Clear Lake Loop and "Red Dogs"

Today was our last day of hiking in Yellowstone until the fall. We leave tomorrow to continue our journey to Canada for the summer. We went back to the Canyon Area but this time we did not visit the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Instead we took off to the northeast to visit several ponds, lakes and backcountry thermal areas.

From the trailhead we went up and over a ridge to sweeping views of the Hayden Valley.

The trail switched between dry thermal areas and...

wet marshy ones. This is the kind of territory that moose inhabit but only saw evidence that moose had been there, not the animal itself.

Our first lunch spot on Ribbon Lake. We didn't stay to finish our lunch, the mosquitoes got wind of us and invited themselves to our lunch. We hurriedly packed up and left.

Ribbon Lake - the kind of place favored by moose and mosquitoes.

We passed many patches of wildflowers, both in the meadows and in the woods.

These lovely wildflowers are Yellow Avalanche-lily or Glacier Lily, some of the first harbingers of spring.

Delicate flowers.

Close to Clear Lake we passed through a large and active backcountry thermal area.

Pools of boiling water and bubbling mud pots sent up their noxious, sulphur odor.

Clear Lake, a blue-green gem.

Most of the bison we have seen in the past week have been solitary, shaggy males. We asked a naturalist where the herds with the females and calves were. He said they were still in the interior of the park but that they would show up soon - the females and the "red dogs." 

Today, as we were driving back from Canyon, we got held up by a large car back-up as folks hung out  of their car windows to take pictures of a large herd. The calves are born a reddish color and are referred to as "red dogs." (If you enlarge the picture you can see the little buds of horns on the calves.

Today's hike:
Length - 7.06 miles
Duration - 3 hours, 26 minutes (including lunch)
Elevation gain - 665 feet