Bald eagles are easily spotted along the road to West Yellowstone.

Originally planned as a week-long trip in August, my Yellowstone jaunt was rescheduled due to the dreaded "limited vacation time" issue at work. Cashing in our miles for Greece forced my girlfriend and I to take more time off for Europe (due to limited reward seats) and less for YNP. So an 8 or 9 day roadtrip from Seattle turned into a quick 4+ day whirlwind trip over the July 4th weekend.

Day 1 (Thursday, June 30) involved flying into Boise from Seattle, renting a car, buying groceries and driving six hours to the West Yellowstone entrance. From Seattle it normally takes about 12 hours to drive, which is doable in a day, but with only a few days in the park, even cutting the driving time in half to/from the park was worth it for me. Tickets to Montana, though getting us closer to the park, would've run $200 more per ticket, so Boise it was. We learned later that Sea-Tac airport was shut down right after we left due to fog, and flights were cancelled until Saturday. Whew!

We packed most of the usual camping gear, some dry foods and were able to check our propane stove (sans gas) despite doubts from the Southwest crew... We checked their web site and a rep on the phone said we'd be okay ahead of time, but I've found that the folks up front aren't always aware of the more intricate policies of the airline. The TSA also approved our stove, but weren't sure about letting my tripod on as a carry-on, so that had to be checked.

A bull elk rests in the afternoon.

The flight, food shopping and road trip passed without incident. It was tempting to ditch the interstate and drive past Craters of the Moon, which I visited during my first YNP trip with my dad in '88, but at this point I wanted to get to the park as quickly as possible.

We arrived at around 4pm and immediately kept an eye out for eagles and swans along the road to Madison. We first stopped at the eagle nest, where the eaglets were hanging out on the branches near the nest. Mom and dad were around, usually hanging out on trees across the river. Later saw five swans a short distance away along the Madison, where I had never seen more than two at a time the last six years. A great sight... Is there a comeback underway for this struggling species?

Instead of checking in and setting up at the campground, we agreed to take advantage of our remaining daylight to do some exploring. Heading north and east, we buzzed by Canyon, where we sighted the three bull elk that have seemingly been hanging out there for years (should I be assigning nicknames at this point?). Whoda thunk that elk would draw big crowds... but everyone seems to get amped about big antlers. This trio attracted a ton of people every day we passed by Canyon during the trip.

Making our way to Hayden Valley, we stopped at a turnout where people were apparently stalking a coyote, until someone told us a grizzly and cub were around the next bend. We hightailed it down the road, and were able to view the two brown lumps that were our first of many, many bears on this trip (most of them from quite a distance).

It was time to start heading back to camp, but we pulled out at the Otter Creek picnic area --where I had spotted my first otter last year-- on the way. There was a small crowd gathered along the shore, including some folks with large video cameras. I looked down to see what the center of attention was... a beaver!

After only a brief glimpse of one of these critters last year, I was happy to get a better chance at some pictures this time around. Soon though, he was into the river and paddling to the other side. It's then that I learned what the crowd was really there for. Turns out the Hayden Valley wolf pack had taken up residence right across the river, and had a den with cubs.

A stormy sunset over Norris Geyser Basin brought Day 1 to a spectacular end.

We stuck around waiting for the wolves to show. If they made an appearance, I felt certain that it would be my best wolf photo op with the support of the bigma lens. While we were waiting, the beaver came back across, so I went to snap a few more images, and it turned out there was a second beaver as well! They were less shy this time around, so we were able to spend some "quality" time together. Alas, the wolves never showed, and we were forced to take off to reach our campsite with enough light to set up and make dinner.

The sun was setting as we passed Norris, and storm clouds were rolling in over the mountains to the east. Some wild colors and a spectacular view developed, as the bright sunlight, colorful clouds, lightning flashes and steam from the geyser basin clashed. I felt like I was standing before Mount Doom. Used up a roll of slide film on the sunset (have yet to see the results). After the mosquitos started attacking, it was time to really get going. We made it back and wrapped the evening up, with the understanding that a 4AM wakeup call was in the offing for Friday's morning trip to Lamar Valley.