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Another gorgeous day in Yellowstone, clear blue skies, sunny & cool.
We started the day at the ranger station asking the big q "where are we likely to see bears?" Turns out the best bet is the one road we'd left til today to explore so here's hoping :-)
Going into the park proper we were held up for some time, driving at a crawl by a bison who'd decided the centre line was a good place for a stroll. So we followed slowly as it wiggled its huge butt at us til it was ready to head to the side. Nice start to the day.
From there we wandered some trails through pines & wildflowers or sage bush and multi-hued lichen covered rocks to waterfalls, crystal clear streams and lush hidden valleys. Although we saw signs of big critters (paw and hoof prints, scat, flattened grasses & trees with bark ripped off) for us today it was mostly about the wee critters; a raven smashing something open on a rock, chipmunks & squirrels scampering about stocking up for the coming winter, eagles hunting and a woodpecker pecking wood :-)
In the Lamar Valley we found a lot of bison herds, some with yearlings and this years calves. The calves were mostly pestering their mothers for milk while the adults were wanting to roll in the dust or small mud hollows. As we sat by the side of the road watching a massive herd in the valley a car moving slowly down the road towards us was clearly watching the same thing. They were nearly taken out by a large mule deer which dashed out in front of the car. The deer must've realised how close it had come cos it took off at a great rate, heading for the hills lol
We passed dozens of fishermen and women in the rivers, only saw one look like he had anything on the hook but, as my Dad says, why spoil a good day out fishing by having to clean messy fish lol.
There were several herds of pronghorns but all a fair way off the roads.
Back on the main loop road we saw a couple of bighorn sheep, a mother and lamb, like the pronghorn, our first sighting of these critters. We checked out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with it's many colours caused over time by thermal activity and it's waterfalls.
We went down to the Hayden Valley to watch another fantastic sunset, the perfect end to another wonderful day in Yellowstone.
Another long day, still no bears, another 10.30pm dinner but we've loved every minute here. Tomorrow we hit the road again.
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