Bears, Wolves and Pelicans?

**Graphic Warning...some pictures do show what some may feel are gruesome.**

It was my turn to pick what 'do we do today'.  A few days back we drove by a dead bison carcass that was found in the most perfect spot.  If you had to choose the perfect site for a viewing this would have been it... close to a major intersection, a lodge with food and restrooms, the required 100 yards away from the roadway and plenty of parking.  The Rangers even marked out an area for sitting and viewing... or to put it another way watch live theater. 

We found out that the bison and a pick up truck killed each other on Sunday night.  The bison actually was able to wander off the road the required 100 yards and laid down right at the edge of woods before he died.  The pick up truck never made it off the road until the wreaker hauled it away to Gardiner.  I decided that we really should head over and see what critters had been coming to the kill.  

The wolf and bear gazers were already in place when we arrived at 7:30...needing a 6:00 AM wake up call to drive the hour to the site wasn't ideal for 2/3's of the household.  At least we didn't get up at the first time proposed of 5:00 AM... too much snoring and I didn't have the heart to wake them so I cancelled that alarm. 

A coyote was the first critter to arrive... we missed the grizzly that had visited in the wee early hours.  Watching the coyote was very interesting... very skittish creatures (think Snoopy on steroids) and this one kept acting like the bison was 'sleeping' or something was going to pop out of the shadows and get him.  He ate his fill and wandered off making a very wide circle away from us. 

 

For the next 30 minutes or so all we saw were ravens and a vulture.  Disappointed we decided to grab some breakfast at the nearby lodge and come back, but by the time we had turned the car around all heck had broken lose.  You can always tell when the pros have their faces to their scopes and no one is talking...the dang grizzly was back and eating.  Needless to say the car was parked and the cameras were clicking... all thoughts of breakfast

tossed to the side.  

Grizzly takes off because of...

A rather strange thing happened a new coyote showed himself and the grizzly left the kill after only 10-15 minutes.  The coyote moved in for his morning meal.  Strange... did not think a grizzly would leave a kill to a puny coyote.  A Ranger we started talking to said that grizzlies cannot eat much at any particular time.  They eat for a bit, sleep it off and return every few hours.  

a coyote?  Odd...

Unfortunately when we drove back by on our way back to camp a thunderstorm interrupted our viewing... along with most everyone else.  The gazers were still there covering their expensive setups and using umbrellas. 

They may be crazier than us.

Who's coming?

 

A bit warm in the nest...panting birds

Bears and coyotes were not the only animals we watched today.  We stopped by the Canyon Osprey nest to see how big the chicks were getting...feathers were starting to be visible.  A couple of them were more or less balancing on their wobbly legs.

Of course the white pelicans were close enough to watch for a few minutes...then they took to the sky. 

Take off

Pelicans in flights

A pair of Bale Eagles

A pair of Bald Eagles were hanging out along the river while we grabbed lunch.

The Hayden Valley really seemed to be having a great day...animals everywhere we looked.  It has quickly become our favorite place to watch for animals.

Lunch

Glacier Lake Hike...Maybe

Can you see Glacier Lake?

After much debate Bill wanted to head back out on the Beartooth Scenic Hwy.  This time to hike out to Glacier Lake.  We noticed the lake a few days back and once we could find a phone signal Bill looked up the hike.  It looked doable... similar to a few of our past hikes.  I was not 'feeling it'... high elevation and steep terrain are not my most favorite hikes.  I hoped the views would help pull me up the mountain.

Heading toward the campground

Off we headed bright and early (5:00 AM for goodness sakes)... so early we could have stopped to watch Lamar Valley's wolf pack, but we were on a mission to get there early.  Needed  extra time to drive the 8 miles of dirt/rock road and finish the hike so we could get back to camp before dark.  

Just before the Pebble Creek Campground guess what we saw... another brown black bear heading straight towards the campground.  Now that's a wake up call when you're heading towards the bathroom. Getting up early isn't much fun, but finding animals does help make up for the early hour.

We did manage to stop at the Silver Gate's Log Cabin Café for a hearty breakfast... man are local Montana eggs & bread the absolute best and the red pepper hash browns OMG.  I wasn't too sure I'd be able to hike after eating it... except for a scrap of bread and a piece of bacon that Coop managed to wrangle our plates were cleaned.

