Yellowstone

Just left Yellowstone National Park after about a week of hiking.  It is surely one of the greatest parks in the world.  I don't think I have ever heard more languages in one place than in the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel lobby: French, German, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and reasonably good English.  Oh, and a lot of E. European languages.  Here are a couple of pics. 

A beaver  marmot cleverly poses for us. 

Here is the most magnificent waterfall I have ever seen, in the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone.  [At least I hope it was a waterfall, and no one will add a comment informing me it was a flume or something.]  For the life of me I can't imagine why they never gave these falls a name of their own. 

Not bad, that.  With any luck I'll be blogging on politics again tomorrow night, but if you look closely at the picture above you will just see Obama's healthcare reform about to go over the falls.

UPDATE:  The critter above is apparently a marmot.  It's the first one I have seen, and I have never seen a beaver except in the water.  I am here to learn. 

In Yellowstone I saw lots of bison (not buffalo, I have been informed by the ranger from Hell), three coyote, a bunch of prong horns, a herd of elk, and a grizzly bear from a considerable distance (which is the best way to see one). 

But the real prize came on the next to last night.  Returning to Mammoth from the direction of Norris, we saw three cars parked on the left side of the road.  That is usually a sign that some folks have found a loan bison to admire.  When we slowed down to look we saw nothing at first.  Then we saw them: two wolves, about twenty yards from the road.  A big black wolf was digging furiously and occasionally he leaped into the air and came down in a pounce.  I am guessing he was trying to snag some rodent.  A slightly smaller gray colored wolf, I am guessing his mate, meandered around the black one.  The pair were just across a shallow creek. 

I have had the pleasure of a long morning watching wolves through spotting scopes in the Lamar valley.  That was two years ago.  I was with some other faculty and students, and the Yellowstone Association was giving us a week long class in National Park politics.  If you search back in this blog, you will find some pictures from that trip.  We were watching a couple of baby sitter wolves taking care of the cubs while the pack was out hunting.  It was great.  But those wolves were a long way away. 

The wolves I saw this week were close enough I could see their ears.  This was magnificent!  I love wolves.  I am very happy they have returned to Yellowstone.  But then, I am not a rancher.  Here is one last picture, this one of prong horns  kangaroos.  I am pretty sure they are prong horns kangaroos, and not marmots. 

 

Actually, I did find a picture of the wolves.  Here it is:

Comments

[Bob Ellis]

My wife and I honeymooned in Yellowstone for a week. What a fantastic place! Even a week wasn't enough to properly see everything.

Glad you enjoyed it!

[Gal Yellowstone]

Uhm...that's a marmot, not a beaver...really!

[KB]

A marmot, you say. Well, that sort of explains why it was so far from the water. Thanks, G.Y. You helped me bag my first Marmot! I have never seen a beaver except when it was swimming.

And thanks Bob: Yes it was a fantastic place. I am amending my post to report.

[Dan M.]

Um...and those are bighorn sheep, not pronghorn antelope.

[doncoyote]

Awfully big antelopes there Professor. I've never seen horns curve quite like that on the lower animal on a pronghorn! Too bad you didn't get pictures of the woofs. Probably just junkyard dogs.

[Redstone]

Beavers and pronghorns? Now I'm thinking the wolves might have been crows!

[KB]

Ah ... we were in fact looking at a prong horn by the North East gate just before this picture was taken. Oh, and I don't know my ass from oatmeal when it comes to animals. Thanks for all the help!

[HVG]

It doesn't matter if you don't get the animals right. What matters is you were there, you saw them, and most of all, you had a good time and good memories!!

[KB]

Thanks, HVG. I agree completely. Yellowstone is one of God's great gifts, and I received it in a humble attitude. Given the goofiness of my identifications, I have much to be humble about. But the wolves, by God, were real.