On our way from the cabin over to Idaho yesterday, we detoured back up through the northern part of Yellowstone. Dunraven pass was positively wintry, with picturesque snow hanging from the tall evergreens, but the road was clear. We had fantastic views across the park, then descended back into autumn, slowed briefly by a buffalo lumbering sedately along the road.
We slowed down when we passed a set of cars pulled over on both sides with people pointing cameras in one direction - it's extremely common in the park, and since we'd seen so much wildlife we didn't feel the need to stop to see more elk or deer, but when we saw that it was an adult black bear with a cub trailing behind, we pulled over and grabbed our cameras too.
Our one stop was the path leaving from the Lamar River Trailhead, which strikes out from the road into the grassy plateau of the Lamar valley, joining up with the paths formed by herds of big animals. It was chilly and overcast, but that only added to the atmospheric beauty of the place, and patches of clear sky occasionally lit up bits of the high hills and cliffs around us.
We passed by a lone buffalo not far from the trailhead, but when we came around a hill later on, the slope to our right was filled with a huge herd of them. We stopped to watch in awe for a while - from a safe and respectful distance, but close enough to hear their deep bellowing snorts and huffs as they munched on the grass.
A bit further on, we detoured slightly off the path (dodging plentiful buffalo scat) to see a juvenile red-tailed hawk perched high in a lone dead tree, as well as some striking Mountain Bluebirds flitting around below.
A few minutes later, B spotted flying dirt just ahead of us, from which a stripey face soon emerged. It was a badger, large and silky-looking and adorable. It eventually scuttled off into some bushes once we finished admiring it and started walking again.
It was such a good hike that we were loath to curtail it, but we decided to turn around just before Cache Creek in order to save our legs for future adventures. We spotted a less-juvenile red-tailed hawk in a similar tree on the way back and heard some distant elk. Unfortunately, the buffalo herd had moved across our trail, so we gingerly detoured out into the sagebrush while assuring them we didn't want any trouble. We lost sight of them around a small rise, but one trotted around the far side, spotted us, and ran suddenly back towards the herd.
We passed a solitary serene pronghorn sitting regally in the grass before reaching the trailhead and driving onwards, out the west entrance of the park and down through big empty Idaho plains to our airbnb.
I would never have described a badger as adorable but I see what you mean! The pronghorn is exquisite and I've just seen that it's the fastest land animal in the Americas. What a thrill it must have been to observe in this serenity.
ReplyDeleteWow, I wouldn't have expected that! We've only seen them standing around or, in this case, sitting.
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