Day 61: First full day in Yellowstone
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
I have a terrible night sleep. It turns out that my nightly pre-sleep ritual was out of wack and I paid for it. I only get a couple of hours sleep before 4am happens. When I wake up I am usually wide awake so the need for caffeine is minimal.
We get to lookout point before the sun rises.
We decide to walk down to Red Rock Point to get close up pictures of the falls. As we go down parts of the upper path have snow on it, which makes it a little bit slippery. As I walk down the path my medication starts to wear off. As this happens my left foot begins to curl, which makes it hard to walk down. The interesting thing is if I were walking up it would not have been a problem. So David gets way ahead of me. My next dose of medication eventually makes it into the brain and I start to walk OK again.
We get down to the bottom and get our cameras setup.
On the way back up snapped some cascade shots.
When we get to lookout point we look for the Osprey nest that Bill from the Haynes Photography shop mentioned. We thought it would take us a while to find it, but it is visible from lookout point area. David found it in no time.
On the way back we get stopped by a Bison block.
By now the wildlife road management people arrive. David is standing behind his open door as the bison begin to approach. The ranger tells David to get back in the car. I think David was planning on looking over the car to get pictures. I get lucky here as the bison walk on my side of the car.
We stop to get some landscape pictures.
We get back and I check the car out. The tire is flat. Vicki calls the rental car place in West Yellowstone. They say they will be right over but it takes them about 1/2 hour. While we are waiting about 3-4 people stop and ask if we need a tire pump. People in the RV parks are so nice. When they arrive we are all set to unload the car and put the stuff in the new car. However, they are just there to pick Vicki up to go fill out the paperwork on the car. After another 1/2 hour or so Vicki returns with the new car. We move all our stuff to the new car. In the mean time the rental car people arrive with a compressor to get the tire pumped up. When done they will be off to get the tire repaired. The car we end up with is much nicer than the one we give up.
We had a great time with David and Susan. Sleep was no longer a problem while staying in the RV.
After a nap and lunch, the 4 of us take off for the afternoon trip. We go to Grand Prismatic.
I was rather disappointed that I did not get a chance to hike above and get a birds eye view.
We stop at Midway Geyser Basin and get to see a bison cross the stream.
On our way back we come upon a herd of bison at Madison Junction. We are snapping pictures of these when we hear a pack of coyotes yelping and howling.
A couple of minutes later this coyote exits the woods and seems to find something to eat. I notice when looking at the pictures later his eye is bloody. I wonder if he was attempting to become the dominant male and lost. At the end of the yelping mentioned above seemed like a victory yelp.
David and I decide to get up at 4am again tomorrow.
I have a terrible night sleep. It turns out that my nightly pre-sleep ritual was out of wack and I paid for it. I only get a couple of hours sleep before 4am happens. When I wake up I am usually wide awake so the need for caffeine is minimal.
We get to lookout point before the sun rises.
We decide to walk down to Red Rock Point to get close up pictures of the falls. As we go down parts of the upper path have snow on it, which makes it a little bit slippery. As I walk down the path my medication starts to wear off. As this happens my left foot begins to curl, which makes it hard to walk down. The interesting thing is if I were walking up it would not have been a problem. So David gets way ahead of me. My next dose of medication eventually makes it into the brain and I start to walk OK again.
We get down to the bottom and get our cameras setup.
 |
| Looking to the right |
When we get to lookout point we look for the Osprey nest that Bill from the Haynes Photography shop mentioned. We thought it would take us a while to find it, but it is visible from lookout point area. David found it in no time.
 |
| A balanced a rock. |
On the way back we get stopped by a Bison block.
 |
| Bison fight |
 |
| Baby bison plus bison breath |
 |
| Lots of extra energy |
By now the wildlife road management people arrive. David is standing behind his open door as the bison begin to approach. The ranger tells David to get back in the car. I think David was planning on looking over the car to get pictures. I get lucky here as the bison walk on my side of the car.
 |
| You have to be careful not to step in these puddles. The temperature is supposed to be really hot. |
We get back and I check the car out. The tire is flat. Vicki calls the rental car place in West Yellowstone. They say they will be right over but it takes them about 1/2 hour. While we are waiting about 3-4 people stop and ask if we need a tire pump. People in the RV parks are so nice. When they arrive we are all set to unload the car and put the stuff in the new car. However, they are just there to pick Vicki up to go fill out the paperwork on the car. After another 1/2 hour or so Vicki returns with the new car. We move all our stuff to the new car. In the mean time the rental car people arrive with a compressor to get the tire pumped up. When done they will be off to get the tire repaired. The car we end up with is much nicer than the one we give up.
After a nap and lunch, the 4 of us take off for the afternoon trip. We go to Grand Prismatic.
I was rather disappointed that I did not get a chance to hike above and get a birds eye view.
We stop at Midway Geyser Basin and get to see a bison cross the stream.
On our way back we come upon a herd of bison at Madison Junction. We are snapping pictures of these when we hear a pack of coyotes yelping and howling.
A couple of minutes later this coyote exits the woods and seems to find something to eat. I notice when looking at the pictures later his eye is bloody. I wonder if he was attempting to become the dominant male and lost. At the end of the yelping mentioned above seemed like a victory yelp.
David and I decide to get up at 4am again tomorrow.
Parks visited:
photo@kristoffs.com
PaulKristoffPhotography.com
paulkristoff.blogspot.com/
- Big Bend National Park
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Upper Antelope Canyon
- Horseshoe Bend
- Arches National Park
- Canyonlands National Park
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Zion National Park
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
- Utah Lake State Park
- Shoshone Falls Park
- Yellowstone National Park
photo@kristoffs.com
PaulKristoffPhotography.com
paulkristoff.blogspot.com/
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