YELLOWSTONE PRIVATE TOUR – 4 lone clickers

Sunday – today is our last day in one of my favourite places  – it will be sad to leave although hopefully I will make a return – maybe in the Autumn – and while I am still able to get around!  I will tell you now that I am going to break this day down as to read it all at one sitting will have you reaching for more than one glass of wine!  Still that’s not a bad idea.

The morning dawns fine and clear – it is going to be a fabulous day I can tell because we are travelling alone with just the driver.  That means just 4 of us plus camera gear on a snow coach – I am so excited that we are going to go where we want and see what we want and not have to contend with whistling wally’s or people that must follow the call of nature..  Opening the shutters I am greeted by my icicle friends – what a great way to start the day.

Dressing relatively light for the moment, we head for breakfast.  As the plan is to make an early start – we decide to get down to the restaurant early to avoid the hassle of the queue.  We are to meet our guide in the lobby at 8am so after the usual fare we go back to our rooms to put on the ‘heavy’ gear, make sure our camera gear is packed (I will take everything today) and then it’s off to discover more of Yellowstone and hopefully say hello to some of the inhabitants.

Meeting our guide Jenna – she seems to be just as excited as us and she has brought along her camera gear as well – she tells us there are no set plans for today so we can make our own.  We tell her we want to see everything especially The Falls and some animals wouldn’t go astray either.

She suggests we head up to Craig Pass, then West Thumb and do the loop which will take us to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and The Falls – yep sounds like a great plan.  Excited? you betcha!

This plan has covered everything we want to do, unfortunately she cannot guarantee the animals but we know we will see bison – that’s a given.  We practically run to the coach and then we get to sit where we want and spread around – what a great feeling and even though it’s a bit misty and shady in the lower valleys as we go along, we can still get some good photos out the window – although we don’t take too many (ha!!) as we have a whole day ahead of us.

We arrive at a clearing up the mountain – so many great photo opportunities and Jenna explains what sort of trees they are etc etc.  Being my usual self – I have two cameras going.  One with the big zoom and the other has a wide angle zoom – and I have all the time in the world.

All of a sudden Jenna tells us that Old Faithful is going off – what great luck for us – yep it’s a great day.

As you can see, we are in a shady part of the trail but we can still see The Great One erupting – it seems as if she always knows when we are looking at her.

Time to move on and our next stop is at the Continental Divide sign which is nearly covered up with snow!

We are at Craig Pass and time for a little lesson in geography – on one side of the divide, water flows to the Gulf of Mexico – on the other side it flows to the Pacific Ocean.    It is all very complicated to go into details but you can read and see more about it here. We don’t get to see any water flowing anywhere, I think it’s all frozen.  Moving down the mountain there is finally some sunshine for us to warm our bodies. We are glad to get out, feel the sun on our faces and enjoy the road as there is no-one around – – below left is the Shoshone Lake Lookout.  Everything is so quiet and Jenna is enjoying herself I can tell.  She is telling us about all the features and taking  some happy snaps of her own.

This is such a pretty place it is hard to drag ourselves away but soon it is time to be on the road again – I am so glad that Jenna is a good driver – she handles this coach as if it is a small car!

Do you fancy driving down this road?  I certainly do not.  We are now heading down the track towards Lake Yellowstone and we are glad that the ‘groomers’ have been out last night making the roads driveable.

Every now and again we get a bit of a slide but Jenna is doing a great job and we are comfortable and feel safe.

Time for another stop – this time we have some views of The Lake – even though it is still a great distance away.  We are told we will get some better views as we drive further down but for now it is a great outlook.

Honestly you have to have your eyes all over the place because as we concentrate on the magnificent views – Mr Coyote decides to favour us with a visit.  The big lens comes out and we are so excited I hope the photos turn out. Yep, they did!  I think he was after a quick snack because every now and again he would sit down and tilt his head from one side to the other.

Wildlife spotting in Yellowstone is labelled as a — Dog Day depending how many canines you spy.  So far ours is a One Dog Day – let’s hope the number increases.

Once Mr Wile E. Coyote trots out of view it is back to the coach and we have no sooner got comfortable and put down our cameras then we spy another vehicle in front of us – it has stopped (sure sign of wildlife about) AND they have their cameras out – there is a red fox walking down the road so it’s a mad scramble by all and sundry to get the cameras into position.

He doesn’t give us much time and he soon disappears down the slope.  Now it’s a Two Dog Day!  We feel that today is going to be one of those incredible days – even Jenna is excited and she works here in Winter all the time!

Around the bend and a long way towards the mountains Jenna spies some ravens on a carcass – maybe a bison?  Is it worthy of a photo – you betcha.

With the big lens on this is as close as I can get.  Even cropping in Lightroom it is too noisy so you will just have to get out the magnifying glass for a good look.

Down towards the river there are a couple of bison but we get a bit blase with them after our doggy friends.

Before we get to The Lake we stop at the Ranger Warming Hut – it is very sparse compared to the Madison Hut – there is only some comforting heat here – no hot chocolate – but it is a welcome stop to stretch our legs and walk around.  The little buildings near the Ranger Hut on the photo above left are the ‘amenities’.  I for one would not want to drop my draws with all that snow on the roof ready to collapse onto my head.

The hut is practically hidden away in the trees and snow and the sun is hiding behind the trees. We also have time to wander and take some close-ups – it’s not real Macro because you cannot get all that close without disappearing but they turned out to my liking.

Tyler and I decide to take a little walk down the path that leads to Black Pool.  This is easier said than done because it is the usual ‘watch where you step’ situation and it is pretty misty.  Fortunately we do not disappear – Kylie has decided to stay in the hut.

Above left is the track with the features shrouded in mist and on the right is Black Pool.

On the way back, how exciting it is to see these tracks and realise that we are not alone out here.

These four footed friends are always on the move and they leave the most wonderful signs – how cool is that?

I don’t know what the tracks on the left are – possibly coyote or wolf.

They are too small and neat for a bison, and anyway a bison would be shovelling his head back and forth making an almighty mess of the pristine snow.

Maybe they are some sort of mountain cat? Maybe a cougar? Yep I like to think it’s a cougar that was walking along out here during the night.

These tracks on the right I do know – they are those  of a Snowshoe Hare.

To know that even though we didn’t see any animals – they were there all the time – maybe they are even watching us now and wondering what we are doing.  No prizes for guessing the correct answer – we are having a great time taking photos and enjoying this wonderful wilderness.

I will finish up with just a couple more photos – no commentary – just enjoy.

When we get back to the hut there is no need for us to warm up because we have worked up a sweat just trekking along.

Time for a break – next stop – Yellowstone Lake.