Bill left early in the car for Pebble Creek to get us a campsite. I
followed with the motorhome. North to Mammoth Hot Springs, then right,
across the whole top of the park to the northeast corner. Pebble Creek
Campground. Nice place. Remote. Small. Only thirty sites. Quiet. No
generators allowed. Scenic. Pebble Creek runs into Soda Butte Creek. Soda
Butte runs into the Lamar River. The Lamar runs into the Yellowstone. The
Yellowstone flows north into Montana, and joins up with the Missouri, which
runs north and east to join the Mississippi. We fished Soda Butte Creek.
It holds Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout. Lots of them. Some very big.
Bill left. Judy arrived with our tow car. Ken and Christie and the boys
arrived and set up their tent. We all hung out. Some of us fished.
Bears. Bears are not uncommon here. This is Yellowstone. There are
supposed to be bears here. Mostly, they're black bears. Black bears are
good bears. They follow the rules. If you do everything you're supposed
to, you're practically guaranteed to be left alone by them. Grizzly bears
are something else. They do whatever they want.
Ken and Chris have been here for several days. Tonight, after smores, the
kids had gone to bed, and we were sitting around the campfire in the dark
with Ken and Chris. Ray, the camp host came by to talk. Thumper, the
grizzly bear, has been spotted out in the meadow heading our way. He has
been in the campground before, but his last time in the campground, he got
trapped and carted off. Now he's wearing a yellow radio collar. He has
been spotted in the area by the bear watchers. He was last seen down by the
butte a couple miles away. Judy and I just spent four hours this afternoon,
fishing right there. Ray wanted to be sure all the tenters were being
careful to follow the rules for camping in bear country. No food. Nothing
that could be considered food. Nothing fragrant in the tent.
I asked why the bear was named Thumper. He is named Thumper because of what
he likes to do to tents. Ray said not to worry. Two out of the three tents
were in the back country. Of course, the other one had to be here in this
campground at site fifteen.
Ken and Chris are in a tent. They were leaving tomorrow anyway.
