Day Drive through Yellowstone Part I

7/18/2010



After our Edward Eaton Hike, we went back to Fishing Bridge Campground. I captured this photo of a sunset & smoke from the forest fire. The picture looks like the sunset is the actual flames of the fire.

7/19/2010

On this day we decided to drive up to Hayden Valley where the buffalo roam.
On the way up we stopped at LeHardys Rapids, of the Yellowstone River. We were suppose to see this rapids on the Edward Eaton Trail, but someone misread the map! If you are lucky, you will see trout jumping up the rapids to get upstream to spawn.
Time to proliferate.
Some kind of dragon fly I think.
Off to the side of the road I saw a lone buffalo.
Dust is flying off him as if he is Linus of Charlie Brown.
So I keep watching him.
He rubs his head in the dust.
Then he gets on his back in the dust and rolls back and forth.


At a rangers program at Fishing Bridge one night we were told that the buffalo do this to get the bugs off them and to make themselves a lighter color to help reflect the sun.
The farther up the road we go, the more buffalo we see.
On the way, we stop at Mud Volcano and see Dragon Mouth Springs.
This spring actually made a sleeping dragon exhale sound as the steam came out, and it's breath was really nasty smelling!
We arrive at Hayden Valley which is a grassland valley that use to be a former lake bed, from melting glaciers from an ice age years ago. The small dots in the picture are the herds of buffalo that love this valley.
A close up of a small section of the valley.
This buffalo is still carrying around his winter coat. They rub against trees, trying to remove their coats.
Here is a baby calf.
Both the male and females have horns. This one has just a piece of it's winter coat left.
You don't have the right of way here!
The buffalo here are much bigger than the ones we saw in South Dakota last summer.
Here is a Bull Elk that has every one's attention.
A ranger was called in to manage the people and to keep the traffic flowing.
I jumped out of the car and got is shot. Joe said, "I can't believe you got that close to him!" I said, " ever one else was that close." OK , I should know better than that, I just got got up in the moment, I just wanted to get a good picture of his rack. All the Yellowstone information tell the tourist to stay 25 feet away from the elk.