Day 23

Day twenty-three, July 31, 2011

Before departing for Yellowstone we briefly visited the town of Missoula. As we hit the road I began to pray that the campsite in Yellowstone would be like the one we just spent the night at!

We stopped at a visitors center right before entering the park and picked up all the necessary maps, guides, and tips.  Almost immediately upon entering this National Park we were greeted by a huge herd of elk.  There were so many of them that some even spued out in the road blocking traffic.  Park rangers had to come over and scare them off the street.  Even with tons of people parking their cars and walking over to see these huge animals the elk just calmly walked across the street and sat on the grass on the opposite side of the road.  They provided a great photo opp for everyone but I was a little concerned about seeing so much wildlife so soon.  We still had at least an hour and a half drive to our campsite and I began to wonder just how much wildlife we would come across!

We took the long way to our campsite because we told that lots of wildlife has been spotted on the northeast side of the park near Tower Roosevelt.  On our way to the spot we were told to visit, we spotted an antelope and a couple random buffalo. The landscape throughout the park was breathtaking.  We stopped at a few scenic look outs where we got some wonderful pictures.  We saw huge streams with water flowing quickly downstream and even came across a stunning waterfall.  Without the I-phone we were not able to get ourselves in the pictures with all of this beautiful scenery!  Actually now that I think about it, since Steph left with her I-phone most of our pictures only include scenery or attractions - we are no longer in the pictures! :)

Not much further down the road we came across several cars parked on the side of the road and people walking along the road with cameras.  As we came closer and looked out into the open field we saw tons of bison.  They ranged in size and age.  There were several very large ones with their heads down chowing down on the grass.  We were also able to see some babies, one in particular was nursing while their mom was eating.  We followed the herd down the road watching them eat and interact with one another.  After lots of amazing pictures we continued down the road where we saw tons more. Just about everywhere you looked you could see a bison.  It is said that you see as many bison out here as you do squirrels at home!

We then drove through Canyon Village and Norris.  Here is where we came across the next group of parked cars.  We were really hoping that it would be something good and not more bison - they are really exciting to see, but at this point we have already seen so many.  As we approached the group of cars parked on either side of the road I looked out my window and directly to my right was a GRIZZLY BEAR!!!  It was in the middle of a hill about 15 yards from our car.  Rob threw me the camera and because Matt isn't on the trip with us anymore our windows are so dirty so in order to capture a pic worthy of our photographer I had to put my window down!  Snce I had the big lens on and had the camera zoomed in all the way this creature appeared much closer through my lens.  This is why when it picked it's head up from eating and looked right at all of us onlookers I almost had a heart attack! Rob enjoyed this very much, we were a little too close and stayed for a little too long for me!  Now that Rob's prayers were answered we once again continued down the road.  Our next stop was a ranger station were Rob was able to pick up all his fishing supplies and permit, as well as get his questions answered and was given great helpful tips from the experts!

The rain was beginning to come down and it was going to be getting dark shortly so we headed directly to the campsite.  With fingers crossed I was really hoping that we would not see any more wildlife because we were approaching our campsite.  I didn't mind seeing them on the other side of the park but I would feel much more comfortable if we didn't come across any in the vicinity of our sleeping area.  We pulled up and checked in with the ranger. The ranger handed me a piece of paper and asked me to read and sign it.  It was an official document saying that I was aware I was in bear country and that I would follow all proper precautions and avoid feeding bears at all costs!  Upon signing this paper I looked nervously at Rob and he asked the ranger if many bears are spotted in this area.  He responded with, "Well actually, we do know of 2 cinnamon black bears that live next to this station.  However, our rangers do a pretty good job of keeping them out of the camping area.  If the bears ever get too close they are shot with bean bags or rubber bullets." Well now I was sure that between the rain and our 2 cinnamon friends I would be sleeping in the comforts of Coco tonight.  My only saving grace was that we were staying in loop C of the campsite, so I figured that by the time we passed loops A and B we would be pretty far away from the bears.  Was I wrong!  Our campsite was about a 90 second drive away from the ranger station!  Oh and even better, we had zero cell phone reception.  If there was an emergency there were phones placed around the campsite where you could call 911.  The one good part about our site was that it was right next the bathrooms.  I decided to scoop them out as Rob pitched the tent.  They were surprisingly very clean, but definitely missing something! SHOWERS!  We would be spending two nights here and there is no place to shower?!?!  This was a far cry from the site we just previously left in Montana and I was quickly starting to miss Montana very much.  Once the tent was situated we got into the car, left Yellowstone and drove into the town where we would have cell phone service, Internet, and dinner!

By the time we finished up in town it was about 10 o'clock.  We entered back into the park and it was pitch black.  No street lights of any kind.  We had about a 15 or 20 mile drive back to the site and knew we would have to keep our eyes pealed.  About half way back to the site, on a narrow two lane road a car up ahead driving towards us stopped.  Rob slowed down figuring that maybe something came out into the road, but because the cars lights were so bright it was hard to tell.  As we got closer the car starting to drive again and passed us, as soon as it did this we were able to see the road in front of us much better.  Walking in the middle of the road, in the same direction we were driving, was a huge bison.  It was so big than it took up most of the lane next to us, so when Rob drove by it, he could almost stick out his hand and touch it!  Of course he slowed way down in order to get a picture, however, I don't think the bison liked this too much because his enormous head turned in our direction.  Rob later said that he thought the bison was heading right for the car and that is why he quickly pressed on the gas.  Sadly we were not able to get a picture at that time.  As soon as we got back to the campsite I bundled up and before I could think too much about all of the animals we had seen and everything that was living around us I figured my best bet was to just go right to sleep.  Wish us luck in bear country! Peace, love, and happiness, the Nomads!