Along the Streams of Yellowstone

Much of our Yellowstone trip was spent fishing - well, Steve was fishing, not me.  Above, Steve brings in a fish on Slough Creek. 

I took pictures of the reflections,

the frogs (about 2 inches long),

the forest service cabin,

and the wagons bringing tourists back and forth from the Silver Tip Dude Ranch, located in Montana, just outside the park border.  The old Slough Creek wagon road is still used to bring supplies and tourists to the ranch.

Here's an 18 inch cutthroat trout that Steve caught on Soda Butte Creek in Lamar Valley. 

After showing it off, he carefully returned it to the stream in good condition.
I took pictures of sandhill cranes,

green-wing Teals,

Canada geese hanging out on a placid oxbow,

bison,

and pronghorn antelope.  The hills were hazy due to smoke from the fires much of the time, but we had a good experience anyway.

Yellowstone Wildlife

On our travels through Yellowstone National Park last week, conditions were hazy from fires. 

Here you can see smoke rising from the Druid fire in the NE corner of the park.

We saw plenty of wildlife.  Above is a video of a black bear that was hanging out eating berries near the Slough Creek trailhead. 

A deer and her two fawns stopped to have a look at us as we walked along an old wagon road. 

This osprey nest was just off the road to the NE entrance of the park.  The four chicks are about ready to fly. 

A pronghorn antelope waded across the Lamar River. 

A (blue?) grouse crossed our path as we were hiking.

Of course there were the requisite buffalo (bison) jams,

and one buffalo skull hiding amidst the remains of summer grass and wildflowers.
We have lots more photos, but this is enough for one post.  Fortunately, we were not hiking in the Canyon area of the park where a grizzly attack occured last week.  We always hike with bear pepper spray at the ready, which appeared to be the salvation of those hikers.