JUNE 9th LAMAR VALLEY

June 9th Lamar Valley

Well, we started out today where we left off yesterday: Slough Creek. This time instead of hiking, Chick tried his hand at fishing.  And I wandered the area looking at wildflowers.

PRONGHORN

SANDHILL CRANES HEADING FOR THE HILLS!

  Once again no fish wanted to sacrifice itself to our dinner table, so we headed on down the Lamar Valley.

CHICK FISHING ON THE SLOUGH CREEK

Stopping to investigate several park rangers stopped on the side of the road, we discovered they were in the process of hauling a bison that had been killed on the road over to the banks of the river to serve as a banquet for other valley creatures.  Not a job I would have enjoyed.  Those bison are HUGE,

CREW HAULING THE BISON CARCASS TO THE RIVERBANK

Meandering through the valley we ended up at Cooke City, Montana just outside the northeast entrance of the park, and nestled at the base of the Absorka /Beartooth Mountains.  Years ago we camped in this little western town and sort of feel like we are coming back to visit friends.

COOKE CITY, MT

WORLD FAMOUS BEARTOOTH CAFE

CHECKING OUT THE LIST OF BEERS AVAILABLE

THEY HAD A FEW VARIETIES OF BEER TO CHOOSE FROM!

THE ONE I CHOSE

MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW!

  We had lunch at the Beartooth Café (where once upon a time we were having dinner when all the power went out!) and then drove up the Bear Tooth Scenic highway heading east.  We drove a short distance, said “Hi” to the beartooth peak, and then headed back.  Not enough time to take the Chief Joseph Highway to the “Top of the World”…sadly.  Hard to miss such a magnificent experience but we were running out of time.

BEARTOOTH MOUNTAIN in the ABSAROKA RANGE

WATERFALL FROM ON HIGH

SEE WATERFALL IN LOWER RIGHT

Just before re-entering Yellowstone we stopped for some outstanding Wilcoxsen’s ice cream in Silvergate.

We struck out looking for mountain goats and decided their “contract” with the park didn’t start until June 15^th as they were AWOL at all their normal places.

Next stop was a short walk up Pebble Creek Canyon to show Chick the storm damage and what a beautiful creek it was.  We talked to the Campground hosts who were setting up and had been coming there for 17 years!

PEBBLE CREEK

PEBBLE CREEK CANYON

Even though there was a storm brewing all around, we stopped to see if any of the Lamar Valley residents had begun to dine on the bison carcass, but only ravens were to be seen.

RAVENS FEASTING ON THE BISON CARCASS 

As we went through Mammoth we noted that some of the elk had begun to arrive, but only a group of 3 young boys and one girl.  Guess they don’t really begin until June 15^th either.

Dinner was pulled pork barbeque, potato salad, and sliced bananas for dessert.    We didn’t rack up many steps on our fitbits today!