Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park is the only place where you can see this expanse of forest. Nowhere else in North America you can see the American bisons foraging around casually. In Winter this valley should be looking totally different!
Yellowstone National Park was in the bucket list for Vinod from his childhood because of his childhood exposure to wildlife documentaries. So we were planning to visit the park for a long time and finally our dream came true. We meticulously planned the travel and we set our itineraries for our days in Yellowstone National Park. We wanted to visit the place not like a tourist or or a hiker or a wildlife enthusiast but as a nature lover. We wished to see the big mammals , waterfalls , geysers , wildflowers , birds, butterflies, grasslands, meadows, a wide open terrain with nothing but wilderness and the list goes on. In the wilderness nothing goes as per plan especially because of weather, so the moment we stepped in the Yellowstone National Park our itinerary flew away. We were fine with the Mother Nature taking us on a Roller Coaster ride , so we enjoyed every moment in the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the planet’s northern temperate zone.
Even before reaching Yellowstone National Park we were stopping frequently as the scenery was alluring . When we were so close to the park, we stopped at this place for a casual stroll and we were really amazed at the rock formations.
We stayed in Yellowstone for several days and every day there were many memorable incidents. This blog is about the day when we saw Grizzlies ! We were searching for Grizzly bears from the moment we set foot inside the park. In a few locations we even saw a warning sign mentioning “Grizzly bears in the trail, so the trail is closed”. So we were keeping a keen eye for the big bear while we were exploring the National Park. On the day we met the Grizzlies (Note that I meant in Plural!!) our plan was to do a wildflower hike in the Lamar Valley Trail. We started very early from our campsite and we drove to the trail enjoying the early morning view of the park. Like we expected, we saw a American bison on the roadside and he didn’t mind us at all. So we had a good close view of this huge mammal! I couldn’t believe that these harmless mammals are still slaughtered regularly even by park management just to maintain the herd size.
A Male American Bison can weigh from 460-990 kg, so imagine their muscle power. He looked massive even without his fur coat. I would love to see them in full fur coat but I don’t think I can survive winter in Yellowstone.
But in that moment I did not want to think about the horror faced by that species but just immersed myself in the serenity.
After watching the gentle giant, we drove further and we started seeing snow on the hillocks. We reached our trail only to see it all covered with snow. We were in the peak of summer but still the weather was so erratic that one moment it would be beautiful sunshine and few moments later, a brief snow storm would come! While we were wondering whether to hike in the snowy trail, snowfall started and put a full stop to our thoughts. So we returned back and we stopped at a beautiful lake. The lakes in the Yellowstone National Park are super scenic with snow capped mountains in the background and we felt privileged that we were the only one there. So we decided to enjoy the lake and then revisit our plan for the day. In the lake , the swans were swimming around gracefully and Vinod who always had a sharp eye for ducks spotted the Barrow’s Golden eye.
We had seen Common Golden eye in Lake Erie, Ohio. Like I said, Vinod has keen eyes for ducks and he spotted the tear drop mark on the face of this duck. So he identified this one as Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck who resides primarily in Canada, Alaska and Iceland.
These medium sized Sea ducks are very tough to see as all but two of them live in high latitudes. We were very excited with our sighting. We decided to drive around enjoying the scenery and then visit Yellowstone falls.
We were tempted to stop at every moment as the scenery was breathtaking. By now weather had changed from snow to bright and sunny ! Since the location was a waterfall , other tourist vehicles had started coming in. So, we took the roads where there was no heavy movement. We stopped in a place with few boulders to munch on our light breakfast. There were birds like the Yellow-rumped warbler in their bright breeding plumage hopping on the rocks. Watching them we ate our breakfast . We continued our drive and I saw a deer grazing in a meadow. The Mule deer looked exquisite and we watched him in that beautiful surroundings.
Mule deer is indigenous to western North America; It is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. That was the first time we saw a Mule deer and later we saw a herd of them.
As we drove further , we were surrounded by pine trees. But something in the scene didn’t look right. The pine trees didn’t look healthy and as we went closer , we found that most of the pine trees were dead. The whitebark pine trees in that region were threatened by a fungus known as White pine blister rust. So even when at the first sight the scene looked scenic , on the closer look it was a dead zone. We were very disturbed seeing thousands of dead trees infront of us. It was like some darkness was creeping into this pristine forest. We were brought back into realization that this was the same place where thousands of wolves were slaughtered, millions of bisons were killed and thousands of Native Indians were brutally murdered. The tourists who were passing that scenic spot stopped to take photos. Even when all the trees infront of them were dead, they didn’t seem to mind. It looked like only the nature lovers could see the bliss and sorrow of the wilderness in deep.
