Friday, October 3, 2008

Yellowstone Report - Day 2

We started out before dawn again today. Today's goal was to head down to the Lake and then over to Grand Prismatic in hopes that the sun was out.

We took Blacktail Plateau again, but spotted no animals. So, a sunrise picture will have to suffice:
Elk Creed Sunrise

We saw the usual assortment of elk and mule deer on the way down to the Lake. No major action in the Hayden, at Fishing Bridge or Mary Bay. Hmmm....maybe our luck is changing for the worse.

So, we continued on to the lake overlook. We had never been up here before and decided to take a look. We caught the attention of this guy on the way up:
White Tailed Buck

The view from the overlook is great. Especially all the old trees nearby:
Yellowstone Overlook View

On towards West Thumb where we had a coyote encounter. This guy was really blond and moving pretty quickly.
Coyote

Finally, we reached the parking lot for Fairy Falls and headed out to see Grand Prismatic from a higher vantage point.

Ever since reading about this vantage point on Y-Net, I have wanted to see it for myself.

But, the weather never cooperated until today. It was worth the wait:

Grand Prismatic

Grand Prismatic

After the hike we headed back to Gardiner the long way (Norris to Canyon to Lamar to Mammoth) but the wildlife stayed hidden besides the assorted bison, elk and this cooperative pronghorn:

Pronghorn

Pronghorn

The day ended with another moose sighting just before Floating Island lake, but the distance and darkness didn't make for a great photo.

All in all, another great day despite the lack of wildlife and it beats working!

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