Fishing
Bridge RV Park
May 5,
2017
At the
time of this writing we have day one of the 2017 Fishing Bridge RV park season
behind us. For the next 4 ½ months our 346-site campground we are calling home
for the summer is booked solid from Memorial Day to mid-August. Now for the
last 2 weeks we have been in a section of the park that was closed to the
public, so most of the time it felt like we were here alone surrounded with the
natural beauty and wildlife. But today we could relate somewhat to the how the
Native Americans felt years ago when the white man first appeared on their
lands, as our roads opened and the campers and guest began to roll in we
selfishly felt our land was being invaded. But then we realized that these
guests make it possible for us to be able to enjoy this whole experience.
This past
week has been pretty busy but we did have some time to do some exploring as
well.
Last
Saturday evening Paula and I had gone out for a quick ride after work to the
south of the Lake area to see what we could see. As we rounded the bend there
he was frozen like a statue in the snow. It was an up-close encounter with a
grizzly bear. We stopped and he looked straight at our truck and then after a
few minutes he went about his business of looking for food to replenish his
lost calories from his long winter nap. This is the closest we have come to one
of these creatures and he was a very majestic and powerful looking animal. We
sat in awe and watched as he wondered across the road in front of us and down
to the shore of Yellowstone lake. After about 20 minutes he began moving up the
road in our direction so after snapping about 20 pictures we decided to retreat
and leave him to his hunting. The beauty of it was we were the only ones around
to enjoy this sighting.
Sunday
April 29 was a bus tour for all of the 1st year employees at Fishing
Bridge. We had a great driver and tour guide named Jackie who is a retired
Charlotte PD police officer and she is in her 7th year working here
at Yellowstone. She made the day most enjoyable with here facts and information
about the park that she shared with us.
Like the most common tree in the park is the lodgepole pine which cover
80% of the parks forests. The average height of a lodgepole pine is 76.5 feet
tall which wasn’t lost on the designer of the Old Faithful Inn as the interior
height of the foyer and lobby area is 76.5 feet tall. One more fact about
lodgepole pines that we learned is that the tree produces two types of pine
cones one which falls to the ground and feeds the squirrels and other animals
the second that is sealed in a hard rosin which only open in the heat of a
fire. The second cone is what reseeds the burnt forest after a forest fire. Now
if that’s not another example that God’s creative hand is all over this place
then I don’t know what is. We had lunch
at the Old Faithful Snow lodge and then a very informative board walk hike
around some of the mud pots and geysers. Our return trip to Fishing Bridge was
slowed by a 45-minute Bison Jam which was caused by a heard of approximately 75
Bison. This was by far the largest one we have been in this year and it even
required the assistance of the Park Rangers to get the traffic moving again.
Interesting enough we learned that these larger herds are led by an older
female bison and from scientific studies it has been learned that she will
train her successor. We also learned that once the male bison reach two years
old they are kicked out of the herd and they form small bachelor herds and they
only rejoin the large herd during the mating season in late July and August. We
also learned if you ever see a Bison without a tail or a shorten tail it most
likely froze to the ground during a winter night while the Bison was lying down
and came off when they stood up to move. This gives a whole new meaning to the
phrase “I am freezing my tail off”.
Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday were our practical days in which we went to our
campground office and got to practice checking each other in as if we were real
guest. This was very helpful and informative and helped further prepare us for
opening day.
On
Wednesday evening our manager Jan planned a pot luck dinner for the entire
staff at the office. Now our staff is made up of people from all around the
country which lead to a wide variety of food types being prepared. Now this
food was definitely good but in no way, could it compare to the church covered
dish at RBC on Wednesday or the simple Wednesday meals on Hillside Drive. But
the homemade ice cream and rhubarb cake was pretty good. After dinner, we all
went out and stood in the middle of the main road of the campground and took a
group picture, as this would be the last time there would be no traffic on this
road until mid-September.
On
Thursday morning, we were off work so we headed off to Cody Wy. Which is 80
miles east of Fishing Bridge RV. This drive takes you 26 miles to the East gate
and also carries you through Sylvin’s pass at 8500 feet. This is a beautiful
drive and the area through the pass is an avalanche area at this time of year
you pass through high snow covered peaks on both sides of the roadway. The parks service uses a small cannon to shoot
shells into the snow to try and control and clear possible avalanches before
they open the road to the public. Once outside the park in the remaining 54
miles the landscape changes to high rocky cliffs and large green pastures. Most
of the drive follows the Shoshone River and passes through the Buffalo Bill
State park and the Shoshone National Forest.
We saw a number of Elk and Mule deer most of which were grazing
alongside the domestic horses inside the fenced pastures. We also saw a number
of mountain goats grazing along the roadway.
In Cody,
we had the truck serviced, ate lunch, visited Wal-Mart to resupply and took
Paula to the hairdresser as the Florida hair doo wasn’t as “Vavoomy” as the Cedar
Key beautician thought. As we started
back we saw 3 other couples from our group and we had a small convoy back to
the park.
