Henry's Lake State Park, Idaho, and Rapidly Changing Weather

The days are sure flying by. We will be leaving the Yellowstone area next Saturday, August 1. We still want to drive up to the Lamar Valley in the Park, but over the weekend we decided to take a look at Henry's Lake State Park, which is just on the other side of the road from Valley View RV, to see if there were any hiking trails to be explored.

To our surprise we found a pleasant RV campground snuggled next to the lake.  Large level spaces with electric and water. A dump station is available.  I think the daily rate is in the $20 range, so it looks like a good option for anyone who wants to visit Yellowstone. Our current rate is lower than that because we are staying a month, and because we booked last fall, but the regular daily rate where we are staying is over $40. 

At Henry's Lake, we took a very nice 3+ mile walk that started along the lake and went past a marshy slough. 

 We saw this swan sitting in the grasses. We don't know if it was resting or nesting. 

We then went across a grassy sagebrush meadow. The trail was just a cut through the grass.

As we have driven mile after mile through this part of the country we have passed large areas like this. It was good to be at walking speed and see and smell it up close. We have learned that the sage is vital to the survival of many wild creatures including the large grazers and small mammals. It is pulled out and destroyed on farmed land.

The trail quickly led us into pine forest and aspen groves. 

We stopped to read each of the descriptions on our numbered flyer that the ranger had given us at the gate. 

We learned that a stand of aspen trees could all be the same tree, in that each is grown from a sprout off the roots from the original tree, or from the roots of a tree that sprouted from it. Thus a stand of aspen trees can be the largest organism in the world. 

The day was sunny and warm. Unfortunately we had forgotten to put on bug repellant and the mosquitos swarmed around us when we were in the cool still shade, so we had to hurry to get back out into the open where the sun and breeze kept them at bay.


Soon we were back out on the sagebrush meadow where we could see the lake once more.

We were back to the rig in a very short time, and Craig still had most of the afternoon to enjoy a baseball game on TV.

In my last post I mentioned what wonderful weather we had been having up here, just west of Yellowstone. I may have jinxed it, anyway it certainly changed on Monday! 

Although we woke to fairly clear skies with just a few fluffy clouds over the mountains, by mid-day a storm had rolled in and we were blasted by strong wind, small hail, and heavy rain. I felt a bit like we were inside a dishwasher or carwash as the water poured down the windows. So glad our Alfa doesn't leak!

When we went outside Tuesday morning we were surprised to see 
snow on the mountains!

  This is July!