Final Day in Yellowstone

We finally have WiFi to upload the latest post.  I appreciate the comments and need to figure out how to respond, although I succeeded once.  Maybe one of my retirement projects should be to master computers and the internet.  Nah, too much stress.  I will just fumble along and hope that Alan outlives me.

The last night in Yellowstone was a car sleeping event.  The temperature went below 28 degrees and we had ice on the windows, inside and out!  But we were cozy in the van.  The night was clear and full of stars to guide my way for my 3 AM potty break.  Just a bit chilly.  We were the only vehicle in a huge parking lot at Old Faithful. 

Our bikes in the AM show the thick frost:

The nights before when we were sleeping in our cabin, some "thing" unzipped the little zipper pouch here and pulled out packets of alcohol swabs and first aid cream, we guess looking for food.  We thought it was an amazingly clever raccoon.  When we saw two Ravens invade the zippered carrier on a motorcycle, we figured it out.  These guys were like 18 inches tall,  fearless and ingenious.  

On our last day, one of the most exciting sights was a herd of elk crossing a natural causeway, foraging as they went.  A young buck led the group and a huge buck was the caboose.  When the herd hit the mainland, the females dispersed and foraged closer and closer to the road.  As more and more tourists stopped to take pictures, the males became excited and sounded an alarm.  The big buck hurried ahead of the stragglers and began watching the foraging females while staying back himself a bit.  He started herding them although most of the females ignored his efforts and seemed oblivious of his concerns.  Finally, the buck approached the females closest to the roadway and tourists and nudged them back to the herd below the roadway.  The buck never took his eyes off the crowd.  We caught some amazing pictures of this event:

Here are pictures of other critters and landscape that we took, including a very black grizzly.  You can tell it is a grizzly by its size although there is little comparison here AND by the muscular hump on its back.  Grizzly develop these humps for digging.

A buck elk at Mammouth Hot Springs:

Bison Caravan:

Trumpeter Swans playing to the audience:  They actually swam over to us for better pictures.

Yellowstone lake shows how tranquil nature can feel:

Fire River on Geyser Hill:

Snow capped mountains beyond the Yellowstone Caldera:

The Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

Only the Homo sapiens spoiled the beauty of the land:

But is it beautiful without someone there to see it?

There is some much driving required in Yellowstone that you cannot always find time for the hikes and the visitor centers.  When we return (hopefully not waiting another 20 years--we'd be 86), we will watch EVERY movie at the visitors centers and hike more trails.  But we got our 10,000 steps in each day (and then some) and climbed the equivalent of 60 stories just on one hike yesterday.  A great visit!