Fall in Yellowstone Country

This was a beautiful clear blue sky day, a perfect day for a hike on one of the many trails in Yellowstone National Park.  We chose a trail we had never hiked before which led to a beautiful little lake, Harlequin Lake.

We enter the park through the west entrance at West Yellowstone and follow along the Madison River for 16 miles which ends at Madison Junction.  Just 1 mile short of Madison Junction is the trailhead to Harlequin Lake.  As we crested the ridge, the lake was visible just ahead, half covered in lilypads.  Fall is such a serene and beautiful time in Yellowstone.  The crowds of visitors are gone, and except for one other hiker who had cycled to the trailhead, we had it to ourselves.

We took our lunch, found a vacant log, and ate surrounded by silence save the honking of a few Canada Geese.  The only other wildlife we saw were some mallard ducks swimming and dabbling on the lake.  At this time of the year, it's possible to hike the circumference of the lake due to the receding shoreline.  As we walked around the lake we crossed a lava rock slide on the opposite shore where young aspens, just beginning to show their fall colors, are already coming back after a wildfire several years ago.

The fires which swept through Yellowstone in 1988 have left their devastating imprint on this land.  At the same time, it has refined the landscape and made way for the growth of new foilage which was previously crowded out by the more quickly growing lodgepole pines, although the lodgepoles are making a strong bid for this land again.  We saw thousands of new pines along the trail  The cycle of nature is never more evident than in Yellowstone - beautiful, sometimes cruel, but there for all to see.

We hiked back down the trail and, on the way back out of the park, we spotted some elk cows cooling off in Gneiss Creek.  It was 80 degrees today, unseasonably warm for this late in the season.  We were told that the bull elk of the harem was on the ridge above the creek, and that he was quite the handsome 7-point elk.  We never spotted him, and didn't wait around to hear him bugle at the end of the day.  It won't be long now until we can hear the elk bugles all over our side of this mountain we call home during the summer and early fall.

As much as we love this country in the fall, I must say the draw of home and family is strong.  We will be back in a week to see our new granddaughter, Malenda and her parents in Nashville.  Then, on to Chattanooga to see our grandson Will and his dad and our soon-to-be daughter-in-law and grandchildren, Seoung, Miles and Camille.  Ahhh...  life is GOOD!!!