Kaycee, WY

Sometimes the places we find interesting are mostly over looked. That could have been the case for Kaycee, WY. The only reason we stopped in was for the Hole In The Wall that B spotted on the map. We spent two full days there, saw and learned some interesting things.

Kaycee is a small town of just over two hundred people. We walked from one end of town to the other in a few minutes. After checking things out at the visitors center, we went to the small museum and then took a couple of recommended trips.

The first was up Crazy Woman Creek. This is a narrow canyon with some interesting rocks in it. It has a one lane road going up it with several places where one can pull over to let another go by.

This is as we approached the canyon. The canyon is at the left end. You can see how most of the country is flat.
These are in the canyon.

Looking back at the truck.


Can you find B in these?





We ended up on a high plateau where we joined up with a main road into Buffalo. A few miles south of this town we went off the interstate onto a road that parallels the Bozeman Trail. There were some markers of battles that were fought against the Indians but we missed most of them because we were going backwards to the instructions. We also ended up on a wrong road but found our way out and back to Kaycee. While traveling this road we saw lots of these.


The bucks seemed to be hanging out by themselves or in groups.
The does were in bands. I was amazed at how many had twins. That was the case with around forty per cent of them. Note two does and three little ones.

If you want some interesting reading, go to the Internet and check out the Bozeman Trail or the Bloody Trail as it was also called. There were several confrontations in the Powder River Valley between the Calvary, Indians, and people moving to the gold fields in Montana across land that had been given to the Indians.

The town of Kaycee was also a town known to look the other way and not ask questions of those who showed up there. This is part of what led to the Johnson County Cattle War and a later fight at Hole In The Wall.

We made the trip to the Hole In The Wall the next day, so I will make a post on it later.

Sightings

The first sighting that we had was while traveling to Great Falls. It was a herd of around fifty elk just off the road and about twenty miles before we got to Lincoln. It was strange to see them this low, however there was lots of grass for them to eat.

In Great Falls we visiting relatives and went for a walk along the Missouri River with my brother and sister-in-law. I had never seen the river this high at this time of year. There was also lots of water going over the dams and falls. This is Black Eagle Falls and Dam.

Like other places in Montana, the grass was high here also.

We went by Giant Springs on our hike. It is as beautiful as ever with very clear water. It has been decided that the water that comes bubbling out here originated in the Belt Mountains several years before reappearing here.
We drove out to Ryan Dam and falls. We went onto the island and saw this. I was to this island several times while I was in college. Usually this is a quiet and inviting place to visit. The upper end of the island is higher and usually blocks the noise from the falls, but not now. There is too much water in the Missouri for that.
I was shocked when I saw Smelter Hill as it is much different than when I was in college. It closed it's doors, took out all the buildings and homes. The smelter company use to decorate the pine trees at Christmas with colored lights. You could drive a car through them or look at it's beauty reflected in the river when on the opposite bank. Now that is gone along with the pine trees.

From Great Falls we went south to see two other brothers, who live in Livingston, and their wives.

I also took in my class reunion. When we drove up to the building Saturday evening where we were going to eat, I sighted all these old people standing around outside. I guess I must look as old as them as I realized that they were some of my classmates. Once I got over to them though, they looked much younger. It was good to see them and find out how things are going for them.

Our next sightings occurred on our way to and in Yellowstone Park. We took a day trip there with one of my brothers. We saw a couple foxes on the way. The only elk that we saw were in Mammoth.
These two were ready for a nap after an early morning of eating. There use to be lots of herds in the park but the wolves have taken care of that. There are very few calves.

We stopped at Geyser basin and the canyon. There was lots of water going over the falls and downstream. Of course, the Yellowstone River was still up in Livingston but not as high as it had been. Although we have gone floating in it in early July in years past, I would not want to do that now.


We saw lots of bison, especially in the Lamar Valley. There were even pronghorns with them.


This one was at the end of a very full Lake Yellowstone.
We also saw mountain goats using binoculars. They were east of Lamar Valley up on the side of a steep mountain.

The best sighting was probably the last thing that we looked at. We saw it on our way back from looking at the goats. We had seen people stopped when we first went past this area. One of our party members, I won't name names but he has seen more of these, thought it was an elk and that we could look when we came back. It was closer when we first went by. When we got back, it had wondered on down on the other side of the stream so it was further away.

It was the first time that I have seen a live grizzle. There was a stream between us. We didn't have sightings any other bears or wolves.

One of my brothers had a friend who needed to move some cattle up to mountain pasture. So we got up early and helped. B and my brother walked behind and I went in front in the truck to flag as we were on roads all of the way. While waiting at different times for the herd to catch up, I sighted a good old Montana jack rabbit. I also saw three doe deer down in a valley. While I was watching the does a five point white tail came up alongside of the truck and just the other side of the fence, stopped to look at me, and then took off for the trees in the bottom. I didn't have my camera out so I didn't get a picture of him.

I hope that you are having interesting sighting during your summer.

A Couple Days of Summer?

What do you do when the weather finally starts to feel like June? Well here is a few things we did.

First we helped a grandson celebrate his birthday.




Then there were grand kids just DYING to sleep in the trailer. I didn't get a picture of the other two the next night.



We took a drive up to Kerr Dam. It is on the Flat Head River, just a ways down stream from the lake. It was made to raise the level of the natural lake.

First we went to the river below the dam, where I took this picture.


Then we went up above and hiked down to the dam. The view point is still above the dam. This is looking down stream.

The walls of the canyon are real close at the point of the dam. This is looking up stream. You can see that it is not completely full.

They were letting as much water as they could out at the dam because of the runoff coming into the lake. The dam itself is two hundred feet high, although it doesn't look like it form the lookout. There was a lot of spray. It was also windy at the lookout.



Probably the most fun thing of that day was when Gulliver's Lilliputians attacked with their spears when we were almost back to the parking lot. L got hit again as she tried to escape into the truck. Fortunately, none of us were lying on the ground so we didn't get tied up. The spears didn't really hurt, even when we got struck in the arm. It was more of a prick.

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Grandpa found spear grass that he had played with when he was a kid. So after attacking the kids, he showed them how to find and use it. The kids thought that it was great.

May Grand Canyon Hike

We started out around 7:00 A.M. and were in the bottom by around noon. We spent two days coming out.
There were six going down this time into the Grand Canyon. The two boys were already going down.

Starting down the South Kaibab trail.


We passed through a red stratum. There was so much red that people's white legs looked green. This next picture shows some of the color.


Note trail in the next picture.

Part of the trail and soil color. A close up of this one follows.



This was our first view of the Colorado River.


Bright Angel Campground on the left, Black Bridge on right.

The Black Bridge above Bright Angel Campground.


On river bottom looking toward Bright Angel Campground.

This was at the bottom. Two days later it snowed on us at the South Rim.

The water was too cold to swim in. It comes out of the bottom of the lake above.

Waiting for our forty dollar steak dinner at Phantom Ranch.

Leaving the next day at the Silver Bridge.

Starting up the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim.

Devil's Corkscrew on Bright Angel Trail.

Setting up camp at Indian Garden.


Taking a rest before walking out to Plateau Point in the evening.

Spotted owls are an endangered species that only live in old-growth forests. (Note his perch.)

Views from Plateau Point.


Trail we hiked from the river.


Leaving Indian Garden for the rim.

From the South Rim looking back at Indian Garden (green tree area in center) and Plateau Point (center of picture directly above Indian Garden in the picture.)

We heeded the words of the sign.