On Thursday, May 30th we packed up and drove north to Yellowstone's south entrance! We were so excited to reach the pinnacle of our road trip!
We were looking for a good place to picnic, so we first pulled into a parking lot by Lewis Lake. We were surprised to see piles of plowed snow and a partially frozen lake! It was pretty crowded so we continued on to the Grant Village Visitor Center where we ate some lunch and picked up the Junior Ranger booklets for the kids. Our drive north through Yellowstone was a fun preview of our week to come! We had reservations in Gardiner, Montana at Yellowstone RV Park, just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone. Even though it was an RV park, it was quite pleasant because our sites were directly on the Yellowstone River and the bathrooms and playground were really nice!
Friday morning we woke up anxious to explore Yellowstone!
Because of all the previous day's driving, we decided to stick close to the Mammoth area in the northern part of Yellowstone. It's like a little town with historic buildings from prior military presence; plus, the hot springs and terraces make for an interesting environment.
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| Historic Mammoth Visitor Center |
This bison apparently enjoys the warm hot springs and people-watching.
We kind of wondered if this lady was destined to be on a YouTube video about what happens when tourists get too close to wild animals...
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| Libery Cap, a 37 ft. tall hot spring cone made from mineral deposits over hundreds of years |
Going up the boardwalk to see the terraces, someone spotted a snake.
We watched it slither away under the boardwalk.
In the Mammoth area, the hot, acidic water bubbling up from the underground natural plumbing system dissolves large quantities of limestone on its way up through the rock layers to the hot springs on the surface. Above ground and exposed to the air, some carbon dioxide escapes from the solution. Without it, the dissolved limestone can’t remain in the solution, so it reforms into a solid mineral. This white, chalky mineral is deposited as the travertine that forms the terraces.
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| Here's what Audrey thought of the sulphur smells that are part of the hot springs experience |
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| Cleopatra Terrace |
We had been exploring the hot springs for at least an hour when my dad, who had wandered ahead, came back to me and mumbled that he heard someone saying an elk was in the process of giving birth just ahead. Dad looked totally disgusted but I didn't hesitate to grab Noah and rush forward to see what was going on!
Sure enough, an elk cow had just minutes before delivered a calf! She was probably 20 ft. at most away from the boardwalk. I snagged a spot right next to the railing and there we sat for over an hour, watching the cow clean and encourage her calf as it tried to stand for the first time.
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| Calf's first attempt to stand failed... as did many more attempts! |
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| This mother hardly rested! She lay down for a few minutes but was soon up again, encouraging her calf to stand. |
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| The calf finally gets its legs under it! |
After all the excitement of the elk and calf, we ate lunch at the cafe in Mammoth and then headed to Undine Falls for some photos.
On our way out of the park and back to camp, we stopped at this cool sign that marked our location!
After dinner, we headed back into the park to see wildlife. We also had to get some photos by the famous Roosevelt arch that marks the north entrance.
We stopped in one area to scan for any predators, but all we spotted was a yellow-bellied marmot. Chris actually got an excellent picture on his phone, but this is all I saw by the time I got over there.
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| Elk are fairly common |
As we were driving near Swan Lake Flats, we saw some photographers and people with telescopes intently looking toward a spot about 60-70 yards off the road. We pulled over and got out our telescopes to watch a grizzly feeding on an elk carcass!
Soon, things got rather interesting as a coyote approached the grizzly.
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| Coyote circles but keeps a safe distance. |
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| The grizzly appeared to start covering the carcass |
The bear was definitely keeping tabs on that coyote.
Suddenly, the grizzly just walked away from its kill. We were surprised to see it leave with a coyote lurking around!
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| The bear kept checking over its shoulder as it walked away from the carcass. |
Naturally, the coyote seemed perplexed but didn't complain. He just watched the grizzly get further and further away.
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| Coyote inches closer to the elk carcass, and keeps checking to see what the grizzly is doing |
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| Soon, coyote starts gobbling down elk meat! |
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| Grizzly looks back and spots the coyote... so exciting! |
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| Grizzly bear takes off back toward the coyote feasting on its kill! |
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| This coyote is super brave. Look how close he stays to the carcass--until the last possible second! |
All of a sudden, the coyote makes a move in and grabs what appears to be an antler with some meat.
The coyote takes off with the meat!
We watched the grizzly chase the coyote a short distance, but the grizzly was pretty satiated with meat and the coyote got away without too much effort.
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| Grizzly saunters back to the carcass |
Pretty soon, the grizzly again deserted the carcass and went on its way as the sun went down.
After the amazing wildlife encounters we had on our first full day in Yellowstone, Noah declared this trip to be the "best ever," better than Ireland or Disney World. We were all awed by the experiences we witnessed and excited for many more days in such an incredible place!
Side note: just the other night, Chris, Jamie, Noah, Audrey and I were watching Nat Geo channel's special "Yellowstone Live." They were exploring the predator/prey relationships in Yellowstone and sure enough, a familiar scene started playing as they showed a bear chasing a coyote who had nabbed some of its meat in Swan Lake Flats. We were so excited to see "our bear and coyote" featured on the program!
Information about Mammoth Hot Springs Source: https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/mammoth-hots-springs-inside-cave
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