Yellowstone Park and River - 7/16-20

What a rack! 

These elk were munching on lawns in Gardner, MT.  What a way to cut down on lawn mower gas fumes!

Upper falls

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Grizzly bear fuzzies

      On Friday, Laura was our gracious and experienced tour guide through parts of Yellowstone Park.  I had been on the main North to South road before, but hadn't gone off the beaten path to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  As the pictures show, it is very picturesque.  The canyon pictures are taken from Artist's Point which is the most photographed place in Yellowstone.  (Can't be too far off the beaten path!)  We drove a loop that included canyons, rivers, and large expanses of grassland.  This route doesn't take you by many of the spectacular "paint pots" but we will go there later.  Typical of Yellowstone and other national parks, we came around a corner to see traffic stopped in both directions and about 50 people on the side of the road taking pictures.  I included a picture from this cacaphony in the pictures above, that has a grizzly mother and two cubs.  I have cropped and zoomed in to pick up the bears in the photo, but they were so far away that the photo is pretty blury.  At first, I only thought about how stupid it is to just stop in the middle of the road and then get out of your car in the presence of a grizzly mother and cubs.  At any point she could have felt the need to protect her cubs and then someone would get hurt.  Later, while in a large parking lot at Canyon City, I was looking at the license plates on cars which reminded me that people travel from all over the world to see the park.   Most of these travelers only see animals in the zoo and seeing animals in their natural habitat may be a once in a lifetime phenomena that not everyone gets to experience.  I decided to be a little more understanding of the seemingly stupid decisions they make.
     I included a picture of a fly fisherman because he was so cute.  He is from Germany and obviously went to a store where he bought everything necessary to fly fish, including pants, shirt, vest, boots, hat, net, pole and reel, and I am sure a large assortment of flies.  He was having a ball.  I chuckle because I started fly fishing at a young age and it never dawned on me that I would need such fancy gear.  However, he was enjoying his "American" experience.  And I guess selling everything you could imagine to a tourist willing to spend the money is the American experience.
     After spending most of the day driving, we stopped at "Boiling River" for a hot springs soak.  This place has hot springs flowing into the Boiling River which is a normally cold river.  The current is very strong, and the entering hot springs are very hot - hot enough to remove your skin.  Everybody walks (stumbles) down the river to where they find a comfortable mix of hot and cold water.  We sat where I would get a wave of hotter water, and then a wave of colder water, keeping my temperature just right.  (Goldilocks would have loved it.)  You had to keep your feet anchored to the bottom or the current took you away.  Mike, who almost never floats, had problems with this and floated to the end of the rocked-in safety area and got out with the help of a woman there.  It's nice to know that even his heavy bones can float sometimes!  It was a wonderful way to end a touring day!
    We relaxed on Saturday, napping, reading and talking.  Then on Sunday, we rented float tubes and spent four hours floating on the Yellowstone River. It is a mostly peaceful river with a couple of white water bumps too small to qualify as rapids.   Laura used her inflatible kayak and was able to paddle circles around our tubes.  At the end, Mike and I held on to the kayak and she paddled and paddled as hard as she could to get us into shore.  I think that was above and beyond the call of duty for a hostess!  Once, when mother nature called, I stopped on the bank to enter some bushes.  As I did an enourmous swarm of bugs rose from the bushes just as I was taking in a breath.  Again, I ate about 5 or 6 bugs.  I am going to have to start keeping track of which bugs taste the best.
     We left Laura's car at the getting out place, and when we got there, she remembered that she left the keys in our truck parked at the getting in place.  Again, due to the kindness of locals, this was no problem.  Another couple was driving up to the same place to pick up their boat trailer and they gave us a ride to the truck.  For about two hours we had been watching a storm approach and hoping that we could get out before it arrived.  We just made it!  While driving the 10 miles to the truck, huge raindrops began falling.  Thunder and lightning illuminated the sky and woke up any sleeping insects and the wind roared down the valley.  Mike was sitting with the floating devices and had quite a time trying to keep all three from blowing away.  He also had to endure a lot of blowing dust.  It was powerful, and lasted all of twenty minutes. Then the sun returned.
    We have been hanging around at Laura's waiting for another sister, Eileen, to arrive on Wednesday.  I am sure that on Thursday we will have more grand adventures.  Until then we are just chilling out and enjoying it.

This isn't snow - it is mineral build up.

Boiling River

Hot springs source

Yellowstone River

On to Emigrant, Montana 7/15

     We left the Potosi Hot Springs and drove a back road to Bozman, a freeway to Livingston and then a highway down to Emigrant where Mike's sister lives.  The road first travels along the Madison River and through more enticing ranch country.  I know it is easy, when the sun is shinning and everything is so beautiful, to romanticize ranching.  Everything looks so peaceful and easy.  I don't tend to think about taking care of sick animals, feeding animals in the dead of winter, or seven days a week, lots and lots of animal poop or dealing with the stress of fluctuating income or lack of income.  But if I were to be a rancher, I would want to do so in this beautiful country.
     I did not know that there were pelicans that live in fresh water, but on the Madison River we saw many pelicans.  They are not very good at waiting for you to get your camera ready and posing for pictures.  While I got a few, most of the pelicans drifted away without any concern that they wouldn't make it on this blog.  I just don't understand!
     We spent some time in Livingston doing laundry and eating lunch.  It is a sweet small city in the sun, of course.  The highway from Livingston to Yellowstone Park follows the Yellowstone River through Paridise Valley which is quite aptly named.  Laura lives on a hill overlooking the valley and the river.  She sees eye-stretching mountains in every direction.  And the sunsets she sees are absolutely incredible.

