Yellowstone NP, Day 2

We had a great day in the Park. It started with a drive up the west side of the park to Mammoth Hot Springs, the north entrance to the park. (Map Here. Right click on the link and select "open in a new window or tab" if you want to keep it available for reference)

Along the way the hot springs, combined with the still cold air helped us realize how the early native settlers of this area thought the earth was on fire!



And of course we had the omnipresent snowy mountains in the distance:




Then came the first of the bears. Deep in the woods, naturally.....and not all that interested....

"I've had a long day already."

Then on to Mammoth Hot Springs.......

This link explains the springs and the colors.

And, of course, the mountains.......



Then on to the first pair of Osprey! A rare (to us) opportunity to observe Ospreys from overhead! This pair built their nest on a long tree stump that angled out over the river that ran in a canyon along side the road we were traveling.

Where did that nest go?

One Osprey on the nest.

Two Ospreys on the nest!

Then another mountain......


Then, as we approached Tower Falls on the northeast side of the Park, we pulled over to view another section of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and, to our pleasant surprise, found another Osprey pair performing for us! This pair eschewed the normal dead tree building site in favor of a crag on the face of the cliff overlooking the Yellowstone River below.....

In Flight.

Approaching for a home landing.....

Look out! I'm Home!

Whew! Made it!

On to the Tower Falls visitor center where we discovered that the General Store had Moose Traccks (sic) ice cream in addition to Peppermint Stick!

Then on home with a stop to visit with this dude along the way on the road along the Madison River on the west side.....

Another Brown Black Bear.

"Does this pose make my butt look big?"

Both of the bears we saw today were Black Bears, despite their golden brown coats. This link to a Black Bear site will explain it all. Please don't follow this link to the Brown Bear site or you may become confused.......

Actually, we don't care what kind they are, we're just glad to be able see bears at all. Tomorrow we'll try to find a Grizzly Bear, just for comparison, of course.

Tomorrow, to celebrate Memorial Day, find a serviceman or woman, active or retired and thank them for their service to our country.

To any present or former servicemen or women reading this, THANK YOU for your service and keeping us free!

MMG and DDG