Rest of July at Star Valley and Beyond

Well, I'll try again, most of the tournament players have left and now maybe we'll be able to get this done.

Since Anne Reynolds is here this month, I was able to ride with her in her UTV and discover the Simplot Mine area. We had 4 UTV's John Gullo with his granddaughter and husband, and in another one his grandson and wife, then Anne and I, and Dan bringing up the rear.  Great ride, a little narrow and hairy in places, but Anne aced it.

Simplot mine

One of many views

Anne at Monticello reservoir

On July 6th, John wanted to take the boat out for the first time.  It was great weather and Palacais Reservoir was finally full.

Dad and son climbed this to jump off of, dad went and son couldn't get up the courage. Mom climbs up to help son jump, still no go.  We don't know how the son got down

This is how we left them

On the 10th of July, we headed out to Kayak.  This was one of our regular trips, South Park to West Table on the Snake.  An easy float with a few rapids.  There were around 8 of us.  Lynn and Linda, Anne Reynolds, Kath Kaufman and a friend, Cai, Terry Pellam, Bob and myself.  It was a fun trip.

Getting ready

Pelicans on the shore

Gorgeous Day!

This year, Bob and I are taking short trips out in the rig. On Thursday, July 11th, we headed out to visit our friends, Wayne and Nancy Muggli, in Clyde Park, Montana. It's only 280 miles, but we took 2 days to get there. Our first stop was a National Forest Campground, Rainbow Point, just out of West Yellowstone.  Arrived around noon, so unhooked and headed in jeep "Punkin" to look for bears, elk and moose, OMy.  Found the Elk,  a bear, fox, bison, but alas, no moose.

Just as we entered the West Entrance of Yellowstone, we came across the Elk family

Babies !

Another baby

Bob took a video of one young feeding.


I hope I have strong enough internet to get it to load.

We drove the full circle from the West Entrance pass the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.  The elk were laying around the circle. Rangers were there to make sure you didn't get too close. Next we passed Undine Falls.  Stopped to take a short hike and see the Cascade.

 Then took a back street, Back Tail Plateau Drive.  Here we had a little fox running down the middle of the road.  Only problem was he was 2 cars in front of us. Then he turned up the hill, the other cars passed and he came back down with a critter in his mouth. Now he was directly in front of us.  Still hard to get anything but his rear.

Dropped his catch and turned to pick it up

Next we hit the Tower Falls after which we saw a bear cub, but no mama bear.  Sure she was around if anyone approached the cub.

Sometimes you just can't get a good shot. But it's the memories  that count

And then it's getting late, so we head back to camp.  One last look at the area and of course some bison.

The next morning, the 12th, we head out to Clyde Park to see Wayne and Nancy.  But of course, along the way, we look for any and everything that moves.  Nothing moving, but some beautiful scenery. Also, we go by Quake Lake.  A lake formed by a 10 minute earthquake that killed some 29 people.  19 of which were camping by the river and trapped by the formation of the lake.

Morning picture of Hebden Lake or Earthquake Lake

Scenery of river that was blocked by lake

In Clyde, to our surprise, our neighbors from Surprise, Sue and Dom Ambrosino were also visiting. We stayed in Wayne and Nancy's drive, Dom and Sue stayed next to Wayne's sister's, Gail's house. We had great visits, took UTV rides, explored the area for animals and toured with Wayne and Nancy.  Was really fun.  The 1st evening we were there, of course Wayne and Nancy cooked after we had drinks in their taproom. I'm not good at remembering to take pictures of people and places, but Wayne and Nancy along with their neighbors, Wes and Penny really know how to entertain.

On the 13th, we all headed out in UTV's.  Wayne has 3, so each couple had their own.  Wes and Penny were on their own UTV and were in the lead. Wes has lived in the area all of his life and his parents and grandparents owned ranches in the area.  He likes to relate the history of the area. Wes ans Penny left early and the three UTV's  went out further for some more adventure.  We turned to head home, so Bob switched with me so I could drive.  Yes, I drove alright, straight into a afternoon cloud burst.  No pictures, we didn't have a windshield, and the rain was driving so hard that Bob had to hold his hand above my hat brim so I could see.  It was a real blast!

Penny, Nancy and I took a walk the next morning. This deer was in a yard on our walk.

