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Borrego Springs, CA

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A photographer’s paradise!

That’s what Yellowstone National Park is.  The sun was shining this morning, so we headed out, once again, for the Old Faithful section of the park.  We ran into heavy fog along the way, but by the time we made it to our destination, the skies had cleared.  :)  I’ve tried to whittle down my pics as much as I could, but that’s hard to do under the circumstances.  :)
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On my way out of Red Rock RV Park, I encountered “Harry”  the campground’s resident Swainson’s Hawk.  This fellow is often seen walking along the ground eating night crawlers.  I hope to get some better shots of him during my stay here.  He has a favorite post to sit on near the dog walk area.



We had to kill some time once we got through the fog to the Old Faithful site, but we got some great seats to view the eruption.
IMG_8676Then it was on to view all the geyser basins as we headed back to the Madison junction.
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click to enlarge.
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The hike to the Grand Prismatic Spring afforded wonderful scenes of the springs and pools along the way.  Pam is standing in front of the Turquoise Pool.

IMG_8702This is the lead up to the Grand Prismatic Pool, as is my new header picture.  :)  What an interesting natural place this is!
IMG_8715This is along the Firehole Lake Drive.  From there, we drove to the Fountain Paint Pot Trail…
wIMG_8720..where I found a pair of tree swallows using an old woodpecker hole to build their nest in.  It was nice to see them using a natural cavity rather than a bird house. 

After we had our fill of geysers, we headed back for camp.  There was still about 30 miles to drive to exit the park, and we had our eyes open for wildlife along the way.
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We saw a couple of elk resting along the Madison River. 







Because of the lighter traffic this afternoon, we were able to enjoy the ever present herds of buffalo along the way.IMG_8747



The females have recently dropped their calves, so lots of little ones are about.


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I especially liked this little one sleeping beside his resting mom.


IMG_8755 Sleep, eat, and play…that’s what young ones do.  :)
IMG_8738A little further along the road, a herd father took his time moving along.

It was a great day today.  What a marvelous park Yellowstone is!

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

4 comments:

  1. What great pictures, especially the buffalo, what a massive animal, I'll bet you are enjoying the time you get to spend in nature and seeing it's animals up close. Be safe out there Sam & Donna..

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  2. jb-what's the story behind all the felled trees, especially in the photo of the nursing calf? Is this a result of a fire some time back? Reminds me of the felled trees in the La Crosse Wis area after a tornado. They are still laying there after 10 years.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures!

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  4. I saw our pair of spotted fawns out the kitchen window this morning as I was making the coffee. Mom was up hill keeping an eye on them as they stood on the edge of the woods.

    I'm looking forward to Yellowstone.

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