Grizzley

Morning started fairly early by leaving to get breakfast and a sandwich from the local garage around 6.30. Headed into the park and to the petrified tree, managed to see a black bear on top of the slope walking away from us but too far to get a good photo. Headed into the Lamar valley to see what was around and saw 2 coyotes walking by the side of the road near some bison. The bison crossed the road to get away from them before the coyotes headed up the hill away from us. Followed the road further along the Lamar valley and had a quick pit stop where I discovered the second card in the camera wasn’t working anymore. Glad I had backed the photos up each night onto the laptop so I could delete some from the other card in the camera to take photos for the rest of the day. Stopped off to take some shots of a pronghorn on the side of the road as the light was good. Headed back out of the valley and then spotted what turned out to be a Grizzley bear on the side of the road. Managed to get ahead of it and it popped over a ridge 30 yards from the car. There was a ranger in front of us on the road who stopped and blow his whistle unfortunately as the bear came over the ridge and it turned back away from us before I could get a good photo. Waited a while and then spotted some bison running quickly much further back at the bottom of the hill and we manged to spot the bear again. Got back in the car and headed along the road to hopefully get in front of it but there we stopped we couldn’t see it. Noticed the bison running over the road further up so headed along that way and parked up. Manged to spot the bear again and it looked like it was wanting to cross the road. It walked along the hillside coming towards us but never got that much closer. The rangers stopped the traffic further back and managed to create a couple of spaces in the line of cars so the bear could finally cross. It looked so happy when it finally crossed the road. It then tried to catch a few pronghorn on the flood plain by the river before crossing the river and going out of sight. Great to see one up close bur that was close enough. Headed further out of the valley and stopped at another bear jam. Parked the car and ran back down the road to see the bear in a clearing. At this point a coyote turned up and started to chase and attack the bear. We thing there was either a kill in the area or some cubs it was trying to protect. We watched for quite a while as it chased the bear off. Left the valley and headed towards Norris for some more thermal activity. Stopped off at Udine falls but the light wasn’t great so headed to Norris for a look around the Norris basin. This is made of the porcelain basin and the back basin. Porcelain basin was fantastic to see and then went to look at the Steamboat geyser. This is meant to be the largest in the world but its unpredictable and goes off every 1 to 24 months, as it last erupted at the beginning of May there was no chance we were going to see it. The ranger museum was closed till the beginning of July, much to J’s disappointment so we started to head home. Stopped off at Undine falls for a photo on the way. Got back in time to have a pre dinner drink and start to play the new National Park board game with J&A. Dinner was great again at the café below the hotel and they had a band on as well. Food was great and the band were fantastic. J&A made friends with the waitress from the first night we arrived while we finished dinner. Bought a copy of the bands album on vinyl, but not sure how we are going to get it home. Finished the board game and let J&A win before going to bed.