Thursday, July 25, 2013

Yellowstone Trip, Part 2

Yellowstone Trip, Part 2







Bubbling mud pit


We took a walk after seeing the mud pit wanting to see a bear. We didn't find one but we did come across several elk taking it easy in the cool woods.


Next we went to this collection of geysers(Not Old Faithful yet). The caution signs all said pretty much the same thing. DON'T STEP OFF THE BOARDWALK! They said around 18 people have died by making the poor decision to get off the walkway and get closer to the geysers. Apparently the footing isn't all that sure.









Called 'The Abyss' this small pool is reported to be 53 feet deep. Between that and the boiling temperature it's not a place in which to take a dip.



We saw quite a few bison, some close up.







Pretty scenery.



Upper Falls, I believe.



Petrified tree.

Mammoth Hot Springs







Grand Teton National Park was adjacent to Yellowstone.

A moose that we caught a glimpse of cooling off in the Snake River.










Old Faithful

After standing there for about an hour, Old Faithful finally went off.





The Bear


Towards the end of our last day in Yellowstone we exited the park excited at what we had seen but still disappointed at not seeing a bear. Then while we were passing through Grand Teton we saw a bunch of cars pulled over. We rolled down the van window and someone said, 'bear' so we pulled over, too. There were already a couple of park rangers there engaged in a perpetual state of yelling 'Get Back' to the small crowd that had gathered. We looked around and soon saw what everyone was looking at. A small to medium black bear puttering around in the woods. Soon, it ventured out on to the road.


The bear approached a van with the family intact and asked for their license and registration(see below).

At this point the rangers almost lost their minds.

Not getting the answer that it wanted, it hopped onto the hood of the vehicle and bounced on it some. After a minute or so it hopped down and took 4 or 5 quick steps toward my approximate position. Everybody scattered. I turned away and ran so quick I almost lost my trousers.

At this point we got back into the car and lost site of the bear.

It was a very exciting experience.

Yay, bear!

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