Hayden Valley
As we traveled towards Canyon Village, our base for exploring central Yellowstone, we were treated to resting elks and mud geysers at Paintpot Hill. And as we stopped for a rest break, a coyote was prancing thru the parking lot with a large marmot in his mouth and dinner for family that night. It was a good sign.
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| Buck Elk | Sleepy Buck | Mud Geyser | Breaking Free |
Lamar Valley was my favorite section of the park but Hayden Valley and its surroundings was the most photogenic. A lot of landscape variation, points of interest and an abundance of wildlife at every turn. We arrived at Old Faithful to walk around and have another fabulous picnic dinner. This time elk sausages were on the menu, and even though it started to rain, no one dashed to the mini-vans and the suasages were all gone by the time we cleaned up. I had an enjoyable time following the geyser boardwalk and seeing Old Faithful live up to her name. One other treat was to see the newly refurbished Yellow Buses around the park. They came online on Monday June 4th just as we started our trip. An interesting story of how the buses were sold off to individuals, then collected by a touring company in Skagway and eventually found their way home after some extensive upgrades. Quality and design always speak across the line of time!
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| Orange Geyser | Spouting Geyser | Yellow Bus and Inn | Old Faithful |
We stayed at the Dunraven Lodge and continued our 0500 madness. By now it was just habit. The early morning always had some secret to reveal as the light would bring focus on what had just been obscured by darkness. On one day, we were witnesses to a rather large grizzly finishing off a meal of elk fawn and then heading right towards the herd that had moved away to a safer ridge. I was expecting the crowd to scatter, however, they just kept a wary eye on the moving bruin and he went on his way. The balance of nature in play. While we were here we hiked along the southern rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone River, had a first class meal at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge and saw large herds of buffalo, elk, grizzly bear, mule deer, white pelicans, tri-colored heron and birds galore.
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| Hayden Sunrise | Bison Calf Feeding | Elk Herd on Ridge | Grizzly Female |
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| Tri-colored Heron | Yellowstone Falls | Mule Deer | White Pelicans |
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Well, all good things must come to an end. In this case they came to a wonderful end at Chico Hot Springs. Located just a few miles outside the park in Pray, MT, this resort)
has been in operation since 1900. It is a favorite gateway for some of the rich and famous, but it welcomes all with fine dining, accommodations from rustic to luxurious and a hot spring-fed pool that is just the ticket after a long day of doing anything. We had dinner in the Wine Room with many friends that we had come to know in the short week. We ate, we drank, we laughed and we reminisced about a special journey that had taken to us to a magical place.
As John Muir said, " Whenever we go into the mountains, we find more than we seek" -- The perfect summation for this trip.
As always, may our paths and errands meet...
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