The last time I was in Yellowstone National Park was 15 years ago. On that trip, I had detailed lists of everything I wanted to see and do and what time of day to go to each location for the best lighting. By contrast, on this trip I have only a vague idea of which direction I want to head each day and am leaving the rest up to whatever I feel like doing at the time. Spontaneity isn’t usually my style, but I’m learning to embrace it!
All of that to say that today my only plan was to visit the Lamar Valley and Mammoth Hot Springs. I set out early this morning at 6 o’clock (because after waking up at 3AM, what else was I going to do?) and headed to the Lamar Valley. This area is known for its abundant wildlife and herds of bison.
Since animals are most active at dawn and dusk, I knew being in the park early would give me the best chance to see wildlife. And I did! I saw bison aplenty, elk, ground squirrels, bighorn sheep, and a black wolf (sadly, the wolf was too far away to get a good photo, even with my telephoto lens). I stopped to soak in the scenery in the beautiful Lamar Valley and made several stops for photos along the route from Gardiner to the northeast entrance of the park, near Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana.
Despite having a cherry fritter with chocolate frosting and a yogurt in my room this morning before I left, I arrived in Cooke City quite hungry. I had originally wanted to stop for a huckleberry shake in Silver Gate, but I couldn’t rationalize a milkshake at 10:00AM. I could, however, rationalize a second breakfast. Yes, you read that correctly. Some days, one breakfast just isn’t enough. The Bearclaw Bakery was just the place. There were two wooden high top tables out front and I waited just a few minutes for one of them to clear. With a view of the Absaroka mountains and the quaint “downtown” of Cooke City (population 140), I can’t imagine a better setting to enjoy my grilled sourdough with fig preserves, ham, and brie cheese.
I drove back to Gardiner after my second breakfast because it was getting hot and I needed to change into shorts and I forgot to bring my sunscreen with me this morning. The temperatures here are cool overnight – it was in the low 50s when I left this morning – but warm up into the 80s by afternoon. By the time I was ready to head out again, the sun was almost nonexistent thanks to the smoke and haze in the air.
The afternoon found me taking a quick walk around Gardiner (it’s not very big) and then exploring the travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. The otherworldly formations are created by limestone dissolving in hot springs underground and the formations themselves as well as the runoff from them vary in color from white to “gold” to brown. The walk around the lower terraces is about 1.5 miles in addition to the climb to the overlook. I made a brief stop after my walk to take pictures of the elk in the village of Mammoth and then headed back to Gardiner for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at The Corral, a local Gardiner favorite for their wide variety of burgers (think bison and elk along with traditional beef). I stuck with beef and a semi-sweet cider from Seattle Cider. I’m not normally a big red meat eater, but the burger really hit the spot! A scoop of huckleberry ice cream was the perfect dessert to round out the day. I’m planning to crawl into bed and catch up on last night’s episode of Big Brother before calling it a night.
Traveling with Laura 