A Day in Yellowstone Park June 30th, 2026, a really stupid tourist

We arrived home from Alpine and the next day loaded up and left for Buffalo Bill State Park and the Cody Wild West Show. It was an easy five-hour drive, and we arrived at the State Park about three pm. Setting up at our campsite we talked about spending the next day on an auto tour of the eastern half of Yellowstone National Park. Our favorite drive is up the Chief Joesph Highway. It’s a drive on good roads that is not for the acrophobic. The highway goes up and up until you reach Dead Indian Point. It was named for a wounded member of the Nez Pierce tribe that had been wounded in a battle with the US Calavry.

From that point you can see the place where the detachment, landslide, took place that moved sixty miles forming Heart Mountain and Sheep Mountain. It was the greatest landslide of all time and was caused by the explosion of a massive stratovolcano, (if you have you-tube look up Myron Cooke and the greatest landslide of all time). From there we headed down the switchbacks, narrowly missing a golden eagle, and then drove to the intersection of the Beartooth Highway.

Crossing the deep Clark's Fork Canyon. we stopped for pictures.

Turning west, we reached Cooke City and then Silver Gate. It’s near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park, (we later learned we had just missed a grizzly bear roaming around Silver Gate). Entering Yellowstone Park, we stopped at a wildlife jamb where people were watching Mountain Goats. The mountainside had numerous patches of snow, and the goats were hard to see, being white. Several photographers with lenses larger than mine said the goats were too far away to see any details. I looked anyway but did not take any images.

Entering the Lamar Valley, we passed small buffalo herds with lots of red dogs. They were energetic and while I wanted to take some pictures we couldn’t find a decent parking place.

Continuing on, Renita spotted several antelopes, a family of Sandhill Cranes and more Buffalo. We drove down Slough Creek Road, but the wolves had left the den site. Returning to the Lamar Road, we passed an Eagle nest with young but there were no available parking spaces.

Turning west toward the new bridge we encountered our first bear jamb. It was a large Cinnamon Black bear busy catching a lunch of gophers. I got a few decent pictures. If you look closely, you can see the lack of a hump and the triangular shaped ears characteristic of black bears.

Crossing the new bridge, we looked far down on the Yellowstone River. At Rosevelt Lodge we turned left to Canyon Tower. Lots of orange cones spoke of a bear(s), in the area but they must have been napping.

Before we crossed Dunraven pass we encountered another bear jamb. This was on narrow road and there we saw one of the stupidest tourists we have ever seen. He stopped in the middle of the road, got out of his car and walked within ten feet of the black bear. Taking a picture with his cell phone he returned to his car and drove off. I was so surprised at his stupidity I forgot to take a picture of him for our blog. Before we reached Hayden Valley, we next got caught in a Bison jamb.

The huge bull stopped traffic, blocked the narrow road and at one point stopped in front of our car and glared at us. If you blow up the picture you can see the reflection of our Suburu in hs eye! Luckily it kept its tail down and let us pass, (if you ever see a bison raise its tail and it starts to twirl it is getting ready to charge)! Crossing Dunraven pass it was another thirty minutes of stop and go traffic. We arrived at the Mud Volcanoes where we got caught up in another slow-moving traffic jamb. It took over thirty minutes of stop and go until we arrived at the Hayden Valley.

The reason for the jamb, was a large grizzly bear sleeping under a tree. After we parked it woke up, left the shade, and started to forage for tubers in a large open field of arrowhead balsam.

The bear was about three hundred yards away, but we still got some good pictures, (note the rounded ears, noticeable hump,for digging, also note the radio collar), and the concave face.

Our next stop was at Le Hardy Rapids where we watched the Harlequin ducks chase each other in the swift turbulent water.

It wasn’t much further to the Fishing Bridge and Sylvan Pass. We did not see the Bighorn Sheep, often present at the Pass, or any more bears of other wildlife. It had been a great day with three bears, lots of beautiful scenery, and many bison. Clear skies

Three Days In Yellowstone Park, with the wildlife cooperating

After studying the landslide detachment, we headed into Yellowstone. Pilot Point was ahead of us, (it was a waypoint for pilots to get their bearings),, when Renita spotted two Red Tailed Hawks perching in a tree alongside the road’.

