05 September 1998 - Saturday

Carlene and I headed north towards Yellowstone just a little before 4:00 pm on Saturday. Just north of Blackfoot, we were greeted by thunder clouds and lowering skies. We stopped at Idaho Falls and had supper at Smitty's Pancake and Steak House. We had great service and food and we were ready to get back on the road home. Just north of Idaho Falls, we were greeted by fireworks at Rexburg. At first we thought it was for our Labor Day trip celebration, but figured out it was probably for a football game half time show... bummer! Ha! It started to rain after the fireworks and it rained lightly off and on all the way to West Yellowstone.

We hit the park about 10:30 pm and the traffic was fairly light for that late at night. We saw a red fox on our drive in from West Yellowstone to Madison. The only wildlife we saw was what was standing near the road or in our lights as we made our long journey to Lamar Valley and Pebble Creek Campgrounds.

It was nice that Dunraven was open and they have done a very nice repair job on ruts, pot holes and missing road areas. It was a much better drive than in August. The park service road crews are to be commended for a job well done and it is greatly appreciated by all who make the drive!

The only other animal we saw was an antelope along the road from Roosevelt to Lamar Valley. We arrived at Pebble at midnight and hastily setup camp and hit the sack... we knew morning was coming quickly... Carlene sometimes, well most times, well, all the time, questions my sanity of going on "vacation" and then getting up at 4:00 am to go watch or hopefully watch animals... some people are hard to figure... ha! Anyhow, with the sun going down earlier and coming up later we get a little reprieve and o'dark thirty is now 6:00 am, two whole hours to sleep in, who could complain... don't answer that...

Muskrats by John W. Uhler - 06 September 1998 ©

06 September 1998 - Sunday

We (I use that term loosely) were up at 6:00 am and on the road at 6:20 to the Lamar River Trailhead turnout. We did some glassing of the countryside with very little success. We did see a raven flying low over the saga brush and that was about it. No elk or buffalo or antelope. A little before 7:00 am, we headed west down the valley. We pulled over at a turnout where we had watched the wolves last month and made a short hike up the hill. We met some old and new friends who were watching two wolves. The wolves, one black and one gray, were laying out in the sun warming themselves. They were across the valley, south of the road and hillside.

We watched and visited and hoped that more of the pack (these two wolves were from the Druid Peak Pack), to show up. There were several folks that had been in touch with me on the net and it was nice to meet them and put faces to the electrons. We had fun telling stories, sharing experiences and talking about other sightings and things to do and see in the park. A friend that we had planned to spend some time with, Dave Parker, joined the group and we all chatted and watched until about 8:30 am. The two wolves just lounged around and didn't do much of anything, so we decided to let them have their privacy and head to Cooke City for breakfast.

We stopped at Pebble and staked claim to the campsite next to Dave and Deb (Dave's wife). We visited for a while and then headed for Cooke City. After breakfast, we toured a gift shop for a little while and then headed back into the park.

We decided to make the hike back to Trout Lake to try to see the otters that lived there. My son Joseph and I tried to see them in August but we were not successful. We had watched Bob Landis' film "The Otters of Yellowstone" and really enjoyed it. It has some great photography and Carlene really loves the otters and she had always wanted to see them. We had never seen otters in the park and so we decided to see how we could do on this trip.

Yellow Salsify
by John W. Uhler - 06 September 1998 ©

The hike to Trout Lake is only .6 of a mile, but it is up hill all the way in. We took our time and had a "nice" hike. We had the lake to ourselves. We hiked along the south side of the lake to the inlet. Just as Dave, Carlene and I had made it to the inlet, up came a muskrat. She just floated motionlessly on the surface of the water as we watched her. Dave and I headed quietly around the inlet to better lighting to take some pictures. Carlene stayed on the south side. Deb was trying to get some photos of dragonflies just a little ways from us. As Dave was setting up his camera gear, I looked over at Carlene and noticed she was pointing to something in the lake, an muskrat pup had surfaced and was swimming directly to her. We watched in silence as we knew Carlene was thrilled to death to have an muskrat pup that close. It came to about four feet from her and then went into a hole along the lake bank. She was beside herself, the only thing that could of been better is that if she would of had her video camera... but she and Dave and I have it stored in memories for as long as they last... now what was I talking about... ha!

We setup our gear and Carlene and Deb came over and joined us as we waited for the muskrats to show back up. Mom muskrat came back out and floated on the surface and then disappeared. The cutthroat trout started to rise and we could see some very nice size trout rising and eating flies. Some of the younger trout were trying their wings and doing impressions of flying fish as they were scooting up and out of the water and seeing how high they could jump for a small meal. If was fun to watch and share.

A muskrat pup came out of the hole we had watch him go in earlier. It swam over the duck weed and out in front of us and dived. We watched and waited. He appeared with some water plant and while floating on its tummy ate the root. When he finished eating it, he dove again. We watched water bubbles appear on the surface and knew he was pulling some more roots to eat. Sure enough he hit the surface and this time had a few roots and floated and ate as we watched and filmed... it was cool... what a treat.

We had arrived at the Lake about 1:30 pm and we had first seen the muskrat at about 2:00 pm. This young muskrat was really hungry and made many dives and returns to the surface to eat. We watched and filmed muskrats, plants, butterflies and bugs until about 4:00 pm. It was a great experience to enjoy and share with friends. What a treasure!

