Wow, we actually saw a moose in Yellowstone.

I had originally intended to wake everyone up extra early on this day to scramble up Mt. Washburn, but I figured we might want to actually try an easier walk/hike first... plus, I could use the extra hour or so of sleep.

We slept in a bit, but still got up by 7 and were soon on the road. Since we hadn't explored the western side of the park, we were going to drive to Norris and headed north. Destination: Sheepeater Cliffs. Less than a minute from Canyon, with me rambling on about visiting the Tetons later in the week in order to see moose, and my girlfriend suddenly yelled, "MOOSEMOOSEMOOSE!" I thought she was cracking a joke, but she said she actually saw a moose. A quick U turn, and sure enough, there she was.

On the road again... The Sheepeater Cliff area features a pretty, short walk that would wake everyone up before breakfast. The lot was pretty full, suprisingly for this early in the morning, yet nobody was actually walking down the trail. Most folks either come here to fish or just check out the main cliff formation visible from the parking lot.

As we walked down toward the small canyon beneath the waterfall, our resident scientist explained his fascination with the columnar basalt that made up the cliff face, and broke down the reasons why the columns are shaped the way they are (it all starts at the molecular level, I'm told). Several yellow-bellied marmots whistled and bounded among the rocks. Just before descending into the canyon, someone spotted a couple of smaller marmots on a boulder. I set up camp by the boulder and waited them out while the rest of the group climbed into the canyon. My patience eventually paid off, as the timid youngsters eventually peeked out to investigate.

A raven divebombs a startled osprey near the Madison River.

It was time to head back for breakfast. We grabbed one of the picnic tables in the parking lot and made... blueberry pancakes! That certainly hit the spot.

Next, we rolled north through Swan Lake Flats to look for grizzlies (nothing that late in the morning) and made a brief stop at Mammoth. My friends had bought a new camera before the trip, but weren't able to find spare batteries for it anywhere thus far in the park, so I suggested we head to West Yellowstone, which was the most likely place to find a real camera shop.

On the way, of course, I intended to stop along the road to West Yellowstone to look for bald eagles and trumpeter swans. No swans to be seen, but the eaglets were out on the nest. We waited (outside the designated No Stopping Zone) for a bit before one of the adults finally appeared along the river. Mom (or dad) didn't approach the nest, instead flying off to a far tree across the river.

A family stopped to look at the nest as well, the parents insisting to the children that "the mom" and the "baby" were in the nest... that's how big both eaglets have grown already. People are already mistaking them for adults. Alas, the real adults did not approach the nest and we were getting hot and hungry. Time to move on.

West Yellowstone did have a store that had the right camera batteries, and we celebrated this fact with greasy fast food that we brought back to the shores of the Madison. An osprey flew back and forth overhead a few times during lunch, scouting the river for its own lunch. We packed up and got ready to go when I spotted the osprey perched on a nearby tree. Out came the camera and tripod, and I waited to see if it would take off so I could get an action shot or two. The caw of a raven reached my ear, and a black form swooshed past the corner of my eye... and divebombed the osprey! I got one shot just as it swooped by.

Rosie's cubs are already adept at tree climbing.

Wow. Perhaps a bit intimidated or disoriented, the osprey took off soon after the attack. Time to get back to camp for a midday break.

After a few hours chilling back at camp, it was late afternoon, the perfect time to go search for wildlife. Once again, our second carload wasn't enthused, and they chose to remain at camp. This was a sure sign that something exciting would happen to us.

We left Canyon and headed north toward Dunraven Pass. Before we could even look out the side windows for wildlife, a skinny brown blur dashed across the road in front of us. It was a pine marten. Having never seen a weasel or marten in the park, I jumped from the car (which stopped first) and dashed into the woods, but the marten was gone. Boy, they move fast. Like the fox, this first-time animal encounter wouldn't result in a photo op.

Working our way past Mount Washburn and the dozens of wolf/bear watchers on the northern slopes, we drove down toward Tower. Just past Calcite Springs, we reached our second Rosie jam.

This time, the cubs were out! Right when we got there, they were climbing up a tree, and I worried that they'd disappear for a long time as they did when the wolf was around a couple days earlier. Luckily, things worked out much better this time.

The little prince (or princess) struck a pose in the fading sunlight.

The cubs climbed out onto branches, worked their way up and down tree trunks, wrestled with each other, disappeared over a hillside but then returned, climbed up and posed on boulders, and even walked along the railings going to the Calcite overlook.

What a show!