I pulled over and she jumped out, heading closer for a better picture. Deciding she was having too much fun I grabbed my camera, after parking, and joined her. As I approached one of the red tails flew off and it was soon joined by the other, Both if us got great shots of the hawks in flight.

Driving through Cooke City we reached the entrance, and not long afterwards cars and people were pulling over. The attraction was several small groups of Mountain Goats. The problem was that they were so far away that all of our pictures were mediocre at best.

As we watched them a mule deer doe and her two fawns came out behind us as if to see what everyone was watching.

We didn’t see much else, so we continued driving along the Lamar Valley. Large herds of buffalo filled the valley. Nearing Slough Creek, a large group was watching a black bear looking for food. We both got out and one of my pictures caught the young bear and the light just right. It’s one of my best black bear pictures this year.

Many people were looking north toward the place where the Slough Creek Wolf Pack had denned. Parking we talked with several of the wolf watchers, and one told us that there were five new wolf pups lying in a small copse of trees. He set up his spotting scope and allowed us to look for them When it was our turn to use his scope I saw two running thought the shadows and Renita saw three.

The wolves must have laid down in the shade and so we headed west and then south as we drove e across the Yellowstone River to Roosevelt Junction. From there we continued to Canyon Tower. There were warning cones at one spot but there were no bears or car jams so we continued. We headed to Hayden Valley, where we saw many buffalo and a grizzly bear with two cubs feeding. They were on the other side of the river, at an extreme distance, but I did get one shot that showed the hump, It was definitely a grizzly.

We had heard that Harlequin Ducks were again at Le Hardy Rapids.

Upon stopping we discovered that not only were the Harlequin ducks there, but a huge hatch of salmon flies was occurring.

The two and a half inch insects were flying and crawling everywhere. Som of the others screamed as they thought the harmless bugs were dangerous. We shook our heads, the bugs are harmless, and wished we had a Yellowstone fishing license as the trout had to be in a feeding frenzy. At the fishing bridge, we turned and saw nothing else until reaching Buffalo Bill State Park.

A few days later Renita got great pictures of a herd of bighorn sheep and a cow and calf moose at Sylvan Lake,

(which is at Sylvan Pass).

Any day in Yellowstone is a delight and this trip, we got to spend three days in the park! Clear skies

Yellowstone 2024 Grizzlies and a New Life Bird

Each year we look forward to the Cody, Wyoming Wild West Arts Festival. It’s three days of parades and fun and we set up our booth to sell our Jewelry. We always plan on a few extra days to enjoy the surrounding area by making day trips to Yellowstone National Park. This year was an exceptional year as we spotted a new bird for a life list and encountered three grizzly bears. Our friends Fred and Becky had already made a trip to Yellowstone and had encountered several Harlequin ducks. These ducks are small sea ducks that nest in areas with rapids. They had told us that the ducks were located at Le Hardy Rapids. As we drove through Yellowstone, I spotted the sign for the rapids, and we parked in the lot hoping that the Harlequinn ducks were still there. As we walked down the short trail, we could see them perched and resting on a flat rock! We were both elated to see the beautiful ducks and told other visitors, (they did not seem terribly impressed, definitely not birders).

Continuing our drive, we hoped to see some black bears and perhaps a grizzly. The day before we had encountered a bear jam where a sow and her new coy, (new cub of the year), put on a show. The bear has been given the name Raspberry and her new cub is called Snow. The sow was grazing in open spaces between fallen trees and it was comical watching the cub keeping up with mamma bear. Raspberry didn’t have any problems crossing the log jams, but each fallen tree was an almost insurmountable problem for the little cub. It would pull itself up and then lose its balance as it fell off the fallen timber.

Still, it managed to tag along, and we watched them for forty-five minutes before they disappeared in a cove of fallen timber. The next day we drove back but just missed the pair and so we headed to the Hayden Valley and Lamar Valleys. We didn’t see any bears at Hayden Valley, but it was filled with Buffalo.

