Out at Dawn

Today was the last day of their Yellowstone trip for Chris and Annie. We got up very early and walked over to the Fishing Bridge to see the dawn(Ken stayed in bed). When we got to the bridge, we walked across it, noticing the bats flying overhead to capture mosquitoes. (Tons of mosquitoes!)

We walked down a few steps to stand under the western end of the bridge, where we spotted a beaver. It splashed about in the shallow water near the bank. Then we saw it emerge and swim away with a bush. It headed over to the eastern shore of the Yellowstone River, just north of the bridge. We later learned that a beaver family has a den there. What we saw was the papa beaver, bringing choice leaves to mom, who was taking care of the kits.

As we stood on the bridge, suddenly a car passed and we heard the explosive sound of hooves. Three antelope were only a few feet from us, on the roadway, and had evidently been startled by the car. They leaped from the bridge and ran to the trees.

As dawn arrived, the red rays of the first light lit up the clouds in the eastern sky--a magnificent view. Then we headed back to Venture, ready for breakfast (and a restroom break).

Our next adventure was a ranger-led hike at Storm Point. We started at Indian Pond, which is an explosion crater within the larger caldera of the Yellowstone super volcano. Mark Baker was our ranger leader,and he had a wealth of information about the history of Storm Point. He told us he would leave his radio on, just in case. One time, a ranger was out leading the Storm Point hike, when a bear was discovered with a fresh kill, right in the direction the hike. The ranger didn't have his radio on, so he couldn't be reached to warn of the danger. (The hikers were safe, though--several rangers with rifles were sent to cover the bear.)

One interesting sight was a yellow-bellied marmot colony that lives in the rocks. We saw two youngsters scurrying about, as well as several adults.

On the rocks at the lakeshore, an otter was eating a fish. A Mountain Bluebird flew into a nearby tree.

In the evening we walked over to the Fishing Bridge. We saw a deer swimming across the river and another in the marshy area near the river bank.

Looking toward Lake Yellowstone from the Fishing Bridge

We played one last game of Ingenious, which Chris won, and they packed up for the trip home.

We've been having trouble with the generator--or maybe it's trouble with the charge controller or some other element of the electrical system. The result is that the generator surges and slows--and almost no charging occurs.