Day 9
Thursday May 10, 2001
Hello, us again out here roaming the
west.
Well today was our last day at Yellowstone,
but what a day. This place could really get its hooks in us if we stayed here
much longer. If any of you come out here try to do it in May or Oct. and you
will never want to leave. Everyday is a new adventure as you have seen. In May
the wildlife is all over the place and not many people are here to scare
them off. Yellowstone was our first national park and has over 2.5 millon acres
to explore. We covered about 200 miles today going from West Yellowstone all the
way to Tower Falls then down to Old Faithful and back to West Yellowstone. We
were blessed with another sunny day. Would like to visit here again some Oct.
How do we get so close to all that wildlife ? Well
we just drive right up next to them.
As you can see you have to shew them off the road
so you can get through.
We were told that the buffalo and elk population
has tripled in the last 3 years.
The wolf population is exploding also. They figure
there are over 6000 elk now.
Of coarse I learned a trick on how to mesmerize
them so I could get a good picture.
This was one of 3 elk we saw this morning that were
running away from something.
We never could figure out what spooked them, maybe
a bear.
Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth Hot Springs
Scientist have figured out that Yellowstone's
center is an ancient volcano and is still active
in many places. Water is heated up by the earths
magma, then forced to the surface, bringing many
minerals up with it, causing all kinds of
formations. It looks like an alien planet.
On the way over we got to see our first brown bear.
It was on a hill across from us, too far to film.
See my technique is working. Doesn't he look
mesmerized ?
This guy is going to have one heck of a rack.......
Ok folks here is the pic of the day
!
It don't get much better than this. We were getting
close to Tower Falls when these three guys came right down along the road
in front of us. We just pulled over and started snapping.
They stopped right in front of our car and momma
was showing her 2 cubs how to find water.
Then momma sat down for a rest. She has a radio
collar on so they can track her movements.
We noticed that some of the elk and buffalo also
have them.
Then she got up and walked right by my window. I
could have reached out and touched her or gave her a hand.
I froze as Prilly kept yelling, put up the
window. !
We finally got to Tower Falls
Got so pumped up about being that close to the bear
that we decided
to hike to the bottom of these falls. 1.2 miles
round trip.
All that walking just so we could get this picture
for you.
Then we went back to Old Faithful to see what went
wrong the first time we were there.
This time it did much better, went twice as high. I
guess it restored our faith in it.
Sapphire Pool in Upper Geyser Basin.....
Will check in tomorrow with Day 10
Oh, one last note. Got a real good cowboy story to
tell you.
" An old
cowhand came riding into town on a hot, dry, dusty day.
The local
sheriff watched from his chair in front of the saloon as the cowboy
wearily
dismounted and tied his horse to the rail a few feet in front of
the
sheriff.
"Howdy, stranger."
"Howdy, Sheriff"
The cowboy then moved
slowly to the back of his horse, lifted its tail,
and placed a big kiss
where the sun don't shine. He dropped the horse's
tail, stepped up on
the walk, and aimed towards the swinging doors of
the saloon.
"Hold on
there, Mister," said the sheriff. "Did I just see what I think
I saw?"
"Reckon you did, Sheriff. I got me some powerful chapped lips." Was the
reply.
"And that cures them?" the Sheriff asked.
"Nope, but it keeps
me from lickin' em."
The moral to that story is to
not get chapped lips while you're in cowboy
country.
Happy trails !
Love Ralph & Prilly
Day 10
