Beautiful Rainy Day

Our original plan for today was to go grocery shopping in the morning and then I don’t remember what because it’s Saturday and we figured the park would be more packed than normal.  Yellowstone is a very, very busy park.  We woke up early and it was raining so we went to the park instead (thinking it would be less crowded).  Good choice!

I’m sure the park is always beautiful no matter the season or the weather, but it was spectacular this morning.  The fumaroles were particularly visible in the weather and the clouds were constantly changing shape above.  The scenery was enchanting.

I tried something new with wordpress and inserted captions with the pictures.  It looks like it will work better.  

There were a lot of motorcyclists in the park today in spite of the weather.

Part of the park road is under construction and there were stacks of insulation sitting by the construction site.  They were putting the insulation under the road surface.  The road was near a warm spring, so Regis says it will help to stop the hot water from melting the road.  It’s interesting.  I have never seen insulation inserted as part of a road before.

Sadly, I saw several hats and some trash in the Mammoth Hot Springs.  I have one picture below.  I had my zoom lens on, so it is hard to get perspective but the brochure is floating in the warm spring.  With as many visitors as the park gets, I suppose it’s not as bad as it could be.

We went to the Lamar Valley again today in hopes of seeing a wolf.  It would be more than amazing if I ever saw one because they would be incredibly hard to spot.  While we were in the valley, Regis pointed out some Pronghorns on the hillside.  This is the second time we have been to the valley where it took Regis about 10 minutes to get me to see Pronghorns.  Once I see them, I can’t miss them.  But, I can never see them first.  If we had to survive in the wild, I would be glad to have Regis with me.  Otherwise, I’d probably starve trying to live off berries.  I can usually spot a bison, but, wolves are smaller than Pronghorns and much smaller than bison, so I don’t think I have a chance of seeing a wolf unless I’m standing next to a pro.

Dart has been such a good guy.  We can’t walk him in the park and he has settled in well in the back cab of the truck.  He has Tekoe’s bed all to himself, so he gets cozy until we stop.  When we stop at an overlook or parking lot, we let him out for a couple minutes to give him a chance to relieve himself and drink.  At the campground, the dog park they have is very small and filled with trees and obstacles.  We can’t throw the disc in it.  You are not allowed to have your dog off the leash, but we usually cheat in situations were the dog park is not adequate for disc throwing.  Regis and Dart got caught cheating by the leash police today and so not only can’t we take Dart for walks in the National Park where we spend most of our time, but he can’t play with his disc in the campground either.  To make matters even worse, the campground is crowded with lots of dogs, and Dart doesn’t walk well in tight quarters with lots of dogs on leashes.  I personally love it here and would love to stay, but when it’s time to leave, it will be best for Dart.