Fishing the Firehold; A Moose and Her Calf Visit

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

Mist rose from the Firehole River as we drove into the Park.  It was 37 degrees and soon fog covered the road making driving difficult.  Tim wanted to fish the Firehole River before it became too warm and the Park Service closed it to fishing, but it was still early, and still cold, so we drove on to Old Faithful.  As we approached the fog cleared revealing a beautiful morning.  We walked along the boardwalk past bubbling geysers and green meadows bordered by forested hillsides, and watched Old Faithful erupt, shooting an enormous cloud into the sky.

By the time we returned to the Firehole, it had warmed up to about 50-51 degrees.  As Tim fished downstream, I walked along the river bank, covered in wildflowers and thick, green grass.  An osprey perched in a tall pine, scanning the river for prey.  A great blue heron soared overhead and landed on the grassy banks next to a fallen pine tree.  Two mule deer bucks emerged from the woods on the opposite side of the river and stepped into the river.  They saw me watching them, crossing cautiously until reaching the banks of the river and leaping into the woods.  Not long after, I spotted a doe grazing behind the trees across the river.  A second great blue heron flew in and perched high in a pine tree.  Unusual to see it perch there.  Then a second osprey flew in, landing on the banks of the river.

Later we hiked down Mary Mountain Trail along Nez Perce Creek, stopping in a few places so Tim could throw a line.  It’s a beautiful open trail through a thermal area that follows the creek.  There were lots of wolf tracks in the soft, sandy trail; Wapiti Lake Pack wolves are known to travel back and forth to Hayden Valley on this trail.  We had the trail and meadows to ourselves, except for a doe grazing in the meadows and a single bison.

Late this afternoon the cow moose who has been hanging around the cabins, appeared across the woods.  She was grazing deep in a gully so only her dark chocolate back was visible.  She was very intent on whatever she was eating, rarely lifting her head to look in the direction of our back porch.  We thought she was alone until we glimpsed the red brown ears of her calf.  As we watched she hardly moved at all, except to lift her head every once in a while.  Then she turned and moved along the forest edge, disappearing behind the trees; we thought she was gone and then she was back to her original place to graze.  All that time we didn’t see the calf, when I turned and suddenly there was the little calf standing in front of our cabin.  It looked at us and made a funny cry, calling for its mother.   It even took a few steps toward us.

I grabbed Daisy and put her in the cabin as the calf walked across the drive, stepped into the center woods and trotted towards its mother.  Cow and calf both stayed mostly hidden behind the grass and trees until they turned and walked behind the shed and stopped alongside it.  The cow rubbed her head against her calf’s nose as they stood staring at us.  It felt like – and I know this is projecting – the cow was showing us her calf.  Then they walked away, disappearing into the woods.  We saw her again tonight, at the edge of the meadow across from our cabin; grazing peacefully at the edge of the forest.

– Christine Baleshta