Saturday, July 24, 2010

Yellow Fever? Yellow Stone.

We spent last night driving through the park looking for wildlife. The air was cold, the moon was full and we were listening to comedy on satelite radio while flashing our spotlight out into the fields and rivers that we came across. Our first spotting was a bear! We couldn't tell if it was a grizzly since it was too dark, but it got us all excited. John was even a little scared, ushering us back into the car on occasions when we didn't spot anything, but were walking along a gulch wall or close to the forest. We had spotted loads of elk and deer and were just getting into Hayden Valley, which is one of the best spots in the park for viewing wildlife, when my brother screamed.."Oh my God is that a bear in front of us!" We had been searching the side of the road and nearly dropped the spotlight and pissed ourselves. It was a bison, not a bear, but it was right in the road in front of us and all we could see was the transluscent color of its eyes and its huge bulky body. We approached slowly and it seemed as if it would ram right into our car. Luckily we got away before that happened. Our plans were to round the Valley and head back on the road that passes Old Faithful. Unfortunately when we got to the turn off, we found the road is closed at night. There was a Ranger there in a cruiser who drove up to us and offered directions. I told him we had been spotting animals and he quickly informed us that it was illegal and considered harassment of wildlife.... oops. He didn't give us a ticket. It was a long drive back to the campsite, almost 2 hours, but we took turns driving and the section along the lake was incredible with the moon shining in the distance.

I woke up this morning with a wicked rash on the inside of my arms and behind my knees. Mom and John weren't feeling so hot either. We are just relaxing today. I took a ride 30 miles away to the nearest Wifi zone to share some more pics. Hope you enjoy!





1 comment:

  1. You got some great pics on this trip. My travel bug is scratching my leg.

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