We headed off through West Yellowstone, and into Montana. Past Hebgen Lake,
past Quake Lake, past Raynolds Pass Bridge, Past Three Dollar Bridge, to an
RV Park we've never been to before, on a glacial moraine bench above the
Madison River. This will be our home base for a couple days while we
explore some local lakes with the kayaks.
We explored the lakes. Cliff and Wade lakes. Spring fed, crystal clear,
blue, mountain lakes. It felt like we should be snorkeling. It looked like
the Caribbean. It's so pretty it makes your heart hurt. We paddled from
one end to the other. We went back again the next day to do it again.
There are campgrounds at the lakes, but we don't take the Bounder to them.
There is a six-mile dirt road to get to them, and then the access roads are
a little steep and rough. Haven could camp right there. Dazy could camp
there too. We leave the Bounder out near the pavement, and drive in with
the Jeep. There are other people at the lakes, but most of the time we had
the water all to ourselves. Oh. And we fished. These lakes have big
rainbow trout in them. We fished from the kayaks. Osprey all around us.
Circling. Calling. Fishing. The osprey nests are silent until a parent
gets close with food. Then it erupts. Heads stick out the top. Screaming
heads with wide-open mouths. As soon as the parent leaves, the nest goes
silent again. A bald eagle circles.
While we were driving through Yellowstone, we passed a road sign. It is a
warning. It says: rough break ahead. It didn't say road damage or rough
road. It said rough break. What exactly does that mean? A rough break for
the road? Has it had a bad day? Or is it perhaps warning about what is
likely to happen to us if we proceed? Hard to figure.
While the kids were still here, I was sitting on the other side of the
stream from the campground with Kyle and Cameron, and we watched a pair of
coyotes circle the campground. The night before we arrived, a black bear
was in the meadow right next to the campground. At dusk one night we heard
a screeching noise, and a big bird swooped in to land on a treetop right
next to our camp. We couldn't see it well, but from its size, head shape,
and call, we determined that it was an immature great horned owl. There
were two of them calling back and forth. The next day, a guy in another
site was telling us about the owl that woke him up with its calls in the
middle of the night. He got up to look for it and couldn't find it. He
turned to go back, and saw he couldn't find it because he was looking in the
trees. The bird was perched on top of his van! It was a great horned owl
baby. The next day, in the bright morning light, mom and one of the babies
were perched right out where we could get a good extended look at them. Our
best great horned owl encounter ever.
Saw the bison herds, elk herds, pronghorn, bull elk, cranky lone bison
bulls, trumpeter swans, osprey, bald eagles, bald eagle nests, osprey nests
with young, kingfishers, deer, a mother bear and two cubs, great horned
owls. Judy saw a moose on her way in.