Many of the bull bison were dusting themselves in dried wallows to give them some relief from insects. At one spot the bull was very near the road, and it glared at us as we quickly stopped to take its picture.

Forgetting us it rolled over in the dried ground creating a cloud of dust!

What a sight. We decided it was time to go even though we were at least twenty-five yards away, which is the required distance to safely view the huge animals. Passing Canyon Village and Tower Junction we decided to drive up the Lamar Valley looking for bears and wolves. The valley was full of buffalo herds, but we didn’t spot much else. However a coyote posed right next to the road.

Further on we used our binoculars to glass the canyon walls and spotted several mountain goats. They were so far away that you really couldn’t see much, just a white goat shaped object. Reaching the Northeast entrance we passed through Cooke City and then Silver Gate. As we left Siver Gate we saw about twenty people watching something.

The something was the largest Grizzly bear we have seen in quite a while. It was grazing about one hundred yards away and we didn’t get a great image as it was surrounded by bushes. It finally disappeared into the brush and several people decided that they would try to push the bear back into an open area for more pictures. What could go wrong? We decided to leave as we didn’t like their idea. Continuing we turned right and drove the Chief Joesph Highway. At a rest area you can walk out to enjoy the view of a steep and narrow canyon. It had been a great two days with new life birds and a huge grizzly bear. Of course, any trip into Yellowstone is always filled with memories of wildlife and scenic views to calm ones soul. Clear skies

Chief Joesph Highway and driving thru Yellowstone Park

Having arrived at Cody early, we had another extra day, so we decided to take a drive along the Chief Joesph Highway. It would take us to Cooke City, Silver Gate and then into Yellowstone and the Lamar Valley. From there we would head south at Tower Junction. Lastly, we would head south to the Fishing Bridge and turn toward the East Gate, ending at Buffalo Bill State Park.

Having already driven the Chief Joesph highway before, we anticipated the steep grade to Dead Indian Pass, (ten degrees). Stopping at the pass we didn’t expect to be swarmed by chipmunks looking for handouts. At one point a chip monk tried to jump on Renita’s shoe!

With thought of rabies and black death, from fleas, Renita quickly discouraged them. No handouts from us. Wild animals should eat wild food not processed junk food that people eat. The view from the pass was spectacular. A series of steep switchback after switchback finally promised to take us to Cooke City before we turned to Silver Gate and Yellowstone, (the rule is to not ride your brakes, and to use low gear if you are a big rig. I would not recommend Towing anything up or down this pass). As we continued our drive towards the park, Pilot Peak beckoned.

It’s an example of a Matterhorn type mountain formed when three glacial cirques grind back to meet at a point. Along the way we spotted a Coopers Hawk as it caught a chipmunk and flew to a perch carrying its prey. There it dined on fresh meat. The bird did not like us trying to take its picture and our images were not what we had hoped. Entering the Park, we stopped at a traffic jam caused by mountain Goats high above us.

They were so far away that they were simply small white dots. Moving on we came upon a black bear feeding on the grass in an open field. Black bears can be hard to photograph on a sunny day as the shadows can make catching details difficult.

We passed numerous buffalo herds along the way. Many of the turnouts were occupied by bear and wolf watchers who sat in lawn chairs as they waited for an appearance. Almost all had spotting scopes aimed at the distant ridge lines. Last year a massive flood occurred in the Northern part of Yellowstone and in places the road had been reduced to one lane of traffic. In one stretch the Lamar Road had been completely washed away and a landslide had blocked it with a jumbled mess of boulders, mud, and downed trees.

Reaching Slough Creek we took a short gravel road to glass a wolf den but the wolves had already left with their pups, (best time to watch them is in early May and the first part of June as the pack abandons the den when the pups can travel). Crossing one of the most dangerous bridges over the Yellowstone River, (the sides are crumbling). It’s slated to be replaced and work has already started on the new approach but who knows when it will be done, (I try to stay away from politics, but Congress just cut all of the National Parks construction budgets in the latest debt ceiling fight). Reaching Tower Junction, we had just turned towards Tower Falls, Hayden Valley, and the Fishing Bridge, when we ran into two cars stopped and pointing at an animal.

