It's About the (RV) Journey....: Flagg Ranch.....

After a couple of weeks in West Yellowstone, we moved our home again....a bit south. We drove through the southern area of Yellowstone, passing Lake Yellowstone and other beautiful scenery along the way. A few miles from the southern entrance to Yellowstone is Flagg Ranch. It has a huge campground, cabins, lodge with a restaurant/grocery/gift shop and a gas station. Trust me, that was really convenient!

Yellowstone Lake

"I am an iiiiisland"

hot springs on the shoreline

Tom driving through Yellowstone in the big rig!

mountain views on our way to Flagg Ranch

nice views on the way south

beautiful

what a view

nice drive!

heading south to Flagg Ranch

We stayed here about 18 years ago, in a pop-up tent trailer with the kids, and had a great time. Back then, we didn't have to worry about cell phone or internet capabilities. No one needed to know where you were or what you were doing 24/7. There was a pay phone next to the office if you really needed to get in touch with someone, or had an emergency. Of course, that was back in the day and times sure have changed. I am shocked at myself...and how dependent I have become on "being connected" and the insecurity I feel when I don't have cell service. So, you guessed it.....Flagg Ranch had no cell or internet capabilities. They did still have the pay phone though!!

nice big site on a corner

putting on those all important noodles!

I am digressing. We had a quick stay in Flagg Ranch...very peaceful 4 days. We had a lovely campsite in the woods, so we enjoyed the shade during the late afternoons when we returned to the campground. I was able to read a couple of books within those 4 days and knit the body of a sweater in my "free time". That's a lot of time I would have spent online or on the phone! (I am going to have to change my ways!) We just had such a relaxing time at Flagg, and I think that being "incommunicado" had something to do with it.

relaxing a bit

cheers!

We did wake up really early one day (4:45AM!) to go wildlife watching at Hayden Valley. From our new home, it was about an hour and a half drive, so we left pretty early. It was crazy...the whole campground was asleep. Usually by 6, many people are up and starting their day, but before 5? Too early! Too bad we did not see much in the way of bears and wolves once we got to the park. There were a ton of bison though, and they were on the road big time.

early morning coming into the park

sun just coming up over Yellowstone Lake

another lake view

the buffalo are out in force

crossing the road

lots of fighting going on

did you see that?

looking for wildlife

its freezing...why am I wearing shorts?

Did I mention that I needed an internet fix? We went to one of the lodges, and "camped out" in their parking lot so we could use our really slow wifi. AAhhhh. Got the fix! We then headed back towards Flagg Ranch, through the buffalo again, stopping for an early lunch at Yellowstone Lake at Grant Village. We found a nice spot facing the water and had a really peaceful lunch.

internet fix!

elk moving toward the river

taking a bath in the dirt

aahhh...that's better

i wouldn't get out of the car if I were you!

not afraid of bison, eh?

bleeeehhhhhh

can someone please help me get this winter coat off?

nice bouquet

Jackson Lake

Good spot for a picnic

one of the best "restaurants" in town!

We also stopped at Lewis Falls, Lewis Lake, and a couple of scenic spots along the way. There was one scenic spot I wanted to stop....I had wanted to take pictures of flowers growing back in the burned forest, and would you believe, there was an elk there? So many people were stopped, and I thought "wow"...lots of people appreciate the new flower growth. Hahaha. It was the big elk with the huge rack that everyone was gawking over.

Lewis Lake...very nice

look for moose Susie!

nice water temp!

there has got to be a moose here somewhere!

very nice lake

check out that tree and root system

Lewis Falls

Lewis Falls-very pretty here

another view

Lewis Falls in the background

scenic view....should be moose here, right Tom? Hahaha

scenic overlook over the canyon/and river

We enjoyed Flagg Ranch in the time we were there. Besides the great campsite and nice people, we also had some good biking right there. The campground is huge (600+ large sites), cabins, lodges, etc. so we got a fair bike ride in. It also butts up against the Snake River, and we were able to take a path down to the river and do our usual scanning for Moose! No luck! We really want to see a moose in the wild, doing what they do.

going for a bike ride

a new flower in the meadow behind the campground

aren't these cool?

Snake River...there just has to be moose here

took the trail from the campground down here

pretty good biking here

isn't this great?

frozen snickers!

deer at one of the cabins in the campground

One rainy day we spent reading in the camper for most of the day. I made a few batches of chili to freeze for busier days too. It always helps to have some instant meals available when we come back home late after a long day. We've really had good weather since we've been out in the Yellowstone area, with just some late afternoon showers/storms that pass through quickly enough that the sun comes back out before dark. Can't complain about bad weather.

relaxing finally

new decos for the RV

got rid of the "grown up" picture that was just not us and put our favorite flowers and animals

Replaced the huge "grown up" picture with our own stuff

nice view out the window...we're in the middle of the woods

time for a good movie-"Unbreakable"-

Another morning we decided to get up early again-one more time-to view wildlife in the park (this time more like 5:30am....makes a difference). As the sun came up over the mountains, the fog settled in over the valley.

all set...camera, binocs, bear spray

near the south entrance to the park

beautiful canyons with the river running through

nice

nice views Susie!

another viewpoint of the canyon...south in Yellowstone

talk about a bounce in your step!

mom elk eating breakfast

woah....the dad?

I'm so tired...just want to lay down and take a nap

so sleepy-baby elk

ahhh...now I"m comfy

We were waiting for the fog to lift for quite some time. Eventually, it did, and we had fun scanning the meadows for bears and wolves. We did see 2 grizzlies, pretty far away, but then they went over the ridge so we decided to go back and just relax some more at the campground (after another internet fix).

thick fog set in-hard to see to drive!

nice

don't want to hit one of these guys!

so many of them in the meadow/road

early morning in the fog

the fog is lifting Susie!!

let's see what we can see!

I'm not seeing much today....

just this giant raven next to us

oh, and this nice heron

love the soft grass on the forest floor

another of nature's bouquets

We stopped for an early lunch at a Yellowstone Lake picnic spot and had a great view of the lake.It was early, so we had the place to ourselves. Very nice!

nice spot for lunch

what a great view

love the lakeside lunches!

I had wanted to take a picture of the pretty flowers growing back in the burned forest. We had passed it earlier in our drive and when we went back, there was a large crowd near there. Turns out...a huge elk with a big rack was there and that's what everyone was looking at. We stopped again at Lewis Lake on our way back to the campground before going back to just relax. We even treated ourselves to burgers for dinner in the Flagg Lodge restaurant before settling in with a nice warm campfire for the chilly evening. It chills off quickly once the sun starts setting, usually bottoming out in the high 30's/low 40's. This was our last night in Flagg Ranch, and probably the last of our Yellowstone visits for this summer. We had a great experience!