Yellowstone is proving to be as terrific and wonderful as I had hoped it would. Suffice to say it has not disappointed to date, and we have barely scratched the surface.
After taking a drive to Old Faithful for a quick look around the afternoon we arrived, we stayed home yesterday due to extensive rains and it's quite cold here. Well, I should say it's quite cold for 'Texans'. We stopped by the market this afternoon and were told temps drop to (-20) - (-40)...and that's not wind chill, but actually temperatures. They said that Yellowstone 'only' had about 5 Feet of snow this winter. Wow, I was freezing today with temps in the low 40's, rain and wind of 20+, the wind chills were off the chart for us.
But on to the important stuff--wildlife! To sum up today's wildlife in one word-- Awesome!! We decided to hold off checking out all the thermal activity and geyers today and take our babies (Clyde & Duffy) through the park and just look for wildlife. And we were certainly not disappointed.
Shortly after entering the West Entrance to Yellowstone we came across a couple of large Bull Moose. Their antlers were still covered in velvet and they were just beautiful to watch. On down a bit further we came across the first of many many Bison. One of the sweetest things I've ever witnessed was watching the new Bison calves being nursed, right next to us...within 10 foot of the car. Yellowstone is currently saturated with baby Bison calves right now.
On a couple of occassions, the Bison were within 2 feet of the car, so on one occassion I rolled down my window and lifted up Clyde so he could get "up close and personal" with them. It was hilarious!! Clyde acted like he Didn't See Anything!! What a hoot! This little chihuahua isn't dumb, that's for sure. Not a peep out of him...just acted like he was staring at the sky as the bison walked right by the car door and window, within 3 feet. Soooo cute.
We drove thru a part of the park called Norris, and on up to Mammoth Springs. It was there that we saw our first Bear. He was probably a juvenile and had silver hair. He was just taking a slow stroll from one side of the road, across to the other. There must have been 30 cars around along with a Park Ranger. So we pulled up behind a car parked on the road and Mark jumped out with the camera as the bear reached the middle of the street and just starts snapping pictures. Mark was probably within 10 - 12 feet from him and the bear wasn't the least bit fazed by the 40+ cameras snapping pictures of him. We watched him amble on up the hill on the other side until he was out of sight.
At the far northern end of Mammoth Springs as we began our drive south back towards West Yellowstone, we passed some of the most breath taking scenery we've ever seen. There's still lot's of snow at 8,000 feet and the views of the pristine snow with large pine trees look so tranquil and peaceful, like a picture on a Christmas card. The varied scenery during today's 120 mile drive in the park was just spectacular.
As we approached the end of our journey today we passed another blocked section of road with countless people off too one side. Mark made a quick u-turn and parked and we saw a rather large Grizzly bear on the other side of a stream. He slowly mingled and meandered his way along the river beds next to the water for a long time. We both got out and watched him for several minutes but the rain and cold weather finally forced us back to the warmth of the car.
We also saw Elk, Deer and numerous birds today and along with our Grizzly Bear, Black Bear and Bull Moose proved to be quite the wildlife outing. We were quite fortunate today as many visitors come to the Park and never see a bear. The only wildlife we've not yet seen are the wolves. But we still have 11 days here in Yellowstone, so you never know!
Tomorrow's forecast predicts highs in the 30's and low's in the lower 20's with 60% chance of precipitation, so we're planning on making some homemade soup and cornbread, and bundling up inside tomorrow and just watch tv and veg out. We stopped by the grocery store this afternoon and picked up a few groceries including stuff for a picnic on Monday.
Looks like Monday is a perfect weather day to head back and we plan on getting an early start and spending the entire day checking out many of the geyers and Yellowstone Lake as well as some of the Falls and who knows, maybe lot's more wildlife opportunities. We took very few pictures today, primarly just of the bears we saw. We'll kick our picture taking into high gear when we head back on Monday and we're really looking forward to finding a nice quiet location with spectacular scenery (easy to find in Yellowstone) for a picnic.
Well, that's a wrap for now. We had a wonderful day today and can't wait for our next trip into Yellowstone. So, until later~
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi, we are Betty and Monty and while sitting here at Grizzly RV Park wishing that the weather would cooperate a little more, I found your blog on RV Dreamers. We are in site 163, if you would like to stop by for a visit. We will be here through next Tuesday. I've only read a few of your posts, but we have many things in common - we are "True Texans" also, having lived in and around Ft. Worth, Dallas, Houston, and the Hill Country. We also drive a F450. Small world!!!
ReplyDelete