Penny (back to you) Dom, Wes, and Sue

Horse and young  enjoying the day

Stopped for a rest

scenery was great

This is ranch owned by Phillip Morris. The coupons that came in the cigarette packages could earn you a completely paid trip including trip to store for western wear.

Wayne and Nancy are really the host and hostess, the next day after Bob and I took the jeep out in the morning searching for animals, they took Dom and Sue and us on a road trip to the surrounding area.

Bald Eagle waiting to pounce

Hawk calling to mate

Where's Mama

You know, we domesticated animals are important too

So you say

Charles M. Beir Museum in Martensdale, MT

 They also took us to Checkerboard, MT where we had a beer at a the Bar at the Inn.  Then for a dip at the White Sulfur Hot Springs. On the way back dinner at the Bank Bar in Wilsall,  Mt. then back for a drink at the Clyde Park Tavern.  Had a great day.

On the next day, Bob and I again went exploring.  We headed to Fairy Lake for a hike and to find animals.

Fairy Lake

 Beautiful Lake and lots of deer.

And an eagle or two

The next day, we head out to our next designation.  Red Lodge and Bear Tooth Pass.  In all of our travels, we had yet taken this glorious pass, not in the rig, never, but only in the jeep.  Left the rig at Red Lodge.  A great little resort town at the east side of Bear Tooth Pass.  The pass goes from Red Lodge, Mt. to the east side of Yellowstone.

The following pictures are the afternoon of July 16th.  Rainy and cloudy, so even though the view was beautiful, too much snow and slush.  

This little fox was trying to dry out in the sun on the side of the highway

The next morning we headed back up to get a better view.  What a difference! Click to see full views

After the morning drive, we headed to Cody, WY.  Stayed in the Buffalo State Park.  We have had many friends stay here and really loved the Cody area.  I can see why. We wanted specifically to drive the Chief Joseph Scenic ByWay and also animals in East Yellowstone.  Then we wanted to see the herds of Wild Mustangs in the area.

View from Chief Joseph Pass

Another View

Never had seen the Yellowstone Lodge Stagecoach before

Bison galore

The wolf was a rare surprise

Followed him across street into the meadows

Have not seen a lot of Pronghorn this summer

And of course more bison

 Now on to the Wild horses the next day. It was at least 20 miles to the Wild Horse Range.  Instructions where to enter were not clear, so we took the 1st entrance.  After about 3 hours of driving around the range, we had only seen one horse and some antelope.

  We then traveled a different route heading out of the range to the road.  We hit the 1st herd of Mustangs that we had seen.  The air had already gotten really hot, so the thermals in air wouldn't allow much zooming without distorting the images.  We met a woman there with Optics Yellowstone. Melba, was letting everyone look though her spotter and showing images she had taken.  She was called the Wolf Lady and worked with Yellowstone Rangers to track the wolfs.  We showed her our picture of the Wolf we had seen the previous day.  At this time, we weren't sure it was a wolf or a coyote.  She identified it, knew which pack it was from and who the father was.  This was a yearling that had not been tagged and named yet.

She also gave us directions to another herd of Mustang that were much closer to the road. So off we went.While talking to Melba, we mentioned the 1st horse we saw. We showed her the picture and she was concerned. The horse was evidently hurt, had been bitten by a snake, and had left the herd.  They had been looking for her and were glad to see she was still alive.  She took a picture of my picture, and reported it to the rangers.

Time to head back to Star Valley, but one last night out at Turpin Meadows /Buffalo Valley.  This is where we had camped last month, but this night, we stayed at a overlook just off the road.  Great view and close to the places we had seen the bear and elk before.  No bear, but a lot of elk.

Now back in Star Valley, we have one last hike in July.  This is one we've done already this year but have been working on it with the Star Valley Trail Crew and wanted to get all the way to the lake on it.   We knew it was there, but would loose the trail about 4/4.5 miles out.  We finally made it to the lake with a little trailblazing to find it.  Not much of a lake, probably better earlier in the summer if you could get to it though the snow. Oh Well, we made it.

Like I said, not much of a lake.

Beautiful man in the wild flowers

Only wild like we saw

July is over, just pickleball and tournament at the end of July.  Will continue with August as soon as I can get it together.  Lots of friends and fun so I have to take the time to write the blog.  Hope you're enjoying our adventures.