4/19/18

We were able to drive between Gardiner and the Lamar valley a few more times during Don's training. We saw many of the same animals at various times and also saw new sights.

On April 11th we drove out to Lamar and saw the grizzly bear again. This time it came up on the road and passed about 20 feet in front of our truck. There were people out watching and photographing it, when it decided to cross the bridge, so all the people on the bridge had to walk to the other end to let the bear get across.

We also saw a mother moose and her 1 year old baby, not too far from Mammoth. After munching on the branches of bushes in the gully, they decided to lie down and rest in the snow.

 On the 12th we saw a fox walking near the buildings in Mammoth.

 April 16th was the next day we had time to take a drive. On this one we saw big horn rams lying on the rocks above the road.

 There was a black bear sow and a one year old cub between the Yellowstone picnic area and the Specimen turnout.

On the way back through the same area was a two year old cinnamon black bear.

 The bear smelled food in one of the cars parked along the road with people inside watching the it.

While we were out in the Lamar Valley we were able to watch a coyote catch a rodent under the snow.

 Near Tower Junction, on the way home, we saw the first baby bison of the season.

 Yesterday the 18th, we saw our moose family again. this time at Phantom Lake, about 4 miles east of the place we saw them on the 11th.

We are moving down to the campground on Friday the 20th. If you need or want to contact us, email will be the best way. We may not check our email every day though.

4/10/18

We didn't have much to post while we were at Thompson's Mills the last few months, but now we are in Yellowstone again and nature is revealing itself nicely.

We arrived Saturday, after taking a week to travel from Puyallup. We hit a little bit of snow on the road between Pendleton and Baker City Oregon, but didn't have any trouble driving through it. We stayed in Pocatello, Idaho for two nights waiting for the snow storm between there and West Yellowstone to blow over. No snow during that drive, but it rained the entire way. We had to go up to Bozeman and around through Livingston, Montana, instead of through the park. Apparently a large sink hole has developed in the road between Norris and Mammoth, so they aren't allowing any travel through that area until they get it fixed.

Now that we're here we've spent a few hours each day driving the north end of the park, viewing wildlife. 

Lots of bison.

 

More elk than last year.

Big horn sheep.

Pronghorn

A coyote.

The osprey is back in the Lamar Canyon and already catching fish to eat.

Two days before that photo, the nest was covered with snow.

Today we saw our first grizzly bear of the season. It is the darkest grizzly we've seen. We would have mistaken it for a black bear if it weren't for the shoulder hump and deep stop on the nose.

The snow is melting pretty fast up at this end of the park. Nothing's left on the road now, whereas we were driving on snow in some places Sunday.

Work starts on Thursday.