Saturday, June 3, 2017

Yellowstone National Park, Days 1 and 2, May 2017

The forecast was for snow, but we had made our Yellowstone National Park reservations in January so we loaded our slide in camper and headed north. Sure enough, it snowed hard but most of it melted and as we neared Canyon Campground it finally stopped.
The campsite had been shoveled out by employees and we just fit! Still we were surrounded by up to three feet of snow and it was a freezing night. The next morning, we awoke to sunny blue skies, and after a cup of coffee and reheated egg sandwiches headed for the Lamar valley.
 Our first bear jam occurred just after Tower Canyon where a sow black bear and her two cubs had taken residence. Staying close to the road it was obvious that the mother bear had learned how to protect her cubs. The females will stay close to the roads as the people frighten off the larger male bears. They will kill the cubs, if given the chance, so that they will have the opportunity to breed.
Winding through the traffic we quickly reached Tower Junction. Passing a coyote, we saw six during our four days, we headed toward Slough Creek in hopes of seeing the Slough Creek Wolf Pack. They have a den that is located about a mile away and we had brought our Celestron telescope in hopes of seeing the pack and their pups.
We had just missed them, but at least they were still in the den. Several helpful wolf watchers showed us the location of the two dens and told us the wolves had moved the pups to the upper den. When large bull bison had moved to near the lower den and the wolves decided that the simplest answer was to move the pups farther away.
Others told us that the wolves were resting on the other side of a small hill and so we never did see the wolves on our first day. We did see bison, bald eagles, and a curious coyote who had little fear of the wolf watchers.
In fact, one of the persons brought their small dog out. The dog let out a yip and the coyote turned its head to the small pet. Several people told the dog owner to put the dog away as the coyote would take it if it had a chance.
On the way back to our campsite, the bears were still putting on a show. The bear jam had grown quite large and we sat in a line of traffic for about a half an hour before we saw them. The rest of the trip was uneventful, if you ignore the ever-present elk, hot springs, and beautiful scenery. Clear skies



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