"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

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Kaylee Marie


A few photos that I took on my travels to Bozeman. These were taken south of Livingston.







I started out my day today taking a trip to Lamar. It had been a couple of weeks since I had made any travels there. On the Blacktail I came across a bison sauntering down the road (Big Boy, is that you?) Further on about 1 mile before Hellroaring I came across a bison jam, only my 3rd this winter.

The bison stood in the middle of the road......and stood, and stood and stood. It was a small matter as I rather enjoy just watching them. As soon as one of them decided to move on the rest of the herd followed.

Unfortunately this photo doesn't show the trampled snow very well. Most areas lack an undisturbed snow as the wildlife plow, trample, hop and run through it.

A small herd of bison lounged at the curve of the Lamar River. The snow on the river also has numerous animal tracks.


A trip to Lamar wouldn't be complete without viewing the rams by the hitching posts. When everything is lacking I can always count on see at least one ram. And he appears to know only one pose.


The vegetation by the Soda Butte was rather frosty today. Bison were scattered across Lamar Valley and those close enough to the road that were laying in the snow were breathing a heavy, frost breath.

Coming back from Lamar I came across 6 bighorn sheep right off the side of the road just past the Yellowstone picnic area. I cringed a bit as I watched a man take pictures of a herd of 4 of them from a mere 15 feet away.


Further on as I approached Tower Jct. I watched a coyote mouse. He looked fairly healthy but did have some wounds on both sides of his face and a rather large open wound on his front left leg by the elbow.

Later on I watched as a ranger scared a coyote off the road. The coyote did a huge leap and twist into the ditch but as the ranger moved on the coyote very triumphantly moved back onto the road in front of me.
Last night Judy and I went out for hamburgers at the K Bar. Another reccommendation I have, it's a build-your-own type thing and they were delicious. We are all planning on going out for pizza on Wednesday to say our 'goodbye' to Jeff as his winter season as being the Mammoth YGS manager is over. It's been a good winter and I can now proudly say that I have eaten outside the Park at other places than McDonalds.













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