Trip Report 24 and 25 July

[westskies]

I had a fairly good weekend. I headed out from the Lake Lodge into the Hayden Valley. I stopped at Trout Creek to see if the sow with 3 cubs was in view, but no luck. I went on up toward Alum Creek and watched a good sized grizzly about 1 mile to the west of the road. Back up to Grizzly overlook, because a lot of the fog had lifted, and was able to see the alpha male walking around the Canyon Rendezvous site. I then received a report that the sow and cubs was back at Trout creek, so off I went. She spent quite a bit of time grazing then moved on into the Elk Antler creek drainage and out of view.

I then headed up onto Dunraven where I was able to see the sow with 2 cubs again. She was below the Mt. Washburn trailhead. I carried the gear up the hill a ways to watch, but she went down hill this day. Before coming off the mountain, she started heading toward the road based on the yells I could hear from the rangers to get out the way. Finally, they had to start yelling at her to get her and the cubs moving down the hill. I couldn't see any of it because of the trees. It worked to my favor though because out runs an old bleached fox that stood on the trail for a couple of minutes before moving down into the shade. I walked on down to the lower overlook with a new friend that I made that morning down in the Hayden. I would wind up spending almost 5 hours with her.

My new friend and I had the same idea with the full moon, that we headed off to Old Faithful to try and get some shots with the moon behind Old Faithful while it was erupting. I did not get the exposures that I had hoped for, plus it was a very late evening and led to a late start the next morning.

On Sunday, with the late start I headed back to the Hayden. I guess I had missed the sow with 3 cubs, no sign of the wolves, so i headed up Dunraven. Once at the pass, someone told me that the sow was around the corner just a bit away, so off I went. She was right up close to the road, and only a few people were being a problem. Law enforcement soon arrived to help keep everyone safe. In the end it looked like she was headed up toward Chittenden Road.

I went over to Roosevelt Lodge for some great blueberry pancakes. From there I went to Floating Island Lake to check out the action and hope for some moose. Started a small jamb by taking pictures of the ruddy ducks in the lake. I went on back to Petrified Tree where there was a small black bear.

I decided to head on back to Dunraven. I stopped at the Osprey nest between Tower and Roosevelt and it looked as if the chicks were still there. On up to Dunraven, but no luck on Grizzlies. I met up with my new friend Ed at Dunraven and we headed back to Grizzly Overlook. Here we spent the afternoon chatting with visitors and generally having a good time.

The watchers showed up around 4:00pm to set up and they told us what we had missed the evening before. Apparently four grizzlies came out in the valley, including one that got too close to the rendezvous. The alpha male and one of the pups came out to chase it off. So apparently a good show.

All for now, I head back on the 29th for a full week and a half next time.

[sandi]

Sounds like a great trip. Sounds like there is still a lot of grizzly action.