Three Days In Yellowstone Park, with the wildlife cooperating

After studying the landslide detachment, we headed into Yellowstone. Pilot Point was ahead of us, (it was a waypoint for pilots to get their bearings),, when Renita spotted two Red Tailed Hawks perching in a tree alongside the road’.

I pulled over and she jumped out, heading closer for a better picture. Deciding she was having too much fun I grabbed my camera, after parking, and joined her. As I approached one of the red tails flew off and it was soon joined by the other, Both if us got great shots of the hawks in flight.

Driving through Cooke City we reached the entrance, and not long afterwards cars and people were pulling over. The attraction was several small groups of Mountain Goats. The problem was that they were so far away that all of our pictures were mediocre at best.

As we watched them a mule deer doe and her two fawns came out behind us as if to see what everyone was watching.

We didn’t see much else, so we continued driving along the Lamar Valley. Large herds of buffalo filled the valley. Nearing Slough Creek, a large group was watching a black bear looking for food. We both got out and one of my pictures caught the young bear and the light just right. It’s one of my best black bear pictures this year.

Many people were looking north toward the place where the Slough Creek Wolf Pack had denned. Parking we talked with several of the wolf watchers, and one told us that there were five new wolf pups lying in a small copse of trees. He set up his spotting scope and allowed us to look for them When it wa sour turn to use his scope I saw two running thought the shadows and Renita saw three.

The wolves must have laid down in the shade and so we headed west and then south as we drove e across the Yellowstone River to Roosevelt Junction. From there we continued to Canyon Tower. There were warning cones at one spot but there were no bears or car jams so we continued. We headed to Hayden Valley, where we saw many buffalo and a grizzly bear with two cubs feeding. They were on the other side of the river, at an extreme distance, but I did get one shot that showed the hump, It was definitely a grizzly.

We had heard that Harlequin Ducks were again at Le Hardy Rapids.

Upon stopping we discovered that not only were the Harlequin ducks there, but a huge hatch of salmon flies was occurring.

The two and a half inch insects were flying and crawling everywhere. Som of the others scramed as they thought the harmless bugs were dangerous. We shook our heads, the bugs are harmless, and wished we had a Yellowstone fishing license as the trout had to be in a feeding frenzy. At the fishing bridge, we turned and saw nothing else until reaching Buffalo Bill State Park.

A few days later Renita got great pictures of a herd of bighorn sheep and a cow and calf moose at Sylvan Lake,

(which is at Sylvan Pass).

Any day in Yellowstone is a delight and this trip, we got to spend three days in the park! Clear skies