Fall trip to Yellowstone.

Excited about our wildlife viewing.

Some of the cameras that were getting pictures of the animals eating the buffalo carcass.

Mallard ducks flying.

Coyote sharing a buffalo carcass with some ravens.

Big bull elk.

Ahhh, Yellowstone is such an amazing place! If I had the time, I would just stay up there for a while and hike all the trails and kayak the rivers. I certainly understand why they don't allow people to bike the trails but I wish they did. Alan and I went on a hike in Hayden Valley in hopes of seeing a grizzly or wolf and I wished that I was on my mountain bike. Though I wouldn't have taken in my surroundings as well, my bike would have taken me into the backcountry much further and the trail would have been so much fun to ride.

While driving through the park, we came across a common animal road block. When the car reached the ranger that was directing traffic we asked him what was causing such a distraction. There was a dead buffalo carcass on the side of the road and the photographers and tourists lining the road were taking in the cycle of life as a coyote ate the carcass. This was the largest coyote I have ever seen. We stopped to see for ourself and asked what other animals had been around. Apparently, the day before a grizzly, wolf and coyote all shared the carcass at the same time (which is very rare because normally the grizzly would chase the others away). Everyone was hoping to see some more action. One guy showed us video footage he got of a single wolf (the beta male from the pack in that area) tiring the ill buffalo. There were two speculations as to why the buffalo was ill. One was that the female buffalo had a very bad case of bloat and the other was that she was giving birth to a breach baby. I never found out which was correct. Needless to say, she was struggling and this male wolf recognized it as he slowly harassed her to a point where he took her down by himself. It was a surprise to photographers and park rangers that the rest of the wolf pack didn't come to help him with his prey. The wolf pack in that area has become proficient in hunting buffalo because that is their main food source since deer and elk are not as abundant due to large buffalo numbers (at least this is what locals from the area said). The animals in good ol' Jellystone are very prevalent throughout the whole park. In just one day, we saw pronghorn, deer, elk, buffalo, marmot,coyote, red tailed hawk, osprey, canadian geese, ducks, and the biggest cutthroat trout we had ever seen. It was about 2 feet in length and had the most beautiful color markings on it. We were lucky enough to see this due to a fisherman who caught it. We were both very jealous!

One thing I didn't get too many pictures of are the amazing geysers around the park. It is crazy to think about what is going on underneath the ground as you stand on the soil. I can't imagine what it was like for the Native Americans, explorers and trappers of this area. To come across so many of the sulphur smelling geysers, mud pots and hot springs must have been terrifying! At least I know I would have wondered what all of these formations were. If you have never been to Yellowstone, I highly recommend visiting.