We entered Yellow-
stone on roads banked with snow, some drifts nearly as high as the roof of the motorhome. Norris was our base for several nights -- a favorite campground with a meandering stream and resident bison, Bob, a solitary bull who’s inhabited the meadow for years, wandering through campsites at will.
Just open for two days, the campground still had piles of snow along the roads and some campsites. A grizzly had passed through the day before, leaving his scratch marks on a tree. Ravens favor this campground, croaking from the pines. This is the most active of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas, and a low cloud of sulfurous steam lies over the nearby geysers on cool mornings.
We visited Mammoth Hot Springs on a surprisingly warm day, eating Wilcoxson’s ice cream at a picnic table outside the general store and watching elk graze while visitors stretched on the lawns, exposing winter-white limbs to the high altitude sun. But mountain weather is nothing if not changeable, and by late afternoon back at camp a blustery wind drove us inside to a glass of Syrah and a warm dinner, grateful we can be so comfortable without electricity or water hookups.
The temperature outside was bitter and we marveled at the tent campers who occupied half of the campground, wearing wool caps and cheerfully cooking dinners on their Coleman camp stoves. Darkness fell, the wind howled and snow began falling, fat flakes driven by a north wind. We sat in our cozy Happy, hot tea in hand, listening to Anderson Cooper on Sirius radio. Across the road, a young couple sat near their little tent toasting marshmallows, the sparks from their campfire blending with the swirling snowflakes. What happy campers they were!
Yellowstone is all about animals and this visit did not disappoint. We added a sandhill crane, beaver and bighorn sheep to our checklist, along with wolves and bears.
The extreme winter has kept grizzlies outside the park at lower altitudes this spring, unable to reach the higher ground they prefer. A number have been shot in Montana, where they’ve been forced to raid chicken coops and poach calves to feed their cubs. Although grizzlies are legally protected, their killing is ruled justifiable in these cases, because animals owned by humans are deemed more valuable than the animals who inhabited the land long before humans arrived. (Editorial comment.)
Grizzlies roam high open spaces, while black bears are forest creatures and more difficult to see, even though they’re far more numerous. Most bear sightings happen through the eyepiece of a spotting scope and often they’re over a mile away. Our first bears were a grizzly sow and yearling cubs, near the crest of a hill in Hayden Valley. Then we saw a black bear, meandering through a draw along the road.
We drove to Lamar Valley, a haven for wildlife, famed for its wolves. A new pack has formed to replace the decimated Druids, occupying the Druids' former den and led by alpha female 06, a former member of another pack, returning to her grandmother’s territory.
Spotting fellow wildlife spotters one morning, we arrived in time to see 06 and males 755 and 754 trotting through the sage on the far side of the river, pursued by five coyotes, scrappy competitors for food and territory.
Since wolves frequently kill the smaller canines, we were puzzled at the brave but seemingly foolhardy behavior, watching the coyotes close in and literally nip at the heels of the much larger wolves.
Then we learned that the wolves had just destroyed the coyotes’ den, killing the four pups inside and, in atypical behavior, eating them. Wolf expert Rick McIntyre told us that while wolves commonly kill adult coyotes, they rarely consume them. “It’s a form of respect,” he said.
Mesmerized, we watched the wolves climb a small bank and head toward a herd of bison, where several calves slept in the sun a short distance from the adults. Unhurried and deliberate, the bison turned and formed a circle around the calves, horns pointing outward and a large bull taking the lead.
Although one wolf lingered, the other two knew better than to tangle with such a formidable foe, and soon all three headed toward the distant trees, then circled back.
Back at the den site, the five coyotes yipped and howled, searching the sage in vain for survivors. Off to the right, a lone doe elk grazed near the traveling wolf pack, then sprang to rapt attention. She took off at a trot toward the wolves, but failed to reach her destination in time, as the gray female wolf pounced on a tan object – the doe’s hidden calf -- and the pack dispatched their prize in short order. It wasn’t fun to watch, even at a distance, and we left soon after.
