End of Summer

In the last few days weather has changed from summer to fall. There is a crispness in the air, and tonight, August 29th, there is a prediction of snow. The photo at left is a summer storm.

At right is Fireweed. This flower is common in burned areas and signals the regrowth that comes after the flames. Its bloom begins in August and as the flowers move up the stalk, we know fall is coming.

Another sign of late summer is the bison rut. The bulls rejoin the herd, grunting and following the females, fighting with bulls who come too close to their temporary female partner. This is the time of year we are apt to have them roam through out campground.

The wild raspberries are ripe. If Doug, the other photo guide, would please leave them alone, I'd be able to pick a handful instead of just a couple.

I've had good luck seeing and photographing some of the smaller wildlife this summer. This beaver was gnawing on willow branches at Fishing Bridge one evening last week.

I've seen more marmots this year than either of the other two years in the park. Am I just more aware, or was this a bumper year?

I was delighted to finally get a shot (only one decent one) of a short tailed weasel. I've seen weasels several times this year, but this morning he appeared among the rocks near my usual coffee break area on my photo tours. Some of my guests got better photos, but my camera is stored away for tours as I almost never shoot. But he was in the rocks long enough for me to get it out just before he took off. This small animal will turn white, except a black spot on its tail (almost invisible in this photo due to the shadow in the rock) for the winter.

Crow Agency Pow Wow

 

The third weekend in August is the annual Crow Agency Pow Wow and rodeo. This year was the 93rd annual event and my second time attending.

Lin and I attended early in our full-time RVing life. We ended up parking our motorhome in the midst of teepees, tents, horse trailers, trucks, and all the activity and we stayed four days.

This time, with a work schedule, the visit was more limited. But Nan, my neighbor in the employee RV park and I went for a short visit. Staying in Hardin, MT, we were able to enjoy an evening of grand entrance events and the Saturday morning parade. Since it was super hot, it may have been just as well we only did evening and morning events. But we had a great time

This is clearly a family event and it was fun watching the crowd, the dancers, and the parade participants. The gentleman sitting next to me in the bleachers on Friday night said he had never seen so many people in the entrance event. The dance ground was packed. Below are photos of the parade, the dance grounds, and the general grounds.

4th of July

 Happy 4th of July. I am updating my blog this evening as this has been an incredible week for wildlife. There won't be a lot of text, but the photos, with brief captions, says it all.

During my tour on Thursday we saw 5 adult and three grizzly cubs, two wolves, a coyote, marmots, osprey, bison and elk. That is my bear record for one day. Although the sow and cubs were a long ways a way, some of the others were quite close. I usually do not photograph during my tours, but one guest had a Nikon and was regretting not having a longer lens. I loaned him mine which was in the luggage area of the Historic Yellow Bus. Since I had it out, I took some shots too.

After the first four grizzlies, I was headed to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, hoping to make it for the rainbow in the Lower Falls. This time of year it is spectacular but the sun angle is only good for about 15 minutes.

When we got to Hayden Valley I could see we would not make it due to the huge traffic jam. However, that turned out to be two wolves on a carcass, grizzly sow and three cubs across the creek, waiting, and a coyote circling, hoping everyone else would leave so he\she could have a chance at the leftovers. I believe the bear made the kill, but she may have ceded to the wolves as fighting them off would have made her cubs vulnerable.

Anyway, one of the wolves left, came towards the huge crowd, being held back by rangers. But it came close enough for the view above, with a long lens. It then swam across the creek and headed toward the den, probably to regurgitate food for the pups.









Two wolves on the kill with ravens sneaking in. Coyote sniffing area where wolf had passed through minutes before. And a very distant and blown up shot of the grizzly sow with her triplets.











One of the grizzlies along the north side of the lake, digging for roots or grubs.

The cutthroat trout are spawning. Their journey to the spawning grounds includes getting over Le Hardy Rapids, no mean feat in this year of abundant water. The river is running high and hard. Took almost an hour and used up a 4 GB card to get just two acceptable photos of fish in the air.
Cutthroat Trout are our native species, but in trouble now as someone put Lake Trout in Yellowstone Lake and numbers have plummeted.

Summer arrived almost in concert with the solstice. I didn't get any photos of our most numerous and ubiquitous summer species, the mosquito.

Summer also means thunderstorms. This one was on my way home from two days working at Old Faithful.

Lots of spring rain creates cascades of water along the East Road going to Cody. The sun was on the scene when I went over early one morning to do shopping and get my hair cut. Actually the last blog posting was from Cody after I saw this rainbow.

View from Lake Butte Overlook. I went up several times hoping for more shots of the Blue Grouse. The evening I took this shot, it was a consolation for not seeing the grouse.

Blue Grouse courting. He puffs up his chest,
showing the red region, fans out his tail
and makes a thumping noise. The hens did not look very impressed, at least at that time, and kept on eating and wandering away from him.

Lady Slippers or Fairy slippers, depending on where and who you talk to. These were at the end of their bloom when I finally got over to see them. They are growing on the trail from the dorms to Lake Hotel.

I took a weekend trip to Red Lodge with the two Pat's (one is in charge of the post office here, the other is in housekeeping). We went over Beartooth Pass, explored around Red Lodge, Rosebud Lake, Roscoe where we had a great dinner, Belfry, Powell (site of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp during WW II..there wasn't time that day to visit, but I plan to go back), and back via Cody. While we didn't see a lot of wildlife, we did well on flowers. Sago Lily above right,

Prairie Smoke left.

In the Beartooth Mountains, right, with alpine flowers in the foreground. Tiny, rock hugging flowers, they defy the winds and cold temperatures at just under 11,000 feet elevation.

the tiny little sharp point, about two thirds from the left of the photo in the saddle of the range, is the "beartooth."

Marmots are common in the Beartooths......and in much of Yellowstone as well.




And what exploration outside the park would be complete without a little mining history, especially for this old Bodie guide and resident. This was a copper mine area. We tried to get to the old stamp mill for Cooke City area but snow blocked the way. However, I now know I can get close enough in my low clearance Toyota to make the trip. I will hike part way but I had been told I could not get within range. Obviously I can...AND WILL.

This blog program is frustrating as the layout I put together and which shows on my computer before I hit the save and send buttons is not what shows up on the blog site. I just hope it isn't too fractured this time.