Renita spotted a small black bear and then a large cinnamon black.

A little further she then spotted another yearling cub. We turned around for more photographs and I cursed myself for forgetting our six hundred mm zoom lens. The three bears created a nice traffic jam as they ate grass and clover in along the roadside. I got yelled at by a driver, (saying I was an asshole, but I have been called much worse during my career as a high school teacher), as I stopped so Renita could get the pictures. Four bears in a day!

Rounding a bend four buffalo stood in the ditch alongside the road! We were the first vehicle in line, and they all decided to pass us by walking down the whole road! They were so close that we could have reached out to pet them on either side of our small car, but we know not to pet the fluffy cows! We could see one buffalo’s eyes as it looked at us but luckily decided not to attack our car. It would have made short work of our Subaru Forester. Driving on we climbed over Dunraven Pass, passed Hayden Valley, Sulphur Canyon, and the Mud Volcanoes. Stopping to glass for bears we only spotted more fluffy cows and a few elk. Our next turn was at the Fishing Bridge.

The next stretch was along the northeast shore of Yellowstone Lake, and we again stopped to look for bears. There are several grizzly bears that live along this section of the road, but we never spotted them. Crossing Sylvan Pass, we left Yellowstone Park and finally reached our campsite at Buffalo Bill State Park. It had been a beautiful day with clear skies, great birding, bear watching, and scenic views. We are blessed to live so close to places that are often on other’s bucket lists. Clear skies

A short trip up the South Fork of the Shoshone River

We had two extra days before our show setup in Cody, so we decided to explore some new territory, the South Fork of the Shoshone River. Setting out with our flyrods, cameras, binoculars, a picnic lunch and a Wyoming Highway map we felt good. What I forgot to do was to download the Onx hunt map of the river. That would have told us the land status of the area. Driving into Cody we turned right onto Highway 291, (the first part of the expedition was along Cedar Mountain. It was south of us, and it is an area where we purchased rock from a local miner. He has a Variscite claim, and we had bought three pounds at a hundred dollars a pound. Having sold only a few pieces we hoped our exploration would help us with a new story to tell, (It did). After all we don’t sell just jewelry, we sell stories and that’s the key to our success. At first the highway followed alongside the south shore of Buffalo Bill Reservoir, but it turned south and became a road marked as Southfork Road /6WX, leaving Cedar Mountain behind. To our southeast was Carter Mountain and to the north was Sheep Mountain.

Passing public access roads to the mountain and because rain threatened, we decided to pass on the dirt roads, (which were dried muddy ruts, (not good for a low clearance car).

At one point we passed a rockslide that had covered the road but had been cleared and rebuilt. A little further we saw a Historic Marker that told the story of Castle Rock.

It was first discovered and named Castle Rock by John Colter. He was the first white mountain man to explore the area, explore Yellowstone and the Tetons.

It’s one example of a erosional remnant that forms many spires on both sides of the mountains to the northwest.

The water in the river was stained and muddy as a small tributary was pouring mud filled water into the main river. So much for any fly fishing. We also passed signs warning that grizzly bears inhabited the area from April till November, but we never saw any. Small herds of antelopes and several sandhill cranes posed unconcerned by our presence, (it wasn’t hunting season).

The road crossed the river and we decided to turn around. We were close to where the road changed to gravel and then degraded to a four-wheel drive road. If we had our four-wheel drive truck with much higher clearance, we would have continued but I am cautious on first trips on unknown roads.Next was an area called the Ishwood Hills, pictured above. Just over the Mountain was Yellowstone National Park, an area called the Thoroughfare. It is so remote that when in it you are the farthest from any road you can be, when in the lower forty-eight states.

Finally turning around, and it was an uneventful but scenic drive back to our campsite. Now we had new stories to tell. We promise our customers, and all who stop to look at our handmade jewelry that we can tell the story of every stone, (although a few can be a very short tale). Clear skies