18 May 2002 - Saturday

It was about 5:00 pm when I headed south towards the park. I was doing another solo trip into the park this afternoon to enjoy the wonders of parkadise. It was a bright clear warm day. A perfect spring day to enjoy and let things clear out. I saw elk, buffalo and antelope from Gardiner to Mammoth. No big horn sheep were in sight, but I know they were there, just playing hard to see!

There were not too many cars on the road and I had a nice drive out to the valley. There was a small moose jam at Floating Island Lake as there were three moose on the lake. A bull moose on the left side of the lake by what is now a non floating island due to low water and a cow and an older calf on the far side by the hillside of lava rock. What a nice sight and thrill! My first moose of the year and we had been looking for these guys for a while. It seems that moose sightings are getting to be rarer than grizzlies and wolves. I enjoy the sighting and wished that Carlene had come along as she loves moose and had spent all last weekend on our trip to Jackson Hole looking for moose to no avail.

I saw bison, elk and antelope in Little America as I headed to Slough Creek. I met Roger and Kay at Slough Creek and they told me about a sow griz and two cubs that were down the valley between the Lamar River Footbridge Turnout and the Soda Butte Cone. They had had a great day and visit to the park. They headed west to see and enjoy the moose and I headed east towards the bears.

I stopped at the second turnout in Lamar to meet some old friends who had just come to the park to host the Tower campground; bear sighting experts Bill and Bobby Clark from Texas and Bill from Poky. It was great to see them and share some time in the park. We visited for a while and then we all headed east down the valley to check out the wildlife.

I stopped at the footbridge turnout and looked at some mountain goats up on the rocky cliffs on the north side of the road above the Druid Peak Pack den site. It was nice to see the goats back. We had spotted and watched them two years ago and we missed them last year.

I then packed up and headed east to watch the grizzlies. What a nice spotting of some great grizzlies. They were about 200 yards off the road just grubbing and having fun. Mom was doing most of the grubbing and eating while the kids were running and tumbling and just having a great time to the excitement and enjoyment of those watching. The sage brush and grass was so high that you wouldn't know that there were cubs with her until they came into a small grassy clearing. There was a raven nearby and the cubs started stalking it. They would get fairly close and jump at the raven who would laughingly squawk and fly off a few yards and the cubs would start stalking again. It looked like the raven was babysitting while mom took a break for supper. Fun to watch them play and romp around the meadow. Every so often they would stop and stand up on their hind legs to see where mom was and then go about their cub thing.

It was fun to share the experience with others who were there enjoying the playful cubs and the beautiful grizzly sow. There were rangers there watching the crowd and making sure folks were parking off the road and staying back and away from the bears. There were some folks there with some large canon type camera lens. One couple had a lens that was so big they pulled it with a semi truck and had a chair mount with this tiny camera behind it. The lens looked like the Hubble telescope, but it wasn't built by the best scientist in the world, so it worked just fine. Only Kidding!

I watched and chatted and shared the spotting scope until about 8:00 pm and then headed west down the valley to see if I could find Tonya, a fellow wildlife watcher and loon. I stopped at the footbridge turnout and visited with Bill for a few minutes. He headed east towards Silver Gate and I headed west towards the setting sun.

When I came to the turnout at the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek, I noticed Tonya and a few other folks seated on the bank of the river with their cameras. I pulled in, grabbed my camera and joined them. There was a small critter on the river bank across from us. I whispered hi and turned on the camera and started taking pictures. A few friends had told me about an otter that had been seen in this area, but this critter was not long and sleek like an otter.

It was staying low in the water and I could just see his head as it was swimming up and down the creek. Then it came to a small bush and climbed up on the bank. It was a beaver! My first beaver in the park. This was another animal Carlene and I had been looking for. There is a small beaver dam in Hayden Valley that we had stopped and watched, but never had the good fortune to see a beaver. I shot a roll of film and just enjoyed it with Tonya and the folks there. Cars would slow down and look at us and try to figure out why we were sitting there and what we were taking pictures of but they did not stop or ask, too bad.

We stayed and watched and took pictures and chatted until it was time to say good night and head home. What a great evening in parkadise. No wolf sightings, but they were in the area and the Druid Peak Pack had moved back east down the valley to their original den site.

It was great to see old friends and to know that they are doing well and to spend a little time together. It was also great to meet and make new friends and share in their first experience of wildlife watching in the Stone. I drove home wishing that Carlene had been along to both see old friends and to enjoy the moose, beaver and the bears. Maybe next time.

What a great evening and way to end the day! The wonders of Yellowstone are just fantastic and never cease to amaze me. I hope and pray it always stays that way!

We bid each other farewell and I headed west into one of the most gorgeous sunsets I had seen in Lamar. It was fantastic! I had shot the last roll of film on the beaver and wished I had one more roll to capture the sunset. I have it in my memory and my heart and maybe someday you and I, my friends, can sit on a quiet peaceful evening and share a painting in the sky in parkadise.

Wildlife Seen on This Trip

Antelope, bison, elk, three grizzly bears, magpies, three moose, mule deer, sandhill cranes, ravens and a beaver and loons!

Take care my friends until next time!

Lamar Valley Sunset by John W. Uhler ©

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