Waiting in Texas

I'm in Texas waiting for the birth of a granddaughter. My daughter and SIL live in the Texas Hill Country and this is some of what I see on my walks in the early morning and evening.photo 4This is the road to the kids' house.DSC_6053I saw three of these when I turned out of the driveway early this morning and at first I thought it wouldn't be a very long walk. They eventually meandered through the fence.DSC_5971 DSC_5978 Lots of deer in the area.DSC_5982 I don't know what this bird is but it has a distinctive long tail. I need to google "bird with long tail in Texas hill country". At Katie's bird feeder there are a lot of cardinals and a very colorful painted bunting. DSC_6061 I want to look this plant up also. It was full of butterflies and some giant bees the last time I walked by.DSC_5984 MamaLu cooling off after a walk when Katie went with me.black buck in TX View from the kid's kitchen window. This is a Black Buck, native to Africa. There is a herd in the area.Libby What do you do when the baby is a week overdue? Let's go wash the horses. Libby is the horse that Katie got when she was in junior high. Libby moved with Katie to Cal Poly, to TX, to VT, and back to TX.Libby Slim Libby is not too crazy about baths, but her companion, Slim, loves the hose.Slim oak View through the oak trees.moss in the oak tree  Views from this morning's walk before going to the hospital where we are waiting for a baby.

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Road Trip - Day 6 - Another Day at Yellowstone

In the last post did I say how cold it was when we went to bed the first night in Yellowstone? The cold plus the bison in the campground make me wish that I didn't have that middle-of-the-night call of nature. However, maybe that's a good thing because it was starting to rain and I shut the tailgate and the camper window. When everything is shut up it is warmer inside, but it is also stuffy and the windows get wet with condensation. There are trade-offs and stuffiness is probably better than feet in a wet sleeping bag especially when the temperature dips into the 20's. The green truck is too old to show the temp but that's what my iPhone said when I asked. So instead of rain we had snow during the night. Not a lot, but nevertheless, snow. Once again we didn't linger over our breakfast of instant oatmeal but got in the truck and turned the heater on. I chose way too many photos for this day's blog and I should cut some out, but I probably won't. I like blogs that are mostly photos...

Our plan for this day was to drive the northern loop starting with Mammoth Hot Springs and ending with the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.DSC_4745Not far from the campground we saw our first grizzly bears - from the safety of our truck. (Even though I have been told by blog readers that the bear we saw in Grand Teton was a grizzly bear and not a black bear we thought it was a black bear at the time and I prefer to think that we were hiking with black bears, not grizzlies.) The one on the left was eating a carcass of something and was wearing a collar. They were being watched by a park biologist. I wonder if the park personnel always keep track of bears that are collared and monitor them when they show up near a road? One thing that we learned quickly is that being a Park Ranger in Yellowstone means Wildlife Traffic Patrol. Do you know an easy way to spot wildlife?DSC_4801Just look for parked cars and people walking along the road.DSC_4750It didn't take long to find more bison...DSC_4755 …and more bears. This one wasn't alone.grizzly bear grizzly bearI know, the sagebrush is more in focus than the bears, but that may be my last grizzly bear photo.

It was still early and when we got to Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces the weather was not looking good. It was cold and windy and during our walk along the boardwalk trails it started snowing. But the changing conditions only made the views more dramatic.DSC_4781Mammoth Hot SpringsDSC_4779 

Mammoth Hot SpringsDSC_4790  We didn't hike any long trails on this day but there were many shorter hikes.Scanning for bears, Wraith Falls Trail There were people stopped on the road watching a black bear when we got out of the truck to take a half mile trail to see Wraith Falls. Dan was trying to decide if the bear was still entertaining people on the road or had retreated in our direction. Note bear spray with orange cap in the backpack pocket.

