Hiking Beaver Ponds

Beaver Ponds

Beaver Ponds

Old Faithful Area

Old Faithful area

7-26 (Mon)
Bill and Mary Ann, my brother and sister in law, arrived Sunday night a week ago. We all went out to dinner that night. They toured around the park on Mon and Tues left for Cody to spend the night.

Thurs we took them down to Old Faithful. On the way down we saw a couple of bull elk with huge racks. Bill and I walked the boardwalks by the geysers while Nancy and Mary Ann shopped. When we got back we all sat out on the porch of the Lodge and watched Old Faithful go off.

On Friday Nancy, Bill and I hiked Beaver Ponds. That evening we all went horseback riding. What a bummer that was. It was nose to tail riding which the girl said it wouldn't be. The equipment was terrible. My reins were tied together and Nancy and a rope for reins! They didn't even adjust the stirrups on my saddle! Unfortunately it was a two hour ride. We could hardly walk when we got back to the stable. Then to top it off I couldn't find the keys to the car. We looked everywhere. One of the girl wranglers gave us a lift back to Bill's hotel. He and I took off to Gardiner for an extra set of keys while Nancy and Mary Ann drank wine. By the time we got the keys, picked up my car and got back to Mammoth it was past 9:00. As I was getting undressed that night, I said, "oh Nancy, I know where the keys are." They were in the glass case I always have hanging on my belt. I had put them in there for save keeping because it zips!

Bill and MA took off for Glacier the next day. They will be back late Wed night and fly home Sunday.

It's very hard to see but this is the osprey on the nest.



Wild flowers on the way up Mt. Washburn

If you look closely you can see the trail that we were taking up to the top.

The coyote walking right by us.

Above the timber line.

We made it.

Time for celebration.

Our goal, the lookout tower at the top of Mt. Washburn.

7-16 (Fri)
Nancy and I decided to hike Mt Washburn today. On the way there we saw a black bear and and osprey on her next with two young ones.
We got out of the car and began our hike at 10:00 We were at the top by 12:30. Right before I was on the final push to the top a coyote came walking down the path right between a group of us. He didn’t seem perturbed by us at all. We decided to go down the opposite side of the mountain that we came up. The only problem with this was our car was about 6-8 miles away. We began hitching. It took us about 15 minutes to get a ride but it seemed like forever since we were so tired.
After we got our car we drove down to Canyon and had a very late lunch.

Nancy and I drove down to Old Faithful this morning because the park was having a 40% off sale for employees. They have a bigger store than we do at Mammoth so we had more of a selection. Bruce called us as soon as we arrived (he was working there today) and told us to come to the EDR and have lunch with him which we did. We walked around to all the places we book in that location so we would know what we were selling.
On the way down we saw a coyote standing on a rock. It would have made the coolest picture but of course by the time we stopped he had gotten down. We did get some shots of him.
On the way back we stopped and took pictures of a young grizzly bear that was right up by the road. He wasn’t in any hurry to walk away.
Tonight we played BINGO in the upstairs lounge at Aspen.

Brink of the falls

Nancy and Bruce

In front of the lower falls

Lower Falls

Lower Falls again

Hiking Elephant Back

View from the top of Elephant Back

At breakfast this morning we invited our friend, Bruce, to go hiking with us. We went to the Lower Falls. We walked to the “brink” of the falls, hiked Uncle Tom’s Trail (320 steps plus) and walked down to artists point. In the afternoon we hiked Elephant Back. That was five miles round trip. We got back to Mammoth just in time to have dinner and do our laundry.

On our way to Wraith Falls

River by the Natural Bridge

The first snowmobile, used by a mailman. McLeod

On the dirt road going to Livingston

After breakfast this morning we hiked Wraith Falls. We went to Gardiner and I had perm. Nancy had her hair cut and colored. We were both very pleased with the outcome. We left there and drove to Livingston. We were going to have lunch but it was 2:30 and every place we went to was closed. We finally settled on a Chinese Restaurant. We were the only ones in there but at least we got something to eat.
We drove to Big Timber and on to a National Park on the other side. We hiked the Natural Bridge, then tried to find Big Beaver. We drove on a dirt road for about 30 minutes and never found it. We drove back to what we thought was a town but it turned out to be a fishing camp with one house. I knocked on the door of the only house in McLeod to ask directions for the back/dirt road back to Livingston. He man gave directions, I guess he was Mr. McLeod, and said he and his wife had lived there since 1959. On the dirt road to Livingston we saw multi million dollar homes. To get groceries they probably have to drive an hour.
We stopped for dinner in Livingston at some little Toco stand. Before going back to Mammoth we had the car washed and got more gas. We got back to the dorm at 10:00

After dinner Nancy and I rode out to the Lamar Valley. We saw a black bear (cub) on the way out. It was down the hill a little way. People at the top of the hill were all taking pictures. All of a sudden we saw everyone running - the bear had started up the hill towards them. When we got out to the valley we saw lots of buffalo and then we went out to where there had been a kill a few nights ago. There was a grizzly chewing on it and a wolf circling around trying to get his share. On our way back we were stopped by a herd of buffalo. They kept crossing the road in front of us. Three of the cars ahead of me got through but then I was stuck. I tooted my horn and flashed my lights to no avail. They probably hung us up for at least 20-30 minutes.
By the time we were driving back to Mammoth it was dark. We had to be really careful that an animal didn’t jump out in front of us. We actually came upon a fawn on the side of the road. When she saw our lights she walked right out into the road. We were hung up there for awhile until she figured out that she should go up into the hills.

Children's parade - Cody

Children's parade

At the Cody Museum

Buffalo Bill Dam

Guess who?