Yellowstone May 30, 2015, Day 1

So many people we talk to never see any bears in Yellowstone. The main reason they don’t is that they visit the park at the wrong time of the year. Right now, late May, is the time to be here as the bears with cubs are along the parkway roads crowded in the low country by the snow. Another reason they are there is because they use the tourists presence to deter any attacks by the boars, (male bears kill cubs to bring the female into heat).

As we are only one hundred twenty miles from the park from the park, we loaded the camper and headed out in search of bears and maybe even a wolf. Our route was about as scenic as a trip can get. First we drove though Star Valley, which is between two mountain ranges and then through Grand Teton National Park. 

The next leg was through the Rockefeller Memorial Highway and then into Yellowstone itself. Stopping along Yellowstone Lake we had a cold and windy picnic before heading further toward our campground.

Our route took us through the Hayden Valley, where we had watched, (eight years ago), a sow grizzly with cubs feed on roots and grass. As we drove we passed buffalo herds before Renita spotted the bear jam ahead! Sure enough a grizzly bear was feeding in almost the exact same spot!

Finding a parking spot about a quarter mile away we grabbed the cameras and walked back to join the crowd. The bear was about as close as you want one to be, several hundred yards away, and as it feed it headed away from us but we still got to take a few images as it stopped and dug.

In one of the images you can see a raven following the bear and that’s a tip to finding bears and wolves. Watch for ravens as they follow the predators hoping for spoils after a kill!  Always watch the ravens and especially look for a flock on the ground as it may be a kill site.

After watching the bear, it final crossed a ridge and disappeared from view. Walking back to the truck we quickly arrived at Canyon Campground and set up for the night. The campground itself is nestled in a Lodgepole forest. Setting up camp we talked of the next day’s plans, a trip into the Lamar Valley. There we really hoped to see a wolf if we could only get lucky!

Our furnace didn’t work properly and so we crawled into our new sleeping bags and prepared for a cold night! End of Part One.  Clear skies