We rarely set an alarm anymore, but this morning was an exception. Although we are normally up by 5:30 at home, we tend to sleep in when we are in the camper. However we had to meet our guide at 6:30 at the Tower / Roosevelt junction to go on our wildlife expedition. So we drove out of the campground in the dark. As we were headed down the gravel road we noticed quite a few people in place to catch a glimpse of the wolves. Chairs, coffee, tables, spotting scopes and cameras all ready to go before dawn.

Our first decision of the day with our guide Cat was what were our priorities. We agreed on Grizzly Bears, She said she could guarantee some bears but we had to leave the park. We agreed and we were on our way! We drove out through Gardiner and Yankee Jim Canyon and turned on Tom Miner road, quite a bumpy journey! But she made good on her guarantee, here is george:

Male Grizzly

George was a good distance away probably 200 yards, but we got great photos through the spotting scope with a special attachment for Jane’s iPhone! At this time of year the bears are just eating anything they can, grass, roots, worms, you name it, they are fattening themselves up for the winter!

A little less than a mile away we were treated to the sight of two mama bears and their cubs. They were all in a large clearing. Above the clearing was a small herd of Elk, and for added sound effects the coyotes hidden in the woods were howling away! Hard to beat that!

We decided to head back into the park after about an hour of bear watching. But along the way we saw George’s spouse with three cubs not far from where we originally saw him. Meanwhile George was not far away stalking a herd of cattle. We saw him stop and it looked like he and one of the cows were having a stare down! It would be very unusual for a grizzly to attach a full size cow like that so after watching them for a while we moved on. Seeing a total of 11 grizzly bears was quite a treat!

Once we were back in the park we saw a bonus of a couple of small black bears. We saw them with our eyes but our cameras failed to capture them.

Our next priority was to see some wolves or coyotes, unfortunately it was not to be today, although we now know where to go tomorrow morning and evening to try to see for ourselves. At one stop after looking for wolves we were treated to some great antics by some Pronghorn Antelope. They can really jump. The two locking horns were really funny, just teenagers wrestling. Then one of them got his antlers caught in the ground, he nearly flipped himself over trying to get free, then acted like it was all his buddies fault.

A little further down the road we saw this cute “red dog” bison. This little guy was born way after all the other juveniles.

It was getting to be lunch time, but we decided to spot some mountain goats before we had lunch at a spot where Cat often sees Fox. Again the spotting scope was amazing at turning tiny little white dots into actual pictures of goats.

We had our lunch at a really nice little picnic area, and watched the squirrels hoarding away all kinds of snacks for their winter food store. Unfortunately the picnic area was completely full, which kept the foxes hidden away. September in Yellowstone is time for all the grandparents to come without the kids, and that certainly seemed to be the case as we watched all the people.

Our final stop was to see the Osprey nest! These Osprey had four hatchlings this year.

Heading back to our campground we saw this cool bit of rain in the distance.

So many wonderful sights! Such a great day!