August 28. 2010 by Merilee.

Yellowstone National Park

August 28, 2010

On our first day into the park we left early to tour the Madison River section to the Geyser area. Yellowstone is truly amazing.  In the first half hour we watched a herd of elk graving in an open field along the beautiful blue Madison River.  There were buffalo along the way and one lonesome fellow heading to the river for a drink along a trail I am certain he has traveled many times.  The thermals in park are always a treat to view with the steam rising with the heat and sulfur smell.

With Brad’s usual good timing, we walked up to Old Faithful just as it erupted.  Beautiful treat to witness.  The crowds are down right now as the people are usually 5 deep to witness the display.

We camped out at the Great Fountain Geyser as it was scheduled to erupt in less than a half hour.  It is not as regular as Old Faithful and erupts every 9 to 13 hours.  It was a sight to see the steam start to build as the water filled the fountain tables and shot about 20 jets of water and steam.  It was a different eruption than we witnessed 2 years ago as it had only three big bursts.

Looking forward to exploring more of the park in the coming days.

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August 19. 2010 by Merilee.

Missoula, Montana

August 18, 2010

The best laid plans often go astray especially when it comes to jeeping forest service roads on  national forest lands.  We struck out three times today on the back roads.  Early this morning we attempted to drive to the Montana Snowbowl (a ski area) but the road was completely closed for construction.  The other road up the mountain was gated a short way up and only open to hikers.  As my new forest service map shows, many of the roads in the Rattlesnake National Forest and Lolo National Forest are only open to hikers.   Our final strike was Harper Bridge which appeared on my Montana atlas, Garmin GPS and the National Forest Service map.  As you can see from the pic this bridge has been history for awhile.  We did see a jeep on the other side but did not feel the jeep Gods where smiling on us today and did not attempt the water crossing.

We are enjoying Missoula’s many restaurants and shopping areas.  Brad has tasted his favorite Moose Drool brewed here in Missoula and a thin crispy crust pizza so life is good.

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August 7. 2010 by Merilee.

Montana

August 5, 2010

“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam

and the deer and the antelope play…

Found ourselves singing this song as we took a wonderfully scenic ride through the National Bison Range in Montana today.  The landscape was pristine prairie with many original grasses.  The 19 mile one-way gravel road called Red Sleep had amazing vistas at every elevation and switchback.  The land, the sky and the light were simply gorgeous.  I have posted a few of the critters we saw.

The ranger warned us to stay in our jeep and not get out in buffalo areas.  The rutting season has begun in earnest and we witnessed many energetic encounters by the bulls.  We saw clouds of dust rising in the air as the big boys displayed dominance in the herd.  After getting some pics, we moved on as the herd was all stirred up, the grunting snorting and deep calls were a little intimidating with only the jeep between us and a couple hundred large buffalo.

The National Bison Range was established in 1908 in response to concern that the buffalo had been slaughtered to the point of extinction.  Part of the original herd was purchased from the Conrad family of Kalispell, Montana, who were early buffalo ranchers,  The animals are now flourishing here and the bison roundup is held in early October at the Bison Range.  The Bison Range is on a parcel of land carved from the Flathead Indian Reservation. To the east is the Mission Mountain range and the south the Bitterroot Mountains can be seen.

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August 1. 2010 by Merilee.

Polson, Montana

July 31, 2010

We have landed in Polson Montana on the southern shores of Flathead Lake.  The Mission mountain range flanks the eastern shores on the lake and make great cherry orchard country.  At 28 miles long, 7-8 miles wide, and more than 300 feet deep the Flathead Lake is the larges natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

Back to the cherries….  The first white settlers on the eastern banks of the lake arrived in 1891 and quickly hit on the idea of growing cherries there.   Fruit orchards were established all along the eastern shore of the lake.  Although they’re subject to periodic killing frosts, Flathead Lake’s cherry trees are productive enough to supply farm stands and roadside vendors around the region.  That is until we showed up!  These smaller deeper red cherries are tart and tasty.

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