Yellowstone - Looking for Animals!

I got everyone up at 5:30...in the morning! Uncivilized I know but I wanted and needed to get out early to spy the four legged bounty I'd heard inhabited Yellowstone.

Two days ago we were in The Black Hills of South Dakota. The Black Hills were a big surprise. They were so beautiful and there was abundant wildlife. We don't get to experience big game animals in Boston so I was hooked by the thrill. Like a drug addict I had to get another fix. I had to be out for prime time viewing.

...and so we pulled out of the parking lot at the Old Faithful Inn at 6:00 AM. It's cold. There's dew on the grass and car windows. The sun is showing it's pink crown to the east. We have entered an earthen landscape exhaling it's crystallized breath as the sun sends it's natal reds & oranges across the transient scene like footlights at a theater.

































Wow.

Here we are driving past the Upper Geyser Basin and out onto the park road.




We drove north from the Old Faithful area towards Madison. For a while we're alone on the road floating through the lodgepole pines like 19th Century pioneer rafters traveling on pristine rivers. We pass Gibbon Falls on our way to Norris and turn towards Canyon Village were we immediately see two Elk. Cool! I was starting to think we might strike out seeing anything on this morning's safari.


















Bolstered by the Elk we keep our eyes peeled and beyond all notions of luck we spy a Grizzly freakin' Bear! The bear is foraging in a meadow. A ranger pulls up to make sure bear and humans keep the proper distance but this is a magic moment. To see this majestic animal in it's natural habitat is affirmation of true wilderness. He is the occupant, we are the interloper. Many times I wanted to sit still and quiet in Yellowstone and let the pulse of the earth and nature fill me and revive me. Let it reintroduce me to the primal currents that flow through all living things, plant, animal & mineral. This was one of those times.

It's no wonder Native Americans worship Mother Earth with ancestoral generations having been suckled and nourished off the bounty & beauty of North America before we "tamed" it all.

We'd traveled about 42 miles this AM when we reached Canyon Village. Thrilled with our Grizzly sighting we head south and in front of the Canyon Village Lodge Cabins' see a big rack swaying back & forth as a Bull Elk has his breakfast.

Elk and Grizzly on video. Check it out.




As we start to make our way back south to the Old Faithful Inn we enter one of the big wildlife viewing areas in Yellowstone. The Hayden Valley. The Yellowstone River cuts through the center of the Hayden Valley and this is where one of the biggest herds of Buffalo in North America live...and we all know how I feel about Buffalo. I love them! It's the most magnificent animal we saw on our wild west road trip. They are incredibly majestic, broad shouldered and strong. A true American icon.

Next post - Hayden Valley and Buffalo!