Tuesday July 26th - Riddle Lake

This morning was a slow awakening after staying up half the night listening to the storm raging outside and the lightning creating flashes of the light in the otherwise pitch black tent.  It was an intense storm but I think was nothing compared to what Yellowstone is used to.  The storms can be scary with the giant pine trees towering over our little tent, but as they all say… the chances of being hit by lightning are a lot less than getting in a car accident… this reasoning is not reassuring in the midst of the storm.  We decided to take it easy today, not driving too far and following the advice of a couple we had met to go do a nearby trail out to Riddle Lake where they had spotted elk the day before.  We prepared our lunches with what was left in the cans, some sort of turkey flakes that smelled like cat food, rolled in a spinach pita.  We are trying to get by with what we have left until we leave Yellowstone since the grocery stores in the park are very expensive.  Once on the trail we started our usual ritual of examining every flower, spider, and butterfly that Elisabeth came across.  We make a good pace of about one mile per hour.  This gives us plenty of time to look for animals and enjoy the scenery.  We came across people on the trail that told us that they had seen  a couple of swan on the lake, including a ranger that lets us know she had also seen an osprey that is often spotted in the park.  We get out to the lake and it was beautiful, we spot the two swans off in the distance and see several large birds which we assumed were the osprey since they were flying over the lake.  We had lunch and took the time to enjoy the scenery and snap some pictures before heading back down the trail. 

We came across a couple that let us know there were three elk a bit further off the trail.  Hesitantly and quietly we head off to see them.  We come around a bend and see the antlers of one of them and one other eating just behind him.  The third was laying in the grass nearby.  We sit down to observe them while snapping pictures, telling Elisabeth to be quiet out of fear of disturbing these giant animals.  They were HUGE and the antlers were even more impressive.  We stay at a safe distance, remembering that these animals can be very aggressive at times.  Once they backed away from the trail a bit we continue on our way. 

We stop by Grant village to access the internet and get more information on the nearby trails.  We came across the couple that had told us about the elk, they invited us to come out to the lake that night to go for a ride in their collapsible kayak.  We head out to the lake after dinner and come across David and Lilly, two Spanish teachers from Oregon.  We take out the kayak for a short ride on the lake while the sun was setting behind the mountains.  It was very peaceful on the quiet lake.  We thank them before heading back to the tent before dark, making plans to meet up when we get to Oregon.