Snowflakes and Swans

The sun was shining when we left home this morning. Our plan was to go into Yellowstone from the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway through Cooke City. Fortunately, Dan checked the internet before we left, and he discovered that the pass between the highway and Cooke City was closed. No problem, there are other ways to get to Yellowstone. We got gas in Cody, where despite the stout breeze, the skies were still mostly clear. 

Sylvan Lake

But, alas, as we started up Sylvan Pass out of the east entrance, the mountain tops were beginning to disappear into the clouds. The pass tops out at about 8,500 feet, and the road was wet, even slushy, in a few places. Sylvan Lake was pretty in the snow, though. 

As we came down the other side of the pass, the temperature climbed back up a few degrees, and the sun made a feeble effort to burn through the cloud cover. We ate our lunch overlooking Hayden Valley, but the wildlife was highly uncooperative. The valley was deserted except for a small flock of geese. Not even a stray buffalo! 

Back on the road, I told Dan that if we spotted the swans, I wanted to stop for pictures. Find them we did, and I started shooting. Another vehicle pulled up and stopped, and the driver approached us. He introduced himself as Bill Long, with the Wyoming Wetlands Society. He told us that their group was involved in the recovery of swans in Yellowstone. He said that at one time, there were only two pairs of swans left. The society has placed both adult birds and cygnets, obviously with some success. I showed Mr. Long some of the pictures that I had taken, and he asked us to e-mail him a few to be used in presentations and literature! Well, then! :)

The two young swans in the center were placed
with the adults at one day old.

What a handsome pair. The females are banded,
but the males are wild. 

What a show-off!

Take off

By now, the sun had given up on defeating the clouds, and before long, it started to snow. We decided to cut and run for home, since apparently the animals had all hunkered down out of sight anyway. We did see some cow elk in Mammoth, but the bulls were nowhere in sight. Still, it was another good day in Yellowstone. 

Winter is pretty... but it can stay
in the mountains! 

Oh My Stars!

I must admit that I really don't like driving after dark. But then again, Dan does all the driving when we haul the camper anyway, so we left Laurel after work Thursday night like he wanted. As I stepped out of the truck at our campsite, I could only stare up at the sky. A million tiny lights spread themselves across the sky. Once the camper was set up, I thought about grabbing the camera to catch the stars, but we we were tired (it was nearly 2 am), so we retired for the night. 

Our friend Rick joined us to ride Friday morning, and we set off up the mountain. I was hoping for a bear sighting, but the best wildlife we got was two white, flipping mule deer tails disappearing into the pines. Oh well, the weather was perfect - cool, but not cold- and the riding was great. We even found a few roads that we had not traveled before. Rick had to head back to Laurel by late afternoon, so we had an early supper and ventured back out. We started up Bear Canyon, but I was feeling a little saddle-sore, so we took off on foot into the canyon instead. Bunnies, birds, caves, and colorful leaves gave us plenty of photo opportunities. The sunset on our way back to the camper had us reaching for the camera yet again. 








































It wasn't quite dark when we got back to the camper, so I built myself a fire. Dan just doesn't share my fascination with flames, so he left me to enjoy my own efforts. As it grew darker and the stars started to come out, I doused my dying fire. I was determined that this was the trip that I would get star pictures. I set the camera to all the right settings and stepped out into the darkness. Alas, all my efforts were for naught. The camera would not "click" in auto focus, and I could not see clearly enough through the viewfinder to focus manually. Disappointed, I returned to the warmth of the camper and went to bed. 

Ummm... I think the "trail" ends right here!

Saturday morning, we pulled out to ride as a two-some. We didn't mind, though, as we had some areas that we wanted to explore on foot. One of these spots was the head of a canyon. Our first glimpse of this canyon was years ago, when we took our pickup over the mountain. (Poor truck!!) The curve around this canyon is sharp enough that Dan had to stop and back up to make it. Ever since then, we have wondered what's down there. We decided that it was about time we found out. We descended the relatively gentle slope into the canyon for about 200 yards, then we hit a sheer drop-off about 50 above the valley floor. Dan suggested going back for some rope, but I wanted no part of that! 

