Rosie and the cubs put on a show this morning |
Ah, to sleep in a full 45 minutes... too bad we actually got less sleep than previous nights thanks to a late night of dinner and extended trip report writing. Still, I felt refreshed and was excited to roll into the park at around 7 this morning. It was already light out and even dry for once.
The morning drive can be summed up pretty easily: bears, bears and more bears. Heading east from Mammoth, we saw our first small bear crowd (not a jam yet) at Blacktail Lakes. Since the bear was further up the hill we kept going. Near Hellroaring, our first cinnamon bear of the trip came out of the trees on a narrow stretch of road and crossed right in front of us. It quickly disappeared into the woods on the opposite side, so there was no chance for photos. At Floating Island Lake, another blackie was under scrutiny from several folks, in the same place a massive uncontrolled bear jam had occurred the evening before.
As always, we started the eastern swing with a drive up the Tower Road. Rosie had been out yesterday morning, so maybe lightning would strike twice. At the bottom of the road, we slowed to watch a lonely elk calf in the forest to our right. It looked surprisingly old, given that the calving season just seems to be getting started. The calf froze as we came to a stop, and it slowly crouched down before finally dropping to the ground completely in an attempt to hide. Very cute, but we weren't about to get out and frighten it further for the sake of some close pictures, so we continued on to Rosie Land.
We rounded the bend at Calcite Springs and the first thing I spotted was the black cubbie climbing across a fallen tree not thirty feet off the road! Parking up the hill, we hurried back down to claim a spot along the pavement in hopes of finally getting some close-up cub shots. As we set up, the cubs had disappeared among the snags and Rosie was front and center. She had an annoying itch that just wouldn't go away, and returned to the same tree two or three times to scratch away.
Then the cubs finally came back into view and put on the show we've been waiting for the last several days. There were plenty of nice close-up opportunities...
When a passing vehicle's dog started barking, the cubs took to the trees. Luckily, the black cub chose a medium-sized snag to climb. The jagged tower piqued its interest, and soon the brownie came up to see what was happening at the top.
Eventually, the cubs tired out and went up another large tree to rest. They came down once or twice and momma even nursed them in the shade of the trunk, but the morning show was more or less finished.
We chose next to see if we could have any luck with Stacy's Slough Creek badger from yesterday. Like Bill, who had spent a couple hours scouring the hill sides prior to our arrival, we didn't have any luck. Trying not to forget about the group hike at 1pm, we took off early to have lunch at the Yellowstone Picnic Area before everyone arrived.
Boy, there were a lot of us. Off the top of my head, Yellstonegirl, Solocamper, Ware, Reny, Helene, Maniuk, Top Notch, Bryan, Wguss, Mtgirl, Garwar, myself and all of our assorted loved ones showed up. We had some of Sharon's delicious Monster cookies prior to the hike and then worked our way up the hill.
The weather was decent starting out. We soon lost Solocamper to some marmot gazing, but the rest of us kept going, encountering a small group of bighorn ewes further up the trail. Gary (garwar) led much of the way, offering various scientific insights and poking mercilessly at the many carcasses we passed. Arriving at the lookout point at the top of the bluff, we were afforded great views of the canyon and river below, and even spotted the bighorn rams up toward the Specimen Ridge trail. We could also gaze across the canyon and see Stacy and Dad, who were parked at the osprey nest turnout. A blazing orange Y-Net decal was visible even from that distance, and we all gave them a big wave.
Then the weather kicked in. A mighty gust tore at us, throwing sand in our eyes and sending us scurrying back down the hill. Heck, the wind was so strong I think Jenn may have even been lifted into the air at one point. Had a passing osprey spotted her, it would've undoubtedly tried to catch her and carry her back to a nest full of hungry chicks. Luckily, the ospreys were grounded at the moment and the rest of the hike passed without major incident. ;)
Back at the parking lot, stroopwafels and a bit more socializing all around, and then we parted ways. For myself and Jenn, it meant heading east again back to Silver Gate. We had a bit of time to kill, so we drove back up to Slough Creek first, where Bill had seen a fox earlier in the day. We parked at the camp ground at waited... and promptly fell asleep.
After the impromptu, all-too-short nap, we were off to Silver Gate. The drive up was anything but routine... we actually saw quite a bit of wildlife after Round Prairie. Several deer were spotted along the road, and then a pine marten ran across the road in front of us! I screeched to a halt and we could see the marten on a log in the woods, but there was no place to pull off. After some hemming and hawing, I pulled off down the road and rushed back to the spot where we had last seen the marten, but naturally it was long gone. With a big sigh of regret for the missed opportunity, we pushed on. The adventure wasn't done, as we saw two moose, a mother and "grown-up" calf, at Warm Creek.
After a couple hours in Silver Gate it was time to return to Gardiner. We ran into the moose pair again, and this time I managed to get off a few shots.
Back in the Lamar, we arrived on the coattails of a departing thunderstorm. The sky was clearing and the roads were damp... and nobody was around. It must've been a doozy, because everyone had obviously packed it in early. A quick run up Tower Road let us chat with Bryan and Sharon one more time. They had seen their first ever wolf earlier in the afternoon at Slough Creek, a lone black. It sounded like an awesome experience. Saying goodbye to them before a ranger could drive up and scold us for idling, we left for Gardiner. Two more black bears along the way and the day's adventure was over.
Sleeping in worked out pretty well. Maybe we should aim for an 8AM start tomorrow...
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