SIT Meets a Wolf Close-up and personal

We headed out of Alpine Wyoming the morning of May 22^nd with our destination being Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone National Park.

It had been since 1996 since I had toured through the Park with Mom and Steve had never been here so we were looking forward to it and hopefully seeing a lot of wildlife.  You have to keep reading to see what I mean about the title of this post!

The drive from Alpine was wonderful and the Tetons were just glowing with snow and their size.  We stopped to take a picture since they were just begging for it!

 

 

We arrived in the early afternoon and got settled. The weather wasn’t supposed to be very nice the next couple of days so we headed to Cody to check things out and tour the Buffalo Bill museum.  We had Thursday afternoon and most of Friday to see the sites.  We decided it was well worth it and the drive out of the park was wonderful.  There are a number of great places to go camping along the way in the Shoshone National Forest in case any of you ever get to this area.

The museum in Cody was huge and our feet were tired at the end of the day.  We did take a break and took the Cody Trolley tour which was fun and allowed Izzy to come along!!

Waiting for the trolley

 

Friday morning we headed to the Old Trail Town and Museum of the Old West first.  Steve had a great time seeing the old buildings and reading the history.  I have to admit I enjoyed it too!  It makes you wonder what life would have been like back in the late 1870’s through early 1900’s…….

 

Early Home Decorations

Old Trail Town Buildings

I'm Glad we have the 5th Wheel

Picture of Curley and Custer

Curley's Cabin

Trappers Stuff

The General Store that supplies anything!

I can come get coffee if we run out

Still has supplies but they are a bit stale

Tory in front of Hole in the Wall Gang Cabin

Well Known Cowboys buried here now

Jeremiah Johnson's Grave

Steve thankful we have the Dodge!

 

 

 

The School House

 

 

The desks don't look very comfortable

Glad I don't know how to sew

 

The Transportation

Tells you all about it

 

 

When we left the Old Trail Town we returned to the Buffalo Bill Museum and finished touring the sections.  If you ever come here you will want to break it up over at least two days and where really comfortable shoes.  The displays are great and provide just the right amount of information. We took a few pictures from within so you can get an idea of the quality of exhibits.  Seeing this museum sort of closed a circle for us as we were able to visit Buffalo Bill’s Scout Ranch in North Platte Nebraska one time when we took Mom there to visit her brother. Now that was a beautiful ranch.

Buffalo Bill talks to you

The Buffalo Hunter Camp

Plains Indian Tipi

Elk Sculpture makes me feel pretty small

Just one of the wonderful displays in the museum

 

Our drive back to the park was great too since we took a different route. We ventured on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway to enter the park on the northeast corner.  What a gorgeous drive and we encourage you to come see this part of Wyoming – you will not be disappointed.

The Stop on the Highway where the Nez Perce traveled

This area is also known as Dead Indian Pass

 

The road from the top

Just one of the views along the way

This is called Antelope Mountain

 

 

 
After entering the park we of course had to stop and stand there and stare at the view.  Oh we also ran into some bison (not literally!).  I had an opportunity to take the pictures but the one that was special was this little guy getting some fast food – they were getting ready to cross the road so mama was walking while he was eating!

Dinner time

 

Slow down Mommy so I can eat

 

 

Izzy enjoyed looking out the windows at them too, although we just tell her they are big doggies but she can’t play with them!

Can I go play, please??

The weather didn’t provide warmth but it was good enough for us to travel around the park and check out all of the special places.

Looks like you could eat it

Terraced geyser

Blue and steamy

 

 

Desolate but beautiful

 

The trees didn't survive

Blue water is inviting but a tad too hot

Color at the bottom of the hot water

Almost looks like a starfish and some coral

You could boil vegetables if you wanted to

The view from the Mud Volcano

This spring was roaring and pretty amazing

 

We toured the Norris Geyser Basin and were able to see one of the geysers going off.  It was tame compared to a photograph they had from years ago and you can see a man running away as fast as he could – guess he didn’t want a hot shower!

This could be your swimming pool naturally heated!

Tame compared to what it once did

 

Stinky Geyser not Geezer

 

We did the traditional visit to Old Faithful and Steve shot some footage of it going off while I took a couple of pictures.  It was surprisingly crowded already!

Old Faithful

 

We then toured the Firehole area and took in the Firehole Falls. Some pretty country in this area.

Firehole Falls

We missed it going off but quite the contrast from the Firehole Falls

We visited Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It is well hidden but worth taking time to see that part of the park as well.  We were amazed at the geology in that canyon, not mention the river!  Too bad we couldn’t fish while we were there!

Yellowstone Falls

The viewpoint for the Falls oh and Steve!

The path of the Falls

 

We were able to get a few pictures of wildlife other than bison. The elk were out, a couple of grizzly bears, and even a wolf.

Getting a drink

Grazing along

A lone grizzly bear

 

 
You see one of the days we decided to take a little hike from a picnic area to give Izzy a chance to sniff and explore so we headed out. We weren’t on a trail and were just following along a tree line heading towards a meadow and some rolling hills. Fearless Steve with his trusty walking stick was in the lead, Izzy was oblivious to us as she was in heaven sniffing out all the scents, and I was keeping an eye on both of them when Steve suddenly stopped and got Izzy’s attention. He had me place Izzy on her leash and then he said “there’s a wolf” over that ridge. I worked my way close to Steve and then past and sure enough there was a wolf laying down looking over the meadow that lay below him.  Steve wanted to work his way around to get closer for a better picture but just as he started to walk again the wolf stood up and looked over at us. I know we used deodorant and took showers but apparently he smelled us anyway.

I kept Izzy on the leash and stayed there while fearless Steve walked to where the wolf had been laying down. You see once he stood up he decided to head down the hill and disappeared into some trees.  I being the smart, intelligent, and not as fearless person stayed put with Izzy.  I wanted to make sure it was long gone before we approached the wolf laying area. I finally spotted it again and it was leaving the area but kept looking back at us. He definitely was keeping an eye on us. Go figure, he didn’t trust us either!  We finished our hike and headed back to the truck. So when you look at this picture, believe it or not there is a wolf there!

The Guardian is there, just not up close!

 

Overall our week in Yellowstone was great and we drove all but 23 miles of road within the park. From a beauty standpoint, we think the Lamar Valley is spectacular which is what you see from the drive entering the park at the northeast entrance, but you can’t beat the wildlife!

Izzy on the other hand thought every place she could play was spectacular. I think she has gills as she thinks the water is nothing but a playground!

Getting Ready

Success! Can we do it some more please??!!

 

We left Yellowstone on May 29^th to head to Island Park Idaho (Henry’s Lake) to hook up with friends and hopefully catch some fish!