I haven't posted much in the last few months and that reflects the lack of travel and being busy at work.
This year we decided to try something different from the usual Christmas of eating and watching re-runs of old movies and booked ourselves on a wildlife watching holiday in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Last year we thought that the Caribbean would be good but to be honest we found it a bit of a let down - even though we stayed at a great hotel which was comfortable - there was something about eating turkey and all the trimmings in the high 80 centigrade!
So on Monday the 22 rd of December we set off at 5 am for La Guardia airport in New York to catch a flight to Chicago and then on to Bozeman in Montana where we would pick up a rental car and drive to Yellowstone. We had chosen United Airlines for the flights which seem to work alright and we upgraded to Premium Economy for $40 each which seemed a good deal, however when we finally arrived at Bozeman one of our cases had not arrived. We spent an hour trying to sort out the problem and must admit we left feeling very uncertain as to whether we would see the case again, however we went to pick up the hire car from Dollar - a Jeep Cherokee no less. Unfortunately their credit card processing system was down and we spent another hour and a half waiting to get the authorization from the bank for the transactions. Anyway we finally got sorted and went to find the hotel
The Wingate by Wyndham in Bozeman was a real oasis of calm and efficiency. We were quickly checked in and shown our room which was clean and airy and well equipped with Microwave, Fridge etc. as well as a couch and maybe most importantly free WiFi. After a good nights sleep we took advantage of the excellent free continental breakfast and set off for Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.
We arrived at the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel in a snow blizzard which made driving 'interesting! We got checked in and found our room which was in the main hotel. The hotel was originally built in the 1930's to support the growing tourist trade for the park.
We had booked an en-suite room which was basic but comfortable. When we got into the room it was freezing to say the least as we had two large single glazed windows overlooking the hills at the back of the hotel. We wrestled to try and get some heat but were so tired after dinner we just decided to get an early night and sort it out in the morning - a bad choice as the room was freezing all night and we had ice on the inside of the windows in he morning!
We had booked all meals at the hotel so we had a buffet breakfast in the dining room which was in a separate building across from the hotel itself. After breakfast we decided to try snow-shoeing and hired some at the hotel and asked for recommendations for somewhere to go. We were advised to try the Upper terraces so off we set. The terraces are about 2 miles from the hotel so we drove up there in a bit of a snow storm - got our outdoor gear on and the snow shoes and set off on the 2 hour round walk. After about 30 minutes battling with the blizzard conditions we gave up and went back to the car and decided to try another area which may have better weather.
We had also been advised to try Tower Junction as another route to snow shoe so we set off on the 18 mile drive. After driving a few miles we found a group of cars parked at the side of
the road and people with cameras, spotting scopes, videos etc. all lined up looking across the road. We stopped and got out and found that there was a large male grizzly bear a few hundred yards from the side of the road eating from an elk carcass. The bear didn't seem to be too bothered by the audience and spent most of the time we were there lying by the carcass and occasionally gnawing on a bone and fending off the magpies and ravens which persistently tried to 'steal' bits from the carcase. The elk had been killed 5 of 6 days previously probably by wolves who have the first go at the meat - choosing the tastiest meat from the beast and leaving only when most of the good meat had been eaten - leaving the carcass to the ravens and coyotes.
Further up the road we found a group of male Elk in a small wooded area sheltering from the snow and grazing quietly so a photo was required of course! One of the problems with viewing the wildlife that is
if you stop very soon several other cars stop to see what you are looking at and you end up with a bit of a traffic jam as cars are parked on the road rather than in the pull-ins that quickly get filled. The Elk have huge antlers which they lose annually and of course use for fighting during the rutting season which is in September each year. They also unfortunately use them to attack people and cars occasionally in Mammoth where they spend time grazing around the hotel. A number of cars each year get attacked and damaged and apparently the rangers have to write letters to insurance companies explaining what happened. If the Elk get too aggressive the park has a three strike rule and have sawn the antlers off one particularly aggressive Elk two years in a row.
We had booked on a Winter Wildlife Program run by the Yellowstone Association - a non-profit organization aimed at promoting learning in the park. We had our briefing on Christmas Eve and met Brad our guide for the next 3 days as well as meeting our ten fellow guests. Brad, who is also a renowned wildlife videographer, laid out the program for the next few days along with some rules for watching the wildlife and other such necessities as bathroom etiquette for the park - leave only footprints, take only memories and of course lots of photos.
