World United States Montana Cooke City

Jim and Sandi's Big Adventure

Lost Lake Jun 20, 2010

As we have traveled through Yellowstone National Park, we have stopped at a number of turn-outs where there were people with huge spotting scopes. They have all been very generous in allowing us to view animals through their scopes. When we discovered we could rent a $3700 scope for $30 a day, we did exactly that. Our problem then was trying to look like we knew how to use it. We took our precious scope, left shortly after 5 am and arrived at the wolf spot later than the real wolf people. Scopes are great for bringing an image in close. It is quite difficult, however, to locate the animal in the first place - especially for beginners. We had help from a guy named Doug that we had met before. We were able to track two wolves once Doug showed us where they were and actually set our scope on them for us. We got better as the day went on and even watched a grizzly for a bit. Part of our day was spent hiking, trying to locate Lost Lake. Since the trail was a fairly steep uphill climb, we contemplated leaving it lost but pressed on, knowing that we would be pleased with our achievement in the end. When we reached Lost Lake, however, we found that there were quite a few other people who had located it as well. It turns out that there is a very gentle, short trail through meadowland in from the other side! Life is not fair!