Afternoon drive to Cooke City and back today. It’s trying hard to be spring in Gardiner and Mammoth, thinking about it in the Lamar and still winter in Cooke City. Signs of spring in Gardiner — the lilacs leafed out and sprouted buds over the weekend and in addition to the five thousand finches at the feeder (up from four thousand yesterday) were two white-crowned sparrows. Love those little guys. 



Scenes from the Park. Bison and bison babies everywhere from Mammoth to the end of the Lamar. In the road, by the side of the road, out in the Lamar. First pasque flowers are blooming. No sign yet of shooting stars. There’s an osprey in a new nest out in the Lamar. Twenty plus bighorns. Several shaggy looking elk, one growing antlers. Five, count ’em, five, ruddy ducks at Floating Island Lake. Have never seen more than two there before. The bluest bluebirds ever. One wolf sighting. And one great big beautiful grizzly bear! A perfect day.

And, yes, there would still be snow in Cooke City. A lot of it, although they are in the process of scooping it up and taking it somewhere else. One way or another, time for spring!

(BTW, both pictures are iPhone images. The Cooke City snow is a two-image HDR processed in-camera. Bone Daddy’s is an iPhone painting of a poster on a Cooke City building for your viewing pleasure!)