As you climb the canyon heading south towards Rescue Creek, you can turn and enjoy a great view of the little town of Gardiner, lying just outside the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. (The photo was shot using a 300mm lens, so the distance is fore-shortened.) This area has for centuries been an important corridor for wildlife migrating out of Yellowstone during the winter months to find food and to escape the arctic conditions on the high plateau deeper inside the Park. The bison that attempt to leave the Park are under fire by the grazing interests in the state of Montana, who want to see the Yellowstone herd reduced to a small number of animals maintained chiefly as an 'exhibit', rather than the wild, free-roaming beasts that they are. Thousands have been slaughtered, mostly by the hired guns of the Montana Department of Livestock. The reason is given that there are fears that the bison will transmit Brucellosis, but it seems that the main mission of the DOL is to gain control of public lands for the use of the corporate grazing interests in the state of Montana.

Once you make the first big climb up from the tableland, you pass out of the narrow canyon and into a region of wide meadows and rounded peaks. It's wetter up here, and you'll occasionally spot small ponds in the valleys along the way. In the photo below, Annie and Tom walk towards Turkeypen Peak as we head south towards Rescue Creek. In mid-September, there is still a lot of color left in the aspens above 6,000 feet.