Christmas Day started at 8:30am with a short drive to where the bear had been the previous day as the other members of the group hadn't seen him. As we drove along again there was the crowd of vehicles
and people lining the side of the road. He had moved off the carcase the previous evening into a nearby gully to sleep but had returned for food the next morning. Grizzly's usually hibernate but this one was still awake and active as there was food available. It was the first time that a bear had been spotted on Christmas day that the guide had seen so a bit of a momentous occasion for the group.
He moved off the carcass eventually and took an interest on the crowd of people watching him. Luckily for us he didn't seem to be that bothered and wandered off down the road followed by a guy with a video camera. He was not seen again whilst we were in the park and the guide thought he might have gone off to sleep for the remainder of the winter.
We drove on an saw herds of Bison and Elk along the road and a had a number of sightings of Coyotes.
We continued up to Silver Gate to use the rest rooms and on the drive back we spotted a moose in the trees - again a first for the guide to spot a moose on Christmas Day!
Driving back into the park, Silver Gate is just outside the park entrance in the Gallatin National Forest we stopped in a small car park as there had been reported sightings of wolves. We then drove back into the park to see if we could spot them. The Druid Pack had been made famous by a PBS TV program - which we saw last year and was the reason we booked this
holiday! We could just see a black wolf in the far distance just in front of a herd of Bison although it was only visible through a high power spotting scope so didn't manage to get any pictures. Later in the day we were to be a luckier, but more of that later.
On the way back we stopped a few times to look at Bison and Elk but it is interesting that people soon
get blase about these beautiful creatures once you have seen a few. On a frozen lake by the side of the road we spotted a couple of coyotes mooching around so of course a photo stop was necessary.
As we drove back towards Mammoth Hot Springs we again came across a group of cars parked by the road next to the Elk carcass we had seen the Grizzly Bear at earlier in the day. This time, however, there was a coyote enjoying a good chew on the rib cage that the bear had ripped off the carcass earlier in the day. The coyote had attracted a small audience although not as big as the Grizzly Bear! Of course the Ravens were ever present and it is interesting that they seem to follow the predatory animals around and wait for the coyote, wolf or bear to tear pieces off the carcass and then take the opportunity to steal tidbits of meat etc. - eating some and hiding others.
We hung around here for 10 - 20 minutes fascinated to be so close to a truly wild animal. The day was very cold, however and we were glad to get back into the van and get the heater on!
As we travelled back to Mammoth our guide heard on the radio that wolves had been spotted near to Mammoth itself so we made haste to see if we could spot them. Normally on these 'courses' wolves are only spotted in the distance as we had seen earlier in the day. However this time we were lucky enough to see them at closer quarters. We pulled in a small car park on the side of the road where of course there was a small gathering of cars and people with a variety of spotting scopes, cameras and binoculars. We managed to get a great view of members of the Canyon Group which was a group that tolerated people more than some of the other wolf packs in the park.
After the day's excitement it was time to relax for a few hours before our Christmas Dinner Buffet in the restaurant in the evening. This was the best meal of the whole holiday as it was hot (temperature) and tasty - particularly the plum pudding and hard sauce. A hard sauce is a cream sauce with alcohol.
Day two of the course started at 6:45 in the morning - the plan being to drive out to some part of the park to catch the first light and the best time to see the animals as they would be hunting for food.
As we had seen most of the animals on the first day I guess it was difficult for the guide to find new things for us to do. We spent quite a lot of the day searching for wolves in various locations around the park and had a number of successes.
The picture on the right is a couple of wolves howling - the picture is not all that clear as the wolf was quite a distance from where we had parked and the lens I had, although 500mm was just not big enough - and I was told size didn't matter!
These wolves were part of the Canyon Pack - one which would see a number of times over the three days of the course. The pack, which consists of four wolves has been formed fairly recently from other packs within the park and tends to hunt around the Mammoth area.
