"There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle." Franklin D. Roosevelt

Monday, November 9, 2009


Ice Box Canyon


The Dainty Coyote by Yellowstone Picnic Area


Fox by the Northeast Entrance


Wolf Print at Slough Creek


Wolf Prints at Blacktail


Two of the Three Wolves at the Blacktail


Wolf at Blacktail

Yesterday I decided to head to Lamar Valley. My day could not of started out better as when I was just east of Blacktail Ponds I noticed two wolves trotting along just off the road. I grabbed my camera and immediately realized that I had the wrong lens on. So between fumbling with a lens change, shifting the car into park and rolling down the window I managed to to develop a case of the shakes in fear of missing the opportunity to photograph wolves that close. That is when I noticed that there was a third wolf. Joy, oh, joy! I hadn't seen a wolf in a couple of months so this was quite a treat. I also found some wolf prints in a parking area nearby and was quite impressed with how huge they were.

I drove through Lamar Valley and decided to continue on further. I was impressed with the ice hanging in Ice Box Canyon and found the snow covered mountains inspiring. I continued all the way into Cooke City, though it was a rather slow day in the town as I only saw one other vehicle on the road there and it looked like it had been parked there for awhile. Coming back through the gate into the Park a beautiful red fox appeared and wandered back and forth across the road while I pulled over to watch.

Once again I spent some time watching a mousing coyote by the Yellowstone picnic area. She was quite a dainty thing and wasn't having much luck catching anything she pounced toward. She would very femininely pick up her feet and slowly and deliberately step over long blades of grass laying over the ground. I hope she learns to toughen up.

I also found some more wolf prints in the Slough Creek parking area and had a good time following them around the area taking pictures of them. I saw another coyote wandering away from me in Lamar (still not tired of seeing them though) and got into a mini bison jam by Soda Butte (which is were my new header picture was taken). With about 150 pictures to sort through I decided to I better head back, sort through them, and share them on my blog. And now I head off to rest up for tomorrow, the first day of "Taco Tuesday Winter 2009". Yup, it's that big of a deal around here.
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