Day 3 Finale

OK. Now for the highlight of the entire day. We had already packed a lot into this day but Yellowstone was not done with us yet. In fact, we had been consistently distracted all day, so much so that we had to give up Tom's initial goal of photographing Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone at the perfect time (for this location) of 3pm or thereabouts.


By the time we finished our stop near Yellowstone Lake, it was already late afternoon. And as we drove north back through Hayden Valley, it all began to unfold.


On the east side of the road, in the heart of the valley, Colin noticed elk running on a hillside maybe a half mile away. Anytime you see herd animals running it's a good idea to look behind them to see what the cause might be. Tom knows this better than anyone.


A few seconds later, Tom and I caught a quick glimpse of a wolf headed over a ridge just north of the elk. As we drove a bit further we had a better view of a second wolf trotting down the other side of that ridge. Then, they disappeared.

Tom pulled over at the nearest available pullout and we began to scan the open hillside with myriad rolling ridges and folds. We expected to be able to see them somewhere soon. It was not to be. They managed to escape unnoticed! In our own defense, I must say that these hillsides are quite far from the road and on the opposite side of the Yellowstone River.

Nonetheless, if there's one thing I've learned from the photography tour it's that patience is one key to getting special photos. We learned this over and over on this trip. "Good things come to those who wait." We probably stood there for well over 15 minutes trying to located the wild dogs. Then, someone asked us if we had seen the grizzly bear running down the hill. And, sure enough, there it was! Ravens scattered on the hill. We knew what this meant. There was an animal carcass out there serving multiple meals to multiple species.

Tom set up his spotting scope and we began to watch the big brown bear. The carcass turned out to be that of a bison. We watched the grizzly feast for quite a while, maybe 20 minutes or more (it's a bit vague to me now; time flew). Then, the grizzly, apparently full, headed east back toward the woods and away from us. Within seconds, 25 or 30 ravens moved back to the carcass to continue their work. Less than 30 seconds later or so, the ravens again scattered off the bison. What was going on?! Sure enough, you guessed it, the wolves were taking their turn at the dinner table!!

For the better part of the next hour, we were mesmerized by the scene. It was like we were watching a PBS Nature program except that this was happening now in real time. Tom told us a little bit about what we were watching and let other visitors look through his scope to get a better glimpse of the action. Binoculars were not satisfactory for this show. Tom said that it was likely that the wolves were waiting in the sage for their turn less than 50 feet away or so from the grizzly.

There were two beautiful gray/tan wolves here and they were probably from the Mollie pack. This was by far the best view I've ever had of a wolf. Spotting scopes aren't cheap but they are worth every penny. At certain points the wolves looked directly at me while I was looking through the scope. It sent shivers down my spine. One of the wolves was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.

So, that was the big event of the day and the week. And even though we could not take photographs of any worth (only Bill tried to take pictures with his 600 mm lens), this was an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. The amazing thing is that this sort of thing happens all the time here in Yellowstone. You just have to be here enough and be patient enough, and of course, get a little bit lucky.

Instead of hitting Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for spectacular waterfall photos at 3pm, we were driving by Canyon at about 7:30pm or 8pm!! The sun was still setting and Tom had one more stop in mind for us. This time we were looking for backlit wildflowers in the evening light. Past Dunraven Pass, we stopped at a big vista where silky phacelia were in full bloom. Here are a couple tries I had. I like the first macro shot but the 2nd photo was weak. I just include it here to give you an idea of how thick these beautiful flowers were.




We made it back to Gardiner by 9:30 or so, just in time for the best hamburgers in town according to Tom. We were starving by this point so these burgers were unbelievably good! Then, we crashed on our beds as soon as we got back to the hotel. This had been a long day - 16 hours in fact - with no midday nap. I was very happy to see my pillow.