The ride up was uneventful and we pulled into West Yellowstone for a bit of gas, use the bathroom and more coffee for Don before heading into the Park. While he's getting coffee I pull up facebook on my phone and see the bad news. Dunraven Pass is CLOSED!!! Oh No!! Don suggests going around thru Big Sky/Bozeman/Livingston but that adds 3 more hours to our trip so we take our chances that Dunraven will re-open by the time we get there.
We find a nice Bull Elk just off the road along the Madison River and get some shots of him. A bugle or two would have been nice but it seemed to be time for breakfast instead.
We had no way of knowing if Dunraven was open yet since we had no internet access - when we got to Norris we decide to waste a bit more time and went as far as the construction between Norris and Mammoth would let us and turned around at Roaring Mountain. We did find some nice reflections at South Twin Lake so stopped for a few shots.
When we finally made it over to Canyon we see the road is open and head for Mt Washburn and Dunraven Pass. Still snowy and icy in spots.
We've made it to the north end of the Park but find nothing at Tower. Or Roosevelt. We miss something at Floating Island Lake and there's nothing at Phantom Lake. But the good news is that the Blacktail Plateau Road is OPEN!!! The only thing we find are 2 cars who had found Mountain Goats - of all things - to the north. I've never heard of Mountain Goats being seen there - it would be above the road that runs along Phantom Lake. I'm looking for "white" and only find snow. When I do finally find an animal - it's Big Horn Sheep.
Silly people.
We cruise Petrified Tree and re-check Tower and finally head for Lamar Valley. The area along the first part of the road is called Little America and at the end - we're almost to the Lamar River bridge I look to my right - it's where I spotted our Badger in the Spring. What do I see???
Badger.
Which is what I say to Don. I don't yell it and he thinks I'm just mentioning "THAT" was where we saw one - and keeps driving. So I quickly ask him Don't you want to stop for a Badger? He finally understands that I've actually spotted one - NOT just making conversation!!
We grab cameras and tripods and head across the road and up the embankment. The Badger is still there - now I wonder how close we can get. When he finally notices us approaching he makes his way over to some holes. We stop and set up and get some shots.
He watches us closely - even tho' we're still some distance away. He goes down a hole and Don and I wait. But after that whenever he would turn or disappear - we'd pick up and move closer!!
If he notices it doesn't alarm him. He'd stop and watch us and then go about his business. We had him for almost 45 minutes before I turned around and noticed a lady had joined us. When he finally disappeared a family had also walked out to see what we were doing. They were too late!
Twice as we watched him - he would stop and put his nose in the air and twirl around. The second time I quick switched on the video - I'll post that on my facebook page so look for it! Not sure what the behavior means but it was a surprise to both Don and I !!
He finally wandered over the hill so we loaded up and headed for the truck. We didn't find anything going on in Lamar Valley but the Bison were a sight to see! The far side of the valley was just dotted with them.
We made another trip down the Blacktail Plateau Road and stopped for some Fall color.
I was disappointed not to find a Black Bear before we got to Calcite Springs and it looked like we would go home without seeing any - but 2 pull-outs past the Calcite lot we find a Black Bear grazing beside the road.
It seems like once we got there - everyone else did too so it's impossible to get a shot of him as cars stop beside him on both sides of the road. We went to the other side of the road but then there was grass and bushes in the way. Lucky for us he found a spot to get above the brick wall and we got some nice shots.
But then as he got closer to us I had too much lens and all I could get were head shots. NOT a bad thing!!
We were finally able to get ahead of him and here's the last one before we couldn't see him anymore.
Time to head for home. But just down the road we have to pause for another Black Bear - this one cinnamon in color as he grazed right beside the road. Unfortunately I didn't get many shots of him and when we turned around and came back by the Ranger had chased him from the side of the road and was patrolling the area for people stopping.
It started snowing on the drive out of the Park and to the west of the Madison Campground we found a huge line of cars. Only problem is we never did see WHY they were stopped and creeping along. Sure took us a long time to go a few miles before things started moving again.
We had a Great day in the Park and tomorrow we're going to do our Annual Fall Drive on Don's day off. Mine too!! I might have to make another blog post!
Thanks for looking!
NICE!!!
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