Hayden Valley to the Lake Hotel

The drive through Hayden Valley was really nice but, amazingly, we did not see the largest bison herd in the park today! We managed to see small herds of cow elk, a couple beautiful bull elk near Canyon, many lone bull bison, and pelicans on the Yellowstone River. Unfortunately, we did not stumble upon any bears near the roadsides on this trip. Oh well, guess Tom and Lori will have to come back again soon...

Tom had a couple close encounters at the passenger-side window with a bull bison and a cow elk. They got a bit too close for comfort and he recoiled to my side of the car, making a cowering noise only an Ayvazian can make. The rest of us had a good laugh at this.

Bull Elk near Canyon Village

At this point, I decided that we all deserved some time to relax and decided to make a stop at the Lake Hotel for a beverage. Tom discovered the famous local beer called Moose Drool here.

Tom's Moose Drool at the Lake Hotel

We relaxed here for an hour or so then got back in the car for the long drive back to Big Sky. On the way back we stopped at a nice picnic spot for some cheese, crackers and fruit. Made it back to Big Sky quite late but it was a great full day in the park...