Day 14 - Yellowstone NP
Today it is clowdy but it should clear up later on so after our breakfast and the groceries we drive to the upper and lower falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. They are beautiful! From Lookout Point we spot a nest Ospreys with two chicks in it waiting for the 'food delivery service'.
Later on we drive to the Lamar Valley. When we almost reach the plains we see a black bear at the left side of the road. When the bear crosses the road Nathalie suddenly sees a brown bear on the left side. It's swimming across a small pond and then makes a short run. Meanwhile we hear that about 100m further on, a grizzly has been spotted. We just see him disappear in the woods.
We drive through the Lamar Valley and then turn back. Lots of bisons and some pronghorns but that's it.
We drive towards Mammoth and when we drive on the parking lot of the petrified tree we see a black bear walking up the slope and then he disappears behind the hill.
We continue our walk to the petrified tree and meet a ranger who tells us that a bit further on there is a bear sleeping. Indeed, he is lying on a log. What a view... We have a nice talk with the ranger and then return to our car.
At Mammoth we see a ranger with some photographers so we go and have a look, two young owls. Strange, so close to the houses.
We drive a little bit further and stop where there are some people with telescopes all pointing in the same direction. We chat with a nice lady who comes here every year to spot the wolves. She has spotted one now and he is sleeping in front of a treeline. Can we finaly see a wolf? We may take a look through her telescope, but all we see is a little dot. We don't call it a wolf and so we still haven't seen wolves in all those years we come here...
We then drive from Mammoth to Norris where there are some road works. Suddenly Patrick sees a Sandhill Crane, rather close. We turn back and take some pictures. There is another man taking pictures on the opposite side of the road. Patrick summons him to take a look on the other side and he was very grateful that he saw the bird too.
We drive on and have to wait about 15 minutes because of the road works. Once we pass them we see on the right in the meadow a grizzly with a cub. Fantastic to finish our visit to Yellowstone with such a view! There is a ranger present and he must constantly call people to stay safe!
Another short stop to see 2 deer on a little island on the Madison river and take some pictures and then we drive to the hotel.
A shower and a nice dinner at the Three Bear restaurant.
Daytrip approx. 259 km
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