Are Those Bears?!!

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer, llama, prairie dog, donkey, bison, coyote, pronghorn, Uinta ground squirrel, black bear, moose, bighorn sheep, yellow-bellied marmot, wolf, least chipmunk, fox, bull snake

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird, American kestrel, spotted towhee, magpie, wild turkey, mountain bluebird, bald eagle, Canada goose, Clark’s nutcracker, sandhill crane, osprey, red-tailed hawk, mountain chickadee, Northern flicker, great horned owl, Peregrine falcon, brown-headed cowbird, cliff swallow, Cassin’s finch, western tanager

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 6

 

The last half of June seemed to fly by between work, visits with friends, and social activities.  Friends Nancy and Steve who are working in the Lake area this summer stopped by with their dog, Mandy, one afternoon, and we had a nice visit while Abby and Mandy played. We vowed to get together again before the season ends.

 

Before leaving Orlando in March, we had learned that our neighbors and good friends, Joe and Nancy (and Abby's friend Spot), would be taking their granddaughter, Kara, on a short vacation across the U.S. to visit some of the same national parks they had taken her older sister a few years earlier.  One of those stops was going to be
Yellowstone, and they were planning to stay in our campground.  We managed to get them a site right across from us, and Nancy was videotaping the minute she got out of the rig!  Due to some RV issues along the way, they arrived later than planned so their time here was much shorter than initially intended…and we had
to work two of the days!  Once they got settled, I took the three of them up to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel so they could sign up for one of the guided bus tours of the park as they had done before, but all were booked up for the next two days so their plan was to just drive the RV on a self-guided tour.  From there I took them to see the
newly remodeled Albright Visitor Center and then over to the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces including the short one way drive through the Upper Terraces. We walked some of the boardwalks and that little green dot in the distance above Nancy and Kara (below) is Joe…his knees weren’t
up to making that walk.  Nancy was continually amazed because the buses aren’t allowed on the drive so she had never seen the Terraces from this perspective, and Kara thoroughly enjoyed it, too.  When we returned to the campground, Russ offered them the use our car
   over the next two days since we wouldn’t need it while working.  After much insistence, they finally agreed and were so grateful afterwards because they saw so much more than they would have with the RV.  Too soon it was time for them to head out as they wanted to make it to Little Big Horn for the battle re-enactment that was to take place in a couple of days.  A nice visit but way too short.

 

We’d seen very few elk in the campground so far this year and only a couple of calves.  However that afternoon after Joe, Nancy, and Kara had left we were treated to not only several cows but also several calves.  They slowly made their way across the campground, grazing as they went, and a couple even stopped just outside my
window (mama was definitely keeping an eye on me).  And at one point there were 7 calves just outside our door!  In the picture at left you can see 5 of them standing in the field plus one lying down, its ears visible just above the grass, and the seventh was out of picture range.  It’s so fun to see them
   interact with each other, and I love hearing their little “mews” as they call out to each other and their mothers.  The next day a young bull also stopped stop by for a visit.  Maybe the tide was going to turn and we’d be seeing more of them.

 

Our next social event was another retirement potluck, this time for Ranger Eric that was held at the Stephen’s Creek Barn.  It was much newer and modern than what we had expected, having been completed in early 2011 with contributions from the Yellowstone Park Foundation, the official fundraising partner for the park.
   This 9,900 sq. ft. barn houses the park’s working horses and mules, the proper storage of grain and tack, and provides rider training.  About 100 horses and mules are used for visitor protection, law enforcement, backcountry trail patrols, and wildlife management. 
      For this evening’s event the livestock had been ushered out to pasture, giving everyone the opportunity to tour the place including the tack room and leather shop. Quite an impressive facility!

 

     This was a pig roast pot luck, and the pig had been on the grill for hours.  While everyone continued to arrive, mingle, and check out the barn, a couple of the guys were busy carving up the main course.  As always there was more than
enough food to go around, and another specially designed cake.  Everyone marveled at how much the figure on top of the cake looked like Eric right down to the radio mike worn on its shoulder!  After everyone had eaten, several friends and co-workers got up to share stories and pay tribute to his 30 years of service including a long distance letter from someone he had worked with at Glacier who also sent an American flag
that had been flown over the park.  After all the tributes, Eric’s wife, Jen, joined him up front cradling a friend’s baby, and an emotional Eric said a few words of thanks which ended in a well deserved standing ovation.

 

    Every once in awhile something humorous happens that just has to be shared.  One evening we heard a call come over the radio from the ranger who was just starting her educational program at the amphitheater stating that a couple of bears were coming down the hill.  We grabbed our bear spray, hopped in the golf cart, and headed in that direction.  Everyone was standing, looking up the hill and pointing, saying it was a black bear and her cub.  One guy had managed to take a picture, and when he showed it to me, I asked if he could zoom in on it but he didn’t know how.  Since it was similar to mine, I asked if I could try, and when I did, it appeared that one of these “bears” had blue on it.  You see it was actually two young people dressed in black (blue stripe on jacket) who had been slowly, carefully making their way backward down the hill on all fours!  Everyone had a good laugh as did the rangers who shortly arrived on scene.  Should have asked that guy for a copy of his pic!

 

The month ended with a full moon, and I was actually able to get a fairly decent photo of this incredibly beautiful sight.  Keep in mind that this picture was taken just after 9 p.m.!  And I even got a decent close up!  What a great way to end the month.

 

Yellowstone Tidbits:

• Bull snake:  Yellowstone’s largest reptile ranging from 50 - 70 in. long, lives at lower elevations, and is often mistaken for a rattlesnake.  Though its bite will hurt, it’s not venomous or deadly.
• 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
• Yellowstone is considered an active volcano as evidenced by the many hydrothermal features in the park as well as roughly 1,000 - 3,000 earthquakes annually (most are not felt).