It's All About Those Elk!

Shhh... they're sleeping!

We were so disappointed last weekend when our camping trip to Yellowstone National Park was spoiled by weather. (Not that we didn't find ourselves an adventure!) This Friday's weather wasn't great either, but we decided that Saturday, nothing short of a blizzard was going to stop us!

We got up early (for us, lol) and headed out. It was still pretty cloudy, but at least it wasn't pouring down rain. By 11:00, we were out of the car in Mammoth and on our way up to where we always see elk. By the time we forked off of the Beaver Pond Trail onto Sepulchre Mountain Trail, the sun was coming out. That got the birds going, and we hoped it would do the same for the elk. 

We followed the trail farther than we ever have, and found that it came much closer than we realized to the meadow where we wanted to be. Just before we left the trail, I looked down to see tracks in the snow. Not people tracks, either! I thought they were bear tracks, but Dan said they were wolf tracks. We let the wolf keep to the trail and we veered off in the direction we wanted anyway. 

"Our" meadow

We ate our lunch overlooking a beautiful, aspen-lined pond. That was when Dan heard the first bugle of the day. It was coming from the general direction that we wanted to go, so we were once again on the move. We came into our meadow and found lots of sign, but no elk. Not, that is, until I spotted a small herd of young bulls sleeping on the sunny hillside. As we moved in, they awoke and looked at each other as if to say, "Hey, who was supposed to be on guard duty?"  

Just then, we heard another bugle and we were again on the "hunt." We soon realized that we were hearing not one, but two bull elk bugling back and forth. Dan finally spotted one of them in a little meadow, and we were able to set up behind a fallen tree. We watched for quite a while, waiting for the other bull to put in an appearance, but he never did. Eventually, the first bull wandered off into the trees, so we also moved on. 

When we came back to the Beaver Ponds Trail, we turned back toward the car. We were still hearing a lot of elk-calling, but I really didn't want to hike out in the dark. But then we heard a bugle right beside us! Another nice bull was shrieking out his challenge in the meadow just off the trail. Without a thought, we turned our lenses in his direction. When this bull also turned off into the woods, we quickened our pace for the car. (We even passed up a bluebird photo shoot. There really wasn't enough light left anyway.) I was ready for that prime rib dinner waiting in Gardiner. After seven miles of hiking, I think I earned it! 

Well, THAT was an Adventure!

After many, many dry summer days here in the West, we finally received some moisture. While I am certainly not going to complain about the rain, it did throw a monkey wrench into our plans for the weekend. 

We had been planning since last September to camp in Yellowstone this weekend. We figured we finally had the perfect timing to photograph elk in the rut. But when we got up Friday morning and it was raining here and snowing in Yellowstone (love those webcams!), we decided to run errands and reduce the weekend to a day trip on Saturday. Except that Saturday was even worse. So I settled in for a day at home.

By midafternoon, Dan was in his recliner to watch golf. But the local affiliate chose to air the college football game instead. Before long, he was restless. The rain had stopped and the radar looked good, so we loaded up the gear and hit the road. 

Our first plan was Woodbine Falls. After coming through Columbus, we took a gravel frontage road along the river. We got our first photo op when an osprey flew over and perched in a bare tree near the road. A little further down the road, we spotted a nice mulie buck. 

When we came to Jack Stone Creek Road, Dan hesitated for only a moment before taking it. I made no objection. We have had some really neat wildlife encounters on that road, including our only bobcat. 

Jack Stone Creek Road is a dirt road, but a good one. Even with the three days of rain, we figured that it would be okay. And for a while, it was. But eventually, the poor little Subaru just couldn't keep going. We were less than a mile from the main road, but it was uphill all the way. We had no choice but to turn around and head back. We dug out as much of the packed Montana gumbo as we could out of the rims and wheel wells and gave it another go. It was a process that we would repeat quite a few more times. At one point where we were actually making some progress, a bird flew over the car. I said, "Was that an owl?!?" to which Dan muttered, "Might have been." We came around the corner and sure enough, the owl was perched in the tree. But Dan showed no sign of stopping! Fortunately for me, the owl stayed put when we had to get out to clear the tires again. I left Dan to deal with the mud and walked back to get my first owl pictures. 

Eventually, we got back to the main road, but it wasn't smooth sailing yet. There was still enough mud inside the rims to throw off the balance of the tires. It was slow going until we pulled into Ichkepee Park and spent some time scraping and poking with some kindling wood we found. That made it enough better that we were able to get home at speed on the frontage road. (Now we just have to clean the poor little car!)

Maybe next time we'll just take the truck... 

Better with Bears

It's been a while since Dan and I have been to the Pryors all by ourselves. But all of our friends had other plans for the weekend, so it was entirely up to us to choose our own entertainment. 

Yes, another dead tree picture! 

On Friday, Dan suggested revisiting an area where we had hiked before (read about that adventure here) and going a different direction. Sounds good to me! We walked up a closed road for a little bit before veering off to a destination point on one of the "fingers" overlooking the canyon. As we walked, we noted interesting rocks (a few might even have been arrowheads or speartips), and investigated some claim markers. Eventually, we reached the spot that we had determined would be the "turn-around" and sat down to eat lunch. We noted some signs of bear activity - a torn-up stump and some old, dry scat - but there was no sign of life in the meadow below us. The wind was definitely not in our favor, so as we started back for the machines, Dan hung back while I went ahead. He was hoping that maybe my scent blowing back through the trees might push something out into the open for him to photograph. 


After I had walked for a bit without seeing Dan coming behind me, I decided that he must have, in fact, seen something. So I circled back. Except he was behind me, so of course, he was not where I left him. I retraced my steps again, and before long, I spotted him. He was patiently scanning the landscape around him with his binoculars. Suddenly, his whole demeanor changed, and he was taking pictures. I hurried to catch up, and I caught just a glimpse of black fur disappearing into the trees.

He said it was a sow and two cubs, so we started cautiously, but quickly, down the hill. When we spotted them again, we saw that she actually had three cubs! But once again, they dropped out of sight. Dan blew the predator call once, but then decided that calling in four bears might not be the wisest thing to do, especially since we did not know exactly where they might come from! We continued around the tree line and came to a cattle trail. Sure enough, there were bear tracks in the soft dirt. We had missed them. Just then, we both heard the rustle in the trees and looked up to see black fur in the green leaves! Wow! She came down out of that tree FAST! With the wind blowing our scent right to her, we knew we had seen the last of her, so we went in the opposite direction back toward the atv's. 

Not the best photo, but it was the only opportunity we got! 

They came this way! Awww, baby bear! 

Hiking back to the machines, I commented to Dan that it would have been a good hike even if we had found only pretty rocks and dead trees. He gave me his little smile and replied, "Yeah, but it's always better with bears!"  

Saturday morning, we were ready to ride! We explored some new roads and trails (well, new to us), and just enjoyed the sunshine and the ride. We were on the way back to the camper when we saw a couple of atv's stopped in the road. A flock of bighorn sheep were just off the shoulder, and lo and behold, they were ewes! (Almost all of the sheep we ever see are the bachelor herds.) As the ewes made their way across the road, I spotted a baby one! We have looked and looked for little ones without success. Finally, we had one! Neither mama nor baby was in any hurry, and we had ample time for pictures. What a great ending to our outing.