Rock Creek created a few obstacles

The review Bill had read said that 'most vehicles' could make it to the end of the road and the trailhead up to Glacier Lake.  Not sure what they meant by 'most' since we didn't make it much further than the last time we drove done this dirt road... over 4 miles from the end.  Way too far of a hike before beginning the actual 4 miles hike up to the lake.  Doomed yet again by our less than adequate ground clearance.  

Parasailing off the Beartooth

 

Cooper stalking his marmot...lower rightside

Disappointed we backed down the road and turned around.  Once back on top of the Beartooth Hwy we tried to determine exactly which cars had made it to the end of the road... looked like a few Excursions, a couple of extended cab 4 x 4 trucks and a Subaru Forester.  Still not sure how since the boulders in the roadway were pretty darn big.  Next car will have to have better than 6 inches of ground clearance... or rent a big wheeled Jeep.

On the return to the Park we happened upon one lonely male Prong Horn.  Gorgeous animal... difficult to photograph well, but simply beautiful.  This guy was all about sticking around and posing for the camera.  After 30 minutes... maybe an hour... who really knows we packed up the gear and headed into town to resupply.  

A beautiful evening so we splurged on a fire for hamburgers, a shower and ice cream.  Not to mention quite a bit of people watching... including those that get way too close to the elk on Charlie's watch.  

Did I mention Charlie?  He wants to hire Cooper by placing a sign on him stating "not to move past me because I am not stupid" to aid him in keeping insane people from getting too close to the resident elk herd.  Never will understand the need to be 5 feet away from a wild animal when the zoom on your camera is as long as my arm.

Flycatcher of some variety

Allowing chipmunks to crawl on them

Stalking along the ridgeline

Watching the Prong Horn

More Citters and No Arrests

Black bear in the meadow

Another drive and more critters... plus a ride with a Park Service Ranger.  NO arrests though.  Our morning started innocently enough... breakfast, feed Cooper, and head out for some adventure.  

 

When we rounded a spot that we had seen a bear a few days ago we spotted yet another bear.  The same one?  Maybe... but cool none the less.   Bill did the dump and run...ie I jump out with camera and binoculars and he turns around and tries to park.  Sometimes he manages to park close by and join me.  Other times he just drives back and forth waiting for me.

 

Heading up towards my spot

 

Off he goes

Today it was difficult to find a spot to safely turn around so he was gone longer than usual.  The rangers started clearing out the people who had parked in the middle of the road creating one of the infamous "bear jams".  One asked me where my car was and laughed when I said my husband had dropped me off and left.  He asked for me to move on uphill so that people would move past the area.  I headed uphill and sat down on a nearby rock at the top to wait out Bill. 

 

Unfortunately when he arrived there were still too many cars for me to get down off my rock and get to the car.  Bill drove on past.  After a bit another Ranger asked where my car was and said to hop in and he'd take me to the bottom of the hill to wait for Bill.  A fun time was had by all once Bill arrived and the Rangers told him "some other wife had been left for 3 days".  Haha...

 

Cinnamon black bear

Even better than bear #1 was rounding another curve and seeing bear #2...a rare cinnamon black bear.  At first we thought it was a young grizzly, but a guide that happened by said that it was actually a brown colored black bear... a new first.   Two bear jams in less than an hour.  Maybe we were heading for a "bear kind of day".

 

Storms roll past Hayden Valley

 

 

 

 

 

Down by the River we watched the storms roll across the mountain tops as we ate lunch.  While trying to get a few pictures of a bank of purple flowers a buffalo decided he wanted to head our way.  He kept getting closer and closer until I decided he was getting too large in the camera lens.  

 

Yucky nasty water...he liked it

 

The crazy animal seemed to enjoy drinking the most nasty looking water in all of Yellowstone.

 

 

Bison after his swim

 

Pea sized hail

Once done with lunch we wandered on along the road until we ran into our very own hail storm...thankfully pea sized.  The fun was trying to maneuver under a tree just in case the hail size got larger... no need to visit a repair shop with a damaged sunroof.

