Wildlife Bonanza

We left right at 9 AM yesterday for our trip to Yellowstone. It was a wildlife bonanza as we have not seen as much wildlife in one day for as long as we can remember. It took forever to download the photos for this post which is why it is appearing so late. The day was spectacular and was clear and warm. Starting out with this shot of the Tetons taken on the road north to Yellowstone:

And this shot of the mountains looking over Jackson Lake while traveling north:

We didn't make it into Yellowstone before we spotted Bison herds in the distance and this cow Moose with her calf that were browsing in a lily pond on the side of the road:

It was a huge day for spotting elk. The first one we saw was a cow elk that was just walking across the road as we were driving north through the park:

Not long after that, we spotted this big bull just browsing along the side of the road:

He was still in velvet. We spotted a couple more elk, the largest of which is below who was just resting in the shade under a large tree:

 

 

There were bison herds all over. The first one was seen before we entered Yellowstone on the north side of the Teton National Park. That herd was seen close up on the way home which you can see later on below. There were several herds within Yellowstone one of which was close to the road and we got some close-up shots:

 

 

This one was REAL close:

 

 

 

We stopped for our lunch break along a gravel road that was in the Lamar Valley portion of Yellowstone. It was a quiet location with no traffic and we just sat along the side of the road and had our lunch:

 

 

There were more elk and bison on the way out of Yellowstone, but this one herd below that we spotted at a distance on the way north, was close to the road by the time we arrived there on the way home:

 

 



so close, in fact, that they started across the highway and held up traffic for quite awhile:

 

 

We made it home by 6 PM and had a wonderful day in Yellowstone. The wildlife experiences were excellent, and were a testament of the many opportunities that are presented in any Yellowstone visit. It did not disappoint.

 

Our final day of the three day weekend today will be spent locally. We have some things we want to do in town, so we expect to finish off the weekend with a low-key day that will get us ready to go back to work tomorrow...