Might as well head back up to the road. 

As we worked our way back up, we heard another machine on the road above us. That didn't surprise us. What did surprise, and concern, us was when the newcomer stopped where our machines were parked. Our concern was alleviated, however, when a voice called down, "I thought you guys were riding on Friday?" It was our buddy Grif and a cousin of his, out scouting for mule deer. Cool! This party just got a lot more fun! 

The rest of the day flew by, as we alternated riding and times of just talking as friends and enjoying the beauty of the day and of God's handiwork all around us. 

The ledge that stopped us.

Pulling out from our campsite after dinner, Dan summed up how we were both feeling when he sighed, "Another weekend gone." But it's okay ~ we'll be back.

Grand Circle Hightlights

As I thought about the best way to share our vacation (without totally overwhelming my readers), several formats came to mind. I could do a day-by-day series, or maybe I could link similar features into a couple of posts. Then I remembered the little notebook that I kept along the way. I decided that my travel diary, with just the highlights, might be the best way to share nine days' adventures in a nutshell. 

Thursday, September 24th, we picked up our daughter Ashley at the airport and headed south. All we did was drive so that on Friday we could start exploring. We found Sego, a coal mining ghost town and visited Dead Horse State Park.

We saw tons of these little lizards. 

Dead Horse State Park

Saturday was the first of the "biggies." When we visited Arches NP a couple of years ago, we admired Delicate Arch from the viewpoint below. But we vowed that next time, we'd hike up to it. So hike we did, and it was worth the effort. 

Delicate Arch

I will call him Pickles. 

Sunday found us at Mesa Verde NP. We joined a ranger-led tour of Balcony House. It was a lot of fun, with ladders, tunnels, and a nearly-sheer climb up "stairs" carved into the cliff-face. Like real-life Mario of GameBoy days. We got a special treat that evening as we drove across Monument Valley at dusk. The full moon rose behind us, then immediately began its eclipse.

Cliff Palace

Balcony House

Sunset in Monument Valley

Monday was "destination day." The Grand Canyon was the initial feature we had in mind when we began planning our trip, and it did not disappoint. We spent the whole day alternately hiking the South Rim and hopping on and off shuttle buses when look-outs were further apart. On Tuesday, we visited the Horseshoe Bend and the North Rim.

South Rim

We hit Bryce Canyon NP on Wednesday. This was another of the places that we visited way too briefly in '13. This time, I desperately wanted to hike down into the canyon, not just look over it from the top. We were looking for the Queen's Garden trail, the gentlest slope down into the canyon. Instead, we ended up on the Navajo Loop ~ steep, but rewarding. 

Yes, that is the trail, and yes, we are going back up it. 

Well, isn't that encouraging? 

A waterfall in the desert? Oh, yes! Thursday, we made the six-mile (round-trip) hike to 126-ft Calf Creek Falls in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Back at the car, I insisted on the back seat in hope of getting a nap. Not so much ~ I just got carsick! We found a pullout at Boulder Pass and let my head stop spinning and my tummy stop cartwheeling. A small herd of deer were kind enough to step out of the beautiful golden aspens and entertain us until I was able to continue. 

There were a lot of these brown trout in the clear water of the creek. 

We left Vernal, UT on Friday morning with an eye on the nasty-looking clouds building over South Pass. Sure enough, the rain chased us all the way home. Fortunately, we mostly missed the worst of it. We drove only a couple of miles in hail and heavy rain, though there were many places that obviously got really wet just before we came through. 

This is definitely one of those vacations where we will need to go back to work to rest up! We crammed every day full, even approaching "sensory overload" a time or two, but I wouldn't give back a single moment of it.