Giddy Up!

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far:  pronghorn, horse, llama, elk, bison, grizzly, bighorn sheep, mule deer, Uinta ground squirrel, wolf, black bear, moose, coyote, fox, bullsnake, bat

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far: bald eagle, grouse, osprey, magpie, red-tailed hawk, Canada goose, great horned owl, American kestrel, sandhill crane

 [Click on any photo to enlarge.]

One afternoon we were headed for a fun social event and along the way decided to stop at the Calcite Springs overlook.  These thermal springs along the Yellowstone River are made of hydrothermally stained volcanic rock that has turned pure white and were the inspiration for many of Thomas Moran’s paintings including one
that was presented to Congress in 1872 which led to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park.  Across from the overlook are columnar basalt cliffs that were created by an ancient lava flow as it slowly cooled into these vertical columns...always very impressive.

 

The fun event was a potluck hosted by Ray and Darlene (that's Ray in the foreground at right and Darlene behind the table in white) at Tower Falls Campground the day before it was to open for the season.  Ray and Darlene have been the campground hosts at Pebble Creek for 16 years but were filling in at
   Tower for a month before Pebble opened.  They usually spend a couple of weeks here at Mammoth ahead of their hosting duties and had invited us to this shindig.  Though arrivals started out slowly, eventually there were about 25 - 30 in attendance, and we had a
   great time meeting the rangers, staff, family, and friends in that area.  All made us feel very welcome including John’s Golden Retriever, Scout, who Abby really enjoyed meeting.

 

      Another fun event that was held over Memorial Day Weekend was Yellowstone’s Epic Horse Drive, an annual event we’d not heard of before.  Each year nearly 200 horses are brought back from their winter pasture and are held overnight at the Gardiner rodeo
fairgrounds so they can rest before the next day’s 9 mile drive through town and up into the mountains to their summer pasture at Hell’s A-Roarin’ ranch where they are used for horseback rides around the area.  It’s basically a 2 day event including (for a fee) cowboy BBQ, dance, arts & crafts fair,
   rodeo, and more, but we were really only interested in seeing the horses run through town.  Before the drive starts, folks are able to visit the rodeo grounds and take pictures of the horses and cowhands.  As you can see, some horses were resting more than others!  After a few snapshots, we
found a great parking spot right along Scott Street and waited for the drive to begin.  It didn’t last long, and it was amazing to see how quickly the wranglers moved the horses through town.  Russ had a tight hold on Abby, but I think she was a little intimidated by those large critters anyway!

 

May and June are elk calving months, and there seemed to be an abundance of them this year.  We spotted a cow with her day old calf across the road from the campground early one evening, and on another day we spied a set behind some buildings up in town (or were they the same ones??) 

However, early one afternoon as Russ was making rounds in the golf cart, he nearly got to witness an elk calf birth right here in the campground!  Though he didn’t see the actual birth (probably for the best J), the calf was still “wet” as he put it when he discovered them among the trees near the tent
   area.  He went back to the RV, grabbed the camera, took a couple of shots, and then came to the office to relieve me so I could see it, too.  By the time I got down there, the calf was pretty much dry but desperately trying to figure out how to work those 4 spindly legs! 
    It was so cute and sort of funny to see it continually trying to not only stand up but stay standing and walk, but it doesn’t take them long.  One lady shared a video with us later in the day of it trying to figure out how to lie back down,
       and it fell over on its back…way too cute!  Within a few hours though the calf was following mom around and sticking close to her side.

Spring is the time of year for lots of births here in the park, and we were excited to finally see the
grizzly sow and her 3 cubs we had heard about just 5 miles from the campground.  She was foraging through the sage in clear view for all the spectators on the road, and though initially we could only see her, gradually we spotted first 1 cub, then 2, and then finally all 3!

On our way home, there was quite a commotion being created on the hill behind the campground.  An elk cow whose calf was hidden somewhere nearby had treed a year old cinnamon colored black bear who we could hear desperately crying for its mother (at least that’s the way it seemed).  I couldn’t get a good
shot of the cub in the tree as the cow ran back and forth but did get one after it had finally managed to escape and took off running.  We drove back up to town, driving over to where we figured it was heading, and watched as it climbed up and over the hill.

 

A favor for a friend took us on a day trip to Idaho Falls, ID, and before we got out of the park, just past Norris Junction we stumbled across a pullout full of people with spotting scopes and cameras.  And what were they spying?  A wolf!  Here it was 9:30 in the morning
   and we run across another wolf…who says you need to get up before sunrise?!!  There have been times when we’re not 100% sure whether that animal in the distance is a wolf or a coyote, but there was no mistaking this one.  Even with the naked eye she was the biggest wolf
we’d ever seen!  Nearby lay what was left of a carcass where she returned for further feeding.  We only stayed to watch for about 15 min., but she was an awesome sight to see.

 

One last note for this post is an update on the Mammoth great
horned owls.  The owlets are getting big and though I haven’t been able to get a photo of the 3 together, we finally did see all 3 one evening.  Soon they’ll be ready to leave the nest and venture out on their own.

 

Yellowstone Tidbits:

• Bald eagle:  Became the national emblem of the U.S. in 1782; has a wingspan from 72-90 in., can fly to an altitude of 10,000 ft. and achieve speeds of 30-35 mph, weighs 10-14 lbs., can live 20-30 years, and mates for life.
• Bull snake:  Yellowstone’s largest reptile ranging from 50 - 70 in. long, lives at lower elevations, and is often mistaken for a rattlesnake
• Elk:  Most abundant large mammal found in Yellowstone; male (bull) weighs about 700 lbs.; female (cow) weighs about 500 lbs., young (calf) weighs about 30 lbs. at birth
• Bats consume 3,000 or more mosquitoes and other insects nightly and are responsible for up to 95 percent of the seed distribution necessary for the regeneration of forests.

A Bear-y Good Day

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far:  pronghorn, horse, llama, elk, bison, grizzly, bighorn sheep, mule deer, Uinta ground
squirrel, wolf, black bear, moose, coyote, fox

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far: bald eagle, grouse, osprey, magpie, red-tailed hawk, Canada goose, great horned owl

 

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

 

As most of you know, wildlife can appear in or around the campground at any time.  One afternoon a cinnamon colored black bear and her two yearling cubs (one black, the other cinnamon) created quite a stir back by the amphitheater.  We were having trouble seeing them among the trees so drove up the hill to town hoping to get a better view looking down.  There was quite a large group of folks doing the same thing, and though still a little tough to
see in the shadows, I did manage to get a picture of the cubs.  Then one morning a couple of days later as we were leaving for work, we heard the yipping of a coyote and finally spotted it on the hill across the road.  Another not so great shot but more visible than the bears!

 

The next day we decided to take a drive out to Lamar Valley as we’d heard there was a lot of bear activity this spring.  We’ve gotten beyond the stage of getting up before sunrise to head that way on the off chance of seeing wolves in the distance so didn’t leave the campground until about 9am.  But as luck would have it, about 15 min. later just before Blacktail Pond we spotted a wolf on the hillside close enough to see with the naked eye!  Timing is everything!

 

We had heard that just past Tower Junction a black bear sow and her 3 cubs (born this year) had been hanging out, and sure enough not quite a mile past the Junction we saw the mass of photographers trying to get that perfect shot.  Mama could be seen grazing among the trees, and initially the cubs were nowhere in sight but then gradually came out of hiding, one at a time.  Two of them started wrestling while the third just hung back observing…way too cute!

 

Continuing on out to Lamar we spotted a mule deer bull with its growing antlers still in velvet and stopped to check on the osprey in her nest.  Once in the valley we watched as a small group of pronghorn successfully attempted to cross the road, dodging cars as they ran.  We continued on and joined a group of folks in a pullout
who were spotting something with their scopes.  Seems that off in the distance were two grizzly sows each with 2 yearling cubs.  They were close enough to each other that we could actually see all 6 at the same time through our scope!  I wasn’t able to get any pictures, though, because they were just too far away.  Someone also spotted 3 bighorn sheep way, way up on the side of the mountain which we could see through the scope but again too far away for a photo.

 

Moving on down the road we got to see some critters that we rarely see in Yellowstone...moose!  And not just 1 but 3!!  They were moving in and out of the willows but I was at least able to get a halfway decent shot of one of them.  Of course you can't go out to the Lamar Valley without seeing herds of bison, and this year there seems to be an abundance of new calves.

We decided to start heading back home but our critter sightings didn’t end.  Another large group of folks pulled off to the side of the road afforded us the opportunity to see a grizzly sow with her cub born this year following mom and trying hard to keep up.  About 15 min. later another pullout allowed us to spot another black bear but couldn’t get a really good shot as it had started moving into the trees by the time we arrived.

