Entering the Backcountry

(July 26th) Since we arrived at Yellowstone after everything was closed (if you ever want to use a campsite at Yellowstone, make sure your reserve a spot by noon) yesterday, today was the first day we were able to do much. We spent the first few hours of the morning getting our first wildlife shots in. Alex had some fun shooting some ruddy ducks and coots for the first time.



Nowhere else in the country can your car be held up by a herd of some 3 score buffalo as they meander across the road in the early hours of the morning. Like most animals, the buffalo were at their most active during the first two hours of the morning.



After leaving behind the buffalo and a black bear that vanished from view almost as soon as we saw/him her, we headed up to Mammoth to make our backcountry reservations. We stopped off to take a look at some the impressive hot springs near Mammoth. Although I'd have to say that the wildlife interests me most, the geology in Yellowstone is amazing - and the reason why Yellowstone was declared the first National Park.



We had a late start on the trail and our hike was punctuated by glaring buffalo, wrong turns, and hazardous river crossings. We stumbled into a campsite (not ours, but fortunately we had great hospitality from the two father/son pairs sharing the site) around sunset - just in time to fall asleep to the pleasant sound of an adjacent stream.