Tuesday, June 12, 2012

YELLOWSTONE PART IV

BRRRR! and we thought it was cold yesterday. This morning, Sunday the 10th of June, brought "summer" to Yellowstone National Park with temperatures for the day of high 30s and snow showers!
Tim and Kate at Sulphur Springs

Once again, we bundled up and headed out for a driving tour of the east side of the Grand Loop Road. We got out of the car, believe it or not, at a few different stops. The first was at the Mud Volcanos where we did a loop on boardwalks over fragile ground surfaces for 1 and 1/2 miles. The snow was falling and the wind was blowing, but the mud volcanoes were spewing lots of mud and steam.

Tim was taken with the Dragon's Mouth Spring which spews steam out of a cave.

Just up the road from there, there was a ranger with his telescope for folks to look through at a pack of wolves. When we arrived, 6 of the 8 wolves had left. There were 2 still there eating their prey but it was too far away for pictures, I'm afraid. The Park keeps track of the wolves with radio transmitters around their necks.

Along the  meadow on the opposite side of the road, there was a Coyote just running away down the hill. As we drove along we came upon this deer. Wildlife everywhere with people stopping their cars whereever they can to snap their pictures.

From there, we drove up the South Rim Canyon road to see the Upper and Lower Falls where we braved the elements once again. By now it was sleeting! While the views were phenomenal, the camera lenses fogged up. Can't wait to come back on a warmer sunnier day so we can do a little hiking and get closer to the river and the falls.
Lower Falls
 We discovered at one of the stops that Gerald Ford was once a park ranger here and when he became President, he created 18 National Parks. (Just a little tidbit.) In 1872, Yellowstone itself was declared the nation's first National Park.

We reached the Canyon Village in time for lunch and shop at the General Store where Kate bought a new jacket for the colder elements and Tim bought new wool socks. We also bought slippers (called muckalucks) so that we can keep our feet warm in the RV without wearing our shoes.

We found the Canyon Lodge where we were able to access Wifi once again. So we settled in near the fire with a drink and the computer to do this blog. We'll be camped near here starting Tuesday so that we will have access more often than we have had this past week. Also looking forward to using this comfy lodge more often too.

Warmed inside by Irish Coffee and outside by the firepalce, we headed back down to Bay Bridge and our RV. Just outside our campground exit, I spotted a bear coming out of the woods near the tenting area.  We stopped the car at a pullout and Tim pulled out our bear identifier card. We determined it was indeed a Grizzly Bear. We could tell by the distinctive hump on its shoulders. We jumped out of the car and started taking pictures. It was across the field about 150 feet away and started coming towards the road. More and more cars stopped and there was literally a traffic jam with everyone jumping out to take their pictures. As it got closer, we retreated to our cars and continued taking pictures through the window. At this point it was a mere 50 feet from the car. We were very excited to see the Grizzly and were thankful that it was when we were in the car and not hiking the trail!
Grizzly Bear Next to Bay Bridge Campground on Grand Loop Road

1 comment:

  1. He heard there was Irish coffee nearby (and maybe an Irishman, or two)!! (:

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