 

About 15 min. from home, Russ spied 3 coyotes in a small clearing across the road.  We pulled over as soon as we could and I quickly made my way up a hill opposite of where they had been.  Several others must have seen them as well and pulled over, exiting their cars and hoping to get a better
   look.  Of course the commotion spooked them and 2 had scurried off into the woods.  However one remained a little behind the others, occasionally stopping to check behind, perhaps spooked by the group of bison who were coming down the road.

 

So all in all over the course of 5 hours we saw: 1 wolf, 13 bears (8 grizzly, 5 black), 1 mule deer bull, 3 moose, 3 coyotes, 1 osprey, 1 red-tailed hawk, 3 bighorn sheep, several Canada geese, pronghorn, elk, and hundreds of bison!  A bear-y good day indeed!

But our critter sighting was not done for the day.  A couple of hours later we drove up into town because near the superintendent’s house we’d heard that a great horned owl had built a nest.  We were able to easily spot one of the adults and a fluff ball hidden next
   to it, and as we continued to watch, one of the owlets made a brief appearance.  There are actually 3 owlets in the nest but on this evening we only caught a glimpse of 2.  Perhaps we’ll get to see all 3 another day.

 

Yellowstone Tidbits:

• Black bear:  Color can be black, brown, blond, or cinnamon; male (boar) weighs 210-315 lbs., female (sow) weighs 135-200 lbs., young (cub) weigh 8 - 10 oz. at birth
• Grizzly:  Color varies from blond to black; male (boar) weighs 200-700 lbs., female (sow) weighs 200-400 lbs., young (cub) weigh about 1 lb. at birth
• Great horned owl:  Grow to a length of 17-25 in. with a wingspan of 36-60 in., can weigh up to 3-1/4 lbs.; baby owl is called an owlet and can fly competently by 10-12 weeks; group of owls is called a parliament
• Wolf:  Stands 26-36 in. at the shoulder, 4-6 ft. from nose to tail tip; males weigh 100-130 lbs., female weighs 80-110 lbs., young (pup) weighs about 1 lb. at birth
• Coyote:  About 1/3 the size of a wolf; weighs 25-35 lbs., 16-20 in. high at shoulder

Frozen

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far:  pronghorn, horse, llama, elk, bison, grizzly, bighorn sheep, mule deer

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2014 trip so far: bald eagle, grouse, osprey, magpie

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

No, the title is not referring to the Disney movie but rather a phenomenon that occurs nearly every year in Yellowstone though we had not seen it before.  For roughly 6 months of the year, Yellowstone Lake is frozen over.  This naturally formed lake is the
   largest one at high elevation (above 7,000 ft.) in North America.  It measures nearly 132 sq. mi. and is 20 mi. long x 14 mi. wide with a shoreline of 141 miles.  Its average depth is 140 ft. with the deepest spot being 410 ft., and the thickness of the ice can vary
   from a few inches to more than 2 ft. topped with snow.  So we decided to take a drive one day and check it out, and what a sight it was!  That white area between the trees in front of us and the mountains on the other side is the lake!

 

Though there wasn’t any snow in Mammoth or much nearby, we encountered plenty along the way, and in the Hayden Valley at times it was higher than the car where they had plowed the road through.  While the lake was frozen, many of the creeks and the Yellowstone River were not and created such beauty as they cut through the snow.

 

 

   As we passed the Bridge Bay Marina, we could definitely see why this area was not yet opened for the season!  And it was amazing and fun to see trail signs and more buried at least halfway by the snow.  In fact we have stood next to this Continental Divide sign for a
   photo op in the past but not this day!  Occasionally we could see animal tracks in the snow, and even evidence of human activity was apparent when we spotted this little snowman (below right) not far from the Kepler Cascades.

We had heard that quite a number of grizzlies had been seen around the Mud Volcano area, but on this particular day we spotted only one off in the distance.

 

Instead of turning around to head home, we had decided to complete the loop which would take us past the Old Faithful area even though it would make the trip a little
longer.  Unfortunately we heard over the park radio that Old Faithful had just erupted meaning the next one would be about 90 min. away.  Time to keep going and head home.  Lucky for us we stumbled across a black bear not far off the road and only about 15 min. from home.  Timing is everything!