We start our day like the other 4 - up at 4:30 and we were leaving the motel by 6:15 after packing up all of our stuff. Not that much really - just the luggage. Always sad to see this day come . . .
It's another foggy morning and we find the Black Bear at the end of Blacktail Plateau Drive again.
The crowd is in the same spot we left them yesterday with the Black Bear + 3. But she's sleeping behind a tree this morning. We wait but nothing is happening so we load back up.
We drive thru Little America, Lamar Valley and Soda Butte Valley and turn around way up the road at Warm Creek. Just past Trout Lake we stop and check out the Grizzly and 2 yearling cubs way up high.
The Grizzly is back out and still way up high at Slough Creek. She comes out to the edge of the rocks and always looks in the same direction but we never see any cubs this morning. On the opposite side the Wolves are in and out of the den.
Back we go to Tower and the Mama Bear is finally up and down closer to the road. We find a spot to sit and watch. She finally comes down to the pond in front of us.
She must smell really Great after that dirty water bath!!
She wanders up the hill and she's probably going to get the cubs down but it's taking her forever and Don and I have to hit the road.
Down by Calcite we find another Black Bear so stop for a bit for him.
Don wants to go back to the west as far as maybe Blacktail Ponds but when I tell him we have to get thru that traffic - Twice! since we're going over Dunraven to avoid the construction - he changes his mind and we head for Dunraven.
When we get to Norris we do go north as far as we can before hitting the construction - just to see if there are any animals over that way - but we don't find anything so head back south.
No Pika for us today but do find a new Elk calf. I don't want to stay too long - the Mama Elk is wanting the baby to cross the river and she just came across it as we drove up and the water was up to her back. If the baby tries to cross - which he does get in the river - it can't end well for him. Hopefully the Ranger will get the people under control and get an area cleared around them so the Elk don't feel pressured.
We're home about 6:00 pm and it's time to unpack the pickup. I'll have to set my countdown again when we figure out when our next 5 days in Yellowstone is going to happen. Until then I have our Red Rock Lakes Drive to look forward to, trips out to Camas and Market Lake and then it's back to Yellowstone in the Fall.
Thanks for reading all these!
Cindy
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