To get straight to the point of this posting, Meg and I simply love Yellowstone. Both of us agree it has been one of the best experiences of our life. We entered the park through Cooke City, Montana (the Northeast entrance to the park). Just outside the park we spotted two moose, a mother and calf we presume. Very exciting and a precursor for good things to come. We had reservations at Roosevelt Lodge for the evening and the drive to the lodge took us through the amazing Lamar Valley. Along the way that evening we spotted a black bear roaming the hillside, mountain goats high on a snowy bluff, grazing bison and antelope, stately elk, playful prairie dogs, a mating pair of grizzly bears, and all encompassed by the beautiful setting which is the Yellowstone National Park. We arrived at our cabin at dusk in a cold and misty rain. The cabin had an old wood burning stove for heat and that feature proved to be very useful throughout the night. While viewing the mating grizzlies, we struck up a conversation with John Kerr, a Yellowstone Ranger that provided us with invaluable guidance for our park experience. John has the special gift of making a person feel special even when surrounded by dozens of other park visitors. I cannot thank John enough for the time he granted our family and the good advice he offered. And John, if you are following the blog, much thanks for all your help and if ever in Florida we would love to return the hospitality. Oh yea, the kids loved the candy shop in Red Lodge and Meg loved the bakery.
John's main advice...look for a yellow Nissan Xtera. Great advice as the truck was driven by Rick Mcintyre, one of the leading wolf researchers in the world. We awoke the first morning at 5:30 A.M. and were in the thick of the hunt within minutes. The 5:30 alarm must be a bit late for wildlife experts, since when we arrived several had already settled in for prime time viewing. We were perched on a ridge of the Lamar Valley overlooking green prairie, rocky outcroppings, and a winding river. Within seconds the excitement began. A grizzly was spotted roaming through the sage brush in search of his morning meal (more on this later). A herd of elk were grazing with several young calves on a ridge to our south. A coyote got a bit too close to the young calves and the elk mothers promptly chased him away. A sole member of the Lamar wolf pack (wolf #692) then pranced by the river's edge less than 70 yards away from our position. A rare treat, as I later discovered they are rarely viewed that close. A few minutes later, Rick informed the group that the pack was nearby and directed our attention to an area at the north prairie. The wolves slowly appeared through the lifting morning cloud banks. Rick knows where to look because a few of the wolves have been outfitted with collars which allow the researchers to follow their every move. What a treat to see. From our perch, we could now see five grey wolves, elk herds, grazing antelope and bison, a Trumpeter swan and some Canadian geese, a lone coyote, and all before most people eat their breakfast. All of the sudden, the grizzly took center stage as he burst out of the brush with his sights set on an elk calf. Mother elk and baby quickly took flight. The elk jumped into the river and swam across to the prairie on the other side. The bear followed. After a short land chase, the mother elk then led her calf back to the river to swim across with the bear close behind. The current in the river appeared too strong for the young calf as she got separated from mom. The grizzly bear wasted no time in seizing this opportunity and captured his prey in the cold waters of the river. The last we saw of the calf, he was being dragged over the low lying marshland on the river's edge in the powerful jaws of the grizzly. Sad, but raw nature at it's finest and with a pretty damn good seat.
The next several days were much of the same, absent the bear kill. We had wonderful sightings of more bear, an extremely close-up encounter with a badger sow and her pups, a pair of bald eagles on the banks of a lake, a large beaver in Yellowstone Lake, and the usual multiple sightings of bison, antelope, elk and many other critters. But Yellowstone is not just about wildlife viewing. Within the boundaries of the park are amazing waterfalls as well as insane geothermal sites. We did our best to soak it all in. Our favorite waterfall was the lower falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We visited first thing in the A.M. and the morning light was perfect from Artist's Point, one of the most photographed spots in all of the park. For a few brief moments. our family stood alone on one of the most visited sites in all of the park - pretty special. Our solitude was soon wrecked by a bus load of Chinese tourists armed with more cameras than the White House press corps. I then decided I wanted to hike to the base of the powerful falls on a trail named "Uncle Tom's Cabin". As this was a dicey adventure under normal weather conditions, I chose to leave Meg and the kids in the Scallywagon and go solo. I arrived at the trailhead, and much to my dismay,discovered it had been closed due to unsafe conditions. I decided I would gauge the conditions for myself. After a few minutes hiking through the snow packed trail, I came upon another warning barrier. Once again I opted to proceed. The final barrier was a steel gate, padlocked to the sides of a short footbridge, with a large sign demanding "no entry". After much contemplation, and against my better judgement, I chose to ignore this warning also and climbed the gate to extend my adventure into the canyon's depths. For the record, at no point did I ever think I was putting myself at any real danger and I proceeded with extreme caution as the steel grated steps were extremely slippery and steep. The trip to the bottom viewing platform consisted of over three hundred steps. I traveled about two hundred of them before the conditions warranted I stop. There was evidence of recent damage (large dents in the stairway) that must have resulted due to falling rocks from the canyon walls above. There were also gushing waterfalls that were dousing the steel steps with cold water. I was low enough into the canyon that I could feel the immense power of the Yellowstone River as it cascaded over three hundred feet into the canyon below. The record snowfall has resulted in unusually high volumes of water for this time of the year, and the Yellowstone Falls were a treat to experience. I snapped a few photos and returned unscathed but with a little regret that I did not complete my mission. The loss of testosterone that accompanies the increase in age is a terrible thing.
The other notable event of the day was "THE GREAT YELLOWSTONE BEAR-JAM OF THE SUMMER OF 2011". As you can imagine, bear sightings are exciting among the visitors to the park and create quite the traffic back up, commonly referred to as the bear-jam. As we were driving through Hayden Valley enjoying the park's beauty and seeking adventure, Meg and Ben both shouted out "BEAR"!!!! Sure enough, up on the hillside, slowly moseying around, was a large grizzly. I swung the Scallywagon around and quickly positioned her for optimum viewing angle. Just like the waterfall story earlier, for a few passing moments, we had the grizz all to ourselves. But within a matter of minutes, we had created a bear-jam consisting of over forty cars. And within ten minutes, there was easily over a hundred spectators enjoying the bear first spotted by Ben and Meg. Meg was quite pleased with herself. We ended the day preparing hobo dinners and roasting marshmallows outside our room in Canyon Lodge in a fire pit I dug, another park infraction but a perfect end to an eventful day.
The following day we were off to explore some of the many geo-thermal spots located throughout the park, with our main attraction being Old Faithful. We had many pit stops along the way, all providing new stuff to experience. And although we enjoyed Old Faithful, our favorite by far was the Grand Prismatic located at the Mid Basin Geyser area. Gotta go - adventure calling.
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