Harriman and Henry's Lake Idaho
Posted: Sun May 17, 2020 4:41 pm
Since we can't get in the parks, we have looked for alternatives in Eastern Idaho. We have hiked in Harriman State Park three times and driven around Henry's Lake numerous times. Although it is certainly not Yellowstone, we have seen a surprising amount of wildlife and some beautiful scenery in the few weeks we have been here.
Grizzlies have been spotted in Harriman which is about 40 miles southwest of Yellowstone. We haven't seen any, but did see their diggings on a hillside during a hike. We also spotted fresh black bear tracks, but no bear. Each hike we have seen lots of ducks, including ring-necked, hooded and common mergansers, western, clarks, pied-billed, and red-necked grebes, cinnamon and green teals, trumpeter swans, white pelicans, bald eagles, and more.
DSCF9055 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
Our last hike was the best, however. We hiked a six+ mile loop up the back ridge that crosses into Targhee National Forest. As we began climbing, we spotted 2 elk grazing in a meadow. Unlike the park elk, these were very wary and headed back in the trees as soon as they saw us. I know we see thousands of elk, but it is still neat to see them on a trail. As we were nearing the top of the ridge we scared up a young bighorn ram and just caught a glimpse as he bounded away. This was a surprise as we didn't know bighorn were in the area.
At the top of the ridge there is a gorgeous view with a nice bench to just sit and take it all in. There were some clouds so we only got a partial view of the Tetons. Still beautiful. A chipmunk waited patiently for us to leave to pick up any crumbs from our trail mix.
Heading down we came across our fourth ruffed grouse of the day, but this one was in full display. We only had Karen's small 10X zoom Fugi, but she was able to maneuver close enough to get a decent shot.
DSCF9076 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
Continuing down a bit further, we came to a spot where a group of animals (probably elk) had crossed the trail and gone up and over a small ridge. I decided to climb to see if I could spot anything. When I got to the top I scared up a very large bird which I was able to see with the binocs was a great-grey owl. He landed in a tree that we were able to still see him. I motioned Karen up and we were able to get a distant photo.
DSCF9081 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
To finish it off as we were driving by a pond on the way out we spotted a common loon (not so common in these parts). It was too far away to get a shot with her small camera but we had a good view through the binoculars.
We had seen about a dozen loons on an inlet driving around Henry's Lake a week earlier but they were gone the next day, obviously migrating through.
It has been the year of the eagles for us. We would typically see an occasional bald eagle flying over or near the lake, but this year we are seeing at least an average of six per day, sometimes all at the same time. Apparently there are some trout spawning in the small streams that feed the lake and the eagles are just waiting to pick them off. We have also seen pronghorn, many herds of elk, and finally a moose! We had seen plenty of evidence including poop in our yard, but no moose until just before dusk we spotted this male in the trees on our drive around the lake.
DSCF9066 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
We will report on the parks reopening as we get a chance
Grizzlies have been spotted in Harriman which is about 40 miles southwest of Yellowstone. We haven't seen any, but did see their diggings on a hillside during a hike. We also spotted fresh black bear tracks, but no bear. Each hike we have seen lots of ducks, including ring-necked, hooded and common mergansers, western, clarks, pied-billed, and red-necked grebes, cinnamon and green teals, trumpeter swans, white pelicans, bald eagles, and more.
DSCF9055 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
Our last hike was the best, however. We hiked a six+ mile loop up the back ridge that crosses into Targhee National Forest. As we began climbing, we spotted 2 elk grazing in a meadow. Unlike the park elk, these were very wary and headed back in the trees as soon as they saw us. I know we see thousands of elk, but it is still neat to see them on a trail. As we were nearing the top of the ridge we scared up a young bighorn ram and just caught a glimpse as he bounded away. This was a surprise as we didn't know bighorn were in the area.
At the top of the ridge there is a gorgeous view with a nice bench to just sit and take it all in. There were some clouds so we only got a partial view of the Tetons. Still beautiful. A chipmunk waited patiently for us to leave to pick up any crumbs from our trail mix.
Heading down we came across our fourth ruffed grouse of the day, but this one was in full display. We only had Karen's small 10X zoom Fugi, but she was able to maneuver close enough to get a decent shot.
DSCF9076 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
Continuing down a bit further, we came to a spot where a group of animals (probably elk) had crossed the trail and gone up and over a small ridge. I decided to climb to see if I could spot anything. When I got to the top I scared up a very large bird which I was able to see with the binocs was a great-grey owl. He landed in a tree that we were able to still see him. I motioned Karen up and we were able to get a distant photo.
DSCF9081 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
To finish it off as we were driving by a pond on the way out we spotted a common loon (not so common in these parts). It was too far away to get a shot with her small camera but we had a good view through the binoculars.
We had seen about a dozen loons on an inlet driving around Henry's Lake a week earlier but they were gone the next day, obviously migrating through.
It has been the year of the eagles for us. We would typically see an occasional bald eagle flying over or near the lake, but this year we are seeing at least an average of six per day, sometimes all at the same time. Apparently there are some trout spawning in the small streams that feed the lake and the eagles are just waiting to pick them off. We have also seen pronghorn, many herds of elk, and finally a moose! We had seen plenty of evidence including poop in our yard, but no moose until just before dusk we spotted this male in the trees on our drive around the lake.
DSCF9066 by William Reinke, on Flickr[/img]
We will report on the parks reopening as we get a chance