There are several one-way roads that you can use to get off the main road. Blacktail Plateau DriveBlacktail Plateau Drive is one of them and the scenery is majestic.Wild flax To my surprise Dan asked if I wanted to stop and take flower photos. I am usually teased about this habit. This one is wild flax.Phlox Phlox.

blue flower

I wish I knew what this flower is. From a distance it looks like single blue flowers. It's only when you get up close that you see that it is lots of little tiny flowers.1936 Yellowstone tour busWe stopped at another waterfall trailhead and Dan took this photo of a 1936 touring van that he had just read about. These were canvas topped vehicles used in many of the national parks. They seated 14 people and in cold weather (at least in the northern parks) they provided Pendleton wool blankets for the passengers. At least some of the vehicles were used into the 1990's when they were just too old to keep running. The Park Service replaced the old vehicles with modern Dodge vans but the visitors wanted the old touring vans. So they are on the road again but Ford kept just the top part and replaced the chassis (and all the important things like brakes) with new parts. raven

Speaking of vehicles it seemed as though each of the parking lots at the main attractions had it's own sentry. This one was eating crackers.

It was getting late in the day by the time we got to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There are several access points and trails on both the north and south sides. We knew that we didn't have time to hike all the trails, but we went to  all the overlooks and walked a few of the trails. Uncle Tom's Point trail to Lower FallsWe took Uncle Tom's trail to a viewing spot of the Lower Falls. Writing this blog I'm in a tank top and shorts with the fan on and it's hard to remember that just 10 days ago I was bundled in two layers of wool, my Carhartt jacket, wool hat, and gloves. Uncle Tom's Point trail to Lower FallsOriginally this trail had over 500 steps and rope ladders. Now it has only 328 steps and no ladders. Lower FallsThe trail no longer takes you all the way to the bottom but you still hear and feel the power of the water cascading over the rocks. I love the green color of the water here.DSC_4922 This is a scene of the canyon and the river taken from another viewing area. Simply majestic.Osprey in nest I don't think that I would have spotted this osprey nest except that some other people were looking with binoculars.Osprey in nest See what I mean? The top photo is a close-up of this one.Grand Canyon of the YellowstoneDSC_4961Another beautiful evening. Again we got back to camp at dusk, ate a couple of cans of beans and went to bed.

Next post: On the road to Oregon

 

Road Trip - Day 5 - Yellowstone

The mosquito situation in camp was no better than the night before so we didn't linger in camp on our fourth morning. We took just enough time to get our food out of the bear box and for Dan to make his coffee and we got on the road. There are plenty more trails to explore in the Tetons and I hope to make it back there some day.DSC_4525 But this was our next stop and we had two days to see as much of it as we could.Bison Not far into the park we saw our first bison. Initially we didn't stop for much  because we needed to find a campsite in one of the non-reservation campgrounds. After we secured a spot we were free to plan the day. There are two main loop roads in Yellowstone and we spent the first day exploring the southern one. DSC_4530 This is the Norris Geyser Basin, not far from our campground. That steam on the left was rising out of the ground with the sound of a roaring a furnace. The trail traverses this valley and there are steamy, boiling, gurgling features everywhere. I took Geology my first quarter of college and decided that I would not be a geologist. I am definitely more of a life sciences type, but I can be awed by these spectacles even if I don't know the physical science behind them. This landscape is all about color, patterns, bubbles, steam, explosions.DSC_4538   Bison footprints Bison footprints.DSC_4576  DSC_4597 DSC_4604 DSC_4616 DSC_4655 Blue Star Spring in Upper Geyser Basin Upper Geyser Basin Then there is the wildlife.Bison on road along Firehole RiverOn the way south towards Upper Geyser Basin (where Old Faithful is) traffic was stopped on the road. Going around a turn we saw the cause. Bison were walking alongside and on the road. Why not? It was certainly the easiest way to get from one meadow area to another, especially where this canyon narrowed. Passengers scurried ahead of their cars (leaving drivers) to get a better look.DSC_4568Eventually it was our turn to pass the three dozen or more bison as they turned from the road and moved into the forest.Osprey  Osprey over the Upper Geyser Basin. We got to the Visitor Center and Old Faithful just minutes before Old Faithful was due to erupt. After watching we faced a furious wind as we walked a couple of miles along the boardwalks and trails that traverse the Basin, seeing more of this amazing landscape. Craig Pass, It was getting later in the day as we completed the loop road to get back to camp. The road crosses the Continental Divide a couple of times in this area. Living on the West Coast we always think of all water ending up in the Pacific, but crossing the Divide twice in a short distance made me think about it.  We had been following two major waterways, but they end up in different places, the Snake River flowing westward and the Yellowstone River flowing east.DSC_4741 As dusk falls even more animals are visible, although not easy to photograph. It was dark by the time we got back to camp for dinner. I walked up the hill to the bathroom and a woman who was waiting while her cell phone charged pointed out to me what looked like … nothing…well maybe more black than the rest of the dark. There were two bison munching on grass right next to an RV. In the dark it was as though there was a Black Hole. I would never have known they were there. The woman told me that the bison had just walked around the bathroom and stopped to graze there. At that point I decided that the weak batteries in my headlamp were not adequate for the task of walking around Yellowstone at night. 

