Yogi and friends...

Summary for those who want one...

• wet
• bald eagle (yay!)
• mud geysers
• snow
• grizzly bears
• big horned sheep
• more bison
• swans
• geese
• pelicans
• osprey nest
• canyons
• burnt trees
• geysers
• hot springs
• and more...

Started by forgetting the memory card for my camera and having to drive back 15 minutes to the hotel :-( then joined the traffic going into the park in the rain. That $20 investment in a warm jacket in San Francisco is going to pay off today!

Just by the river about 10 minutes into the park we spot a bald eagle in a tree. He poses patiently while we soon collect a crowd of onlookers. We have found there is a good way to make a crowd in Yellowstone - stop the car and jump out with a camera - within minutes you can have a crowd of 20 cars or more with their occupants lining the roadside asking what you have spotted.

Other highlights of the day include the walks around the thermal areas of course - even in the rain these are spectacular. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was worth seeing, with a massive waterfall, a great view up the canyon and a look down into an osprey's nest, complete with nesting osprey. We had several sightings of bears including one in scrubland, two playing and wrestling in the trees beside the road, one strolling across a roadside meadow and a large bear and her cub, a distance away in the trees with a stressed mother elk waiting to see if her young one was safe, or had become bear food. Also saw some other elk, pronghorn, more bison, whistling swans, canada geese, white pelicans and several smaller birds I have yet to identify.

Missed photo opportunity of the day was a massive hairy, horned bison strolling down his own lane of the road, with a line of at least 20 cars behind, travelling at bison strolling pace. Very funny.

Today we have seen much of the driveable parts of the park, it is an impressive range of diverse landscapes - a spectacular and beautiful park. I wish we had much longer here but we only have another half day at the most before we head to Cody. Until tomorrow then...