The Yellowstone terrestrial countdown

Every year, starting around the end of the first week of August, the folks who live from one end of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the other begin to count the days. This year is no different. It’s been a long, hot, smoky summer — as most summers have been over the last decade and a half or so, and as most of us who’ve lived here for any length of time predicted after a “winter” with virtually no snow — and we needed a break. Generally speaking, that relief tends to show up sometime in the middle of August. This year, the reprieve arrived on Aug. 13.