The Long Awaited Yellowstone 2011 Post

That is if anyone out there is still awaiting anything from TVangler…

I came within seconds of letting TVangler die a quiet death. The bill for renewing my hosting services appeared in my gmail inbox, and I was just about to delete it. But I couldn’t. I’m not sure why. I haven’t done a thing with the site in quite awhile. But I just couldn’t let it die for some reason. So, I’ve resolved to begin posting again. We’ll see how it goes, but I’ve got to do something to justify the costs. First order of business, the Yellowstone write-up I promised 5 months ago…

Like many trips this one began with a minor disaster: the airline lost the bag containing our camping gear including tent, sleeping bags, camp chairs, etc. We scrambled to find replacements in Billings and found what we needed at Cabela’s and Walmart. If all had gone well, we would have arrived in Yellowstone around 4 PM, but instead we arrived around midnight.

The remainder of the trip went well, relatively speaking. We (meaning myself, wife Jacqulyn, sister-in-law Gina, brother Jonathan, and his wife Trish) spent a couple days as typical tourists, visiting the sites, hiking in the Tetons and even doing the Cowboy Cookout out of Roosevelt Lodge (which I thought would be unbearable, but which ended up being – and for some reason I’m ashamed to say this – pretty fun).

We experienced all the typical hardships like rain, cold (even a freak storm that brought a bit of everything including lightening, rain, hail and snow), hordes of biting bugs, heat, traffic jams and tough-to-catch fish. But we also experienced all the really great stuff like incredibly beautiful scenery, rewarding hikes, a few big fish, Moose Drool beer, big Western skies, and all that wonderful unpredictableness that comes with vacations. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

My brother Jonathan and I spent the first morning on the Yellowstone River. There didn’t appear to be that many fish in the river, but we found a few risers. And did I mention that I managed to catch a nice one?

Jon stretches out some line on the Yellowstone River.

Yes, had to include another shot of my big trout from the Yellowstone River.

This was a common sight: buffalo jam. The two bison casually lead a 3 mile line of cars.

Grabbed this shot while driving up toward Dunraven Pass on the way back to camp after a day of fishing.

Moonrise from Mt. Washburn

We found tougher fishing on the Lamar River than we did in ’08, but we still found a few willing fish. The river was getting hammered by fishermen, and our normal spot was ground zero. Jacqulyn captured me fighting a decent fish.

That's me fighting a nice Lamar River cutt.

A Lamar River cutthroat.

We spent the majority of a day down in the Tetons sight-seeing and hiking. The scenery in the Tetons is spectacular. The trail to Hidden Falls is highly recommended. Insider tip: hike on up past the falls and into the mountain pass beyond. That’s where we saw the moose.

Jacqulyn looking across Jenny Lake toward the Tetons.

We walked right up on this big bull moose while hiking in the Tetons. Luckily he ignored us.

One day we stopped to fish a stream (which shall remain anonymous) that was supposedly good fishing for small cutthroats, but we found it to hold much larger fish. There were no other fisherman in sight, although we did see a few hikers, a few of which were carrying rods.

Jon fighting a good fish.

Jon landed this nice cutt from a stream where we didn't expect to catch much.

I happened upon this little family on a hike to Cascade Lake.

A family of ducks near Cascade Lake.

After the Cowboy Cookout we headed back to Canyon Campground over Dunraven Pass, and a storm began to gather off to the right. The temperature dropped nearly 30 degrees within 15 minutes. It began lightening, then raining, then hailing and finally it began to snow. Never thought I’d see a snowstorm in August, but that’s just what happened. Pretty cool.

This is the beginnings of a storm that would slam us as we crossed Dunraven Pass. It would include wind, lightening, rain, hail and snow!

Huge wet flakes of snow smash into our windshield as we try to make our way across Dunraven Pass.

On our last day of fishing, Jonathan landed a nice trout from one of the many lakes in Yellowstone Country. Lucky dog…

Jon's nice fish from one of Yellowstone's many lakes.

And that’s about it. Can’t wait to get back out there.

Regards,
Nathan