This truck is not what you expect to see on a narrow dirt road!

Views from Laura's  home

Brother and sister carwash team!

The most wonderful of days! 7/14

This lady watched us for over an hour in camp.

We woke this morning to a cloudless cerilian blue sky and warm air.  We packed our breakfast in a fanny pack and walked the mile trail to the hot springs.  The trail meandered through meadows along a stream (not a brook or crick or creek).  We arrived at a small pool dug out on a hill looking over the valley.  We entered the pool and found a perfect temperature for soaking, about 101 degrees, and sat in the sun and enjoyed the views and the water for about an hour and a half.  The only person in sight the entire time was one grader operator on the road off in the distance.  The meadows had many flowers and boulders.  Below us was a marshy area with birds twittering about.  It was heaven. Bernie would sit with us for a few minutes and then go and explore.  Then he would check on us again and explore some more.  You could see contentment on his face.  (OK, maybe I am projecting.) When we were done, we sat on a boulder  and ate our breakfast while taking in the sights and sounds of the meadow.  Peace surrounded us in the beauty of nature.  We sauntered back to camp and relaxed in the sun.  Then, I took painting supplies up to a hill to paint the colors of the valley.  I am so intrigued with the combinations of flowers, sage brush and pine tree colors.  Mike brought a blanket and layed close by and read his book.  I painted until dinner time, and then we cooked some good spaghetti.  Mike tried fishing a little, and while he didn't catch anything he saw some large very dark fish close to camp.  I haven't seen this type before and we don't know what they are, but they aren't interested in the flies we have with us.  Smart fish!

Guard dog Bernie

He couldn't resist!  And after the thousands of times he has made circles and scratched at imaginary grass while getting ready to lay down, he finally got to scratch at real long grass and make a bed.

                                                 How deep is that pool?

Leaving Kalispell 7/12 and 7/13

Seely Lake

Mike in the water.

Working hard

These kids worked for a long time burying this boy.  They were so industrious and working so cooperatively that it was fun to watch.

    


We wrapped up our equipement trading tasks in Kalispell, said goodbye to Brian and Jackie who so graciously let us park by them and use their electricity and left to deliver the motorhome to the buyers in Wolf Creek, Montana.  I drove the motorhome while Mike drove the trailer and we drove to Seely Lake where we spent the night.  We drove through moutain canyons to the East side of the continential divide and as we did, the terain got dryer and dryer.  But even in the dry regions, the grass was still green and flowers were blooming as Montana had a very wet and late Spring this year.  I don't have many pictures to post, because I can't drive and take pictures at the same time.  I've tired, and I don't want to talk about it!
      We camped at Seely Lake which was only about three hours from Kalispell.  We talked with the campground hosts who were from South Dakota and have been hosting there for three years.  They stay the entire summer.  They have also hosted in Arizona, but said that those positions are very hard to come by as many snow birds snap them up for the free camp sites.  We told them we were a little jealous, as in Montana, campground hosts get full official looking uniforms while in Washington, we only got green vests and hats.  They laughed and said that they couldn't seem to land a place on the coast either.

       We went down by the lake to enjoy the sun.  A family had a boat pulled up on the sand and were about to take their kids waterskiing.  Mike yearned to waterski and worked up his courage to ask if they would take him.  Proving that it never hurts to ask, they said yes and took him out.  Mike used to waterski well but hadn't skied for many years.  He tried and tried, but couldn't get up.  It was very windy and he had trouble staying in position and the kind people with the boat didn't keep presure on the rope to help.  At least that is one of the possible reasons.  Parkinson's disease may have something to do with it too.  I am very proud of him for trying so hard! 

      The next day we left early and drove to Wolf Creek.  We went through beautiful ranch country with lots of cows and horses and even saw some antelope grazing on the side of the road. How rude to be there when I was driving and couldn't take pictures!  We got to the buyer's home and traded the motorhome for the check she had withdrawn from her 401k.  Then we drove 30 minutes into Helena to deposit the check.  And the bank wouldn't take the check.  I should have known that a third party check in that amount might pose some problems.  The sweet buyer immediately hopped in her car and drove to the bank.  Again, we have met the nicest people on this journey!

      We left, in one vehicle and drove  through more gorgeous farm country to Potosi hot springs near Pony, Montana. Many deserted farm houses and barns dot the land leaving me wondering about who lived there, when, how many children did they raise in that small space and why did they leave. One house, though on private property, was open to the public to walk around and did have a plaque explaining some of the history of the house.  We ambled and bumped down a dirt road 9 miles from Pony to a small, secluded  beautiful campground.  It is  nestled between mountain ridges in mixed pine, aspen, green grass and many flowers.  I love the combinations of blue-green, green and the purples and yellows of the flowers.  The weather was perfect, about 80 degrees and sunny.  We cooked some chicken on the fire, and played cribbage basking in nature's glory.  Tomorrow we will take the trail to the hotspring.

Even the grass is beautiful!

Pony, Montana