Yellowstone National Park Pt. 1
Where wildlife is abundant and nature’s wonders are around every corner. The National Park Service celebrated its 100th birthday today and I was lucky enough to celebrate in Yellowstone, our nation’s first park. The park is vast and for the most part untouched covered in trails, geysers, hot springs, canyons, bodies of water, etc. I think the most exciting part of it all for everyone was seeing all of the animals in their habitat.
The Rangers are pretty strict on human/animal interactions and understandably so. This is their home and they always have the right of way. From the second you drive through the gates, to the campground, at visitor centers, and from any passing Ranger you are warned about the bears- how to avoid interaction and what to do if you encounter one. Scary stuff.
My mornings usually started around 6 or 6:30 so that I could drive past Yellowstone Lake and hang out in Hayden Valley. Here you are most likely to see several animals in the morning while they are most active and almost guaranteed to have a bison traffic jam. I was especially lucky, one of the mornings that I was passing through and I saw everything I could have ever imagined.
Every time you see a group of cars pulled over on the road that early in the morning you know something exciting is going on. The first time I pulled over I headed to LeHardy’s Rapids, all I saw was a group of people pointing in one direction across the water, I saw nothing. After asking a nice lady next to me what everyone was looking at she pointed it out. There it was, a Black bear laying in the water on top of a small elk. Only its head sticking out of the water. After a few minutes, it got up and started tearing apart the small elk. This wasn’t the Discovery channel, I was seeing this in real life! The husband of the nice lady told me that if I kept heading up the road for a few miles I would be able to see a Grizzly bear.
So I got in my car and kept my eyes open for a Grizzly. After a few miles I saw the Rangers and the group of cars and knew this had to be it. I had to park a ways away. When I got out I saw a group of people looking at something through a telescope, I thought, “not important I need to get to the bear.” After walking back and making my way down a little hill, I saw a Grizzly bear laying in the sun across the water. He had just eaten and looked like he was ready for an after meal snooze. He even got up, looked around, and readjusted his position.
I walked back to my car and decided to check out what everyone was looking at. Can you believe I walked away from three wolves in the valley?! The owner of the telescope let me look though and I could clearly see one grayish wolf and two darker wolves chasing a Mule deer. After, more wolves came out and it seemed that they were just playing and running around together.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a better morning, or one where I was out and about willingly at 6 am. The animals here are wild and amazing but, only a fraction of what makes Yellowstone a truly incredible experience.
near and far 