The kids were out of school for the deer hunt - uh, I mean
UEA. I find it
weird they get a three day weekend in October for nothing, but Thanksgiving is only four days and other Holidays are less than that. We don't hunt, but we took advantage of the weekend and headed to Yellowstone. We've talked about going all year. It seemed like a good time to go. All of the forest service campgrounds closed Sept 30
th, we didn't arrive until the 1st of October. There were no crowds and lots of animals. Perfect combination. Within minutes of driving through the park gates we had seen 3 eagles and a lone buffalo and 3 deer. The count
continued up from there. We saw a total of 5 eagles, 3 osprey (which I hadn't seen before) and herds of elk and buffalo, plus an extra special sighting...
No trip is complete with out visiting Old Faithful. Having been here before it seemed the geyser didn't go off as long as usual and it was a bit late. There was a ranger out there with us answering questions and he had just mentioned that when other
geysers in the area go off, it disrupts the schedule a little. A smaller one off in the distance went off while we were waiting and seemed to take some of the show.
On our last day we woke at the unimaginable hour of 4:30 am and headed to the farthest area of the park to be there around sunrise where the best chances of seeing bears and wolves was. We didn't see any bears but we were able to see three of the four wolves from a pack near the
LaMar Valley. The alpha male was very large and black. We were able to see him and two of the females. They kept traversing the crest of the peak. It was incredible and worth every minute of lost sleep.
No trip is complete with out visiting Old Faithful. Having been here before it seemed the geyser didn't go off as long as usual and it was a bit late. There was a ranger out there with us answering questions and he had just mentioned that when other geysers in the area go off, it disrupts the schedule a little. A smaller one off in the distance went off while we were waiting and seemed to take some of the show.
On our last day we woke at the unimaginable hour of 4:30 am and headed to the farthest area of the park to be there around sunrise where the best chances of seeing bears and wolves was. We didn't see any bears but we were able to see three of the four wolves from a pack near the LaMar Valley. The alpha male was very large and black. We were able to see him and two of the females. They kept traversing the crest of the peak. It was incredible and worth every minute of lost sleep.
What a fun trip! I love Yellowstone, one of my favorite places. I'm so glad you were able to see wolves in Lamar Valley! It's the perfect place to spot them. I can't wait to go back one of these days...
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