This morning, Reggie (my Golden Retriever) and I decided to walk through the pasture at the ranch just west of the RedRock RV Park. This is an opportunity afforded by the absence of the cattle that frequent this area in late May or early June. After they arrive, the temptation for Reggie to roll in fresh cow paddies is too great and thus I refrain from walking with him there for obvious reasons. Cleaning his fur after such an occasion is just too close to nature for me!

This ranch is one of the several that the Nature Conservancy has arranged to keep in it's undeveloped state thanks to owner Dennis Moedl. Ranching is permitted but no further development. It's a great way to keep this land for wildflowers, wild animals and scenic views.


It's a cloudy morning with the East Centennial peaks partially covered in clouds and snow. Rain is forecast for today. It's about 42F which is about 15 degrees warmer than yesterday morning at this time. Thanks for small favors!

Getting up early means we don't see a human soul and the area is very quiet, save for the birds. Our first encounter with wildlife was a large Swainson's hawk sitting on a post in the back of the RV Park. He looked at us quizzically and after a minute decided we were enough of a threat to cause him to depart. These are common hawks for this area and one or two make the RV Park their home base. He probably just returned from his long trek from South America. The Swainson's migrate almost 6,000 miles each year from Argentina to spend spring and summer in Island Park (and other places in the west).

Most of the snow is gone now, with a few patches still on the Henry's Lake south access road on this steepest part, preventing cars and trucks from getting any further. That makes for further isolation and quiet during our walk.


Crossing over into the ranch, you are met by many patches of cow paddies of varying ages between the sagebrush. Some are from last year, but it is obvious that several years accumulation in various stages of decay are present. The grass between the sagebrush is very short now and will start to grow soon, anticipating the cattle's return which will make it short again. The dominating color (other than pale green) is yellow from the small Sagebrush buttercup flowers (Ranunculus glaberrimus) . This single flower is scattered all over the hill we walk across.


The other major feature are the many large holes dug presumably by the badgers in the area. Reggie doesn't smell any badgers, so I'm wondering where they are. Some holes look fresh as of last fall. Are they asleep in the holes? I don't think so or Reggie would have let me know by his insistent sniffing.

We reach the overlook of Henry's Lake at the top of this hill and notice that the ice has subsided considerably from 2 days ago. There is still a reasonable amount on the lake, but I suspect it will be gone by Monday since temperatures are supposed to peak in the mid 70's by Sunday and Monday.

It's at this spot last year that I found a good number of Wyoming Kittentails wildflowers. Here they were again. Small little purple flowers resembling bottlebrushes more than kittentails to me. They are only about 2" to 3" short but they make for a nice change from the acres of brown decaying material that lies among the sagebrush. They seem to like this location because other than an isolated one I found further north earlier in the week, these are the only ones in this area.

This one was growing with the buttercup. Henry's Lake mountains are in the background.

Ever so often I'll see an isolated quartz rock laying about. It seems out of place since there are few rocks on this hillside. The rock is streaked with red but is clearly quartz in origin. Some of the other isolated small rocks, further down in the pasture are sedimentary, looking like pieces of limestone. Down from this hill on the west are protrusions of lava stone. In fact, there is evidence of Indian occupation since there are mortars where American Indians ground their grain on the volcanic rocks there. Of course this greater Yellowstone area is rich with a history of volcanic eruptions. I couldn't say if this outcrop was a result of the famous Island Park explosion that resulted in the giant caldera not too far away from here.

We saw no signs of any mammals this morning. We did scare a hawk that was searching around among the sagebrush for insects. It was white and brown, probably a young Swainson's hawk.

We enjoyed our little excursion this morning. Reggie lifted his leg on numerous sagebrush and enjoyed the smells of cows, badgers, ground squirrels and who know what else. I know things will get more interesting as spring progresses, but for now, I'm content to enjoy the little joys of exploring the nearby fields in search of new signs of life blossoming after the long and hard winter.

Labels: island park wildflowers mountains sagebrush