Having slept much better, we readied ourselves for another day in the park. Setting out earlier than the day before, we decided that we wanted to go back to Hayden Valley in hopes that the we could see bears a little bit closer than we had. Once there, we heard that there were some wolves off in the distance to the left. Several minutes of searching later, I was finally able to just spot them with my camcorder. We moved to another location along the road hoping to get a better view, but we couldn’t see anything. We went back to the spot we were just at watched some more. We heard that someone might have spotted a grizzly along the tree line, but it went back into the forest and so we didn’t see it at all. As it became later in the morning, we climbed back into the car and went back to Canyon Junction and ate our morning ration of oatmeal. From there we headed to the northeast part of the park. Hoping to spot some more wildlife in Lamar Valley, we passed by most of the things along the way except for Tower Falls where we briefly stopped to snap some pictures of the waterfall there.
Tower falls.
Continuing on, we made it to our destination. Sadly, in Lamar Valley, the only wildlife we spotted was a bunch of buffalo and some pronghorn antelope. We were hoping to spot some more bear or some of the resident wolves that were known to prowl that area. We kept driving until we reached Trout Lake Trail. We stopped there and made the half-mile hike to a picturesque lake that was surrounded by meadows. The still water formed a perfect mirror image of the surrounding mountains. We enjoyed the view as we walked around the edge of the lake.
Trout Lake.
Trout lake...again.
Trout lake and I.
With more to see, we headed back down the trail and drove back through Lamar Valley and headed towards Mammoth Springs. Half way down that road we took a one-way dirt road that went through some meadows. The drive had some nice views of the surroundings. From there, we went back towards Lamar Valley, but stopped off at Roosevelt Junction where at Roosevelt Lodge we had massive elk burgers for lunch, which were pretty good. With full stomachs, we drove to the trail that leads to Mt. Washburn. Grabbing our backpacks, we started the climb that winded up to the top of the mountain.
Trees along the path up.
It was a 2.6-mile hike up to the top and we had to stop multiple times so that I could take a break. An hour and fifteen minutes later we reached the top. The hike was well worth it. The top gave a panoramic view of Yellowstone.
Top of Mt. Washburn. Elev. 10,243 Ft.
We rested up there and took in all of the things we could see. At the top of Mt. Washburn is a fire watchtower. Reading a plaque there, there are three manned watchtowers left in the park. The people that man them start in early spring and work until the first major snowfall. They get no days off and are restocked with supplies ever two weeks. I have decided that that would be a fun job to have!
The topmost part is where the watchers live.
After enjoying Mt. Washburn, we started back down. Fifty minutes later we reached the parking lot. By now it was late afternoon. We were still trying to see some more wolves and bears, so we decided to go back to Lamar Valley and wait there for evening, when they were more active. The first spot we came to we watched for about twenty minutes, but there were no signs of anything so we kept going to another spot that had a lot of people. A small object had been seen moving about, but it hadn’t been identified. We waited for some time searching for it. Finally, Nathan spotted it along the opposite river bank a few hundred yards away. Zooming in, I could clearly make out that it was a lone wolf.
The wolf about to cross the river.
We tracked it as it trotted parallel to our spot and then came little bit closer to us. It eventually crossed the river and headed for the road. It crossed the road and then came back across and was eating something. By then, we had moved from our spot to a spot that was slightly closer. We watched for quite a while as it sat, half hidden, eating. After some time it crossed the road again and headed up and disappeared from view. By then, we had gotten lots of pictures and video. We had also heard that there had been some moose spotted further up the road. Following the people who told us about them, we headed for the northeast entrance. Along the way we came across a giant buffalo jam. A large herd was crossing back and forth across the road blocking traffic. Nobody was getting through. Well, almost no one. The person that was leading us to the moose shot passed all of the waiting cars right up to the buffalo. With in a few seconds, we saw him coming out the other side and cruise off out of sight. Hoping that it would clear up soon, we waited for some time, but no progress was made. The decision was made that we should just turn around and head back. Completing the four-point turn on the narrow highway, we were on our way back. At the first pullout we came to, there were a bunch of cars. Slowing down, we asked some people what they saw. They told us it was a grizzly. That is all we needed to hear. Parking on the side of the road, we looked for it. It was laying low, and so it took us several minutes to spot, but eventually we did. This bear was closer, but harder to see with the tall grass and bushes that it was in.
Grizzly hanging out in the tall grass.
After a while it moved farther out. By now it was starting to get later in the evening so we started the drive back to our campsite. Along the way we had to stop for about twenty minutes for another buffalo jam. After it cleared we made it safely back to our campsite, but by then it was already close to ten o’clock so we skipped making a fire and eating our can of chicken noodle soup. Instead, we settled for a granola bar each. We readied for bed and were soon blissfully asleep.
End day 5.
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