Yellowstone, oh Yellowstone.... Where's Rip?
If you say the word “Yellowstone” these days, you’re more likely to hear a “Man, I love that show” than “it is so beautiful!” and the fame that Taylor Sheridan has brought the area cannot be understated.
Yellowstone National Park is America’s oldest National Park and is one of the last great bastians of the wild west. The untouched natural beauty is staunchly protected, as are the native species.
However, with such beauty and fame, crowds are drawn in record numbers each year, and each year, more and more work has to be done to protect this natural wonder.
Even though it was a holiday weekend, we were hoping that the early time of year might make it a little less busy. It was still busy. Maybe not July busy, but there were tour busses galore full of people and rental cars galore, as well as campers, hikers, bikers, and more.
Our day started in Gardiner, Montana at 8:00 am. We took off and had not gone more than 1/4 mile when we came on our first traffic jam. We did not stop to see what animal was being spotted but there were tons of people out of their cars shooting down the valley. We cruised along at a brisk 39 degrees. For the last several months, we have made several treks to shoot bison across Oklahoma and yet I’ve still not got “that” shot of a red dog *baby bison, that I have been searching for. I love their shape and their coloring is so bright. Its amazing such cute and cuddly-looking baby can become such a fearsome and powerful animal.
We had only made it about 10 miles in when we saw our first bison. First up were some big bulls, just resting around the plaines. Then a pair of young bulls stopped traffic along the highway, and then, I see an opening. I also see people RUNNING towards a high bank where this lady was hanging out, but I could not see her entourage. As we rounded the corner into the parking lot to get a better vantage point, she started trotting out from behind the hill and with her was a herd of three cows, two young red dogs and about 5 yearlings. We creeped slowly along as they appeared to be making their way towards the creek, over it and towards a bigger herd back towards the far meadow. I watched in amazement as the calves traversed the river with ease.
Click on the pictures to open a slideshow.
This guy was really needing a good roll in the grass…. he rolled and rolled and it was quite funny.
The unfortunate consequence of many visitors of the park feeding animals, is that many animals now beg for food. This crow is a pair that were sidestepping and dancing for people in order to get treats.
As we continued through the park, we found another group of bison, this one with lots of calves. The calves were playful and even were climbing all over the bison cows. We saw one in labor, and unfortunately, there were some selfie taking tourons bothering her. She was too consumed with her task to go after them, but i think that had she not been in labor they were way too close.
We continued on and saw a coyote in the marshy area as well as several antelope. Even a baby antelope, which was a first for me.
We stopped at the grand lodge and got a bottle of water (not single use) and a new tee shirt. Even for slightly off season it was jam packed full of people.
I’ve only ever been to Yellowstone in the summer, and this marks my 3rd trip through. We have a future trip planned that should take me through in late fall and I’m really looking forward to that.
