Thursday, May 8, 2014, Yellowstone National Park with Kate, West Yellowstone, MT

Our first full day in Yellowstone National Park, WY, with Kate, and it was a beauty!

I think this little ranger station, at Madison Junction, would be the perfect cabin to have in the woods. The big window faced a meadow where the elk and the bison graze. It is probably good to note that it is shut down in the winter and the pipes are drained because it has no insulation and really poor heating. So I guess it might not be exactly "perfect" without some modifications.

Terrace Springs was Kate's first sight of Yellowstone's many, many thermal features. I believe there was a lot less water in this spring when we saw it last July. We had the place to ourselves and when the wind was not blowing it was beautiful.

Joani had just said this morning that we had not seen any bears. As we came upon a half dozen cars pulled over along the roadside, we stopped and saw the bear! Then we noticed a cub, and another cub, and finally a third! I think this might be my favorite ever wildlife shot.

A Grizzly sow and her cubs. (We checked with the ranger to be sure.)

OK, we were probably too close, but in our defense, they were only 50 feet up the hill from the roadside and I do have a pretty long telephoto lens. Who could pass up such a bear watching opportunity? I think everyone was respecting their space pretty well.

I liked that you could see the cub's little paw pad.

Arriving at the Canyon Visitor Education Center, I was disappointed to see the displays were closed off. When I asked the Ranger about it, she said they did not open the display for another few weeks. I explained how much we enjoyed the exhibit graphically comparing the size of different volcanic eruptions and how much we wanted Kate to see it. The Ranger surprised me by taking us into the closed section and letting Kate look it over. That was so very gracious of her!

As you can see, outside the center there was still a lot of snow. In the parking lot where it had been plowed, the snow was piled 6 - 8 feet deep. It could easily be June before it is all melted.

The view of Yellowstone Falls from Artist's Point on the south rim certainly did not disappoint. The river's flow was strong and the white snow in the bright sunlight really made the canyon colors pop.  

We felt lucky this was open, so many roads were still closed due to snow.

We declined the opportunity for any of the more strenuous walks and chose, instead, to make it a car tour day to see all of the stops around the canyon. You have to look closely to see Eeyore and Pingu hamming it up for this photo opportunity.

As I was reading the information placard and matching up features with the photograph, I noticed an Osprey nest in the old faded photo. Sure enough, there was a nest on the top of the same column of rock today, and looking closer, I was able to see an Osprey sitting on her eggs. I went to the car for my binoculars to get a closer look and ended up sharing the view with about a dozen others as we saw a second Osprey fly back and forth to the nest over the next 15 minutes.

Last July we watched osprey in this nest with three babies. Would they be the same pair?

Heading home took us right past the Norris Geyser Basin, so of course, we stopped to see what it looked like in the snow. Then it occurred to me that the ground throughout the basin was probably warm enough to melt the snow and keep it clear during the winter. There was not much snow, but what we did notice is that the colors were not as vibrant as they were in the summer. It was still pretty, but the shallow water temperatures were cooler which meant less of the bacteria that gives the water its full range of color.

The oranges and yellows were underrepresented. They require warmer temperatures to thrive.

Surprisingly, there were still cars parked where we had seen the bears earlier, so we stopped to see what was happening. The bears were still in the same area but had moved down the hill to the water's edge (the Gibbon River).

It is almost spooky the way she made eye contact with David in this picture!

One guy rushed to the side of the road with his tripod and slipped in the gravel. The noise got mama bear's attention and she started up the hill. I was back in the car in a shot, but apparently, she only took a few steps and decided not to leave her cubs, because other folks continued to snap pictures.

West from Madison Junction there are a lot of meadows where the bison and elk congregate. Today there was a pretty large herd of buffalo and some of them were in a playful mood, butting heads and rolling in the dirt. Apparently, buffalo calves are generally born in January and February, so these little guys are a couple of months old.

Rolling in the dirt to help remove his moulting winter coat.

This one seemed to have a regal air about him that made me think he might be the grand daddy of the herd.