5/24 Day 2

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YNPjeepers
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:35 pm

5/24 Day 2

Post by YNPjeepers »

Yesterday we were told that Dunraven will open at 8:00 today. No such luck. With the overnight snow it was still closed but may be open later in the day. Off we go through the road construction to explore Hayden valley. We saw a coyote trotting on 3 legs because of a front leg injury. But it didn't slow him down. Another coyote south of Canyon and not much else to fishing bridge. No delay through the construction there but after passing steamboat point traffic ground to a halt. Some sort of blockage and no had any idea how long until it could be cleared. We opted out of waiting and after turning around saw that there were a whole lot of Bluebirds. One of them was even kind enough to pose for me right beside my window, and I thought "What a happy little bird"! Until I reviewed the pictures. The full on face shot looked like a bedraggled Angry Bird! Moving on we traveled a little farther south and then back towards Canyon. There was a lone, young Bald Eagle sitting on a branch, on a dead tree, on a barren little island in the middle of the Yellowstone River, with it's wet feathers going in every direction. I don't know if it would agree but I think any day you can see an Eagle is a great day! A mother grizzly and a cub in a large meadow at Alum creek. We were told we missed the bear and a wolf chasing elk in there earlier. Back at Canyon we see Dunraven is open! There was a black bear crossing the road above Tower. At Roosevelt there was a black bear grazing and, we're told, two cubs in a tree. A Cinnamon Bear by Specimen Trailhead. As we passed Confluence we can see a lot of cars at Hitching Post. We pulled into the parking lot, stepped up to the actual hitching post and looked to see where the lenses were pointing. Just then the most beautiful Red Fox came into view very near us and started coming nearer. It was searching quite successfully for food. We watched for quite some time and then it curled up in front of a sage brush. We continued on out to Cooke city and back. As we approached the large parking lot above Hitching Post there were a LOT of people. There was a coyote feeding on a carcass and another nearby. They left together and disappeared into a small depression in the brush. We assume there is a den in there. We find out we missed a black Wolf on the carcass by 10 minutes. And missed 3 wolves there by an hour. Darn, we really wanted to see a wolf on this trip. We decided that we can outsmart the wolves. Surely they will be back for breakfast. If we get up at Oh-so-early in the morning, we can catch them in the morning light!! I will let you know how that goes.


I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.
Henry David Thoreau

billandkaren
Posts: 129
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:50 pm

Re: 5/24 Day 2

Post by billandkaren »

So glad you saw the fox and we were glad to hear it came back. We had seen it earlier in the week (see my trip report). Hope you have better luck with the carcasses than we have had. Although it has paid off a couple of times, most itmes we get there early and get to see ravens having a good time :x

--Bill



RikWriter
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: 5/24 Day 2

Post by RikWriter »

Wow, you were luckier than I was with the fox. I went there over and over looking for it and saw nothing.



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