Nothing until the End

We slept late for the first time in days.  No plan and best of all no alarm so 1/3 of us took full advantage and slept until past 8:00 AM.  Once breakfast was cleaned up we headed off toward Hayden Valley.  It was a bright blue sun shiny day... much clearer than yesterday.  We should have revisited the hike, but Cooper wasn't buying into that idea.  He could barely jump up into the car.  

 

 

 

 

 

Not much was out and about.  One poor lonely prong horn and four buffalo was about it.  We had our lunch by Yellowstone Lake.  Turned around and headed back towards camp.  We thought we'd have an early return... buy some groceries and eat a bit earlier than usual.  Nope.  

 

As we rounded a turn there was a smallish black bear in the meadow.  NO ONE had seen the bear so we turned the car around to watch him.  He headed for some bushes and stayed hidden for a few minutes though you could still spot him moving through the brush.

 

 

Within five minutes we had a bear jam going on and the bear kept coming closer.  We started out at 100 yards or so, but he kept moving closer.  People kept moving towards him even though he's moving in their direction.  After a bit we decided that we'd seen enough and got the heck out of there before the bear decided he'd had enough.  People certainly become stupid when they see certain wildlife.

 

 

 

Mt Washburn

Tasty

 

Meadows off of Mt Washburn

Spot the bear

 

Sacajawea Peak

Today we headed towards the highest mountain peak in the Bridgers, Sacajawea for a hike.  Last year we'd hiked around the Fairy Lake, but had not done this particular trail which was a bit too much for that particular day.  Leaving Yellowstone it was a rather hazy morning... unfortunately it looked like the fires in Washington and Canada were not going to help the views.  

 

 

 

Cooper was really excited to be hiking... especially since the marmots and ground squirrels kept whistling at him.  He never did spot one... then neither did we.  The hike up wasn't too bad although there were times we thought the wind would blow us back down the mountain side... gusts to 50+ mph or so.  It was chilly enough to add a hat and fleece as we headed up the slope.

Building a jump

Quite a few hard core skiers and boarders were taking runs down the snow.  Why anyone would carry their equipment up the mountain side for such small runs we have no idea.  Cooper enjoyed himself sliding down the hill and trying to catch snowballs.  He failed miserably at the catching thing, but he had fun trying.  

 

Gathering a bit of spinning material

 

 

 

I had fun gathering Mountain Goat wool off the pine trees and bushes... it was everywhere.  Never saw the actual animal just its byproducts... poo and hair.  Once we reached the saddle Cooper decided he'd rather not continue so I stayed behind with him.  We spent time hiding from the wind and cold air behind a huge pile of rocks.  Bill continued on up towards the peak.  The hike upwards wasn't too bad... steep & rocky towards the end.  Too bad the haze diminished the views.  

We must do this one again when the smoke clears... if it is ever a clear day in July.
 

Views from the Peak

Indian Paintbrush

Glacier Lilly

Cindi And Coop waiting below

More Peak views

More...

Chillin'

 

 

 

 

Back down the valley

Walking the snow field

Not catching the snowball

Nose itches

 

 

Feels so good!

Heading back down

 

Bill...the last pitch

The Peak

Looking for Bill

Grizzlies can be Messy...

**Graphic Warning for some pictures**

Today was the biggest day yet in Yellowstone.  Not only in the number of pictures shot, but also the number of grizzlies and wolves that we 'captured' on camera.  An amazing day!  We woke early to get to the site of the dead bison.  Early is very important since it is far more enjoyable to watch the action without the nuttiness of 'tourists'.  We enjoy the excitement of finding the animal on our own when we come across a group of people watching something.  Others jump out of their car (blocking traffic) and start asking what, where and every other crazy question that would be answered if they would just open their eyes and take a minute.  Everyone seems to be in a rush... see it, take the pic and jump back into the car to roll on to something else.

Vulture

As soon as we set up our scope and started watching the activity we discovered a few ravens and one lonely vulture... weird to see only one.  

One vulture or as one guy called it a 'wild turkey'...some people need to get out in the woods a bit more.

Grizzly

Within minutes I said 'bear'... only Bill seemed to hear.  A pro gazer next to us did not realize the bear was back for a few minutes and wondered why no one yelled.  This grizzly was ear tagged. The Rangers told us that he's from Idaho and re-homed a number of years ago to Yellowstone and is about 30 years old.  He was huge and watching him for almost 45 minutes was just simply amazing.  

Getting ready to roll the carcass

The strength these bears have is incredible...a few days ago when the carcass was much larger he rolled it and pulled it as if it weighed nothing.  Today he rolled it over so you could see the ribs splayed out like a stegosaurus.  After 43 minutes the bear was ready to wander off and snooze for

awhile.  
 

one last push

that's better...

