Yellowstone National Park, Spring 2012

If there is one place we have been that is truly wild, it is Yellowstone National Park, especially in spring. May in Yellowstone is not the spring season that we all know and love; it's as snowy and turbulent as February in most other places. However, we were lucky and went on an early thaw weekend. Even still most of the park was still snow covered and some of it inaccessible (snow or no snow Yellowstone strictly follows its road access schedules). The trade off to more snow and less accessibility is less people; consequently food is limited in the park so think ahead about meals.

The first thing I would like to address is that for some reason many people foreign and American alike, tend to have the impression animals in national parks are tame. They are not friendly, don't try to pet them, pose with them at close range, nor try to put your children on them. It's not the smartest thing to do. I say this because in Yellowstone I saw a great many people approach or try to touch the animals; the result was an unexpected charging. At Yellowstone River a pleasant tourist tried to pet an American Bison (Bison bison), had to run, and asked me if they were aggressive. He acted very surprised when I told him yes, they are wild, and they will attack you if you get too close.

If you have ever seen a Bison up close you know they are very large, and they are not shy around humans. In Yellowstone you can see them using roads for walkways, using exhibit/ hotel yards for prime grazing fields, and picnic benches for scratching posts. There are also videos of Bison charging cars for being too close on the busy summer roadways of Yellowstone. They are amazing animals and Yellowstone is full with them, among other great beasts.

We were extremely lucky because we got to observe 4 grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) during our two short park days. The first and second Grizzly we saw were digging furiously in the ground. We later learned that grizzly's dig to search to grubs to eat. The other two were just traveling, or "trundling" as I like to call it, through forested areas. As a side note, don't ever just trust when you're boyfriend say's "come here" in a place like Yellowstone. You end up in a field 100 yards from a Grizzly and while they are gorgeous your'e hair will be on end for two days.

The animals are mesmerizing, but make sure you get a good look at the geological formations as well. They are breathtaking in themselves.

Above is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and below part of the Mammoth Hot Spring terraces

Fauna:

Gray Wolf

Grizzly Bear

Black Bear

Coyote

Mule Deer

Elk

Least Chipmunk

Uinta Chipmunk

Rock Squirrel

Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel

Bison

Pronghorn Antelope

Red Fox

Beaver

Mountain Cottontail

White-tailed Jackrabbit

American Red Squirrel

              -Reactions-

•       Fauna Interest 10/10
• Geological Interest 9.5/10
•        Flora Interest  6.0/10