No moths or mosquitoes at this campsite, but it was dark when we got back, we were out of firewood and it was cold. We quickly cooked our spaghetti and some hot chocolate and went to bed.

Stay tuned for Day 6.

Road Trip - more of Day 4

In yesterday's post about the Tetons I mentioned that in between hikes we went to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Sculpture at National Museum of Wildlife ArtThis fabulous museum is on a hill overlooking the National Elk Refuge.National Elk Refuge across from Museum of Wildlife ArtThis is a view to the east looking from the museum.  Grand Teton National Park is north of the museum and the elk refuge.Sculpture at National Museum of Wildlife Art There are several large sculptures on the grounds of the museum and they plan to eventually have about thirty.Sculpture at National Museum of Wildlife Art  

Sculpture at National Museum of Wildlife ArtSculpture at National Museum of Wildlife Art Unfortunately we had only 45 minutes before the museum closed and we quickly realized that you could spend several hours to fully appreciate all that is there. I took only a few photos as we rushed from room to room to see paintings, sculpture, glass, photography, and even skulls.  IMG_9968The collection includes paintings from old masters such as this one painted about 1650 by Paul de Vos that depicts what may be a biblical scene with a touch of the hunting genre thrown in to much more contemporary art.Bighorn Sheep by Carl Rungius, 1940, at National Museum of Wildlife ArtPainting by Carl Rungius, 1940.Charles Russell exhibit at National Museum of Wildlife ArtThere was a room devoted to wildlife art by Charles Russell and I took a few photos there before reading the sign that you weren't supposed to photograph any the Russell work.

I wish that we had more time to spend at this museum. It is definitely worth a stop on any trip to the area.

Road Trip - Day 4 - More of the Grand Tetons

DSC_4359 It was cool in the mornings at Grand Teton National Park, but the main reason to suit-up was to keep the mosquitoes off. They were awful--not very conducive to hanging around camp in the morning. That was not our plan anyway -- too many places to see, too little time. As soon as Dan had his coffee we were ready to go.DSC_4360 Look who came to the campground for breakfast.DSC_4366 Hiking near String LakeOur first hike for the second day in Grand Teton NP was around String Lake. DSC_4394 Yellow-bellied marmot.Avalanche chuteAt several places there was evidence of avalanches that took out all the trees in their paths and... avalanche chute …obliterated the trail in some places. DSC_4410DSC_4422 Crossing the river at Jenny Lake we saw our first moose.DSC_4428 This is another moose we saw in a meadow along the road on the way to our second stop of the day. Lunch stop, "Solid 10 for style and effort"

We drove to trailheads at Lupine Meadows...DSC_0463…where we had lunch. You can't tell from the photo but it was very windy here. Dan sprinted to chase down a plastic bag that blew quite a distance across the parking area.  One of the visitors later stopped at our truck and told him that he and his passengers gave him a "perfect 10 for style and execution".DSC_4443 We were near the south end of the park and decided to backtrack a short way down the valley to see the National Museum of Wildlife Art. That will be a blog post by itself.DSC_4472 Back in the park we went for another hike, this time to Taggert Lake.DSC_4475 There are magnificent views though out the park.IMG_0062 

Signal Mtn trailAs the sun was going down we drove to the top of Signal Mountain. More spectacular views, but also an unbelievable number of mosquitoes.Signal Mtn trail from Signal Mtn.Late evening view from Signal Mountain.

Once again we got back to camp after dark, so we cooked our meal (spaghetti) and went to bed.