Wild Memories Photography Tours

The bluebirds are still here!

This morning I felt the need to drive into the park, just to breathe the air and feel the wonders of our national park.  I drove out to Blacktail Ponds because that was the first place where someone, a stranger, was kind to me, and I needed to feel kindness.

Nothing going on out there, just quiet.

They are repaving the road between Gardiner and Mammoth and so traffic was backed up as they shuttled us through one lane.  Will be so nice to have that road fixed.

Some of the elk cows that have finished with the guys are beginning to wander around ion their own, most likely enjoying the peace and quiet that they are now experiencing.  The elk calves that hang with their moms around Mammoth are quite large and healthy.

Much of the park – or its services – are closed now.  Grant Village, Fishing Bridge, Canyon, Roosevelt, Tower and Tower gas station, and I believe that the only campgrounds still open are Slough Creek, until October 7, Mammoth, open all year, Madison and Lewis.  Pickings are slim and Mammoth is filling every night.

We awoke to snow on the mountain tops this morning and there is a definite chill in the air.

After going out to the Blacktail I went to get a bite to eat at the Yellowstone Grill and took it with me for a drive down the Boundary Road.  This was the first time I have driven that road since moving out of the my winter cabin last April.  The road was rough over winter and it tore my car up.

I was hoping that a herd of elk I had spied might be on the road but there were only a few pronghorn and some elk cows far off in the distance.  But, I was surprised to see hundreds of mountain bluebirds flitting about!

“They are still here!”  I shouted in my silence.

The more I looked the more birds I saw but they were not being cooperative for photos as they seemed mighty busy.  Getting ready to leave I presume.

The moon is half full and I can hear the Yellowstone River roaring by.  The river never fully receded this year, due to all of the rain.  An elk bull is attempting to bugle across the river but it sounds as though he might have lost his voice.

So sad to see the elk rut beginning to end and to see Fall ending before it really began.  Time flies and it crawls around here, depending on what you are watching.  I watch for everything and so it both flies and crawls.