Day Two of Yellowstone in July

Early the next morning we find the elk nursery.  One generally finds it up around Fort Yellowstone in the northwestern corner of the Park.  These guys, er, girls, had just crossed the road in front of us and were headed for a pond.

And just down the road, a deer with his new rack of antlers.

Oh, wait!  There's TWO of them.

And did I mention that Yellowstone has scenery, too.

I don't even know who these guys are.  Some kind of crane?

This looks more like a painting than a photograph.  The steam to the left is from vents in the bank of the river.  This is inside the volcano's caldera - all of the vents and geyser's are.  The main features of the caldera would be inside this 35 mile by 45 mile wide area.  That is one humongous volcano!

This would be an Osprey and her two young chicks.  

This nest is located on the tallest pinnacle in the middle of the next photo.  This is why they invented zoom lenses.

I'm always surprised when we find pelicans in Yellowstone.  

I always thought pelicans belonged on the seashore.

Now, what's this brown bump in the landscape?

Well, looky here!  It's the three little bears!  (Ya' gotta love that zoom!)

And yes, these would be grizzlies.

There was a Park Ranger who was determined (rightly so) to keep tourists at least 100 yards away from these wild, free-range top-of-the-food-chain predators - especially because it was a MOMMA grizzly and her babies!  I'm only 5' 2" (and shrinking) so it was really difficult for me to raise the camera high enough to clear the grass.  I found a clump of prairie grasses that would raise me up another couple of inches, but it was hard to keep my balance standing on it on my tiptoes.  Even so, I got some pretty good video footage:

That makes four bears on this two day trip.  Not too shabby.

(Please let me know through the comments section below if you are able to watch the video.  Thanks!)

Gardiner, Montana and Yellowstone's Original Entrance

Well, this bodes well for our visit.  While I'm checking in at the Rodeway Inn and Suites in Gardiner, Montana, Granpa is snapping photos of a deer friend.

We really enjoyed our stay here.  We'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

But just around the corner is the northern entrance to Yellowstone.  

We've been to Yellowstone umpteen times and this is the very first that we've seen these guys!

Yup, mountain goats.  But we're still looking for Yellowstone's Big Horn Sheep.  Maybe someday.

Yeah, for most people Yellowstone is about the volcanic geysers.  They're cool, but it's the animals we really come for.  Of all the National Parks we've been to, Yellowstone is the one guaranteed to show us some animals.  Animals like, well, this cinnamon colored Black Bear just moseying along the side of the road.

See?  You don't even have to get out of the car in Yellowstone to see fantastic critters.  Here.  Here's a better shot.

Well, let me get my goofy arm out of the way!

Bears just love to graze on wildflowers.  What's amazing is that there ARE wildflowers in Yellowstone in July!  But there are always buffalo (well, actually American bison).  

  

And waterfalls.  This would be Kepler Cascades.                  And more buffalo.

Some Canadian Geese.

Trumpeter Swan.

And Elk bucks with velvet still on their antlers.  Nice 'n fuzzy lookin', huh?  But this is just a young buck.

This would be "daddy."

And that would be day one of this particular trip to Yellowstone.

From Glacier to Yellowstone

We're following the commands of Lil' Miss GPS, and we have no clue where we are.  She says turn on this little country road, and that one, and this one ...  But we certainly feel like we've found a little piece of heaven on earth.

 Every new turn brings us chapter and verse.

Deuteronomy 30:19

 So many of these homesteads have these Ten Commandments billboards.  We like!

Glacier's Wildlife

We stopped for a picnic where a bear and her cubs were just yesterday.  Didn't see them, but thought watching these guys watch each other was fun!

I've already shown you the Big Horn sheep at the Visitor's Center.  Looks like they've made it across the road and up the side of a mountain.

No bears this trip. 

Glacier's Wildflowers

The entire park is carpeted with wildflowers.

These guys don't put out seeds, they grow off of rhizones - like iris.  Because of that they survive wildfires easily and are usually the first to start growing again after a fire.  We find them often, but beargrass only blooms every five to seven years, so we appreciate it when we do run across them.  Beargrass also (apparently) can only be found in western North America.  Other common names for bear grass are squaw grass, soap grass, quip-quip and Indian basket grass.  The Indian basket grass and squaw grass I can understand because "squaws" used to use the leaves (long and thin like lillies) to decorate their weaving and clothing.  Why soap grass I dunno.  Quip-quip?  Maybe that's the Indian name for it.  I also know that bears love grazing on wildflowers so maybe they especially like these flowers and search them out.

These blooms may be out of focus, but I wanted you to see the spiny stems and leaves.  I'd bet bears are likin' these as much as the beargrass!

Glacier's Waterfalls

If you can get here, oh, mid-June, you will probably see more waterfalls than at any other time.  The greater the snowfall over the winter the better the waterflow.  But July isn't so bad.

Glacier is so vast that it's difficult to get a feel for it in photos.  This next photo is above the bridge.  (You can see it at the very bottom of the picture.) This is known as Bird Woman Falls and is 560 feet high.  It flows off of Mount Oberlin.

And this one is below the bridge.

But, there are more...

They just appear around every turn.  There are more, but I think you get the idea.  Glacier isn't just about glaciers!

Glacier

This place is really indescribable.  Wait five minutes and everything changes - and it is always beautiful.  It's a land of waterfalls and wild animals, snow and glaciers.  On one of my first trips to Glacier International Peace Park I ended up following a grizzly bear through one of these tunnels.

This is the very internationally famous "Going to the Sun" road.  It was built in the 1930's by Roosevelt's New Deal CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp.)  Completed in 1932 it is the only road that crosses the Park.  Cutting through Logan's Pass at an elevation of 6,646 ft, it completes its transit in 53 miles. Literally hanging off of the side of the mountains traffic is limited both in length and width, so if you have an RV you might wanna do some investigating.

We're not the only critters visiting Logan Pass today.  This is one of about a dozen big horn sheep that was grazing on the alpine flowers here at the top of the world. 



There was also this Columbian Ground Squirrel.  Like marmots these guys hibernate about eight months out of the year.  Even so, they are the most commonly seen animal in the park.

It's beautiful up here - even if a fog was moving in.  There are only a couple of months out of the year that you can get up to Logan's Pass because of the snow.  It's a real bummer when you coming visiting and get turned around before the best part.  Might wanna always check the website before planning to come.  Sometime from June through August (or maybe September) are the most likely times to come all the way through. 

It's so amazing to walk around up here.  The views are breathtaking, the air is sparkling, and the romance never ends.