We had read about the massive death of trees that is happening in the US but to see them infront of your face was another thing altogether. Even in the remotest of places, nature is not safe from humans. I am saying this because the massive death of these trees is because of global warming which is allowing the fungus to linger longer thereby killing the trees. Coupled with mountain pine beetle infestation driven by climate change , the state of the pine trees was really pathetic.
The sparkling blue water and the ice capped mountains are usually very appealing but with thousands of dead pine trees infront of us, we couldn’t enjoy the scenery.
That was the first time we were in low spirits after entering the Yellowstone National Park. The forest didn’t allow us to stay in our dampened mood for long because we saw a cute guy as soon as we left the dead pine zone. We saw a Black Bear in the woods and he was rummaging a dead tree for termites. We had many encounters with Black Bears in North America. They were usually very sluggish except for the time when we saw a Mama bear with three cubs. It was nice to watch this big mammal casually strolling around in this park. By this time the tourist movement increased and we decided to reach the Yellowstone waterfalls before it got too crowded.
A forest is alive only when the big mammals casually forage around with no fear. The American Black Bears fur looked very shiny and we easily spotted them in many places in Yellowstone.
The Famous Yellowstone Falls
The Yellowstone waterfalls was one of the scenic waterfalls we had ever seen. There were numerous vantage points to see the falls. We took the loop drive to see the falls from different viewpoint and it was really worth it. The falls looked gorgeous in all the angles. This largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains was one of the must see places in Yellowstone National Park. We were hungry after enjoying the waterfalls. So we had a quick lunch and started our drive to another hillock for a small hike.
The amount of water and the rock color made this Yellowstone falls astounding. Can you spot the humans near the waterfalls? That will give some perspective of the size of this waterfall.
On the way there was a huge crowd and people were staring at the open land. We could sense from their expressions that they were seeing something rare. We picked our binoculars quickly and searched in the wide landscape. Finally Vinod spotted the source of all the commotion, it was the Grizzly Bear! It was quite faraway, still we could see the bear because of its enormous size. We climbed on the car to get a good view and we spotted a cub also following the Mama bear. What a sight!! We both were extremely happy with this extraordinary turn of the day. We saw the bear family till it went out of our sight and then all the cars started whirring as if the show got over. So we just waited for all the crowd to move and enjoyed the Grizzy Land.
Can you believe it !! We Saw Grizzly Bear
Grizzly bear !! That was one of the spectacular wildlife moments for Vinod and myself!
Even though we had a huge sighting for the day , we still wanted to do our little hike that day. We reached a not so famous hiking trail , so obviously no other tourists stopped in that trail. From the start of the trail to the top of the hillock, we saw wide range of wildflowers. The Wildflowers of Yellowstone National Park surely deserves a separate blog. We sat on the top of the hillock and just enjoyed the scenery infront of us. I was happily caressing the wildflowers around me while Vinod was searching for mammals in the nearby valley. We could see tiny dots of bisons in the valley and then suddenly Vinod was very excited. He pointed me near a stream and I saw it in my binoculars. There were two Grizzly Bears fighting. We guessed the event would continue for sometime, so decided to go near the stream which can be reached by road itself.
Rocky Mountain Phlox were in full bloom in the park. The floor looked like a white carpet with these beautiful white flowers.
We dashed towards our car and quickly drove in the direction of the stream. We reached the place where we saw the Grizzly bears and now we got a better look of these big mammals. We were mistaken to think that the bears were fighting, They were actually playing. There was a carcass nearby and the bears were taking nibble of that in the middle of their play. That was really a remarkable sighting as we got a glimpse of the lifestyle of these Grizzly bears. We just sat there for a long time and watched their play. The cuddling, playful slaps and chasing after each other made me really cry with joy.
Grizzly bears had a good meal, so they were just playing around. We had two spectacular wildlife moments on the same day!
At the same time I cried for their future, with few thousands in the wild how long these bears are going to survive this fast changing world! Again, I didn’t want to think about all these when I was in Yellowstone National Park and just marveled at the wonderful turnout of the day.