The Yellowstone Lake area is supposed to be the quiet part of the park but it looked like opening night at the San Francisco Opera when we arrived at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. The driveway was completely full of a double line of vehicles.
When I asked about it, the porter told me they were expecting 168 check-ins. Since there are only 296 rooms that meant that more than half were checking in late Wednesday afternoon. I guess Labor Day weekend was starting early.
The staff seemed used to this sort of thing and check-in went smoothly. We found a parking space without difficulty before heading for our lake-view room. Surprisingly, it was a lot like the room we had at Many Glacier although perhaps just a little more recently remodeled. One major difference was the bison camped under our window in the morning.
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| Lake Yellowstone Hotel Bison |
We went out the back way to avoid him and found a bull elk grazing in the parking lot. Apparently there are two bull elk who make their home in the hotel district and they usually graze together except during rutting season when they become rivals.
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| Bull Elk Grazing in Parking Lot |
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| Elk Yearling: "What you looking at?" |
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| Bison's Turn to Graze in Parking Lot |
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We took a one-hour boat tour of Yellowstone Lake on the Lake Queen II and barely covered even a small portion of the lake. At 136 square miles, it's the largest lake in North America at high elevation. Lake Tahoe, at 191 square miles, is larger but it's considered a low elevation lake (you could have fooled me.)
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| Lake Queen II on Yellowstone Lake |
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| Lake Yellowstone Hotel from the Lake Queen II |
While we were at the marina, we talked to a couple who had a season lease on a boat slip and lived on-board there during the summer. He said they would often head for the more remote areas of the lake where they would anchor and essentially have their very own, lake front, private cabin in Yellowstone. (Was I jealous much?)
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On our last evening there, we took a Yellow Bus sunset tour that took us up to the Lake Butte Overlook (which isn't at a lake named Butte but at a butte that overlooks Yellowstone Lake). There was light rain at times but the main weather was to the west which made for an extremely dramatic sunset. There were a number of photographers there besides our tour group and one guy had his SLR on a tripod in rapid fire mode. He was going to have a hard time picking the best.
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| Our Yellow Bus |
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| Sunset Across Yellowstone Lake |
The East Gate entrance to Yellowstone is closed from late fall to mid-spring but it is easily the most impressive entrance route. We exited the park by first climbing up out of the caldera and then over Sylvan Pass and down the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway along the North Fork of the Shoshone River.
This route is through the Absaroka volcanic province. The first part of the descent is a steep, mountain-hugging road with fantastic views that leads down into a valley marked by rocky cliffs and amazing hoodoo formations. Historic lodges line the route including Buffalo Bill's hunting lodge, Pahaska Teepee.
The area is not part of the National Park, but it was designated as our first National Forest, the Shoshone. The route essentially ends at the three short tunnels leading into Cody, Wyoming just beyond the Buffalo Bill Dam. (We stopped there, of course.)
CODY, WYOMING
Bat Masterson famously claimed that the story of the West was the story of Wyatt Earp, but he was only half right. The other half of the story is the story of William F. Cody.
Buffalo Bill was a Pony Express Rider, a buffalo hunter, a decorated Army Scout during the Indian Wars, Custer's Avenger, and one of the great showmen of all time. He was also a founder of Cody, Wyoming.
Today the town is most famous for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, home to five museums and a research library.
This route is through the Absaroka volcanic province. The first part of the descent is a steep, mountain-hugging road with fantastic views that leads down into a valley marked by rocky cliffs and amazing hoodoo formations. Historic lodges line the route including Buffalo Bill's hunting lodge, Pahaska Teepee.
The area is not part of the National Park, but it was designated as our first National Forest, the Shoshone. The route essentially ends at the three short tunnels leading into Cody, Wyoming just beyond the Buffalo Bill Dam. (We stopped there, of course.)
CODY, WYOMING
Bat Masterson famously claimed that the story of the West was the story of Wyatt Earp, but he was only half right. The other half of the story is the story of William F. Cody.
Buffalo Bill was a Pony Express Rider, a buffalo hunter, a decorated Army Scout during the Indian Wars, Custer's Avenger, and one of the great showmen of all time. He was also a founder of Cody, Wyoming.
Today the town is most famous for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, home to five museums and a research library.
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| Buffalo Bill at Main Entrance |
The Buffalo Bill Museum is the core of the Center. A bison tableau is at the center of this museum and includes a wallowing bison, a bellowing bison, and a mother and calf. There were many exhibits from "Buffalo Bill's Wild West", including the famous show put on for Queen Victoria, but my favorite display was of the sturdy tent that Buffalo Bill lived in while they were on the road: oriental carpets and a simple cot.
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| Buffalo Bill's Private Tent |
The Plains Indian Museum has both historical and contemporary displays. The Art Museum has a nice collection of Russell and Remington, as well as a replica of Remington's studio. One alcove had a collection of paintings of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and seeing so many paintings of a single waterfall was a little strange. The Firearms Museum is said to have the world's most complete collection of American firearms.