Canada Geese on Trout Lake by John W. Uhler - 06 September 1998 ©

We headed back to Pebble for a snack before going back to Lamar for some bear and wolf watching. We went back to the Lamar River Trailhead turnout. Carlene and Deb were going to do some wildlife watching in the valley, while Dave and I took a short hike.

Dave and I had a blast and that is putting it mildly! We saw some great country, watched a rainbow which was pretty cool and then took some photographs of it reflected in a beautiful lake. You just had to be there to share and enjoy it, but it just doesn't get any better than what we experienced. The great outdoors with great friends and mother nature painting the mountain and valley with all the colors of the rainbow and then some... what an experience! I only wished Carlene and Deb had been along to enjoy it. But Dave and I enjoyed it for all its worth and then some... what a blessing.

We made it back to the trailhead and the young ladies had scoured the valley looking for wolves and bears and any other wildlife. They reported to have seen a few bear tree stumps and wolf rocks, but no real bears or wolves. We decided to head back to where we had been this morning and see if the wolves were out and about there. No wolves, but some other friends came and joined us and it was great to meet again.

Today we saw: a bald eagle, buffalo, Canada geese, mule deer, ducks, three muskrats, two osprey, ravens and two wolves of the Druid Peak Pack.

Chalceria heteronea
by John W. Uhler - 06 September 1998 ©

07 September 1998 - Monday

We were up at 6:00 am and out of camp by 6:30 am. We stopped at the Lamar River Trailhead turnout and did some glassing. No wildlife was to be seen. We headed west to the lookout over the valley. We setup the scopes and visited with friends already there checking things out. No wolves! We had a blast visiting with friends and tried our best to turn rocks and brush into wolves... we almost succeeded, but some of these young whipper snapper's eyes (or scopes actually) were too good.

We watched a good looking coyote swim across the Lamar River and do some mousing on the rivers edge. We watched a buffalo cross the river and head east down the valley. We watched five northern harriers in a dead standing tree in the Lamar Picnic grounds.

We also watched two sandhill cranes eating breakfast on the valley meadow. If it was moving, we were watching it and had fun talking about it in the mean time. Fun was had by all and it was a great group of folks. A young couple from Arizona came up and visited for a while, they had contacted me via email and they joined in the fun.

We were headed south for our home away from home, so we said our goodbys to Chuck who was headed back to Houston, the couple from Arizona and others. We wished them all good luck, a fruitful and enjoyable stay in the park and best wishes until the next time we meet.

Dave and Deb and Carlene and I headed southwest to West Yellowstone for breakfast. We stopped and watched a mule deer buck and three doe in the meadow just on the west side of the Lamar River bridge. We also looked for the whooping crane, she had been out earlier by a report we had heard. We did not see her this time and she will probably have migrated south by our next trip, so we may never see her again. We also stopped and looked for the trumpeter swans we had seen in August on a pond near the Yellowstone Picnic grounds with no success. Maybe it was just a one time thing for them to be there.

Ladysthumb Knotweed
by John W. Uhler - 06 September 1998 ©

We then headed towards Tower and Washburn. The Mount Washburn road was finally open, so we made the drive up to the trailhead and were welcomed by bull elk bugling and cow elk mewing and chirps. Dave and I walked up the trial a short distance and looked at the vast rocky mountain ranges we could see in the distance. It was a hazy day, but we enjoyed the view and vowed to return on a clear day and make the trek to the fire station lookout. What a view and the elk bugling was music to our ears and a thrill to enjoy. We had not seen any elk in Lamar, so this was an added treat.

We reluctantly left as we had drunk in all that we could hold and left plenty there for others to enjoy! Carlene would not let me drive because I kept pulling over and saying I was hearing funny noises from the motor... my driving privileges were revoked on the spot and I was relegated to co-pilot and photographer... sure made the trip shorter... she just catches on too quickly!

For the past three years, we have been waiting and wondering when if ever, the Virginia Cascades Road was going to be reopened. I had read a press release that the park service had just opened the road. We made the drive and we are glad that they had finally reopened this road, what a treat. The cascade is absolutely beautiful, the largest I have ever seen and the area is just fantastic. I am really sad that the visitors who had come to the park when this road was closed did not have a chance to experience this beautiful part of the park. I will put up some photos of the cascade when they are developed. The cascade for those who don't know or haven't seen one, is instead of a sheer drop off like a waterfall, is a gentle hill that the water flows over in a long white vale. It is very pretty and we will go back to enjoy it when we have more time to spend in the area.

We saw some buffalo and elk on the way out in the meadows along the Madison on our way to West Yellowstone. We looked for the trumpeter swans, but they were not in their normal area. There were ducks and Canada geese and fly fishermen on the Madison looking like they were all enjoying themselves. I tried to convince Carlene that I had seen the two fly fishermen who had kidnapped me and forced me to go to the park, but she wouldn't have any part of it... I told her there was a reward, but she wouldn't bite... so long old buddy, see you next month if all works out well...

Butterfly by John W. Uhler - 06 September 1998 ©

Today we saw: Antelope, buffalo, Canada geese, coots, a coyote, ducks, elk, hawks, mountain blue birds, mule deer, ravens, sandhill cranes and the Virginia Cascades.

Virginia Cascades
by John W. Uhler - 07 September 1998 ©

Wildlife Seen on This Trip

Antelope, a bald eagle, buffalo, Canada geese, coyote, coots, ducks, elk, ground squirrels, mountain blue birds, mule deer, two osprey, three muskrats, the fun loving ever present ravens, a red fox, red tail hawks, five northern harriers, wolves - two wolves of the Druid Peak Pack.