Lamar River Trail

In Yellowstone National Park, we hike along the Lamar River trail, where the pronghorn and the bison play. Or snooze,

or roll in the dust, as the case may be.

Our destination is Cache Creek.

The views along the way are unbeatable,

with the wildflowers in full bloom.

Back on the Lamar, Steve catches quite a few cutthroat trout.

He claims to have caught about 20 trout on one grasshopper imitation fly, the middle one in the group above.  It does look a little worse for wear, compared to the new ones.

Steve and a couple of fisherman share trade secrets on the river.
I took the photo of them from the road, where I waited for Steve to return.  As I sat there, a bear jam formed, with scopes pointed at the terrace directly above the fishermen.  A couple of grizzly rolled in the grass and lazed around, unaware of the fishermen, who were also unaware of them, a good situation for all.

Hiking Slough Creek

We first hiked Yellowstone's Slough Creek trail in 1977.

Slough Creek, first meadow

It hasn't changed much in all these years, except for an increase in fly fishermen.

Slough Creek, second meadow

Second meadow, reflection

The meadows are as beautiful,

the wildflowers as abundant.

Fish on!

The cuttthroat trout are still wary and a challenge to catch.

Every year, ducks raise their families in the river.

We've never seen anyone at the first meadow's ranger cabin, but we did meet a ranger on the trail this time.  Even though the Lamar River is more productive, fish-wise, the Slough Creek hike remains a favorite for its beauty and the memories.

Living Wild in Yellowstone

In Yellowstone National Park, a bear sighting causes extreme traffic congestion, fondly known as a bear jam. This time, we saw a black bear and cubs wandering through the sage near Tower Junction.

One curious cub stood on his hind legs for a better look at the tourist crowd.

A cub scampered up a tree.  The camera shot caught his legs standing on a branch.  He quickly jumped down and followed mom and his siblings into deep brush.  The bears were crossing behind a picnic area when sighted.  A ranger showed up and cautioned some of the more brazen tourists (who were already traipsing out into the sage) by shouting, "Do not pursue the bears!"  The tourists complied, albeit reluctantly.

Above is the osprey nest we saw last year, built in a dead tree snag.

The osprey came back to nest again, but this time they had bad luck.  The snag fell down, nest and all! One chick remained when we viewed the fallen nest last week. A tour guide told us the nest had fallen just a few days before.  The odds of the chick surviving on the ground until it's old enough to fledge (probably another week or two) must be low.

A coyote ghosted past a bison in Lamar Valley.

Then he trotted on through the herd.  The young bison looks as if he's giving chase.

Cooke City

On our recent trip to Yellowstone, we stayed in Cooke City, Montana, just outside the park.  Census records include the 10 square miles from Cooke City-Silvergate to the Yellowstone Park entrance.  The population density is 140, or 14 people per square mile!  Of course, that's year round population, not counting tourists. 

Originally, the community was called Shoo Fly, after the most properous mine in the area, and was later named Cooke City after a big mining investor.  Unfortunately, the mining bigwigs took all the profit and left the area polluted .... pretty much like what's happened all over the west in the last 100+ years.  An effort is underway to clean up the upper reaches of Soda Butte Creek, located just outside of the town.  That's a start, but a lot more work will be needed to restore the area to its pristine pre-mining condition. 

This is the office of the lodge we stayed in. 

Part of the main building is 100 years old.  A huge cable inside holds up one weight bearing wall.  That made me a little nervous, but an employee said it's been that way for years.

Our actual accommodation was this cabin.  It's 50's vintage all the way.

Someone appeared to be living in a caboose. 

Here's another old lodge, this one no longer in business.  In fact, the building itself appears to be on the verge of falling down. 

The Cooke City General Store, the oldest structure in town, is still in operation. 

Cooke City hosts Yellowstone auto tourists all summer, and provides food and lodging for snowmobilers that come from the east via the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway in winter.  The only winter auto access is through Yellowstone National Park from Gardiner, Montana. Judging by the several "for sale" signs on local establishments, it's not an easy life.   The winters are long, and crowds are slim in the fall/spring off-seasons.

I wonder about the distance accuracy, but the point might be that Cooke City is a long way from anywhere.  Notice the blue phone sign above the arrows.  Yes, they still have a pay phone in town.  Wi-fi is available, but for some reason it's a cell phone dead zone. 





Lamar River

Last week, we were back in Yellowstone.  Above are the meadows along Soda Butte Creek, with peaks of the Beartooth Range rising in the background. 

Steve practiced his fishing skills again, mostly along the Lamar River.

Quite a few 14-18 inch cutthroat trout succumbed to the siren call of his homemade dry flies. 

Since our last trip, he has been busily tying a supply of simply irresistible dry flies, the exact identity of which he is unwilling to reveal here.  (Hint:  not a hopper pattern.  And absolutely no night crawlers. Also, he insists that I report that he did not stoop to nymphing.)

As usual, he released all trout to be caught another day. The cutthroat left a swirl of water and a trail of silt behind him as he scooted off, stage right. 
Yellowstone fishing rules now require the release of all trout with any cutthroat markings.

Numerous pronghorn antelope graze in the Lamar Valley.  (The buildings in the background are the old Buffalo Ranch, now called the Yellowstone Institute.)

These graceful creatures will take off running sometimes, apparently just for the fun of it.  A couple of tourists, excited to share, told us these were elk.  Sadly, we had to disillusion them.  They seemed just as happy to have spotted a couple of pronghorns.

A group of common mergansers floated along the river.

Here's the osprey nest we saw last trip.  The young osprey have fledged, but we saw a couple of them flying back to the nest, probably checking to see if mom and dad had brought any snacks home lately.

Along Slough Creek, we spotted this badger peeking out of his burrow.

Look at that bull bison shamelessly goosing a cow right in front of all the tourists.  Why, some of them might have been impressionable children!  How rude.

This calf decided it was lunch time.  Neither he nor mom cared if they stopped traffic while he enjoyed a long drink. 

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.