Leaving the home comforts of a bed, wonderful food and amazing Kennedy hospitality, it was time to head East and this for us meant Yellowstone National Park!!! Our aim was to get as near to the park as possible on the first day so we only had a short drive the next morning into the park.
The scenery on our drive was amazing. From mountains to prairie to a place called the Craters of the Moon, which was miles and miles of tundra covered in lava. We got to a town called Rexburg and after a quick stop in Walmart for some WiFi and bear spray, we started looking for a campsite. We turned into one just outside the park proper and a Moose walked in front of us! Woo! We weren’t even in the park yet and already it felt like we were on safari. We got a great spot near the river and settled in for the night.
The next morning we had an early start to get to YNP as I didn’t want to miss a minute of wildlife viewing! After picking up a spare camera battery we entered the park. I really wanted to see a wolf during our stay in the park. Yellow signs for bison just after the entrance got us on the edge of our seats. Eyes were peeled. And sure enough we saw some Bison, or American Buffalo as the also call them. They are enormous!
We drove south into the park and checked into our campsite at Madison. We were going to be spending 2 nights here. The park was SO bulsy. We read that only 5% of visitors go on a hike while in the park and we were adamant to be part of this 5%. Within a couple of hours of being in the park we set off on a hike, bear spray at the ready. Within 2 minutes we saw 3 otters right next to us as we crossed a creek, which was really special as no one else was on the trail. The walk took us to some waterfalls. We had some tense times yelling out “hey bear” to let the bears know we were in their territory, which we had learnt from a previous bear territory trip. No bears sighted on this walk. Phew.
Next was a drive to Old Faithful to see the infamous geyser that goes off every 90 mins or so. We were extra lucky as we had a bison near us as the geyser erupted, which made it very surreal. We stopped by the Grand Prismatic Spring on our way back to camp as the crowds had gone down a lot by this time. This was an area full of geysers. The steam was insane. Then it was back to our RV for homemade risotto and early bed as got to get the dawn wildlife viewing in (I am my fathers daughter after all!)
Up at dawn for the morning drive. We headed up north towards mammoth springs. More bison on our drive. We stopped at Norris geyser basin around 730am so hardly anyone else around. We also stopped to do a hike up Bunsen peak. Fairly steep and high and the altitude hit us! The views from the top were stunning though so worth the walk. Then we drove through mammoth springs and got our first sighting of Elk. Lunchtime and time for a siesta after our early start.
After an afternoon nap we drove out to Tower and towards the Lamar valley which is where 3 wolf packs are. Cars on the side and binos out. Here we go! I thought I saw a wolf but no where to pull over!! Agggh. Total nightmare. Alex didn’t even see it!! We then got caught in a bison jam. Bison all over the road. Total chaos but fun chaos. We finally made it through the herd and we saw brake lights ahead and loads of cars and cameras. Something big was here. A black bear and cub!! What a treat!! The bears were so relaxed and just eating away….no doubt getting ready before they hibernate. We also spotted some pronghorn deer in the hills around us which was fun. We were going to leave Lamar Valley to another day but when so near the area and not wanting to get stuck in the bison jam again we continued on into it.
We stopped in the valley with a huge herd of bison below us. V cool. At 1730 we called it a day as had 90 mins journey back to camp. So we headed back towards home with no confirmed wolf sightings today. Boooo. A few more bison and also a badger on the way back then another bison jam! This time a single male walking up the road so no one could pass. Finally it crossed the road. By this point the sun was beginning to go down and we still had a long drive ahead of us. Suddenly a woman in a car on other side on the road flashed her lights at us. We braked hard and a WOLF ran in front of our RV!! Incredible!!! Really healthy looking wolf with a v bushy tail. Alex and I fist pumped, ecstatic we had seen a wolf on our first full day in the park!! So lucky. In Walmart before going into the park I had bought some cheap fizz to have if we saw a wolf. So we enjoyed some v sweet fizz and fell asleep in seconds after a long but v enjoyable day. Tomorrow we head to canyon camp in Yellowstone for 2 nights…..
Headed to canyon. We did a hike on the way there around a lake. No animals but lots of fresh animals footprints! We continued our drive and loads of ppl pulled over and cameras out. We pulled over…it was swans!! We have since learnt they are v rare ones. We headed into Hayden valley where we saw a bison herd whilst having lunch. Makes a wonderful change from the court advocates room! We even got to witness some Bison fighting! Lots of dust flying around and heads interlocked. V dramatic. That evening we drove to Lamar valley to see if we could see more wolves at sunset. After taking our RV down the windy roads of a Mountain we finally got there at 5pm. We were there until after 8 but sadly no wolves, just lots of bison and pronghorn dear. We did have an Eagle flying over us screeching which was fun. A bison we thought asleep or worse, dead, moved just before we left. Phew. One good thing to come out of the evening. Headed home slightly disappointed but hey that’s nature for you. We decided that the journey was too far and too steep and windy to do in the morning for dawn so we would stick to our one wolf sighting.
A lie in, woo! This morning we went to walk up Mount Washburn. Super windy in places. At the top is a lookout tower for forest fires and someone lives in there for 4 months over the summer without a break!! Great views from the top though and a decent 12.5km hike up to 10k metres plus. We turned out of the car park after the walk and suddenly we saw loads of ppl with cameras. It was 2 coyotes nearby on the hillside. I realised that this was what I had seen the other day when Alex missed it. We did a U-ey to take some pictures then drove on and waited for them to pass us on the hill which was cool. A lady said she had been at Lamar valley this morning and seen 4 wolves!!!!! Gutted!!!! The day before they saw 21!!!! We decided if the weather was ok tomorrow we would go to Lamar for dawn. Stopped by the campsite for a proper shower rather than one in the RV. We didn’t realise there was a cut off whilst they cleaned them so poor Alex missed the nice shower! RV shower for him. A drive out for lunch consisting of bran flakes and fruit which we weirdly were both craving. The rain then descended!! Saw the canyon and waterfall which was impressive. Also saw our first elk with antlers! Homemade soup and early bed ahead of hopefully our dawn visit to Lamar valley weather permitting. We will also be going to our third and final camp of YNP-bridge bay campground.
Woke at 5am and the weather was rank. Gutted. Super sad not to be able to go back to Lamar for dawn but we had been to lucky to see one wolf. Drove to bridge bay campground and the rain stopped around 630am. Heaps of cameras and binos. We passed them and then had massive fomo so turned around. It was a grizzly bear!! AND it was being chased by either 2 coyote or 2 grey wolves. There was a mixture of opinions amongst those viewing on the side of the road. I have since asked at the visitor centre and they were surprised 2 coyote would chase a grizzly so maybe we witnessed one of the most extraordinary events ever OR wolves chasing a bear!! After a mid morning nap we checked into our campground and it started snowing so heavily!! Snowflakes were massive. Yesterday I was in shorts and today it’s fleeces!! Couldn’t really do much this afternoon as weather was pretty rank which was frustrating. It did clear up in time for a final evening drive back to Hayden Valley again as was v close. We parked up and waited for 2 hours. Saw some elk and some massive birds of prey. We decided to leave at 1845 and unbelievably at 1844 Alex saw a grizzly!!! Patience pays off.
Leaving YNP we felt sad but excited for our next adventure which was going to be Cody. The real Wild West.
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