 

Dead bison...~100 yards off the roadway

Things settled down so we could head back to camp to cook dinner when we came across a HUGE traffic jam.  Since we're the curious sort we turned toward the crowd who were watching a dead bison and 'hoping' a bear would come back out of the woods.  Our kind of crowd... the wolf and bear gazers will be out in force the rest of the week.  Hopefully we'll be right there alongside them and see actual grizzlies at the carcass.

 

 

Tall grasses almost

hide the bear

Cinnamon black bear checking out the traffic jam

Bison swimming towards us

 

Our First Rainout

Yeah Cooper got to visit his most favorite place today... other than with us...Bark City Doggie Daycare.  We decided to head into Bozeman, drop him off and head off to West Yellowstone for a couple of hikes in the geyser area.  That is were our plan did not quite come together.  The weather has been a bugaboo this entire trip.  We've been able to work around it and it had not stopped anything until today. 

Thunderstorms and drizzle did not make for pretty pictures.  In fact for the first time ever we thought we'd have a day without snapping a single shot.  But when we returned to Mammoth the big horn sheep were out and about so we did manage to get some pictures of something. 

Mom and young peer down at us

A female and her young peered down at us from a cliff face that is well over 500 feet tall.  Jeez makes you kind of dizzy watching these young ones run along the sheer rock face.  The group comes down every evening to the Gardner River to drink and then heads back up to the safety of the rock cliffs.  Every morning you dodge the rocks that have fallen during their escapades.  We keep thinking that one of these days they are going to nail one of the unsuspecting cars as their occupants drive past.

Look at all those people way down there...

Wonder if this rock will hit that car?

Peering down from way above the road

Another Tour Around the Grand Loop

Fog on the Yellowstone River

Off we headed back into the Park with no real plan in mind.  We broke out of camp early, 6:00 AM since that is supposed to be the "ideal" time to see bears and/or wolves.  Cooper was fed, but we decided to get something on the run in the Park after we had stopped by a few of the "hot spots" known for bear sightings.  It was such a cool morning that all along the Yellowstone River and other low lying areas fog had rolled in overnight.  Quite interesting, but not helpful in our search for animals.  

Bison on hillside

 Blacktail Deer

Down by Yellowstone Lake we did find a trio of black tail deer in full velvet.  One of them seemed to be quite concerned about us taking their picture... although he continued to eat the entire time.  The fog began to clear as we watched these guys in the field.

Worried?

The hit of the day (or so we thought at the time) was a huge hawk sitting up in the tree by the road leading away from the lake.  He had gathered quite the crowd taking pictures.  The comment of the day goes to a guy who wondered "is that an owl or a hawk?"  NO ONE KNEW... on my goodness sakes alive.  The hawk eventually flew our way and landed in a tree near us.  He was quite the camera hog.  In a first for us we left him before he left us. That never happens, but after 45 minutes of watching him we felt we'd better get back on the road.

Check out his feet

45 minutes later...still waiting for him to fly

We stopped down by the lake for lunch...a perfect spot that did not have a single mosquito or fly.  Finally!  We spotted one Bald Eagle sitting up on the river bank way too far away, but digital pictures are free... unless you need yet another card because you've taken far too many pictures.  A few bison and elk wandering along the open meadows and a white pelican doing his morning exercises... he appeared to fancy tai chi.  The geese were playing follow the leader which looked pretty odd from our vantage point.  No bears or wolves as far as we could see...also none of the pro gazers were along the roadway.

White pelican performs tai chi

Bald Eagle sitting on the river bank

After our lunch and Cooper's mandatory slice of ham we started the trek back toward camp.  Along the way we were fortunate enough to spot 'the real hit of the day'... a gray wolf down 

very close to the river.  In fact we were able to spot him twice... he was loping upstream when we lost sight of him so  we moved to another spot and found him again.  Awesome!  

Gray wolf

For almost 30 minutes we had visual contact as he headed up through the sage... blending in amazingly well.  He even managed a quick snack of some poor critter with a tail... at least that's what it looked like in the scope.  

Finally he turned to head back up into the woods... thankfully we managed to keep our eyes on him the entire time. 

A quick snack

 We were lucky to see a second wolf... now we need to find the entire pack.

Our lunchtime view...Yellowstone Lake looking toward West Thumb

Elk cover the hillside in Hayden Valley

Follow the leader...Canadian Geese

Blacktail Deer

Bison sitting by steam vents along the Yellowstone River