Last week I spent the majority of my time sitting in bison jams in Hayden Valley. With the bison rut in full swing there was plenty of snorts, ground pawing and rolling in the dirt to entertain me while I sat and waited. My commute from Mammoth to Lake was extended by nearly an hour due to these lookers of love but I have always enjoyed the rut so I tolerated the extra time.
Last Thursday my friends from Minnesoooota arrived. Patrick and I met them in Red Lodge after driving over Beartooth Pass. Since I have been here Lyle and Denise have had my Jeep in storage and hauled it out to me. Wanting to go over the pass themselves we decided to meet them in Red Lodge and take the Jeep so that they could go over the Beartooth's without having to haul it behind them. It was a five hour drive for us since we were met with jams in Hayden, and road construction over Dunraven and over the Lamar River.
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| Beartooth Pass |
With a list of animals that they wanted to see I had Lyle and Denise follow me from Mammoth to Lake. I had assured them that I would get them in a bison jam and that we would find some elk. Mammoth is usually teaming with elk but we only managed to see a couple crossing the hill behind the store. I was sure I would find them a herd. Our first encounter after leaving Mammoth was a large black bear half way to Tower. One animal checked off the list. And that was about all we saw after that. No jams in Hayden, just a handful of bison that were so far from the road that they were just brown specks on the hillside.
After dinner we decided to head out and find some wildlife. With Patrick, Levi, Leah and myself in my car and Lyle and Denise in another we headed east of Fishing Bridge. At Pelican Creek we saw a mother grizzly and her cub swimming for the road. They then got on the road right next to Lyle and Denise, crossed the road and walked right next to my car. Oh joy! Another animal crossed off the list. We then went to Hayden..........still no bison.
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| Grizzlies by Pelican Creek |
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| Mama Grizzly and Cub |
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| Lower Falls |
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| Levi, Lyle, Denise and Leah |
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| Waiting for Old Faithful |
The next morning we headed out again. We saw the Lower Falls, Norris Geyser Basin, ate at West Yellowstone and then headed toward Old Faithful.
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| Old Faithful |
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| White Dome Geyser |
Before we got to Old Faithful we stopped to look at some other geysers. As we snapped pictures, and without notice, White Dome Geyser went off right before us. Incredible luck!
We stopped at Grant Village for some shopping and headed back to Lake. Before we got to the junction we saw a large group of people on a bridge. It was a large bull elk, something Levi had been wanting to see. Another animal checked off that list. Now all that was left was a moose and a bison jam.
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| Heading out onto Yellowstone Lake for some fishing |
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| Heading out onto the Lake |
I met up with the others in Grant while Patrick and Levi fished. It was not a lucky fishing day: no fish and storms kept blowing in. Levi was left off at the marina with his family and I drove them back to their car at Lake so that they could get to Billings that night. Patrick had to sit with the boat for another couple of hours waiting the storms out before heading back to Bridge Bay Marina. Storms on Yellowstone Lake are not something to take lightly.
It was a great weekend having good friends visit. I enjoyed being a pseudo-tour guide and a tourist myself. In fact, I have been here for over two years and this was my first opportunity to see Old Faithful erupt. I was thrilled that they got to see some Yellowstone grizzlies, and a black bear to boot. But no matter how hard I tried I could not find a bison jam so that they could experience that too.
I am now back in my real Yellowstone world: working and living here and making my Mammoth to Lake commutes. On my first commute back to Lake I got into a huge bison jam. Go figure.
