Day 13

We spent the night at Pebble Creek and fell asleep the the sound of rain.  When we woke, the campsite was just at the cusp of freezing and the mountain tops were covered with snow. To warm up the chilly morning, we made some cinnamon rolls and drank some cowboy coffee, since none of the site in Yellowstone have electricity except one. With some warm food and coffee in our belly we packed up our site to head south to Fisherman’s Bridge, where we could charge everything and get some water in our trailer for several more nights to come where we would not have the commodities.

The drive to Fisherman’s Bridge was breath-taking. Seeing fields full of wildflowers with a dusting of snow and in the background, mountains that were given the chance to replenish their snow caps. There was an eerie moment as we drove through one the hardest hit areas from the 1988 fires, Washburn, the ashen black, fallen trees half covered in snow. Serpentining through the forest we see the only animal not bedded down int he cold are the Bison. Steam rising off their back as the morning grows warmer, gives them a majestic look I will not soon forget.

After our two hour drive through just under a half of the park we arrive at Fisherman’s Bridge Campground. The only campground where no fires are allowed and no soft walled tents or campers can stay because of the bear activity.

For the afternoon we set out to check out the trails. When we arrived the sign posted let us know that arrived just in time. The trail was closed up until the second week in July, to allow the increased bear activity for mating season. We crossed a beautiful meadow where we spotted elk grazing off in the distance and abundant wildflowers. This ended at a pine forest where after 15 minutes we found another portion of charred trees from the 1988 fires. This opened up to rolling grasslands with a thermal spring in the middle. Bison dotted the tree line grazing about. The clouds started to darken so we headed back.

This was a beautiful day.