Our last full day in Yellowstone

Friday, June 5, 2015

Today is our last full day in Yellowstone.  We decided to take a walk near Fishing Bridge, a bridge and village close to Lake Hotel.  We first started on this trail which looks out over this marsh at the north end of the lake.

However, the marsh lands were quite wet and deep, so we decided to try a different walk.  The second walk was a Howard Eaton trail along the Yellowstone river at the head waters at Yellowstone Lake.  There are several Howard Eaton trails in Yellowstone because he was the first person to cut trails in Yellowstone and he cut a lot of them!  Here's the river just below the headwaters.

I can't identify these ducks.  We also saw a great blue heron, a Barrow's Goldeneye with chicks, Canadian Geese with goslings, and mallards. 

Common flax were all along the trail.  Shooting Stars and violets made a nice contrast.

Most of the 2 mile hike we did went along the river, but where it turned into this meadow, we turned around to go the way we came.  Here I am in the meadow.  See the profusion of shooting stars behind me.

Here's two more photos along the river as we headed back.

In the late afternoon, we took our only Park Ranger guided walk of our trip (guided walks just started this week).  We met at the Storm Point trail head with the guide and about 20 other people, mostly adults but a few kids too.

The trail starts at an inlet near the north park of Yellowstone Lake.

As we walked along, we saw many wild flowers, learned about the geology of the land (even there, the ground is really thin crusted and sometimes animals break through and get burned!), and about the difference in forest trees.  

This photo shows how erosion occurs at the end of the lake due to the prevailing winds.

We went out to this point

before heading into the forest.

In the forest we saw this Mule Deer not far away.  Mule Deer are distinguished by their very large ears.

Our biggest surprise was when our Park Ranger guide told us to get off the trail and climb up a hill!  That was after telling us at the beginning not to leave the trails.  So why?  Because of this fellow who was less than 2 feet from the trail!

Here's another photo I took after we detoured around him.  No small critter, is he?

This photo shows a design I think I'll put on some pottery.  It was made by insects burrowing under the bark of the tree. 

After we had dinner, we were sitting in the hotel lobby and enjoying the piano playing.  Families were hanging out together (there's NO TV anywhere in the hotels and cabins in Yellowstone).  I took this photo of the sunset.