On the way back to Mammoth we spotted another Elk Carcass off to the right of the road and there were wolves around although it was difficult to stop and therefore I didn't get any photos. I did, however, manager to get my only shot of a Bald Eagle through the Van window. I really wanted to get a good shot of an eagle and was disappointed that I didn't manage to get any more although we did see a few, including a couple of Golden Eagles I just couldn't get a photo.
We then went into Gardiner, a small town at the entrance to the park
to look for Prong Horn which are not part of the antelope family although they look like them. One of the main differences between them and many (but not all) other species is the fact that the males shed the outer coating (sheath) of their horns each year, yet maintain a growing bone underneath all their lives (much like bison and sheep do, though they don't shed the "powderhorn' coating). We drove along a road which leads out of the park but had the park on one side and private land on the other. We saw a couple of herds of prong horn which seem to be very edgy and nervous. One interesting thing we were told is that these animals can't or won't jump fences and local ranchers etc. have been asked to leave the bottom wire off fences as the prong horn are happy to get under the fence wire.
After watching the prong horn for a while we drove out in search of long horn sheep which tend to live on the rocky outcrops that line some of the roads. After driving back onto the main highway into Gardiner we spotted a long horn high up on the side of the road and luckily we managed to park up at the entrance to the town's small airport.
We drove back in to the park to relax and have dinner in the evening
On the last day we set off at 6:30am to get to the Lamar Valley to see if we could see any of the Wolves etc. The Valley is known as the Serrengetti of park as it had huge herds if Elk and Bison in the past. There are still herds around but certainly not as large as they used to be. Unfortunately we didn't get to se any wolves although we did see plenty of Bison and Elk and we did hear the wolves howling although they were some distance away.
Just before lunch we set of snowshoeing in quite heavy snow to look for tracks and see an abandoned
wolf den which has been preserved. The den was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, on the side of a wooded hill. The den hadn't been used for around 10 years but was still in good condition and that I guess is down to the rangers and the guides who want to preserve it to show visitors.
At the end of the last day our guide, Brad, challenged the younger members of the group, and Howard to a snow shoe race (click to see YouTube video) in what seemed like blizzard conditions. The snow was around 12" deep and powdery and therefore made the going rather hard but at least I finished although I was beaten by Brad carrying a 30lb rucksack!
The day, and the course ended with a group dinner in the dining room where we could share stories and find a bit more out about our fellow travelers. It certainly was an interesting and diverse group and it was great that we all got on well together - helping each other and of course Brad when we could. It makes such a difference when you get a good group of people and according to Brad this course seems to attract this type of group.
We had Sunday morning free and decided to set off snow shoe-ing at the Upper Terraces again - this time the weather was better and we could see more than the 2 feet we could on day 1. This was a great day for me as I got some of the best photos of the week - the scenery and colors were stunning. This is my favorite shot I think - but have a look at the Yellowstone Photo album to see a larger range of photos (click on the PhotShelter link on the top right of the Blog to see photos which can be printed).
I can thoroughly recommend this type of course and the problem we have now is what do we do next Christmas - how can we top this one!
This is the group we were with just after finding the wolf den of number 9 wolf. We had heavy snow as
you can see from the dots on the lens. Just after this we entered into the Snow Shoe race on the way back to the Van which was parked on the road.
Hi Howard,
Glad to see you're not put off by the vastness of the country. Most Americans try to avoid the snow storms, however!
Nice wildlife shots(are bald eagles still rare?) but since you found these lovely creatures so easily, it really shows how people in the surrounding area must be encroaching on their land. Thankfully there is also a limit to the number of visitors to these parks, although I must admit I would selfishly enjoy the opportunity myself.
Anyway, have fun traveling (and blogging along the way) this summer.
All the best,
Nancy
Posted by: Nancy | January 15, 2009 at 12:06 AM
Hi Nancy
It is a great time to visit the park as the visitor numbers are low and the animals etc. show up against the snow so can be spotted easier than in the spring/summer - or so we were told
There seemed to be quite a few bald eagles although this was my only reasonable shot - I was dissapointed that we didn't see any golden eagles :(-
Off to Palm Springs in a couple of weeks to the TED (www.ted.com) conference and I have put my name down for some pre-conference hikes etc so watch out for some more postings!
Howard
Posted by: Howard Wright | January 15, 2009 at 12:29 AM