Yellowstone North.....Bison and Bears...28th June

Rain at 0630 and showers forecast but we set off again for the Lamar Valley area.....mum and baby antelope... 

These chaps really are huge....

Such a pretty area, this is on a side road before Lamar Valley where there is a 2 mile hike which we start out on but abandon when it started raining....as it happened we would have been soaked as it was a very heavy squall....

These boys were not going to be moved on anytime soon but we were happy to wait.....

This is the edge of the storm that came through........ 

Oh wow did we luck out :)  driving back towards Tower Fall we spot the beginning of a" bear jam" and bag our spot in one of the pull-outs....soon a crowd gathered and the Rangers as ever did a fantastic job of crowd control, traffic flow while answering questions and making sure we were all safe as well as Mama bear and her 2 cubs....

We did feel Mama will have trouble with this little chap he seemed to get into all sorts of mischief compared to his sibling who did what mother said !!! 

Mama sent her cubs up into the tree and then followed them up.....

It doesn't show up too well but our cheeky chappie found something in a hole in the tree and stuck his head in probably to eat it !

This is the thing about Yellowstone, here we are looking at the bears and on the other side of the road by the pull-out where we parked is this fabulous view of The Yellowstone River flowing through the canyon and an Osprey soaring, can it get any better.....

We spent the best part of a very happy hour here.....

Wow what a great day......back home feeling very happy and I guess the song for today has to be The Bare Necessities (thanks Walt).....
We hitch up and move on tomorrow to the East Entrance of The Park...we are taking the long route as they say the scenic route through the park is somewhat hairy...we shall drive that when not towing....
Weather update is for less rain and a lot more sun........

North Yellowstone.......26th & 27th June.....

We had thought we might not get out and about today as a big thunder storm overnight and still raining at 0900 but  although still some heavy black clouds there are some patches of blue....
We head along the Northern Loop from Mammoth Hot Springs towards Mount Washburn a very scenic drive and soon find a "bear jam".....

Tower Falls a 132 ft waterfall on the Yellowstone River....

Just managed a quick photo here of mum and one of her cubs as unable to stop on the highway......

There are so many beautiful spring/summer flowers as well as the many greens there is so much colour...

The Yellowstone River flowing around a horseshoe bend before falling the 132 ft down Tower Fall....

This is my absolute favourite photo so far and I didn't take it !!!!....this one is down to Yorkieman as I was driving at the time.......

The thing that strikes us so much about Yellowstone is how diverse it is......mountains, lush green valleys, rolling hills, deep  canyons, geysers and hot springs and of course the many animals and birds....

The Yellowstone River flowing through the canyon......

There is a walk along the edge of this mesa but we are on the other side of the river....well that's our excuse...

We missed seeing another black bear and her 3 five month old cubs at play but did mange to just spot 2 of the cubs safely up the tree...several folks we had met during the day mentioned they had seen her.....the Rangers do a fantastic job of crowd control and traffic movement, we have such admiration for them as we all know the general public at large can be very difficult........

The Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance to Yellowstone at Gardiner, Montana.....the cornerstone was laid down in1903 by  President Roosevelt...Yellowstone was established as the Nation's first National Park in1872.....

Day 2 in North Yellowstone and again heavy rain overnight but dry now and stays that way until early afternoon...

Wile E Coyote waiting patiently for his breakfast......

Home Home on the Range....has to be the song for today......this and next photo sweet little antelope....

We turned into a side road and hey there buddy.....difficult to observe the 25 yard rule when they are just there !!!

Today we drive on the northerly route through the Lamar Valley a very picturesque area and one of the main areas to see the herds of Bison and Wolves, sadly no wolves today.....

But plenty of Bison....

What a fabulous couple of days...apart from the photos of animals/birds here we also saw Hawk, Osprey,  a Pine Marten and many chipmunks/ground squirrels...
We are very Happy Campers even though it did start raining again early afternoon and stayed that way all evening we have seen great sights and we'll be back out again tomorrow...

West to North Yellowstone...25th June.....

Our delightful little campsite in West Yellowstone....

Today we hitched up and drove the 56 miles to North Yellowstone...camera at the ready as you never know what will be around the next corner, there are also many pullouts and viewpoints that will even accommodate us while towing....
Part of the journey today took us through long term roadworks to widen and upgrade the current road....it was slightly hairy through the 2 mile stretch as one lane and very narrow not a lot of space between the traffic cones on one side and the drop off on the other...even our neighbour here at our new campsite thought the same and he is a veteran at this towing game...Yorkieman did good :)

Going down...thank goodness for the exhaust brake....

Again the terrain of Yellowstone changes..... 

"Handsome" chap....
We arrive safe and well at our new campsite in the sweet little town of Gardiner and set ready for tomorrow to venture out into another area of the Park....

Yellowstone Geyser Valley.....23rd June 2014

Todays visit into the Park is to the main thermal/geyser areas.......the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone has the largest concentration of geysers in the world......

This is Yellowstone's famous geyser Old Faithful....which erupts approx every hour to an hour and a half...a magnificent sight but we have been up close and personal (3 feet from the eruption) to Strokkur Geyser in Iceland !! However we still enjoyed the spectacle and got to chat to a nice couple from San Diego......

The boiling water from the hot springs and geysers flows down to the river producing due to a range of minerals mixed with the steaming water fabulous colours .....surprising, for us anyway, there was no really awful sulphur smell....

Even in theses conditions or perhaps because of it these flowers bloom....

An osprey resting in his search for lunch....

Now in flight....

Onto Midway Geyser Basin and more colourful "rivers of fire".....

Grand Prismatic Spring
This was by far our favourite hot spring/geyser of the day, a large pool and sorry, for the expression, awesome....
the colours and colour changes were fantastic.....this and next 4 photos hopefully show how amazing it is....

These are just a a few of the photos I took here and yes there will certainly be one of them on a wall when we get back to our static home....

Such a variation in the hot pools and geysers.....this and next photo is pretty Sapphire Pool....

Mustard Spring 

Avoca Spring

Shell Spring..all of the above springs erupt at regular intervals...this whole area is so fascinating...

To finish todays venture into the park we drive the scenic 2 mile Firehole Canyon Road to Firehole Falls....Yellowstone is so diverse it seems there is something new around every corner....
Tomorrow we are hitching up and driving through the Park to the North Entrance and Gardiner and our stay for the next 4 nights....