Lamar, Of Course!

After our full morning in the Tetons, we finally had to move on toward Big Sky. Such a shame. Now, we had to drive through another miserable park, Yellowstone.

We did have a dilemma though. The park has completely closed a critical section of road due to construction - the section between Madison and Norris! So our choice was a) drive toward Old Faithful and then out of the park to West Yellowstone and north to Big Sky (this is the quickest, most logical route) or b) drive along Yellowstone Lake through Hayden Valley to Canyon, then up and over Dunraven Pass to Tower, then eastward to Lamar Valley, then back to Mammoth Hot Springs then north through Paradise Valley to Livingston and onto Bozeman and finally south to Big Sky.

Hmmmmm. Which route should we take? Well, 'b' of course!!! We just can't come to Yellowstone without a visit to Lamar Valley. All is right with the world when I am in this valley. The smell of the sage, the staggering views, the anticipation of incredible wildlife sightings and the solace of knowing that this area is protected for all the wildlife that lives here.

An ad for the Prius

Colin and I hiked down to the famous cottonwood trees alongside the Lamar River. It was perfect weather - 80 degrees or so (unseasonably warm) and sunny.

Beaver Damage

As much as I understand that it is part of nature, it is hard to see these majestic cottonwood trees cut down by the mighty beaver. This work looks old but I'm not sure if the park is concerned about losing the remaining trees in this valley. There really aren't very many of them left and the view in the valley would be forever changed without these famous sentinels along the shores of the Lamar River.