Busy Sunday in the Park

With the opening of the road thru Dunraven Pass today (it had been closed since we have been here due to a fire), we decided to play tourist for the day. We went up the pass to see the remnants of the fire, down to Canyon Village to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Upper and Lower Falls in the canyon, down to Yellowstone Lake, Fishing Bridge, and back thru Hayden Valley in late afternoon to hopefully view some big wildlife. We enjoyed dinner at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge before heading back to camp. In Hayden Valley, we did get to see grizzly bears, although from a great distance. Folks with the huge spotting scopes are very eager to offer a view - the black spot on the last picture is the dominant grizzly at this site - he had been laying on a carcass for over 24 hours, and would probably be there for another day or two - thru the scope, we could very clearly see him spread-eagled over the food carcass (probably bison). About 50 yards away was another grizzly - we were told he was not brave enough to challenge the other one and that he was waiting around for the leftovers. Fishing Bridge is a famous spawning area for the cutthroats that come out of the lake in the spring - it used to be elbow-to-elbow fishing years ago, but fishing was banned some years back to reduce fishing pressure on the spawning fish. When I was 12 yrs. old our family stayed in camper cabins overlooking this site, but those cabins and a campground were closed down and dismantled years ago as this is prime grizzly habitat and the park service felt it necessary to reduce potential for not-so-pleasant confrontations. The last of the "Antelope Fire" in the background Sticks from the great fire of 1988, and the young pines re-seeded naturally by the fire From the brim of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone Brim of the Lower Falls Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Upper Falls of the Yellowstone - unfortunately we didn't get a picture from below the Lower Falls (the tallest) Sweet Thang with Upper Falls in the background Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley Fishing Bridge Lake Yellowstone as seen from the front porch of the Lake Lodge Lake Lodge Lobby of Lake Lodge Grizzly at a safe distance