The Draper Natural History Museum was a totally pleasant surprise. It is a very sophisticated presentation of the Yellowstone region. There are four floors and the entrance begins in the Alpine zone of the Rockies and ramps lead you down, first to the Forest zone, and then to the Prairie zone.
There are specimens of just about every mammal and bird of the region, from wolves and grizzly bears to a bald eagle perched on its nest. The quality of the taxidermy work made for believably life-like displays. Perhaps even more impressive was the glass walkway where you could look down into a prairie dog burrow and see how weasels, snakes, and burrowing owls took advantage of the prairie dogs' hard work. I loved this place.
The fourth and lowest floor had a special exhibit about the Monarch of the Skies, the Golden Eagle, which was so appropriate because Nancy's favorite part of the Natural History museum was the Raptor Experience.
The Center is a refuge for raptors that, due to injuries, would not be able to survive in the wild. Currently there are 10 raptors in residence plus a turkey vulture. While we were there we were able to see a bald eagle, a golden eagle, a great horned owl, a peregrine falcon, an American kestral, and, of course, Suli, the turkey vulture.
Suli is neither injured nor a raptor, but due to imprinting, she thinks she's human, wants nothing to do with other vultures, and has no idea how to scavenge.
While Teasdale, the great horned owl, had absolutely no interest in being on display and studiously ignored us, Suli watched everything with interest and spread her wings in full display, turning like a model on the runway. As they say, she may not be very good looking but she does have a great personality.
ACTUAL WILDLIFE
We have yet to be disappointed with wildlife sightings on our trips to Yellowstone, but strangely, we didn't see a single pronghorn on this entire trip.
Once again, we saw our first elk immediately after entering the park from the west and during our drive down to the hotel, the traffic was stopped when a herd of bison decided to cross the road, passing in front and in back of all the stopped vehicles.
Then there were the elk and bison living at the hotel. We also had a starling nest just below our window and in the evening we were treated to a continual flight of these swooping birds.
During our evening Yellow Bus tour we saw two deer, both with their velvet antlers, two elk, and another bison grazing alone down by the water.
The Draper Natural History Museum was a totally pleasant surprise. It is a very sophisticated presentation of the Yellowstone region. There are four floors and the entrance begins in the Alpine zone of the Rockies and ramps lead you down, first to the Forest zone, and then to the Prairie zone.
There are specimens of just about every mammal and bird of the region, from wolves and grizzly bears to a bald eagle perched on its nest. The quality of the taxidermy work made for believably life-like displays. Perhaps even more impressive was the glass walkway where you could look down into a prairie dog burrow and see how weasels, snakes, and burrowing owls took advantage of the prairie dogs' hard work. I loved this place.
The fourth and lowest floor had a special exhibit about the Monarch of the Skies, the Golden Eagle, which was so appropriate because Nancy's favorite part of the Natural History museum was the Raptor Experience.
The Center is a refuge for raptors that, due to injuries, would not be able to survive in the wild. Currently there are 10 raptors in residence plus a turkey vulture. While we were there we were able to see a bald eagle, a golden eagle, a great horned owl, a peregrine falcon, an American kestral, and, of course, Suli, the turkey vulture.
Suli is neither injured nor a raptor, but due to imprinting, she thinks she's human, wants nothing to do with other vultures, and has no idea how to scavenge.
While Teasdale, the great horned owl, had absolutely no interest in being on display and studiously ignored us, Suli watched everything with interest and spread her wings in full display, turning like a model on the runway. As they say, she may not be very good looking but she does have a great personality.
ACTUAL WILDLIFE
We have yet to be disappointed with wildlife sightings on our trips to Yellowstone, but strangely, we didn't see a single pronghorn on this entire trip.
Once again, we saw our first elk immediately after entering the park from the west and during our drive down to the hotel, the traffic was stopped when a herd of bison decided to cross the road, passing in front and in back of all the stopped vehicles.
Then there were the elk and bison living at the hotel. We also had a starling nest just below our window and in the evening we were treated to a continual flight of these swooping birds.
During our evening Yellow Bus tour we saw two deer, both with their velvet antlers, two elk, and another bison grazing alone down by the water.
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| Bison Grazing at Sunset on Yellowstone Lake |
Our trip going to Yellowstone was quite uneventful, but the ride home had an interesting glitch. We went south out of Cody to I-80 and were traveling west when Google Maps informed us that there was a one hour delay ahead and recommended a detour that would save us 40 minutes. There was no indication of any problem as we approached the detour and only a handful of cars, and no trucks, were turning off. It was puzzling.
In the end, we took the detour which was tedious and returned to I-80 farther west where there was still no indication of a problem, but of course we would have been on the other side of the delay.
In the end, we took the detour which was tedious and returned to I-80 farther west where there was still no indication of a problem, but of course we would have been on the other side of the delay.
Later, we tried to find information about what the problem might have been but found nothing. So, now we don't know if we missed a major delay or just took a useless side trip.
For a few more Photos, click below:
