Traffic Jam
A family of Bison
Yellowstone is a huge Park. We had reservations on Hebgen Lake, about 10 miles north of the west entrance to the Park. We have stayed there before, at Madison Arm Resort. It has great trout fishing and the camp is well run. It is 85 miles from where we were in Teton park, just outside the south entrance of Yellowstone. Even with the RV, on curving roads, we figured it would take us no more than two hours to drive through the Park and get to our new camp. Ha. We forgot that in Yellowstone animals rule and the bison were migrating. We got stuck in a herd of about one hundred of them meandering down the middle of the road on their way from Madison Valley to their summer home in the Park. Lots of photo ops and I didn’t have to (or want to) leave the RV. The babies were the cutest. Too bad they grow up to be such big, ugly, stinky, snorting brutes.
Lake Hebgen, the view from our campground
We spent five days on the lake, enjoying the scenery and the fishing. Cold nights and warm days made for perfect weather. We made some forays into the Yellowstone. We had to see Old Faithful, one more time. The joke at Yellowstone is that due to budget cuts the National Park Service will be cutting back on Old Faithful’s eruptions. This geyser goes off every 90 minutes (give or take 10 minutes) 24/7, 365 days, rain or shine. Even the fools in Washington can’t screw it up and deny the tourists their photo op. We never got up to the Valley to see the water falls and the canyon, but we did see more buffalo, this time being herded to the meadows by some locals. The bison had been in our campground the week before. The owner said sheriff deputies do the herding to keep them off private properties and the local roads.
Old Faithful
Spring Round Up
We didn’t see as much of the park as we did the last time we were here. Hubby kept saying “if you’ve seen one geyser basin (hot spring, waterfall, mud pot… fill in the blank) you’ve seen them all. Truthfully, it was so nice on the lake, and the fishing was so good, it was tough to get motivated to bump the five mile’s down the logging road we were on to get back to Yellowstone. All those natural wonders will still be here the next time we come through. Next we head north, across the Canadian border, for a week or two of fishing in some mountain lakes before we head up to the Canadian rockies.
Firehole River, Yellowstone
Red Road Diaries 
We are headed to Yellowstone and the Tetons in September for the first time. Really looking forward to it – hope we get some great photos like you did
Yellowstone is my absolute favorite NP!! I love everything about it. I never tire of seeing buffalo. This summer we got trapped for three hours behind hundreds of buffalo heading up the canyon. They had to walk in the road because of the canyon wall on one side and the river on the other. They walked a 12 mile stretch which took them forever. We were on the motorcycle, so we just parked by the water and waited it out. Looks like a beautiful spot on the lake. No wondering you did leave too often.
yes, the terrain does force them into the road. We just inched along between them and got through. I was wondering how someone on a motorcycle would deal with the situation. We felt safe in our big RV, but I imagine less so if we were up close and personal.
Yes, the buffalo can be very intimidating when you aren’t surrounded with protection.
Hey Judith – do you and Richard eat any of those mountain trout? Tempting I’m sure.
Mike in rainy NH
One brown, one rainbow, fresh from lake to table, can’t beat it. Hi to all.
Take some pictures as you pass through “Big Sky Country”. Are you stopping in Montana or just driving through?
Just drove through into alberta….great country