Fishing, Foxes, and Fourth of July Fun
From Missoula, we headed to Wisdom, MT, population 87! Mike and Heidi arranged for us to stay at one of their friends’ properties for a couple of nights in Wisdom. It is located in a 60-by-20-mile area referred to as “The Big Hole.” Everywhere you look, all you see is prairie. The houses are several miles apart. The night is pitch dark, setting the stage for spectacular stargazing. We made fast friends forever with Guy and Whitney. They were perfect hosts for our relaxing stay under the big sky. Guy took us out in his side-by-side on an adventure looking for elk, fox, and antelope. We saw several herds in the dusk of the evening. There was a baby fox sleeping on the roof of a deserted shed. Can’t wait to go back, maybe in October on our way back to AZ.
Erin’s significant other, Brian Whitaker, planned a cross-country camping adventure with Silas and Emmett. He asked if we wanted to join them in Yellowstone National Park. We had been missing those two guys and were very excited to head in that direction. We were meeting them at Grant Campground on July 4. I decided that wasn’t soon enough, so I found out where they were going to be on July 2, and luckily, their campground had an open spot for us. We drove an extra day past Yellowstone and surprised them in Custer, WY. It was so fun. We went to Mt. Rushmore on the 3rd and then backtracked to Yellowstone on the 4th and 5th. Old Faithful was great, and the mud pots and geysers were unreal. Brian had chartered a fishing excursion on the 5th, and the boys caught our dinner.
There are only two types of fish in Yellowstone Lake: lake trout and cutthroat trout. They caught two cutthroat and one lake trout. The cutthroat trout are native to the lake. Some anglers decided years ago to introduce lake trout to the area, and they have taken over. If you catch lake trout, you can keep them, but you have to return the cutthroats to the lake. They have independent contractors come in with gill nets to remove the lake trout every season to try to get the native fish population back up. The lake trout was a nice size, and we all ate some for dinner.
We headed south to the Grand Tetons early on the 6th. After we got our National Park passport books stamped and enjoyed the beautiful views of the Tetons, we continued to our next destination in Vernal, UT, which is halfway between Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon. We will be in Vernal for two nights, then meeting Erin and Darby in Bryce Canyon for a week. It has been so great being with Brian and the twins. I can’t wait to see my baby girl and Darby on the 8th. We are having such a wonderful time.
