Say 14 : Rainy Day of Cruising Yellowstone in Search of Wildlife

We woke up in the middle of last night to bright lighting and an almost instantaneous VERY LOUD boom! Then the skies opened up and we were glad we were in this hotel room and certainly NOT in a tent anywhere, not that that would ever be a possibility anyway! :)

We had planned for a hike up a peak, Mt. Washburn, that is Jake's Number 1 favorite for Yellowstone. For those of you (most everyone) who doesn't know who Jake is, in the National Park Map Guides Series of Day Hikes ($11.95 from the park service), there is a guy named Jake who in 2011 became the first person to hike all 734 miles of trail in Glacier National Park in one year. He ranked them when he was done. He is now exploring other National Parks and also ranking them. We found his recommendations to be right on for Glacier and are now finding his choices for Yellowstone to be true to his descriptions as well. So, as a result, it was Mt. Washburn for us. HOWEVER, the views from the peak are supposed to be amazing, so we decided to postpone until a better weather day. 

We decided to do a driving tour in search of wildlife. We are staying in the Canyon area of YNP. The best viewing of wildlife is supposedly in The Lamar Valley (northeast of here) and Gardiner Valley (west of here). In our planning to get to the Lamar Valley, we discovered the more direct road to Lamar Valley is closed all season for road repairs and thus our round trip was about 120 miles instead of 60!  But as you will see, the views were stunning and it was raining or threatening rain all day, so a great alternative to hiking. 

But the sad part of our story, is that the road that is closed is also where the trailhead to the Mt. Washburn hike is located!!! So its a NO GO for us this year!  Jake....we tried!!!!







As to the wildlife sightings..... we saw some swans (no pics), an elk in the trees for a split second and BISON very close up. We saw the bison on the hills near the road and pulled over at the next spot we could. We walked back on the road and about half-way back a herd came over the hill! In the midst were two babies. The Mom was worried we were a threat, so kept coming toward us as the rest of the herd crossed the road. (Why did the Bison cross the road, bc he GD wanted to!!!) You will see below the Mom facing us and the rest of the heard behind her. Note the VERY LARGE male crossing as well. 




See BIG male above....as big as a car! 

Note: the babies legs in the crowd of bison, and the Mom, chasing us away!

Next came the best scenery to date!  AND we saw 'our herd' crossing back across the road and returning from the way they came. The Mom didn't recognize us this time!  Whew!








Finally, we passed some famous sites as we drove.....

      Mammoth Hot Springs....



                                                            Crazy Big Rocks next to the road......


See the road there? Big Rocks!



So I know you are all worried about what our hike will be now that Jake's Number 1 is inaccessible. We are nervous about it too. Stay tuned!!!

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