Up Mount Washburn

We could have headed back to the campground as planned, but since it was still early in the afternoon and we hadn't seen much wildlife - namely a bear - we decided to head a little ways up the northeastern side of the park toward Tower Falls.  This part of the park is more mountainous than the other parts we had been to, and we climbed higher as we headed north. 

When you see a lot of cars pulled over on the road in Yellowstone, you can assume someone has spotted an animal.  It could be a "bear jam," a "bison jam" or an "elk jam."  We came upon people looking up the mountain on our right, and saw a group of bighorn sheep grazing and sitting on rocks.  Jeff steered the Jeep as far off the road as he could and Henry and I tried to get some good pictures.  Ruth had really wanted to see the sheep and got out her binoculars to see them up close.

We continued our ascent, and along the way, the damage from the 1988 fires was still evident.  The mountains are still scarred with burned out, white tree trunks.  In some areas, younger trees are growing in and will someday hide the evidence of the fire.  

We kept our eyes out for bears and elk at this elevation.  Grizzly bears occupy the northern areas of Yellowstone.  As we looked up on the mountains for bears, we saw a road going up toward the top of the mountain.   And when we came to the turnoff for it, Jeff turned the Jeep on the gravel road.  Ruth was a bit concerned for our safety, muttering something about all of us going to die.  She's an alarmist, but we love her anyway.

The drive wound up the mountain, past colorful wildflowers and felled trees.  We could see for miles in every direction.  We parked at the end of the road and Henry wanted to hike to the top of the mountain, like he did at Rocky Mountain National Park.  This time, I went with him to make sure he came back.  It wasn't too steep of a climb, and I thought the lack of steps going up made it easier than Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was a dirt and rock trail, and we made our way up to a very windy spot where the train continues for at least a mile along the ridge of the mountain.  We enjoyed the view, caught our breath, took some pictures, and headed back down.  A kid told us he saw a pica (small, cute mammal that lives in sub-alpine and alpine habitats) in the area.  That got Henry excited, but try as we might, we didn't see one.

It was time to turn back and head for home.  We saw the bighorn sheep on the way back.  This time, they were lower down, and two crossed the road in front of us, giving us a closer view of the beautiful animals.  We also saw more female elk as we headed south.  We're wondering where all the males are - we haven't seen a buck yet.