If I Were Going...: Yellowstone

This was not my first trip to Yellowstone -- far from it. It had some highs and lows -- and the lows point out just how fortunate I have been in the past. I have seen so many animals that I was extremely disappointed that we saw ONLY Wolves (see my next post), one or two Grizzly Bears, one Black Bear, no Moose and a rather unimpressive smattering of Mule Deer, Elk and Bison --- plus more that I will cover throughout this blog.

Wallowing

We entered the park via Cooke City and Silver Gate, which is the far northeastern corner. The route comes in across the Chief Joseph Highway, which is quite beautiful (although it rained as we drove in) and then through the Lamar Valley, which has very pretty vistas and big Bison herds.

Let's start by talking a little about lodging at Yellowstone. Although the Park has myriad lodging opportunities, they are hard to get and can be quite pricey. Plus, the reservation website is a pain (you can't search available rooms; you have to go lodge by lodge by lodge). Most Yellowstone lodging can be booked up to a year in advance and throughout the summer, most is booked a year in advance. So, if you plan to go, plan way, way ahead. And, you do want to stay in the park -- it's quite large and driving within the park takes awhile. Driving in and out adds lots of time.

Canyon Lodge

There are campgrounds, but I am not a fan of tent camping where there are Grizzly Bears and Bison. Just sayin ... Plus, this week, Scott had taken our Little Guy trailer, so we stayed in lodging.

We stayed at Canyon because it is centrally located and close to where we tend to see more animals. If you plan to spend more than two days on Yellowstone, I suggest staying in the north for half the time and in the south the other half. Parking and traffic is insane in the geothermal area, so if you are interested in that, staying in that area may make sense.

Recently updated

Lately, Yellowstone has been tearing down some of its outdated hotels and rebuilding and/or rennovating. Canyon is a great example. The old 60's era stuff is gone and the new digs are lovely. Lovely without air-conditioning, TV or Wi-Fi. But, really nice. Our room was huge, with an oddly small and short bathroom (as in low sink, low toilet, low showerhead). Although they warned us that parking could fill up and we would have to park near the office and shuttle back and forth, there was ample parking for our unit.

A big room

The Canyon area is a good place to stay because, in addition to proximity, it has a gas station, grocery store, deli, soda fountain, restaurant and cafeteria -- and, although, you still have to wait at times, it is nice to have multiple food options. The food is so-so, but a nice alternative to picnicking when you are in a hurry. Plus, there are picnic tables outside -- complete with adorable Least Chipmunks to eat your scraps.

Least Chipmunk

While we were in Yellowstone, we spent most of our time observing the Wolves -- so I will do a separate blog about that after this one. But, we also visited lots of areas in the Park.

Here's another tip -- don't sleep in. The crowds are sparse in the early hours and the animals are more prevalent. In the early mist, we saw American White Pelicans on -- wait for it -- Pelican Creek. Later, we saw Swans on Swan Lake, but I didn't get a picture of that. Unfortunately, Grizzly Lake wasn't cooperating that day.

American White Pelican

Morning has the added advantage of some lovely lighting ...

A beautiful shot

... including a dramatic morning sun ...

Morning sky

We spent most of our time in Hayden Valley because that's the best place to watch Wolves (patience ... that's in the next blog). But, we did get an additional treat -- courtesy of getting out early in the morning. A Grizzly Bear (which is actually an interior U.S. Brown Bear just like Brown Bears and Kodiak Bears) was feeding on a Bison carcass on a hill on the other side of the river. He (or she) was very far away -- difficult to see without a long lens or binoculars. Observers told us that there had been three Bears right before we got there. And, the following day, some folks saw a Bear cross the road on the way to the kill. I guess we should have gotten up even earlier!

Pictures were tricky because the Bears were far away and -- curse of the American West -- there were several forest fires in the area. Plus, the river fogs up in the mornings. That's why my pictures look fuzzy and yellow.

Looking through the fog and smoke

Now, let's talk about carcasses. If you stumble upon a dead Bison, you have hit the jackpot! Bears, Wolves, Coyotes, Eagles and all manner of predators will feed on it for days. A nearby carcass will create a multi-day traffic jam as photographers wait for the predators to arrive. As I said, this one was far, but we did see the Bear (or Bears) twice and the Wolves made a brief foray while we were watching, as well.

And, as we were watching the Bear, we also saw a juvenile Bald Eagle.

Just biding its time on the hillside

And, while we were watching the aforementioned Wolves, we were also treated to visits from a female Northern Harrier ...

Harriers are sooooo hard to photograph

These are halfway decent

... and an adult Bald Eagle flew right at us ...

So-so light, but a cool angle

I know, this does sound like a lot of animals and I am feeling a little guilty about complaining, but none of the sightings facilitated the kind of WOW photos we had bought long lenses for. So, we decided to do some additional sightseeing -- realizing that we had given Yellowstone's iconic views short shrift.

First up, a drive down a road that I had never been on - the Blacktail Loop Road, which is a gravel road that winds around the area that was previously frequented by the famous Grizzly name Scarface, who was shot last year. It winds through some hills in an arid area and, unfortunately, did not produce any Bears. We did, however, see a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk that posed for us.

Shaded, but pretty

Later, I asked a Ranger why the trail is called "Blacktail," and why some nearby ponds are called the "Blacktail Deer Ponds," when no Blacktail Deer live in the area. I thought, perhaps, that Blacktail had lived there before, but no longer. Turns out that early settlers from the east thought the resident Mule Deer were Blacktail Deer -- similar to how settlers from Europe used the the term "Elk" for large Deer they encountered in the Americas. In Europe, an Elk is what we call a Moose. Confused? Just know that there are no Blacktail Deer in the west, regardless what the trails and ponds are named.

Along the Yellowstone River, there is a fair amount of wildlife, including Trumpeter Swans, which live in the area year round.

The Swans are beautiful

Plus, there are always Bison around.

Crossing the river

And, since it was late summer, the Mule Deer we saw were getting some pretty big antlers.

Tall, but narrow antlers

Loop Road view

I apologize for the lack of scenery pictures.

We have been to Yellowstone National Park so many times and have taken so many pictures that we don't really take scenery photos unless there is something spectacularly different than what we have seen before.

Since it was smoky, there wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. It just doesn't photograph well when its smoky.

But, we did decide to go to the Yellowstone Canyon loop road.

We also went to Artist Point to see Lower Yellowstone Falls on our last morning.

The Falls

We got there very early and it was virtually empty -- something you would never see mid-day.

Posing

Not only were we rewarded by no crowds, but, as we were leaving a Black Bear walked across the entire length of the parking lot ...

The only time I have seen a Bear there

... and then climbed up a hill, pausing to rip apart a stump and slurp up some termites.

Lunch!

Finally, a close-up Bear -- and we weren't even looking for one! Too bad it wasn't a Grizzly!

We tried to go to the Grand Prismatic Pool, but it was just too, too crowded. Later, we did go back, but I will cover that later.

One of our final spotting was a surprise -- two Bighorn Sheep in a field of flowers. First, we seldom see Bighorn in Yellowstone and, second, they are usually on hillsides, not in flowery field.