We FINALLY got a warm, dry, weekend day to go outside and play! My poor ATV hasn't been out of the garage for two months!
We figured that our best chance of getting very far off the road was in the Pryors, so we headed south. It was crazy windy, but that wasn't going to stop us! As we got close, we could see that there was still a lot of snow on top, but the main road was dry.
We took the first side road, then the first side road off of that one. It was a fun ride, but we hit a spot that was a little too much like "technical riding" for relatively inexperienced riders like us. ("Technical riding" is ATV-jargon for "DUDE... That. was. INSANE!") We walked up the trail a little farther, but it was obvious that we had gone as far on this road as we were going to get. So we headed back to the main road.
Coming out, Dan spotted a high point that just had to be conquered, so we parked the machines and started up. However, we kept getting distracted by cool rocks. (Rock hounding is a lot of fun in the Pryors because of the high concentration of crystals and geodes.) We did ultimately make it to the top and the view was incredible.
We spent the rest of the day alternately riding, rock hounding, and hiking. It was just SO good to be outside again! We did find some lingering snow. I made it up the last drifted incline of the day, but Dan was good and stuck, so I turned back. He got himself out before I got back, but we decided that that was the end of that road for today. In spite of the snow, I am convinced that Old Man Winter is losing his grip at last and that spring has arrived. Seeing bluebirds and a robin only has me more convinced that summer will get here after all. Bring it on!
I could hardly believe what I was hearing when Dan got home from work on Thursday night (Friday morning, really)! Be on the road by 8 am? Seriously? Well, it IS Yellowstone NP, so less than six hours later, I was dragging my happy hiney out from under the covers. (Ok, happy might be a stretch.) By just shortly after 8, we were on the interstate headed west.
Since we have never been in the park earlier in the year than May, and only one road is currently open, we weren't sure what we might see. The flip side of that, though, is that we spent more time in the places where we COULD get ~ namely Mammoth and the Lamar Valley. Without the summer crowds, we did a lot more exploring (and photographing) on the lower level of the hot springs than we ever have before. The contrast of steam and snow was beautiful!
From Mammoth, we moved on to Undine Falls. I wasn't sure if they would look much different in winter. Since the water moves so quickly, I wasn't sure that it would freeze. But it was different, and it was gorgeous.
Now our focus turned to wildlife. We passed a group of people with spotting scopes (usually a dead give-away that something is out there), but the pullout was full, so we continued on down the road. Of course the buffalo were out in force. I do not generally enjoy photographing bison because they are so common, but on this trip, I challenged myself to find a setting that made for a memorable photo. We also added pictures of big horn sheep, moose, and elk to our collection as well.
On the way back out, the spotting scopes were still set up, so we decided to stop and see what was out there. Thanks to the generosity of one of the spotters, I got my first look at a Yellowstone wolf. There were two of them, sleeping on a hillside nearly a mile away. Yes, these researchers had been sitting in the exact same spot for THREE hours watching wolves sleep!! ANYWAY...
Over dinner in Gardiner on the way home, we were looking at the pictures we had taken. The employee saw us looking and told us exactly when and where we could get photos of elk calves. Looks like a return trip to Yellowstone is in order. Well, if we MUST...
to be continued.
