Saturday, April 12, 2014

Bluster Arrives

WEEK ONE LOOMS
Enter Spring And Sproing
typical weather to greet visitors
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.. Come Friday a few of our neighbors and some other folks from around our neighborhood will enter Yellowstone National Park to inaugurate this years "Warm Season."
.. They will be greeted with our standard Spring mix: a bit of rain, some light snow, multi-directional winds, gray and heavy clouds, and infrequent bits of sunlight stabbing through the broken clouds.
.. Some services will be available. Most will not. All of the west side roads will be mostly free of snow. Some byways and pull outs will still be knee deep with decaying snow and fallen trees.
.. The dead and dying critters that litter the valley floors will have ravens, eagles, wolves, bobcats, and bears feeding on them.
.. A few fishers, (ourselves included,) will be peering into the depths of the high water in the rivers and creeks. There will not be much to be learned but we do it anyway. We do it to anticipate the fishing yet to come. We do it to remember fishing long past. We do it because we are sucked into running water. And we do it because it's there.
.. At some point during the next 10 or 12 days the clouds will lift. At some point sun will paint the snow dappled landscape with warm bright light. The winds may slow and the snow will begin to melt in earnest.
.. Lucky tour groups and the neighbors will rush the gate and lug piles of photographic gear to capture some "Spring Photos." Some of our neighbors will drag the kids out of school and have a picnic in the snow or on a vacant bench. We hope to catch that first bright and sunny day.
.. Spring runs a close second to Fall as the finest time to visit Yellowstone National Park. The crowds have not yet arrived. Critters of all sorts are still in the valleys where the roads and rivers are - AND - the snow is thinning. Young of the year frolic in the snow and mud. The fresh feeling of a new season is upon the land and in the air.
.. Come Friday a birth happens. We will be there.
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