The next morning the skies looked dark and gloomy.  Thanks to the Slough Creek Campground vortex, we verified that, if anything, the weather forecast had worsened, particularly the second storm.  So we headed out.

By the time we hit Tower Junction, it was drizzling, and the Beartooth Highway sign said “Closed.”  A half hour later as we gained elevation, it was a mix of sleet and snow.  And it stayed that way.

The next couple of days were spent roaming about the Lamar Valley.  

Exhausted from the previous day’s work, we decided to have an easy morning.  And despite us being lazy, Yellowstone presented us with one of her many unexpected gifts.

The trip started off with us heading north instead of east.  The aisles and seats of Beast were loaded up with boxes of stuff I’d used in my apartment in Liberia, to be donated to Phil’s daughter Emily (and her parter John), who moved to Portland so Emily could study at the University of Oregon’s graduate program in architecture.  After quite the workout of hauling boxes upstairs and a nice lunch, Ann and I were on our way up the Columbia River Gorge.

Well into our second week into the Lamar Valley portion of our stay (yes, we bugged out a few days early), we went to photograph at a site on the way to Mammoth Hot Springs we scouted out previously that I thought would make for a great morning of photographing.  Things hadn’t quite turned out as well as I’d hoped, but on the way back to the Lamar Valley, we noticed that the road into the Blacktail Deer Plateau was open (it had been closed the few times we’d passed by it earlier in the trip), so we hung a right and went off-road.  

Well, Ann and I are busy making plans for our Autumn 2017 adventure.  Our destination - the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park.  

In case you’ve forgotten, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks were the destination of our first long-term (3-week) vacation and is the one that set the hook for us to try and get out for extended periods to photograph.  And, if you recall (check out the blog posts from September and October 2014 if you don’t or if you want a refresher), a winter storm chased us out of the Lamar Valley three days earlier than we’d hoped.  It was a smart move on our part, allowing us to avoid 18” of snow and several very, very cold nights in our tent (not that the Tetons were much warmer, but . . . ).  Still, leaving the Lamar Valley early was one of our biggest disappointments on that trip.