The day began with a trip to the bakery. A fitting start to a day in Cooke City aka Cookie City. It was a popular and crowded bakery. Everyone stocked up for a couple of days except Larry.
Today was the last trip through Yellowstone. Our van traveled through the Northeast entrace along with the corvette club. We thought the van fit in well with the corvette club but they kept trying to drive away from us.
The van made its way through the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley is where one often sees animals. As you drive through the valley, one sees cars pulled over with binoculars and long range cameras. We would often pull over and ask the camera people what they saw. Surprisingly the answer was often “Nothing”.
We did see eight herds of buffalo. One herd surrounded the car and crossed in front of us.
We began a hike called the Yellowstone River hike. TripAdvisor said that the first 250 feet are ascending and a little difficult. The trail ascent is actually two tenths of a mile.
After driving through the park, Debbie now believes one needs to take a test to be a tourist otherwise banned from the park. Here is an example of a group that would fail that test. One tourists let’s call him Harold got out of a van and started clicking and making noises to attract a buffalo’s attention. Harold stood next to Larry and was somewhat alarmed Larry who offered the suggestion that Harold not get the buffalo’s attention. The rest of the van then started asking Larry questions about the petrified tree. Larry made up an explanation that the van believed. After Larry, walked away from his tour group, Harold threw a rock at the buffalo. Luckily, Harold had a bad arm. Joyce yelled at Harold to stop.
So, Harold would fail as a tourist because:
- Tried to call a buffalo over
- Thought Larry was a tour guide (this one is questionable)
- Threw a rock at an animal
We also saw our first black bear.
We made it so Mammoth where Ft. Yellowstone is located. Educational Moment: Fort Yellowstone was a US Army fort, established in 1891 at Mammoth. Yellowstone was designated in 1872 but the Interior Department was unable to effectively manage the park. Administration was transferred to the Army in August 1886 to the War Department. The army administered the park until 1918 when it was transferred to the newly created National Park Service. We walked through the area and saw elk next to the building.
We had a bit of excitement when an elk female, baby and male ran through the field close to the parking lot. The ranger got his bullhorn (Debbie wants one now) and shouted at the people to get in their car or on the porch and to do it now. Larry was caught in between the porch and car. Our van pulled up next to Larry, threw open the door, Larry jumped in and they took off like a race car from a pit stop.
We spent the night in Livingston.
Our first herd 
Some waterfall that we no doubt hiked uphill to get there 
Buffalo own the road 
Up close and personal 
We saw 8 herds 
Can you find the black bear? 
Larry, did you throw a rock at me? 
And then he threw a rock but had a weak arm 
Ask Larry about the petrified tree 
Ft. Yellowstone 
Ft. Yellowstone – See the elk by the building 
Roosevelt Arch 
By the car