The weathermen called for snow and snow it did! All day. Hard to get good photos with the falling snow but we got out and tried anyway. Nothing to see along the Madison - we made a right and headed south to check for anything happening towards Old Faithful. Few Bison on the road and we did stop for a Great Blue Heron on the Firehole River.
Brrrrrr!!
Then we got stalled because of the snow. We got to Norris and since we have 5 Days we tho't we might as well head over to Canyon and see if they were seeing Wolves to the south. We got a few miles down the road and I suddenly remembered - The Road Is CLOSED!! You can only get to the North Rim Drive because of a water line break so since we couldn't go as far south as we wanted we turned around and went back to Norris and turned towards Mammoth. Just before the Norris Campground they have the road blocked. Have to get some cars un-stuck and they would have it back open - in maybe 2 hours.
Well. Now what do we do? We have plenty of time so we went back and headed to Canyon again. Didn't see any animals and the boardwalks were icy and some closed entirely so we didn't do much sightseeing. Back to Norris. Now they've moved the closure signs closer to the big intersection so we decided to go back thru Gibbon Canyon and look for bears.
No bears. So we had lunch along the Gibbon River and when we finally get back to Norris they have the road open. Not sure where the problem was but we didn't see anything.
But we got lucky and found a Grizzly and her 1 year old cub just past Roaring Mountain. They've made a real nice boardwalk out to a hot spot - I have no idea if it even has a name - but the Grizzlies were dining on some of the green grass growing under the boardwalk.
Mama stopped to check out the crowd gathering on the road.
Then instead of going under the boardwalk again - Mama decided to go up and over. Not sure she understood that part about there being a "middle" where you couldn't get out.
She wandered back and forth on the boardwalk with the cub trying to get up to her before she finally climbed back over on the far side and they made their way up the hill and into the trees.
At Mammoth we find some Bison and those cute little babies right by the road. Time for photos!!
As we head thru the S-Turn and past the Self-Guiding Nature Trail (this is just past the Blacktail Ponds) I spy a Fox to our right. Don hits the brakes and there's a pull-out right there and in no time we're turned around and now he's crossed the road and he's on my side.
A Fox was on my list of things to see and I can check him off the first day! He stops and must be able to hear something - he doesn't move for almost THREE minutes!!
But his patience pays off when a Uintah Ground Squirrel pops out just ahead of him. (He's towards the top and right of the photo)
The squirrel finally comes further out of the hole and when he turns to go back in the hole the Fox RUSHES towards the hole and he gets him!!
The Fox drops the squirrel but he must be too injured to do more than thrash around in the snow. Finally!! - he picks him up and away he goes with him.
A quick stop when he thinks he hears another one and he's finally off.
We didn't see where he went so we head on down the road - it's getting late - already 3:10 and we want to get thru Lamar Valley and back yet.
There's a Black Bear along the Phantom Lake drainage and we don't stay long as he's on the other side and not great for photos. We've just missed a Grizzly and cub by the Lamar River Bridge and it's a quick trip thru Lamar Valley - only Bison to see.
But when we get back to the Lamar River Bridge the Grizzly and cub have returned and we stand in the falling snow watching. Wasn't great for photos and I didn't get many keepers but here's a couple.
We head to Gardiner to get checked into our room and get things from the truck to the room.
We're both tired!!
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