Wildlife in Yellowstone

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John's Journal

Day Thirtythree

Mileage- 29 (really, I just sauntered into the park this morning)

Route- Hwy 212, I guess, the 4 miles to the Northeast Entrance to the park

What a day! This place is very cool. In less than 12, I have seen the following animals:

• 1-moose
• 1-small black bear cub (very cute)
• 1- coyote
• 3-bison
• many birds
• many mule deer
• entire herd of elk (over a hundred!)
• footprint of a bear (not sure which kind, but the size of my hand)

And everywhere I look, there is a fabulous, breathtaking view. I came into the park on the North end, where not as many people go. I had anticipated getting a room at a lodge, there are several, but ended up being lulled into an optimistic feeling of warm weather and decided to camp. I met a guy, Jeff, at the Mammoth campground, who is from Oregon and he talked about going to another campground that was less crowded. It sounded good to me, so I went as well. It is a great area, off the beaten path, by a road that dead ends, so no traffic noise, just the river down below. It was early, around 12:30 p.m., I believe, so it was pretty empty and we had the pick of the area.

This guy is very easy to talk to and is very likable. And, for my single female friends out there, you would think he is cute. Now, now, just because I am a single male living in San Francisco... Anyway, I drove the 20 miles back to Mammoth for a late lunch and stopped several times to check out the animals. I am not sure if the whole park it like this, but it is pretty amazing here. Mammoth is like a big city with a hotel, fine restaurant, gas station, hospital, etc...but it is nice to have.

I went back to the campsite (that's 2 trips already today, because I came to Mammoth when I first came in this morning to get the low down) to make a quick cup of coffee and then went up on the ridge over our camp sites with Jeff. We ended walking upon a fire road that provided great views across a river below. It was very strange walking (and earlier riding) amid dead forest. Yep, there was a colossal fire here in 1988 and much of this area (I am not sure where else, since I haven?t been anywhere else, yet) is damaged from the fire. And then I will glance a lone tree on a hilltop that was spared.

Then we came across the bear track. Jeff knows quite a bit about the wildlife. He gets out quite a bit, it sounds like, and can spot the tracks pretty well. We were both a bit spooked after we thought about the bear. It was a while ago when he came through. They had some snow up there recently. We hiked a bit more, then turned around.

On the way back, we looked over to the ridge across the river and notice this huge herd of elk bedding down for the night. It was getting close to sundown and it seemed that most of them were settling in for the night. I can't believe how many of them there were. All over the hillside. And we didn't think they were there on our way up.

Well, I am happy to settle in myself a bit, staying on one place, again for a few days. And I am looking forward to a long day hike tomorrow. I would like to blow off some of the day and sit around and read, but i feel that I would be missing so much here that I don't think I will do that. I came back to Mammoth (for the 3rd time today) for dinner and saw a coyote along the way. Cool! It started raining on the way, though. I hope it isn't raining at the campsite. And I hope that tomorrow is a nice day for a hike!

Later...