A dragon hovered over Yellowstone this morning

Snow fell overnight, and the result was breathtaking. The northern road from Mammoth to Phantom Lake was beautiful, coated with fresh white snow. Everything seemed to glow, in part thanks to the yellowish gray curtain of clouds in the east. At last, the sun broke through and more and more of the landscape seemed to thaw out. I stopped at Floating Island Lake to watch one of the cranes muck around in the tall grass as the sun rose.

Soon I managed to catch up with Helene and Rene on the Tower Road, where Helene was standing in the cold with her camera, shivering as she watched a black bear. This bear seemed familiar. It may have been the same bear we saw earlier this trip at Rainy Lake, but it also headed up along the road using the same route as another bear I encountered last year. That bear ended up picking up a large rock and hurtling it at our car, so we dubbed it "Rock Bear."

Sure enough, this one followed Rock Bear's path up through the meadow opposite of Rainy Lake and then through the trees, where it emerged into the sunlight before continuing up the hill.

Afterward, breakfast at Tower, and then it was time to head south to the Tetons. Both H & R and I were staying at the Signal Mountain Lodge Wednesday night, so we agreed to make it a joint trip. First though, I finally got to stop at the Mammoth owl nest during morning hours, which meant the light was shining on the nest. The chicks weren't visible, but Helene found the adult sitting right out in the open on a higher branch.

Unfortunately, the owl was squinting into the sunlight most of the time while trying to sleep, but it was still awake enough to drop into the nest to chase away a curious magpie that had landed there. Momma didn't look too happy after that...

Yet another stop on the road south, as we spotted a coyote hunting. This one wasn't quite as bad as the WMCE from the previous day. Though it didn't make any great mousing leaps, it did catch a meal.

After a long dreary drive, which involved both drivers nearly falling asleep at the wheel, we made it to Grand Teton National Park.

Our search for moose and bear began almost immediately. But at Willow Flats, all we found were some yellow-headed blackbirds hopping around in front of cars begging for handouts. We stopped at the dam to photograph (and in my case barely miss) some pelicans and osprey flying overhead, and then a trip past a quiet Oxbow Bend to the eastern road. Here we stopped for one moose that was deep in the willows, when we heard about a cow with two calves down on Kelly Road. We made that long drive south, but didn't see said moose... though we did spot another one a ways away.

At last our hero arrived in the Tetons

We tried Moose-Wilson Road and struck out there as well. The owl nest was empty and no big critters were in sight, so we returned to the circuit around Jackson Lake Lodge and surrounding areas, again with little success. We watched a sleeping fox right by the lodge for quite a while (this is where we finally met Maniuk), but eventually departed in search of elusive moose or the grizz and three cubs everyone kept asking us about.

At Oxbow Bend, an osprey kept circling, floating, darting and diving... driving off a couple of great blue herons and raising the ire of some ravens. The osprey would rise to great heights, flap in place while searching below, and then plunge down for fish.

One last peek at the fox (which hadn't moved) and we were done for the evening... but not before having dinner and meeting Bryan. I actually managed to get to sleep before midnight for the first time on the trip... perfect for that 4:45am wakeup call the next day.