The mood was lightened when we returned that afternoon and watched a pair of courting grizzlies on a distant ridge, the bears interrupting their amorous activities with playful slides down a snowbank.
Yellowstone is a domestic safari, where we can observe predators and prey surrounded by visitors from around the world. A British woman we spoke with gave herself a week in Yellowstone for her 40th birthday. We gave directions to a trio of Belgians, shared a spotting scope with Dutch tourists, and binoculars with an Argentine and his Japanese girlfriend. At one bear sighting I heard nothing but French.
Animal observations await at every turn: a pronghorn antelope unsuccessfully attempting to coax her day-old twins to cross a shallow draw; snowy-white mountain goats on the precipitous cliffs of the Barronette, framed by snow-melt waterfalls (we counted 15).
Hearing about a large grizzly at Mary Bay, we arose at first light and headed south, stopping enroute to watch a grizzly sow and two yearlings dig for tubers, roots and rodents in Hayden Valley. One cub stayed at the mother’s shoulder, imitating each move, while the other kept wandering off, distracted.
The Mary Bay griz didn’t materialize, but a jam of cars lead us to another grizzly sow and cubs in Swan Lake Flat. Unlike the previous forager, this bear seemed to wander in circles, sniffing the ground like a bloodhound, while the cubs followed behind.
Sharing wildlife tales with a couple from Arizona, I heard a German yell “she’s got a calf!” and raised my binoculars to see the trio of bears pounce on an elk calf, the second we’d seen killed in as many days and obviously the scent she was tracking. This was getting to be grisly.
We’ve since learned that as many as two-thirds of the elk calves fall victim to predators, ranging from bears to golden eagles. While pronghorn calves practically emerge running, and bison have strong protectors, elk calves are left hidden by their mothers in the brush for up to a week until they’re strong enough to follow. Often, this strategy is a failure.
Returning home, we saw a black bear with tiny cubs whose comical behavior entertained the crowd they drew. And in Mammoth, where the resident (but still wild) elk sleep on lawns, we saw a doe and calf whose survival seemed more probable, given their sheltered environment in the human world.
And just as I opened my laptop, an elk doe appeared outside our window, her spotted Bambi calf still unsteady on wobbly legs. The flattened grass in the morning showed they’d bedded down outside our door.
There were more wolf and bear sightings, and a reunion with our pal Ranger John, whom we’d met three years ago. The temperature rose 50 degrees in two days and wildlife retreated, bears soaking in streams and snow to cool off, heat waves obscuring long-distance sightings and elk lying in the shade, panting.
We were grateful when the clouds moved in. I was making a shaker of martinis our last night at Mammoth campground – there’s something about gin and mountain air -- when Terry came to the door and said, “The guy next door said there’s a grizzly on the hill!”
Campers were running down the road with cameras and binoculars, and soon we saw a large brown-colored black bear – not a griz – moving through the woods. After days of viewing bears through spotting scopes, we had our own bear in the campground, closer than any we’d seen. Soon the ranger arrived, lights flashing atop her truck. The bear moved across the hillside, trolling for elk calves, while a herd of does kept close watch. “He already got a calf this morning across from the school,” the ranger said.
As the bear came close to campsites, the ranger chased it up the hill, waving her arms and yelling. “I wouldn’t try that if it was a grizzly,” she admitted. Still, we were impressed. Undeterred and smelling dinner, the bear kept returning, much to the delight of a group of German campers snapping pictures. We watched for over an hour, thrilled at the dramatic finale to our stay in Yellowstone, but grateful that we didn’t witness another kill.
And then the bear went over the mountain.
Pictures on following link. Click on first one to initiate slide show..
https://picasaweb.google.com/happytwo.mcwilliams/1Yellowstone2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCO_WkqDZidPHNw&feat=directlink
