Some of the ladies from the Lake General Store. They are all very sweet people and make the best milkshakes! The store closes on Oct 2 for the season. What a quiet place it will be with no where to get coffee, milkshakes and nice chatter. 

Here he is again. At first, the store staff was more concerned with taking his picture than with shooing him out. 

This is a little coyote pup that descided to explore the general store at Lake. Someone left the front door open on a really nice day and this little guy snuck in. He tore apart 3 loaves of bread before making his escape. The store employees and rangers traumitized him so much trying to get him out, he's never been seen again. How ironic that he chose to hide on top of the dog food bags. 

Sulfer Culdron. So many thermal areas to see, so little time.  

How strange?! This thing just puffs away all day long releasing steam. The scientists believe that all this release of steam, boiling water and gasses is what is keeping Yellowstone from errupting. They also believe that Yellowstone errupts about every 600,000 years. It's been 650,000 since the last one.......hmmmmm......... 

Monument Geiser Basin. Yellowstone has the largest concentration of geisers in the world. The early explorers were in awe of everything they came across in the park. It took almost 75 years, after the first explorer came through, for the government to believe that it all really exsisted. Yellowstone was made the first national park soon after the Washburn expedition in 1872. They believed the area was too beautiful and strange for any one person to have ownership. The whole country should share in it. 

Gibbon River valley. Great fly fishing and an awesome place to see large grazing animals. 

Sorry, but this is just stupid funny. Someone put a penny on a pile of baby bison poo. I know it's a baby because the pile is WAY too small to be an adult. 

A couple more paint pots. These are full of melted rock and bubble and spit molten mud all day. 

A couple of the paint pots.  

Here is Artist's Paint Pots. This is a really cool thermal area. I wish the sun was out that day to show the color off better. Every shade of nature is here. You can see the boardwalk trail aound the thermals in the background. The smell had a lot to be desired since all thermal areas are formed by or release sulfuric acid.  

This is a pretty rare sight. A swan in Cascade Lake. There are only a few in the park and was very suprised when I came upon this one so far out in the woods. A very good find! On my return to the trail head I found bear tracks OVER mine?! This was a little concerning since I was hiking alone and saw neither the bear or another hiker on the trail that day. I have no doubt that the bear was watching me at some point. All precautions are taken on every hike though, bear spray, whistle, ranger radio, make lots of noise so not to suprise the bear. The only thing I could do better is take friends along, but it's hard to get anyone to hike at 7am when there is snow on the ground and the bed is warm. Should I mention 2 hikers were attacked by a bear on Sept. 12th? Both walked away (one with minor scrapes) and that trail area is now closed for the season. 

And yet another picture of the Tetons. This was taken in July on a very cold 35* morning. Never in my life did I ever imagine needing long johns in July. 

Here is another picture of the Tetons from a different angle. 

This is not a very good picture of the Tetons, but it needed to go with the elk picture. This was the view behind the elk. He was in the meadow at the bottom of the picture. 

A bull Elk. What a grand animal! right now they are in their rut (breeding season) and every night you can hear them bugling to each other. It's a very bizzare and creepy sound. 

I'll bet you thought Dumbo had big ears. Look at that little guy! This mom and baby pair of Mule Deer were hanging out on a trail by my house. It didn't seem to bother either of them that I was standing in plain veiw taking pictures. 

Cody, Wy in the background. The closest of two places to get food and civilzation. Jackson, Wy in the next closest. Both are about a two hour drive from my apt. (in opposite directons) 

This was taken in an area that burned during the fires of 88. Check out all the baby trees in the background. It kinda looks like a christmas tree farm. 

The view from the front porch of the cabin. It doesn't get much better than that! 

The cabin we stayed in for two days. We got dropped off at a dock by motor boat and then canoed the rest of the way there. The only other way to get there is by hiking 20 miles in. We saw wolf, deer and elk tracks. Heard the elk bugeling (mating call) and saw a ton of birds, including a bald eagle. No bear this time out. 

This is Joel. My boyfriend for the last 3 1/2 years. He came up for a week to enjoy a little r & r. We were exploring the backcountry for a few days. 

More snow pics! Since I lived at the beach for the last 8 years, I was lucky if I saw snow once or twice in Jan. This is pretty cool! 

Can you believe this is on Sept 11th? It's been snowing like this on and off for a week now. The snow is sticking in the mountains, but usually melts away by mid afternoon in the lower areas. 

After being dropped off near the foot of the lake, they piled gear and supplies into canoes to paddle the rest of the way. They had a 21/2-3 hr paddle ahead of them before reaching the cabin.