Friday, May 24, 2013

One of the things I am noticing about this area is that the weather forecasts tend to be pretty much the same as they are for Long Lake, at least since we got here. Temps are similar and they both had the word "snow" in them this week. I'm not sure if I already mentioned this but the elevation of our cabin, even though it is located in Paradise Valley, is approximately 4,900 ft. Some of the mountains around us are well over 10,000 ft and one over 11,000. The highest point in NY state is Mt Marcy at 5,344.

Yesterday's forecast was for cool weather (temps in the low to mid 50's) with a good chance of showers so we decided to head out to check some new territory. We headed north to Livingston, then west to Bozeman and drom there, we headed southwest towards Norris and Ennis, MT. In this area we got our first glimpse of the Madison River which, along with the Yellowstone River, are world renowned for their trout fishing. We stopped at some of the fishing access sites along the way to check out the water conditions. This time of year there is a lot of snow melt and run-off so the rivers are high and fishing isn't as good as it would be later on but there are always diehard fishermen out there no matter what the conditions and we saw a few of them. A couple were taking a boat out but most were fishing from shore. We had our lunch at one of the sites and after lunch, Jim decided to try a few casts. He actually hooked a nice trout on the first cast but unfortunately it managed to get off before he could get it in.

We continued on past Hegben Lake and saw the Hegben Dam. The Madison River runs into northern Hegben Lake and then out the southern end where the water flow is controlled by a dam. This helps regulate the water in the Madison which makes it a better fishing choice this time of year.

Next we came to the town of West Yellowstone. I'm not sure the population here but their main street is full of all sorts of shops and various places to eat. The town is right at the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We stopped there for a short time so Jim could check out Bud Lilly's Fly Shop and I wanted to check out The Eagle Store, which is a clothing and gift shop. I had contacted them last fall about purchasing my things and I wanted to stop in person to show them some items and see if they would like to order.

By this point, we had travelled over 120 miles. There is lots to see but nothing is close to anything else. As we left West Yellowstone, we entered Yellowstone National Park. The road traveled along the Madison River for several miles and that is where we encountered a herd of buffalo. The traffic came to a complete standstill in both directions as some buffalo stood on the road. It was like they couldn't decide which way they wanted to go so the cars were not able to move. Then two huge males started pushing at each other right in the center of the road. I thought sure they might have a big fight right there!! I have pictures posted on my Shutterfly page. We also saw some mountain goats back near Hegben Lake, and some elk and antelope in the park but I wasn't able to get pictures.

We continued on through the northwestern part of Yellowstone to the north entrance at Gardiner and then on north to our cabin. It was about 200 miles od riding but we got to see a whole new area we had not visited before so that was nice. The rain held off until we passed Gardiner so it didn't interfere with our day at all.