creek Campground isn't supposed to close until mid September, it looks like they closed it down a week early to work on it. (Sigh) - so much for that plan. We decide to head north to Mammoth Hot Springs as there's a larger campground there.

Northward to Mammoth Hot Springs

Upper Terrace Mammoth Hot Springs

Post Office

Although the sign at the entrance of the campground claims to have open sites, we can't find any that are suitable for us. The ranger in the camp office encourages us to check back early tomorrow morning. At this point we debate about finding a campground just outside the North Entrance or checking out three other possible campgrounds in the northeastern section of Yellowstone, which is where we are more likely to see more wildlife. We decide to try and stay in the park and travel eastward to Tower Falls.

Eastward to Tower Falls

Yuck - construction zone

Yellowstone River far below construction area

Tower Falls has just filled up as we reach the campground. Looking for a campsite is getting frustrating, but we still have two campgrounds to go. As the guidebooks say, the northeast section of Yellowstone is an excellent place to see Buffalo (aka American Bison), and they do not disappoint. We see at least three herds that afternoon.

Large herd

of Buffalo

spread out over pasture.

What do the two on left have on their backs?

Magnificent large bull

Sitting Bull ?

Yup - this is definitely Buffalo territory, which includes the road itself. They certainly have right of way around here.

This one has a radio collar

This bull is walking alongside us in the RV.
He's so close we can almost touch him.

The northeastern section of Yellowstone is also known as a fly fishing mecca. It must be fishing season as we see our share of fishermen (and women) fly casting along the waterways. My ex-husband and his father were into fly fishing. They tried to teach me, but there's more of an art to it than it appears. The only things I ever caught were rocks and tree branches.

The fishermen appear to have filled up our last two possibilities for camping in the park. We have been shut out for tonight.

Northeast Yellowstone

Fly fishermen/women try their luck

Almost out of the park

While we're checking out a possible campground, Peter sees a male and female moose. It is rutting season and it looks like an older more mature Moose-of-the-world is courting a younger bashful virgin (our take on the situation).

When they see us watching them, the bull takes off for the privacy of the forest, while the young female hesitates for a moment or two then follows him. Guess these moose aren't the exhibitionist types.

Beside the large mammals, we also see lots of smaller critters.

Chipmunks

Jackrabbit

and more chipmunks

Of course, we would have liked to see several other of the park's famous wildlife inhabitants, but these are harder to spot. When we were kids, bears were quite commonly found along the roads begging for handouts from the tourists. Since then, the rangers have cut down on visitor/bear interactions and bears are rarely seen anymore.

I especially liked seeing the bears when my family visited when I was a kid. My father was a big shutterbug (I probably inherited it from him) and tried to take a snap of a bear wandering up to the family car. Dad was having trouble finding the bear through his lens and muttered to himself "Where's the bear? Where's the bear?" as it wandered closer and closer to him. My Dad finally looked up from his camera just when he was almost nose to nose with the bear. My brother and I never saw him move so fast as he rolled up the car window (before power windows) and started up the engine to get out of there. My brother and I were laughing so hard saying to each over and over "Where's the bear? Where's the bear?" Needless to say, my Dad was not amused.

Black Bears (photo from Alaska Fish & Game)

Wolves (photo from Alaska Fish & Game)

Bighorn Sheep (photo from bighorn.org)

The afternoon is starting to get late by the time we exit the park via the northeastern entrance (the least used of the park's entrances).

Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance

We are back in Montana

Cooke City MT

Our campground guide lists several Forest Service campgrounds in the area, but all these have locked gates.We are beginning to get concerned about finding a nice place to camp, when we find Fox Creek Campground still open.