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We did not see any signs of the fire that had been talked about lately (the Broad Fire). We had a nice drive from Gardiner to Mammoth with a view of some elk with their nice summer glossy coats. We did not see any antelope, big horns or bison which is kind of unusual.
As we started to head towards Tower we could see some smoky plumes in the sky and a little smoke. We decided to drive to Tower and look for bears and see if we could see the Broad fire.
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At Tower we saw a very large fire plume and it looked like the Broad fire was growing. The park had fought the fire at first with a crew and tankers, but it just blew up and the park service backed off. It was a very dangerous situation and the park service did not want to take any risks with their fire folks. Good move.
Usually just below Tower or just below the Calcite Overlook there are three small lakes. The first lake is all but gone, a puddle at best. Rainy Lake, the lake on the right as you are driving towards Roosevelt from Tower is maybe 40 feet by 50 feet and looking like it may dry up this year. The other lake that is just on the opposite side of the road from Rainy Lake is gone. This is somewhat sad as we enjoy watching waterfowl on these lakes and occasionally a bear or cubs swimming. Not this year, but maybe next!
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Oh, let me digress for a second. The Blacktail road is open for anyone who would like to take a six mile drive on a dirt road. Kind of a nice little backcountry drive. Glad to see it open and we hope to make the drive soon.
As we drove down into Lamar Valley from the canyon between Slough Creek and Lamar we could get an even better look at the Broad fire and we could see that the wind had picked up and was blowing the smoke east down into Lamar and towards Cooke City. It looked like a foggy spring day.
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We were looking for a friend who said she would meet us out in Lamar so we drove down to the Lamar River Footbridge turnout. We did some glassing of the hillsides, but the smoke was getting very heave and we could smell fire. As we looked east from this turnout, we could not see Barronette or Thunderer, we could not see any mountains to the east of the turnout, it was like they had vanished. We knew that they were there, but if you were a first time visitor, you would not have any idea of the beautiful mountains and scenery in the northeast area of the park.
We headed west down the valley. We had heard that the wolves and pups had been out but once the smoke rolled in you couldn't see a thing! Bummer! We did take our time and when we got to the hillside from which you could see the rendezvous area, I got out and took these photos of the Lamar Valley sunset. The smoke from the fire gave some great colors and they just kept changing as the light grew dim and the sun slid down the western horizon. Wow! What a beautiful day and sunset!
At the third turnout we stopped to take one last look over the valley and talk to some folks. They were looking for bears and wolves and hadn't had any luck. We had a nice chat. We did see bison in the valley and for the first time we saw mule deer down in the valley just west of the Lamar Ranger Station. That was an interesting sight. We said our goodbyes and good lucks and took our leave to head home to our home outside the park. It was a great day in Parkadise.
We hope that the park service gets the fires under control and the situation improves. We can always hope and pray.
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