Sunday, July 11, 2010

Yellowstone Park - bears, elk, cousins and a wonderful day

Our Utah kids came to visit us last week and we did a lot of fishing and playing.  On Friday we took three car loads into Yellowstone Park and spent about 15 hours in the park experiencing the beauties of it.

Our first memorable experience was meeting up with three beautiful bull elk.  Here are two of the three in velvet.


Mud pots are not that interesting to me, unless some cousins are walking in front of Grandad enjoying the experience of the mud pots together.



We also saw a wolf - too far for any pictures - and four black bear.  Here is the first one we saw.



The day ended watching a cow elk cross the Madison River followed closely by a new-born calf.  At times all you could see was the calf's ears sticking out of the water.



Just another wild day in the life of this Idahoan.  And of course, we saw a lot of buffalo and people.

12 comments:

What Karen Sees said...

I love Yellowstone. We haven't been there for several years. These are great photos and make me anxious to return soon. We are heading up to your neck of the woods (Idaho) for a family reunion in a few weeks. Every few years we go to Dworshak (not sure if that's the right spelling). It is so beautiful, the lake is wonderful and so are the accommodations. If only it were a little closer than the 14 hours it takes us to drive there!

Monts said...

Great shots Bill, bet the kids really enjoyed it.

troutbirder said...

Great shots. Yellowston is one of my favorite places in the world.

Veronica Wald said...

Beautiful post - I'm SO jealous, I probably won't get back to the Park until next June! Thanks for the mini-trip report.

Gaelyn said...

How wonderful to spend time at Yellowstone with family. Great captures of the wildlife. Too bad the wolf was too far away for pics.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Wonderful experience visiting Yellowstone with the grandkids. You saw a lot of wildlife really -- We found on our last visit a couple of years ago that it isn't as easy to spot them as it used to be in the "olden days".

Mary Howell Cromer said...

What fun and Yellowstone is certainly incredible. Love those Elk , beautiful images of all~

Bekkieann said...

Yellowstone is also one of my favorite spots to visit - hot pots and all. You were lucky to have seen a bear; it's been some time since I have seen one well enough to get a clear camera shot. I think I'll plan my next trip for right after Labor Day.

Grandma Yellow Hair said...

Bill this is a great post. What a wonderful time you guys shared seeing the park.
I would love to share something like this with my grandkids.
Beautiful pictures.
Thank you for your words of encouragement and yes Fight is what I will have to do if it comes to that.
Thanks again
Maggie

Jann said...

Ok, I'm jealous! I could've driven thru Yellowstone coming and or going to the W coast recently but since that is such a long drive I chose not to deviate into the park. Awesome that you saw the bears esp., despite how crazy the traffic gets w/ them near. Great photos!

Dagmar said...

Your neck of the woods is just amazing. I love the outdoors there (never been in Idaho though) so I'll put it right on my list as of today.
D.

Janie said...

Yellowstone is a great place to visit. You got some wonderful wildlife photos. The elk in velvet are beautiful.