Ruby Creek

Dr Fred got up early and went and clambered around some rock nearby – it was good he was very happy and his knee was sore but held up ok.  The rocks were quartzite and had a gorge with a creek called Ruby Creek running through them, causing some difficulty in traversing!! There were some nice slabby buttresses and some good bouldering tors on top of the nearby hillock, it was just what Dr Fred needed!!! – when he came back we packed up and went to secure camping for the next night, we are still a bit unsure about how busy sites will be so we cant mess about on rocks all day long!!. 

We found the Beaver Creek site and set up camp – not without drama but I won’t bore you suffice to say we met the first unpleasant person of the holiday… The second was later in the day at the West Yellowstone Visitors centre who spoke to us like we were hillbillies and not in a good way!!! Dr Fred reckons we look quite dishevelled but I don’t think so – I had only just washed (and cut!) my hair and our clothes are freshly laundered courtesy of Super 8 laundry – basically she was a rude woman bored with her job who disliked campers who were having fun!!!

Anyway we found all we needed to know and had a wander around West Yellowstone which was just for tourists, not as bad as Jasper or Banff but endless souvenir shops selling usual tat.  We had a coffee and declined the most expensive cookie in the world and we drove round the loop looking for wildlife. We did see some big horn Sheep and some deer but no sign of Moose or Bison.  We saw osprey nesting on the telegraph poles and just as we passed one landed with a fish in its mouth –

Just up the road is the site of an earthquake that happed on August 17th1959 when a very large part of the mountain collapsed filled the valley with rubble and caused the river to dam and make an enormous lake – it still looks very deserted, full of rubble and not very much has grown on it yet.  Several people were killed, they were camping and were buried under the rubble.  The lake is full of dead trees just standing mostly submerged under the water – all different heights but all over the lake.  We were surprised they were still standing after all these years.  They looked very ethereal and gave the whole place the air of desolation and wildness