Fall In Yellowstone

Fall is a nice time to visit Yellowstone.  Cool temperatures, small crowds and active animals were all part of our day trip to Yellowstone on Saturday.  Dave had been urging us all to humor his photography hobby with a trip to the National Park.  So we set off from Rexburg at 10:00 a.m. and drove 1 hour and 45 minutes to the west entrance.   Right off the bat we came across a bull elk with his herd.  We listened to his bugle call and then observed as he directed his group away from the tourists.

Next we stopped at Old Faithful and enjoyed some time in the newly opened educational center.  It was quite interesting to better understand the scientific phenomena of Yellowstone.

On a side road that leads to the old Yellowstone Inn, we found our prize sighting, a grizzly bear.  It was quite an incredible moment to be so close (about 50 yards away) to one of the sought after animals of Yellowstone.  It was clearly a grizzly as we identified that the nose was not quite as pointed as a black bear and the hump was very visible by the shoulders.  The golden dusting of fur was also apparent.

Further down the road we did the zigzag hike down to the brink of the lower falls and then observed the canyon from the perspective of Inspiration Point.

As we headed back home, we passed another elk herd with a similar or maybe the same bull elk as we watched that morning.  Fall is an interesting time to witness the elk herds because the bulls are in the process of mating and are very active.

We had a fun day and actually purchased a one year pass through next October so it looks like we will be going back next spring and summer.