Horse Thief Fishing Station Access – Red Lodge, Montana

Lovely spot, just 4 pull outs on a side road with a stream running past and a few houses scattered around with horses on fenced in properties. We stayed a few days appreciating the cooler days. We intended to continue on to Glacier National Park. Glacier was 3 travel days away. Vic just wasn’t up for all the driving to get there plus all the driving while there. Instead we came back to Cody, to our first camping spot 8 miles from town. The kestrel shot was taken in Red Lodge, at our campsite.

female American Kestral

Our first day back in Cody we located a herd of wild horses. They live in a protected area called McCullough Peaks.

Wild Mustangs of Greybull (next town over)

Pronghorn
Horned Lark
Western Meadowlark

Vic took the horses, I got the pronghorn and the birds.

Say farewell to Cody, WY

Tomorrow (Monday) we pack up and move to Red Lodge, Montana for a few days. We looked at the weather and saw it will be high 90’s here but 10 degrees cooler there. Also Red Lodge is on the way to Glacier National Park, our next destination. We decided to get Starlink, a satellite based internet service that includes wi-fi calling. This gives us the ability to explore more remote areas and still have internet and cell phone service.

You remember the story about Snow and her two cubs from my last post. They felt threatened by two black bears and ran up the hill towards the group of photographers. Here are Snow’s cubs.

Snow’s cubs
Rogue grizzlies that Snow and her cubs ran from
Jam
Marmot

Just a few straggler pictures to show you. We sure do love Cody and the surrounding area and hope to come back to Wyoming next year. Rain, tornadoes, hail, fires, flooding etc over most of the country makes us glad we are here. I hope all of you are safe.

One last photo is for the people wondering how sweet Zoe is. She has on her Bark Ranger neck scarf that she wears when we go into Yellowstone.

We saw Grizzly Bears!!!

We’ve seen several grizzly bears and Vic has talked to some of the group of about 20 people that are obsessed with taking pictures of them. They hang out in the park every day, all day and have been doing this for years. We started going into the park about 3:30, usually with Mark and Elizabeth, and staying until sundown around 9 or 9:30. We bounced back and forth from the good eagle spot to the 2 places most likely to see a bear.

From the “clique” we learned each bear’s name, their relationship, and how old they are.

Raspberry, the matriarch
Raspberry
Jam, Raspberry’s oldest daughter is 4 years old
Snow
Snow is Raspberry’s youngest daughter
Snow with her two cubs. we named them Flake and Angel
Snow’s cubs are “COY”, cubs of the year. This shot is when Snow “alerted” to another bear and it’s cub in the vicinity. She communicated danger to her cubs and took off running up the hill toward the photographers with the cubs right behind her. The photographers all jumped into their cars!

We’ve been enjoying Homestead campground and being just outside of Yellowstone for a few weeks now. The weather is perfect – low to mid seventies daytime and low sixties or high fifties at night. It has rained a little each day but never all day and not enough to interfere with our plans. We’ve met several people who live in Cody and all of them have been friendly and forthcoming with information and advice. The winters here are harsh. If not for that we would seriously consider living here. We call our camper the Magic House. It feels magical the way we can live the way we do.

Yellowstone Adventures

We spent several hours in Yellowstone yesterday with our friends Mark and Elizabeth and their dog Mazee. we started out at 3:30 and got home at 10 pm.

Elizabeth and Mazee
Vic and Mark the day we saw 5 eagles
Grizzly bear the locals have named Jam
Jam getting a snack
Jam showing his/her teeth

They call it a bear jam when someone spots a bear, pulls over, and people stop their cars to look too. You wouldn’t believe the traffic jams!

Love love this eagle (posted earlier but worth a second look)
Eagle in flight (!)
This Elk was close to the road and caused a huge traffic jam.
Black bear. I named him Peanut Butter.
Vic’s eagle from the day we saw 5 eagles.
Vic’s Marmet

Still near Yellowstone NP

We really liked it at Rex Hale but three days without phones or internet turned out to be our limit. Today we moved about 10 miles closer to Cody to a campground with the necessary but it’s very new and they haven’t started advertising so it’s us and one other camper. Perfect. There’s even a little stream. From here we can ride into Yellowstone early, spend a few hours and leave when it starts getting crowded. We got a military rate of $35/night if we paid for a week. We paid for a week.

These photos are from a couple of days ago.

Just thought it was funny with the sign
This guy made himself comfortable just off the road at the entrance to a parking lot with toilet facilities – so lots of vehicular traffic.
Elk with a beautiful rack
Raven, these birds are huge
Scenery is breathtaking
These animals are so majestic
Wildflowers
Black bear
Juvenile grizzly bear
Juvenile grizzly bear
Elk
Yellowstone Falls (that’s my new hat, a stetson) (and Zoe has on her “bark ranger” kerchief)
Yellowstone Falls
Western Grebe
Western Grebe

Yellowstone National Park

We left our spot outside Cody his morning and now are camped just outside Yellowstone. Drawback is no cell service or internet at Rex Hale campground.

It’s a campground without power (only 6 spaces have power) surrounded by mountains. Tomorrow we’ll go into Yellowstone looking for animals. A fee days ago we saw bison, elk and bears.

The only way I’m able to do this post is we drove 15 min towards Cody and I got a couple of bars. There are lots more photos – when I get back into wifi I will post the rest. XO

Pictures from our day in the Park.

If you look up the Wyoming state flag this is on it.

Cody, WY

We’ve been here in Cody six days and have fallen in love with this area. We have an awesome boondocking site, it’s only minutes to town, there’s a nice dog park, people are welcoming and friendly, it’s a town of 10,000 but everything you could need or want is here while it still has a small town feel. Iris and purple lilacs are blooming everywhere in town. Out here where we are wild alfalfa grows all over and smells so sweet. It’s so peaceful and beautiful here.

This is our view/backyard. We’ve been hearing birdsong that sounded like a meadow lark but could not see it. Finally we not only saw it we got a shot of it. It’s a horned lark.

Horned lark
Pronghorn Antelope

Fastest hoofed animal in North America and is capable of reaching speeds of up to 60 miles an hour.

Our view
Our view
Can you find us?
Our view
Can you find us now?