adventures
Before our backpacking trip, we stayed a night at the Buffalo Field Campaign, a really cool place to be.
Photo courtesy of Jenna W.
We stayed at Sheep Lake for our first few days, longer than anticipated because Cindy got sick.
Jenna, Josh, and I hiked around the lake.
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Screefields like this surrounded the lake on three sides.
We cut pretty much cross-country to get to our next destination, Coffin Lake, and were forced to descend this rather steep, loose-soiled slope.
Greg found an inner tube and flippers that enabled him to fish with his broken pole.
Lauren tried fishing from it too.
Lauren fell in while fishing. From the shore, not the inner tube.
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Both Lauren and Greg caught fish - cutbo's, I believe, crosses between rainbow and cutthroat trout.
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We hit the wildflowers perfectly. Unfortunately, we also hit the flies and mosquitos dead on.
On our last couple days, we hiked on the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
We emerged from the mountains to hike the last half-mile or mile in a valley.
Return to Montana adventure home
For our first evening in Yellowstone, we walked through Mammoth Hot Springs and looked at the thermophiles, heat-loving bacteria and organisms that create (contribute to?) colorful mineral deposits like these.
Each year there's a national butterfly 'census' to see how many species of butterfly can be caught in one day. We helped out.
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Our leader, Greg, made us wake up super early to go stare through scopes (he's holding one) at wolves and bears miles distant.
Photo courtesy of Cindy D.
I think it rained/thundered on us nearly every day in Yellowstone.
For one dayhike, we drove a ways into Wyoming, into the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness and hiked through a bunch of scree-fields.
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We were pleasantly surprised our last day in Yellowstone to see this wolf gnawing on the elk carcass, very close to where we could stand.
Photo courtesy of Cindy D.
