May 24, 2018 PIX ADDED
Posted: Thu May 24, 2018 10:57 pm
Interesting day. Weather was clear to cloudy, so much better than yesterday. I decided to try going the west-side construction route hoping to see some of the grizzlies in that area, but there were none. The road is much better than last October, when it was so rough, you could hardly stand to drive it. Now much of it is at least on road base and not nearly so bumpy.
Stopped at Sheepeater and just saw a golden mantled squirrel. I had heard there had been marmots there, but I didn't see any. A few elk at Mammoth.
Finally something worthwhile just north and east of the Petrified drive. A dark cinnamon sow with collar and two ear tags was wandering around with her yearling cub. Got some halfway decent shots. Someone later told me there was a black bear (black in color) in the same area, also with a collar and two ear tags.
The Calcite sow and cub were sleeping in the trees down below the road, could only see an ear. A black bear was wandering in the area where New Rosie had been Tuesday, but we couldn't see any cubs, so not sure if it was her. Back at the ranger station there was a black bear too far for decent pix for me. Went toward Lamar and found a fox in the area at Roosevelt where the wagons and trail rides take off. It kept partly hidden in sagebrush. Some young bighorns across from the picnic area. At the entrance to Slough there were 25 or more cars parked everywhere. At least one guy had a scope on some bighorns sparring at the very top ridge in the mountains, miles away. Someone also said they saw a grizzly in their scope.
Went back to Rainy Lake and found Rosie grazing on the far side of the lake with the cubs up a tree. Found Connie there, and we stood for maybe two hours. The cubs finally came down, and they were so cute playing, Rosie even played with the feistiest one, but it was kind of far away and low light. Some of my pix aren't really terrible.
It was getting late, so I headed back toward our motel amid a heavy rainstorm from Tower store to the west side. Just east of Seven-Mile Bridge there was a big crowd of people parking badly, leaving their cars halfway in the road and all. I didn't have time to stop and couldn't see anything but found out later it was probably a grizzly with two cubs I heard about a couple of times today.
Golden mantled squirrel Sheepeater 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Cinnamon bling sow and cub
Cinnamon bling mo and cub 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Cinnamon cub 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie and cubs
Rosie tongue 5-22-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie cub 5-22-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie cubs 5-22-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie 3 5-25-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie anc cub wrestling 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Stopped at Sheepeater and just saw a golden mantled squirrel. I had heard there had been marmots there, but I didn't see any. A few elk at Mammoth.
Finally something worthwhile just north and east of the Petrified drive. A dark cinnamon sow with collar and two ear tags was wandering around with her yearling cub. Got some halfway decent shots. Someone later told me there was a black bear (black in color) in the same area, also with a collar and two ear tags.
The Calcite sow and cub were sleeping in the trees down below the road, could only see an ear. A black bear was wandering in the area where New Rosie had been Tuesday, but we couldn't see any cubs, so not sure if it was her. Back at the ranger station there was a black bear too far for decent pix for me. Went toward Lamar and found a fox in the area at Roosevelt where the wagons and trail rides take off. It kept partly hidden in sagebrush. Some young bighorns across from the picnic area. At the entrance to Slough there were 25 or more cars parked everywhere. At least one guy had a scope on some bighorns sparring at the very top ridge in the mountains, miles away. Someone also said they saw a grizzly in their scope.
Went back to Rainy Lake and found Rosie grazing on the far side of the lake with the cubs up a tree. Found Connie there, and we stood for maybe two hours. The cubs finally came down, and they were so cute playing, Rosie even played with the feistiest one, but it was kind of far away and low light. Some of my pix aren't really terrible.
It was getting late, so I headed back toward our motel amid a heavy rainstorm from Tower store to the west side. Just east of Seven-Mile Bridge there was a big crowd of people parking badly, leaving their cars halfway in the road and all. I didn't have time to stop and couldn't see anything but found out later it was probably a grizzly with two cubs I heard about a couple of times today.
Golden mantled squirrel Sheepeater 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Cinnamon bling sow and cub
Cinnamon bling mo and cub 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Cinnamon cub 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie and cubs
Rosie tongue 5-22-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie cub 5-22-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie cubs 5-22-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie 3 5-25-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr
Rosie anc cub wrestling 5-24-2018 by Linda Hamilton, on Flickr