It is starting to get easier waking up early. The alarm went off at 6am and Dad and I shot up out of bed for our big day. We were going to Yellowstone National Park for two full days. I had read and watched so much on tv about this park and I was finally going to experience this amazing place. We went across the street to a small, family run diner. We had a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon while watching cowboys and motorcyclists coming in and out of the joint. From there, it was an hour or so through the mountains to reach Yellowstone.
When we first got in through the eastern entrance it was a bit creepy. The misty and gray weather plus the steep mountain slopes, with large patches of dirty snow, made up of gravel and small rocks looked like the landscape of Mordor from Lord of the Rings. As we drove though, it didn’t take long for us to see the thick pine forests, divided by the rivers and lakes, and of course the occasional geo-thermal sites. The biggest initial impression on us wasn’t the beautiful scenery but rather the wildlife. Within the first 30 minutes of being there we saw our first buffalo eating some grass on the side of the road. Animal watching became our obsession on day one.
I went to the information center and asked the ranger exactly where the best spots to see the wildlife. I grabbed a brochure with pictures of many of the animals found in the park. Dad and I set off going north. We stopped at every point of interest on the way, including the mud volcano and the Canyon Waterfalls (Quick Tangent: we met Tony Dungee at Canyon Falls and my dad acted like a kid on Christmas). They were really beautiful and interesting but we also stopped for any animal we spotted or where ever a group of cars were pulled off to the sides snapping pictures of something. Late in the afternoon, after talking with a seasoned animal watcher we met on a pull off, we headed northeast to a place called Lamar Valley but I would rather call it the African Serengeti. I saw more animals (except birds) in this place than I have seen… ever –oh, and that includes zoos. By the end of the day I had seen thousands of bison, hundreds of elk, several sheep, a couple marmots, a fox, coyote, black bear, all sorts of birds, and the biggest prize of all, a pack of wolves.
The pack of wolves was definitely the coolest part of the trip. We were in Lamar Valley and met up with researchers from the Yellowstone Institute as well as some other amateurs. There must have been 2 dozen of us scanning the valley and surrounding mountain sides looking for anything interesting. Initially I was there looking for grizzly bears. I set up my telescope and my dad manned the binoculars. For about an hour there was nothing until one lady caught glimpse of one high up on a mountain. Everyone repositioned their spotting scopes to that location but the bear vanished as soon as it appeared. Minutes later, a researcher on top of his trailer yelled “wolves!” He pointed to a small clearing just over a foothill towards the base of a mountain. It was behind the line of parked cars so everyone quickly grabbed their equipment and jockeyed for position on the other side to get a good look at them. I managed to get them in my sights. They were beautiful. I saw to black wolves laying down and a great gray wolf walking around. I took my eyes off to find my dad in the commotion but he was off trying to find them. Someone then noticed that the wolves had cubs! By the time I got back to my telescope, all the wolves went out of view. These wolves were part of the Druid Pack that live here in Yellowstone. They are pretty famous and well tracked. I have seen them on the discovery channel and I am pretty sure they are the wolves on the BBC series, Planet Earth.
We spent the night in a small cabin and silly me forgot to gather firewood for the heater. We woke up with temperatures in the upper 30s or 40s at 5:00am and rushed to get ready to get out to where we were last night to continue our bear hunt but once again we came up empty. We spent the rest of the day driving around looking at the other park highlights we didn’t see on the first day. By about 4:00pm we made it to our last stop in Yellowstone, the Old Faithful geyser. I was surprised it went off for nearly 5 minutes and it went up so high! It was a fitting finale for such a great place.
Dad and I set off going due south through Grand Teton National Park. We got excited because this place was known for spotting moose. I inquired on where the best spots were and headed straight there. We came up with no moose but did manage to see some playful otters, a beaver, a lone wolf, and thousands of mosquitoes in the marshes. Discouraged by our moose-less quest, we continued south racing the sun before it set. We wanted to cut some time off our 11 hour drive to Moab, Utah and got as far as Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Next up: Moab, Utah!
No comments:
Post a Comment