Yellowstone -first for 2011

Got back last night from a three day trip though Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with some of our family.  We had a great time and saw a lot of great things including snow and lots of water.  There is still over 400% of snow in the mountains to come down - if it will this year.  Here is part of the Teton Range covered with snow. It will be a month or more before we can hike over these mountains.

On Sylvan Pass there is so much snow that the Big-horned Sheep are feeding along the road.  This ram has an itch he is trying to get some relief from.

Everytime we stopped to have a picnic, birds would try to join us.  Here a Clark's Nutcracker begs for something from the kids.  Illegal to feed her - she had to find someone else or crack open some nuts.

Grizzly and Black bears are abundant this year.  We caught this young grizzly feeding on the millions of midge flies hatching on Yellowstone Lake. 

It was a beautiful three days with lots of sun.  We caught this bull moose resting in the shade of some aspen as the flies bothered him.

But the most enjoyable time was watching some of the grandkids enjoy the hikes, picnics and other outdoor activities.

Though not in the wilds of Idaho - we had a great time enjoying the wildness of the national parks around us.

Beula Lake - What a treat until....

Beula Lake, just a two and a half mile hike from Grassy Lake on the Yellowstone Park border, is a beautiful lake visited by many different animals and birds.

Saturday as I topped the ridge above the aqua colored lake, I was stopped short as I heard loons on the lake being answered by two spike bull elk trying to answer the loons.  It sounded like a bunch of fourth grade students on the first day of band class.

As I got the the edge of the lake, I was greeted by a rain shower creating a faint rainbow in the west.

The fishing was super in the early going, and you can read that report on my other blog, http://billschiessfishing.blogspot.com/.  Soon one of the loons decided to visit me to see if it could help me.

It spooked the fish for a few minutes and I was unsuccessful, but they soon started hitting again.  After enjoying my solitude, a group of friends arrived just as two troops of Boy Scouts also showed up.  Dogs brought were turned loose to run around and it was time for me to leave.  It was time for more hiking and taking pictures of flowers.

Here are a few of the flowers I saw and got pictures of.  Can you name them?

Just another wild day for an old, bald man from Idaho.

Yellowstone Park - bears, elk, cousins and a wonderful day

Our Utah kids came to visit us last week and we did a lot of fishing and playing.  On Friday we took three car loads into Yellowstone Park and spent about 15 hours in the park experiencing the beauties of it.

Our first memorable experience was meeting up with three beautiful bull elk.  Here are two of the three in velvet.

Mud pots are not that interesting to me, unless some cousins are walking in front of Grandad enjoying the experience of the mud pots together.

We also saw a wolf - too far for any pictures - and four black bear.  Here is the first one we saw.

The day ended watching a cow elk cross the Madison River followed closely by a new-born calf.  At times all you could see was the calf's ears sticking out of the water.

Just another wild day in the life of this Idahoan.  And of course, we saw a lot of buffalo and people.

Beula Lake in Yellowstone

I spent most of the week working on the "Teaching American History" grant and getting ready for school. My meetings start next Monday and school starts on Wednesday. The Student Body Officers' assembly will be on Wednesday so we will spend part of Monday and Tuesday finalizing it.

With summer coming to an end a fellow teacher, Lucas, and his son, Pax, decided to join me for a hike and a fishing trip. We hiked into Beula Lake in Yellowstone Park for some native cutthroat fishing. Here Pax and Lucas carry their float tubes for two and a half miles in to the lake. I did not take a float tube, but my heavy camera was enough weight.
Here Pax, a ten-year old, catches a nice cutthroat. All fish were released.

He a cutthroat, named after the bright red stripes on the bottom jaw, comes in after being hooked by a Black Rug Yarn fly. They were willing fish as we caught between 80 and 100 in about three hours of fishing.

We weren't the only fishermen on the lake. A pair of Common Loons, a Blue heron and an osprey all tried harvesting fish.

Yours-truely releasing a nice cutthroat. I waded out on a sand bar to where it drops off in deep water. I caught six fish in my first six casts and it did not slow down much.
It was a great way to finish the summer even though I will have a lot more fishing days before winter sets in.

Yellowstone flowers

Here a few of the beautiful flowers of the Yellowstone trip. I think these are their names. I am very weak on flora names even though I am attracted to beautiful flowers.

Buttercup ??

Bracted Lousewort ??

Richardson's Geranium

Buckwheat??

Harebells

Rosy Pussytoes

Shining Penstemon

Prairie Smoke

Lewis' Monkey-flower

Indian Paintbrush

A Thimble berry blossom with a beetle enjoying it.

Fishing Horseshoe Lake near Yellowstone Park

We have had a very busy week as all my children and grandchilden were here in Rexburg with us. We fished for a couple of days, went through Yellowstone Park and celebrated a birthday and Father's Day. I will only discuss one fishing trip to Horseshoe Lake on this blog - others will follow.

My son-in-law and I decided to battle the rainstorms for a day of float tubing Horseshoe Lake just a few miles from the border of Yellowstone Park.

It rained most of the way to the lake and my son-in-law with youth on his side, hurried to get ready and get into the water. I took my time and decided to hurry when Steve landed four rainbows and one grayling. The grayling was his first one ever.

The rain stopped and I got into the water and my second fish was a 14 inch grayling. But it would be the last one of the day for us. Our fly that we were using was a Beadhead Mity Mouse, also one of the hot flies on Henrys Lake.

Most of the rainbows were recent stockers, but near some lily pads I found a pocket of fish between 12 to 15 inches near another group of lily pads. It didn't last long as thunder, lightning and heavy rain finally chased us off the lake. Final count, my son-in-law with 40 and me with 36. The student defeated the teacher - the best way to lose.

An outstanding outing with my son-in-law taking all of his fish on one fly while I lost one and had to break out another one.