Terraces

It has been a beautiful day! Went for a nice hike tonight going along a small part of the Howard Eaton behind the terraces. No new scenery, really. Just a different view of it, I guess:

The "Tourons" are here!

From Merriam-Webster.com:

Tourist: one that makes a tour for pleasure or culture.

Moron: a very stupid person!

From Yellowstone employees:

Touron: a very stupid tourist. See pictures below:

We can definately tell around here that the busy tourist season is upon us. There is much more traffic and visitors about. There are areas around the thermal features where YOU ARE NOT TO LEAVE THE TRAIL. There are signs posted everywhere stating: DANGER! And yet, people choose not to follow the signs or abandon all common sense. The idiots above - stupid. These people would probably be fined very heavily if a ranger had spotted them. Not to mention either falling into scalding hot water or falling through the thin crust around some of the hotsprings and thermal areas.

Norris Geyser Basin

Rebekah and I met Ginny at Norris Geyser Basin. Then, we went to West Yellowstone for lunch. Here are the pics of my day:

Whew! What a day!

I woke up early this morning to go to church with Rebekah, Suzanne, and Carol. Then, we met Mary and Karen back at the dorm for a hike.
Suzanne, Karen, Rebekah, Me, and Mary. Carol was taking the pic.
We hiked the Old Road to Gardiner, Mt. Once we got to Gardiner, we went to the Town Cafe for chocolate malts. We rode back to Mammoth in Karen's car.

Rebekah, Suzanne, Carol, and I had a picnic lunch at Mammoth. Then we all went inside and watched the movie Amistad. After dinner, Rebekah and I rode with Suzanne to Lamar Valley. Lamar Valley is called America's Serengeti due to the numerous species that call Lamar Valley home. We saw a black bear, as well as two grizzlies, one of which had 2 cubs! Both grizzlies were too far away to snap pictures of.

Just after we turned at Roosevelt towards Lamar, we spotted some big horn sheep. The picture below is of a female: Here are the fellas:

Also snapped a picture of a female pronghorn antelope:

The snow has melted a lot in the valley.

Also spotted a moose near Pebble Creek:

The bison have been calving for several weeks. I hadn't seen one until tonight. They are soo cute!

Also saw some hawks, an owl, elk, geese, sandhill cranes, and mule deer that I didn't get any pictures.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama! Wish I could spend it with you. I know I wouldn't be here in Yellowstone now if it wasn't for you. You (and pops, too) have worked hard and were able to bring us here for a family vaction nine years ago. I loved it then and thought it would be cool to work or live here in the west. And here I am!

Happy Mother's Day to my grandmothers, aunts, and sister-in-law as well! And a Happy Mother's Day to all you other mamas out there, too!

Drive

First of all, let me say that I am kicking myself once again for not taking my camera with me on the hike last night. There was about 25 of us that went on a Full Moon Terrace Hike. The full moon popped out over Canary Springs and it was amazing. But none of you will see just how amazing it was. Sorry!

I haven't posted much this past week. We have had some rain in the evenings when we usually go for our walks, so I haven't been out and about much this week. I was feeling restless and stir-crazy this afternoon and decided to take a drive tonight. Rebekah went with me and we headed out towards Roosevelt.

There are a few dozen people in the park known as the "Wolf Watchers". They can be spotted pulled off the road with big, expensive viewing scopes watching wolf packs off in the distance. We spotted a couple at a pull-off, so we stopped. If you ask, they usually are glad to let you look through the scope, but we didn't ask at first. We were standing there admiring the view and listening to them talk. Apparently, there was a wolf den off to the left, and a black bear with 2 cubs off to the right. I was looking to the left towards the wolf den when I spotted something black move beside a tree. I pointed and asked if that was another bear. This bear was way off in the distance (too far away for me to get on my camera). The guys turned their scopes in the direction of was pointing, and sure enough, Rebekah and I had spotted a bear with our naked eye!!! ha ha

So, I guess we had earned their respect, and they offered us the chance to look through their scopes. I could see the black I spotted, as well as the mama bear with the cubs. I never really could pick out the wolf den. Apparently they could see wolf pups inside the den moving about ever now and then.

We didn't stay long with the wolf watchers. We headed on to Roosevelt. The road was open past Roosevelt to Tower Falls and we headed in that direction. Just past Roosevelt corral, a black bear crossed the road:

Then, we came to Calcite Springs Overlook. This was a really pretty spot:

On the way back, I snapped a picture of this crane, mostly because I thought Emily and Bradley might enjoy looking at this picture. They love looking at pictures of animals.

The sun was setting as we were driving back to Mammoth. I do believe this is the first sunset picture I have taken. This picture does not do it justice:

I wanted to take this drive to see a baby buffalo. I feel like I am the only one working here that hasn't seen one. To show how spoiled you get living here, I saw 3 bears, a wolf den, and herds of elk and buffalo on this drive but was disappointed because I didn't see a baby buffalo!!!

Beaver Ponds Trail

Sunday afternoon, Trish and I hiked the 5.1 loop trail known as Beaver Ponds Trail. We started on the Old Gardiner Rd, cut across to the trail, and ended at the terraces. It was our first official hike on a trail in Yellowstone! It was fairly easy, but it would have been much easier if most of the trail hadn't still been covered in snow, ice, and mud. There were parts where there were snow drifts a couple feet over the trail. You would take a step and fall in the snow up to your hips! It was fun but exhausting!!! We didn't see any bears, but there were some nice views of the mountains and pretty places in the woods with streams from the melting snow.