As we
were almost home we saw a second Grizzly bear for the week and he was digging
in the ground for some grubs or small rodents alongside of a creek. This fella
was almost solid black in color but was no doubt a grizzly because of the
distinctive hump on his front shoulder area.
Doughnuts Anyone? On second thought may be the beginning of an Avalanche
Anytime the whole mountain could come down. The sidekick could be heard saying drive faster.....
The Grand Teton Mountains 80 miles south
Grand Teton Mountain Elevation over 11000 feet
Spring feeding time for male Grizzly
Friday
May 5 found Fishing Bridge RV park springing open for business. Paula and I had
the mid-day shift from 1130am to 330pm.
As our first guest of the shift entered being the gentleman I am I let
my wife handle them. But because of me passing the buck on guest one I was
besieged the rest of the day with let’s say special reservations that required
some extra care. Paula is convinced this was because I passed the buck on guest
“numbre uno”. But all and all we had a pleasant day and it was enlightening to
interact with people from all over the country and the world and hear their
stories of their travels to Yellowstone and share our experiences with them.
This past
week our weather finally broke and we haven’t had any snow in a week. The sky
has been bright blue and filled with wonderful sunshine. The temps have begun
to rise with highs in upper fifties to low sixty, and the snow has begun to
melt.
Saturday
May 6th we had a day off and decided to go back to the Lamar Valley
area of the park which is about a 2 hour drive for us and is located in the
North East corner of the park. This turned out to be a great day for us in
spotting wildlife. As we drove on the Norris road we came upon a small Bison
Jam which consisted of two cows and a juvenile and one of the cows had just
given birth to a new little “red dawg” right on the shoulder of the road. From
the Bison pies in the road it appears that these cows were traveling with a
larger group an d fell behind when she gave birth.
New Born "Red Dawg" and Mom
As we
traveled further north we saw a herd of Elk in the Swan Flats area headed south
from their winter home in the Mammoth Hot Springs area. As we also observed a
couple of resident Elk on the porches and in the front yard of several park
personnel residences. As we drove East toward Lamar Valley we saw several Bison
herds and each one had a number of newly born “red dawgs”.
As we
drove a little further we came upon another road block which turned out to be a
Bear Jam. Further investigation revealed there was full grown male Black Bear
on the side of a creek bank in plain view taking a nap on top of a large rock.
After about a 30-minute stop viewing the sleeping bear we continued our drive
through Lamar Valley all the way to Cooke City Mt. which is located 4 miles
east of the park. This little town was an old mining town which now thrives on
summer tourist entering the park.
We had
lunch at a nice Bistro and then made the return trip through the valley taking
a few unpaved side roads in search of the illusive Lamar Valley wolf pack which
is one of the largest of the wolf packs in the park. Unfortunately, we did not
find them on this trip. We did spot a very healthy coyote which at first, we
thought may have been a wolf. We snapped some amazing shots of water falls
running down from the melting snow saw some Big Horn Sheep and some Mountain
Goats which were perched high on a cliff above the valley floor. We returned to
Mammoth and then skipped over to Gardiner and caught a quick bite at “The
Corral” before heading south and back home.
Multiple water fall from snow melt
About 10
miles into our trip south of Mammoth we encountered another “Bear Jam” and this
was even cooler it was a sow grizzly and a cub searching the earth for grubs or
small rodents to eat in one of the meadows. They would sniff the ground until
they smelled the food and then they would dig until the meal was located. The
cub appeared to be at least one year old but may have been two and in his last
summer with mom. We were close enough that occasionally the cub would try and
eat mom’s grubs and we could hear her growl at the cub, indicating he needed to
find his own meal.
After
leaving our second “Bear Jam” of the day we entered the last two legs between
junctions when we encountered another “Bison Jam”. It’s funny how nature has a
way of working things out because this jam was caused by the same herd that had
earlier left the new mom and “red dawg”. The herd had obviously returned to
help protect the new mother and calf as they stood watch in the road as we
passed. Ironically enough there were four newly born “red dawgs” being looked
after by this herd. As we traveled a short distance further we passed a group
of photographers that had been there all day waiting for a bear or wolf to find
a newly exposed carcass which was recently uncovered by the melting snow. You
could see tracks leading to and from the carcass from a previous visitor, but
obviously, these professional photographers were waiting for that big money
picture. But had only encountered ravens on the carcass as of 7pm.
On our
last leg of the drive from Canyon to Fishing Bridge we saw a herd of Elk and
one heard was swimming across the Yellowstone River. These are the first Elk to
return to the Hayden Valley from there winter feeding grounds up on the North
end of the park. Finally, after an 11-hour day we made it back to Fishing
Bridge with too many pictures to post and a memory full of awesome sites which
help reaffirm why we are doing what we are doing. Everyday there is something
new and different to see.
Remember
that only 1 percent of visitors who come to Yellowstone ever get of the paved
roads and out of the Village areas in the park. So get off the beaten path and
see what else is around the corner.
Until
Next time
The
RamblinRuis
Allen and
Paula
