Sept 5, Sat - day 30
West Yellowstone, Montana
Weather-low 45 (8C) high upper 70s (27C) cloudy with gusty winds



It was a long day yesterday so we tried hard not to over do ourselves today; we headed out around 12:15pm. Lots of cars were on the road, lots of people were enjoying the three-day long Labor Day Weekend.



There were Elk on the Madison River, we think they were the two cows and two calves we’d seen previously with the four point bull, he was nowhere to be seen. Just a mile or so up river there was another elk jam. A huge bull was lying down on the other side of the river; we couldn’t determine if it was the same bull that we’d seen with the cows and calves or not.



Rut is just starting for the elk, some bulls are collecting cows and some just seem to be uninspired as yet. This was one of the uninspired looking bulls, in fact some of the bystanders thought it just might be dead; it laid its head and antlers on the ground and didn’t move for several minutes.



Not more than a mile up the road and there was another elk herd with about 12 cows and calves and a bull, but they were a long way off on the far side of the ever widening valley. We didn’t join the jam, just drove on through wondering what the animals were feeling about all the intense watchers that had suddenly shown up.



We saw osprey here and there, but no divers or fliers, just perch sitters today. Fishermen and fisherwomen were scattered along the river, some fishing, some taking a break…it looked like a lazy day for about everyone we saw (except for the animal jammers…they were pretty excitable). We did see one kingfisher hit the water but couldn’t tell if it got anything, nor could we get any kind of a shot of them.



It was a fairly short drive and we headed home feeling rested and assured that there were still some animals around, despite the huge population boom over this weekend. When we got home the wind had picked up, so I put the awning on Gus away….preventative maintenance to keep it from getting ripped off the side of the motor home. The adventure continues…



To see more of 'The Great Adventure 2009' images click HERE