A Day in Lamar Valley of Yellowstone NP

Well, we just can't come to Big Sky and not make a visit to Yellowstone. This time, we coordinated a visit with Tom Murphy, our photographer friend who lives in Livingston. He had a group of 6 people and we brought a group of 8 for a full-on casual tour of the northern part of Yellowstone National Park.

We woke up at about 4:15am to meet Tom and his crew at 6:30am in Livingston. The early wake up call was part of the reason Chelsea decided not to make the trip and Trevor also decided to sleep in.

Part of our "tour" group in Lamar Valley

Yellowstone in winter is especially magical - there are few people visiting and the mammals tend to migrate to the valleys and rivers to survive. On the way toward Lamar Valley, Laurie spotted a wolf and the sighting was confirmed by everyone in Jim's car. Unfortunately, the rest of us were not so lucky.

Ah well, we managed to see all the usual mammalian suspects on the drive - bison, elk and coyotes.

Colin and Laurie Enjoying Yellowstone

Tom Gives Colin a Few More Pointers

A Mountain Breathes

At the far eastern end of Lamar Valley we stopped at the Pebble Creek Campground turnout to admire the views of the peaks. High winds were blowing snow off the trees and into the sky creating an ethereal mountainscape.