It's Getting Warmer...

(Posting for Monday, June 9th)

Last night was a great night at the Lake Hotel Cabins. Most everyone stayed up late reading. It’s hard to adjust to the time here – the sun is up by 5:30am and it really doesn’t get dark until well after 9pm. I awoke to the wonderful smell of fresh brewed coffee from our traveling coffee pot – perhaps the most important piece of gear we pack in the van. After a cup of coffee, Taylor and I headed over the General Store at Fishing Bridge to pick up some bacon and eggs for everyone. It took about 45 minutes for the General Store to whip up our order, and after a while we were back at the cabin so everyone could enjoy breakfast. (If you’ve ever considered a career as a waiter/waitress or fry cook, your national parks need you NOW. We’ve discovered that most of the help in the restaurants in Yellowstone don’t speak good English, and don’t know how to cook anything in less than 30 minutes…). I’m all for keeping parks natural, but I would gladly sacrifice a few lodgepole pines for a Starbucks or a Waffle House…

After breakfast, the Gray clan headed West to West Thumb. We caught a quick ranger talk and checked out the various thermal features at West Thumb. We had a great ranger to chat with at West Thumb. She and her husband are both retired, but have been working in Yellowstone for the past couple of summers for a little excitement.

The weather was improving (temp in the mid 50’s and sunny), so we decided to try our luck at a picnic. We stopped at one picnic area directly on Lake Yellowstone, but it was just too windy and cold, so we pressed on. We finally decided on the picnic area at Gull Point Drive. When we pulled in, the temp was bearable, it was sunny, and there was no wind. By the time we had sandwiches made and everyone was around the picnic table, the temp had dropped 10 degrees, and clouds and wind rolled in with a vengeance. Welcome to Yellowstone…

After a hurried lunch, we decided to head on to the Canyon area. During our drive through Hayden Valley, we came upon another bear jam at a grizzly bear sighting. Once at Canyon, we checked out the movie and the exhibits at the Visitor Center. We also noticed that Dunraven Pass (the road from Canyon to Tower) was finally open – this road usually opens the Friday before Memorial Day, but was yet another victim to the unusually heavy winter snow pack. Since Dunraven Pass was open, we decided to venture North to the Tower area. As we crossed Dunraven Pass, we were amazed at how deep the snow was along the road – most road signs were still covered. We had hoped to hike Mt. Washburn during our visit, but since the parking lot for the trail still had 8+ feet of snow covering it, I guess that will have to wait for another trip.

Once in Tower Falls, we checked out the falls and got some ice cream at the General Store. We happened to meet a gentlemen working there who was from Hattiesburg. He said he and his wife had been coming to Yellowstone for the past 3 summers with another couple they knew from Tupelo – all retirees looking to do something interesting for the summer. As we left Tower Falls, we hit another small traffic jam. Two mountain goats were on a hill above the roadway – kicking loose rocks on to the roadway as they moved about above. We got some good pics and then dodged the falling rocks to make our way on to Tower Junction.

We stopped for a quick trail along the way. The trail worked its way along the canyon for a short while. On the trail, we first noticed another mountain goat on the opposite wall of the canyon. Then we noticed a baby mountain goat (a kidd?) heading towards mama goat. Then we noticed 2 more baby goats. We had fun watching all 3 baby goats jumping and playing. Then we caught a glimpse of daddy goat on his way back towards his family. We all made jokes about dad being home from work, the kids greeting him at the door, and mama goat grumbling about what she was going to fix for dinner…

After our quick hike, we headed on the Petrified Tree before turning to head back towards our Cabin at Lake. The weather at Tower was great – high 50’s, lots of sun, little or no snow on the ground. We hit a little snow crossing Dunraven Pass on the way back to Lake, but generally had good weather.

We had a quiet evening at our cabin at Lake. The kids had some dinner, and Steph and I cracked open one of the bottles of red wine we had picked up before we left Cody last week. It wasn’t a great bottle of wine, but it tasted great out of our plastic Target wine glasses after a long day. I had hoped to pick up some decent red wine when we were in Cody, but I guess I shouldn’t have shopped at Whiskey River – the liquor store next to our hotel. Their competitive advantage seemed to be a drive thru window and free ice – not a good selection. At most, they probably stocked 8 different varieties of red wine. The liquor store in Macon has a much better selection, but we made do with what we could get…

The forecast for tomorrow should be interesting. In Canyon, the forecast is for another 3-7 inches of snow. At Lake, there’s a decent chance of rain in the afternoon. Hopefully, we will miss it all as we head south to the Tetons in the morning, where we are expecting good weather. We’ll be back in Yellowstone by the weekend – the highs are expected to climb into the 60’s over the weekend, so we’re hoping for good weather on our return.

That’s all for now. We continue to amass pictures, which we will get into cyberspace when we are able…