Bears simply cannot eat huge quantities at any one time.  Their stomachs evidently are not like Cooper's and they must stop and digest.  Great for those of us that enjoy watching since they keep coming back every few hours to feed.

We headed off to grab some breakfast and wander up the road to see what was out and about.  Our favorite valley on this trip has been Hayden... great vast meadows with the Yellowstone River running through it.  We have yet to be disappointed on any trip through the valley.  Buffalo herds, white pelicans, American wigen, Bald Eagles, or the plain old Canadian Goose live in the valley.  We have seen some of everything in this area of the Park. 

Today we discovered a group of white pelicans in the waterway close to the road... and at a turn out to boot.  These have got to be the weirdest looking birds... they look odd on a river.  Shouldn't these guys be out flying along the beach somewhere?  These guys float downstream a ways, then take to the skies and fly back upstream where they repeat the trip and float back down... over and over.
 

Open wide!

We've seen quite a few more than last year and they've been close enough to really watch them.  Still wonder how it can fly and have yet to see any young... you know they have to be even stranger looking.

Bill wanted to grab a quick nap on our return trip back towards the bison carcass, but said that I could stop at anything interesting.  Well we had a number of things that turned out to be very interesting.  

Common Merganser

We've been watching this particular group of ducks since we've been in the Park.  The darn bird is a pain in the backside to get a good picture... something between the constant motion and the feather throws off

the photo and ends of blurry.  

The bird is one of the most hyper ducks we've every seen.  In constant motion... preening or running its bill under water.  Drives me crazy since I find him to be so interesting looking... red skinny bill and red feet with the white/brown feathers.  Today with Bill and Coop asleep I was able to sit on the hillside and watched him as long as he'd allow it.

Got an inch?

Finally a wolf pack...black, white and gray

Our next stop was one of those 'should we or should we drive by' moments.  The animals being watched just so happened to be wolves... of course we stopped.  Off I headed to see if I could find them in the binoculars/scope.  It wasn't difficult to spot them in the far distance.  
 

Elk in the water...see the wolves?

The group of three seemed to be stalking an Elk.  The elk knew this and took evasive action by getting in the water.  The wolves continued moving forward and fanning out in what looked to be the classic ambush.  

In the distance the herd of elk headed in the direction of the one in the water.  When the Calvary arrived the wolves seemed to give it up and head upstream.   At that point I jumped back in the car to head upstream ourselves.  

Spreading out

Wolves head downstream

Since Bill had not been able to spot them from the car he jumped out of the car when we stopped.  Lucky for us the overlook was huge and we could park and watch for quite some time.  

The large in charge wolf was black and gray, last year's litter yearling was gray and the alpha's mate was totally white.  All three laid by the river and seem to be watching us and the elk heard behind them.  When they wandered back downstream we decided to leave and drive by the kill site one last time.

 

Black wolf is the Alpha male

 

Gray wolf appears submissive to black one

Bear wakes up...notices other bear

It was getting to be dinnertime, but we could not resist.  We ended up being in the middle of the LARGEST BEAR JAM in the history of jams.  Parking was easy for some reason.  We discovered that there was a bear 'sleeping in the woods' near the bison.  It did not take long to find her perfectly camouflaged in the midst

of dead trees... blended in perfectly.  When she moved up the hill she laid down and sort of disappeared.

Decides to leave

New Grizzly...note claws

Suddenly I noticed a bear was on the carcass and moved over to watch.  Bill headed off to feed Coop... thinking he'd lay down after dinner.  

Cooper decided that he'd had enough of our shenanigans and wanted us with him so he barked...a first since he's NEVER barked in the car.  I headed in his direction for a few minutes hoping he'd lay down and be quiet, but the huge number of really excited people must have pushed him over the edge.  He was having none of it so once the bear left the carcass we drove off with the intention of eating dinner and heading back to camp. 

and teeth

Napping bear returns...

Wouldn't you know that ANOTHER bear was heading to the site.  Bill jumped out and I drove down to a spot in front of the Ranger directing traffic around a tour bus that BROKE down in the midst of a bear jam.  By now the traffic problem was huge.

Between the bears, the kids running and people being more stupid than normal we're not sure how the Rangers could be so darn calm about it all.  Quite a few people were just plain rude.  

Cooper and I watched the bears from the car sunroof... perfect viewing for quite sometime and away from the crowds.  Once Bill returned we headed to the Canyon cafeteria for bison sloppy Joes and Huckleberry ice cream cones...sounds weird right? 

We've kind of lost count of the number of bears at the bison today... we think it was 3 unique bears. The original one returned several times throughout the day, followed by two others later in the day.  An awesome day... over a 1000 pictures taken of bears, birds, bison and wolves.  Oh my!

Grizzly wakes up & notices other bear

Does a bear sleep in the woods?

Yum vs yuck

White Pelican Yawns

Black heads back upstream

Gray wolf leaves with leader