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...