We knew it would be utterly crazy for us to go to Yellowstone and the Tetons during Labor Day weekend. But we were longing for cooler temperatures and were hoping for more wildlife to photograph. Also, we reasoned with all the travel restrictions that tour buses would be at a minimum.
During our time at Yellowstone, we did not see a single tour bus. However, that didn't mean the park was empty. A lady at the visitor center in West Yellowstone told us the park had received record attendance during the summer while only having a quarter of the normal park rangers. We later learned that the park had not opened over 300 camping sites because of those staffing issues. None of the lodges were open in either Yellowstone or the Tetons. In short, finding a place to camp was nearly impossible.
We spent two nights in the area. Our first night we found a dispersed site on National Forest land about a half hour west of the park. The second night, we found another dispersed site east of the park.
We found the resident bull elk in Mammoth Springs. Unfortunately, it just doesn't seem right to take a photo of such a majestic animal with a building behind him.
We did spy a moose cow off in the distance on our second morning.
The crowd numbers were growing. The temperatures were rising, and the haze was horrid. As an example, here are two photos from the same area in the Tetons. I took the first photo when we were here in 2014. The second photo is from this trip.
It just didn't make sense to continue fighting crowds, particularly when animals were few and the haze so thick. We decided to move on.
We took the Lander Cut-off Trail on the Oregon Trail. It was another rough, gravel trail but offered some welcomed surprises. We saw a moose and her calf not far from a hunting camp with eight or ten RVs and campers. We speculated that the mother moose may have brought her baby near humans in order to protect it from predators. As an example, in Denali National Park, moose cows raise their young near the sled dog kennels in order to protect their babies from bears.
We entered a large burnout area and had difficulty finding a campsite away from the dead trees. Finally we found a small area with a covering of green trees that was perfect for us.
The wind made the burned trees sway and crackle. The sun set eerily behind the stumps and dead trunks.
Our original plan was to travel into the Utah mountains for a few days. As we sat in a parking lot in Kemmerer, Wyoming, however, checking weather reports, we were discouraged. A cold front is approaching and will drop temperatures into the teens at night in the mountains. There is even a chance for snow. No problem... on to Plan B. We'll head to Rock Springs, Wyoming, and the White Mountain wild horses. They, too, are old friends, and weather predictions there are for cool and comfortable weather.
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