The Call of the Wild

I awoke with the enthusiasm of Marlin Perkins this morning, and was ready to tackle Yellowstone’s Wild Kingdom!  :)  Of course, there was no film crew from Mutual of Omaha, but I pressed on without them.
First up was the female elk herd along the Madison River.  I don’t know why all these females don’t have young.  I guess it’s hard to find a good man.  :)  You can see that the elk on the right has a radio collar on her neck.  They are fairly easy to see along the river in the early morning.

After getting through the construction on the way to Norris Junction, I headed for Canyon.  Along the way, there was another bear jam.  Usually that means a bear is way up in the woods somewhere, and you probably need a spotting scope to see it.
But today was different.  A grizzly bear was feeding not very far from the roadway.  Of course, people were foolishly scurrying about getting closer and closer to the bear to snap a picture.  I was able to get this shot without ever leaving my car.  I just don’t understand why people will endanger themselves and their children by dragging them within feet of a wild animal.  How could you be so stupid?  And why do they have to harass the wildlife?  Ugh!
On a different, and less aggravating, note I’d like to ask you more experienced users of Picasa3 out there if you think it’s possible to eliminate this blue post in the photo.  I tried, but didn’t have any luck.  I’d appreciate your input.

After I turned right at the Canyon Junction, I decided to turn off on the South Rim loop, which I hadn’t done when my sister was here.  It lead to the overlook for the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
I took this same shot of the Lower Falls in 1970 when I was a sweet young thing and tenting across the West.  :)  I remember putting my polarized sunglasses over the lens of my point and shoot camera at that time.  It really had a dramatic effect on that long ago photo.  The myriad of colors in the rocks of this canyon is astounding.

I continued on through the Hayden valley to once again enjoy the massive bison herds.
I’m thinking this guy could use a little time at the hairdresser’s.  :)  He’s sure packing a bunch of debris.
Notice those horns already growing on these little ones.  I’ve read that bison don’t see very well, but with those big noses, they must have exceptional olfactory skills.

I’d have to say that today was a great trip into the ‘Wild Kingdom’.  This place just takes my breath away.  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Good news/bad news

The good news is it wasn’t raining when we got up this morning, so we packed up the car and headed for Yellowstone National Park.  We drove to the Canyon area to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Getting anywhere in this huge park takes time.  It also takes us about 45 minutes just to get to the west entrance from Red Rock RV.  There is also massive construction going on between Madison Junction and Norris Junction.  So, it took us about an hour and a half to get to the area we were interested in. 

Our first stop was the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.  That falls is well over 300’ tall.  On the right is the trail down to the falls.  I may try to do this hike at a later date.  It is pretty strenuous (coming back up), and we were not prepared for that today.  Between the altitude, thin air, and “old age,” I can’t just do a hike like that on a whim.  :)






At one of the pull-offs along the North Rim Drive,
I spotted an Osprey nest atop one of the immensely tall rock spires in the canyon.  If you look closely at the top of the picture, you can make out the large, circular nest with the female Osprey incubating the eggs.
 

This 24 mile long canyon was carved out, over time, by the Yellowstone River.  The views along the river are awesome!

After finishing all the stops along the North Rim Drive, we stopped for a less than memorable lunch at Canyon Junction. 

My mind automatically starts counting when I encounter steps, and one of the stops had 57 steps down and 57 steps up.  We sure got our cardio workout today.  :)




Then we headed back down the road to see the Upper Falls.
This is a much shorter falls, but the hike to get close to it is a little shorter… only 58 steps down and up.  :(

Perhaps you have noticed that the watermark on all of the photos is PJJ.  The watermark that I use is JB.  That means that I did not take these pictures; my sister, Pam, did.  They are great pictures.  The reason I used her pictures is that my camera failed to work; that’s the bad news (for me).  We all thought it was because my battery needed to be charged, so that’s the first thing I did when we got back to the rigs.  After recharging, I tried to take a photo around the campground but the camera still didn’t work.  It won’t turn on.  :(  I’m devastated!  I’m not sure what to do next.  Do you have any suggestions?  It’s a Canon Digital Rebel XT.  I’ll try troubleshooting it tonight with the owner’s manual.  Maybe the book will have some suggestions.  Ugh!  :-(  Can you imagine being in this area without a working camera?  Boo hoo…..

We have all decided that if you can't get a good picture of an American Bison in Yellowstone, you had better just give up!  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy