Little did we know when we saw that bison yesterday that we would see so many more during our Yellowstone visit. They were really fun to watch. But when we were very close, the low grunting sound reminded us that these a big wild animals. Yes, it scared me!
As we drove along I scanned the banks of the Yellowstone River hoping for a glimpse of a bear. I was repeatedly fooled by boulders near or in the water, but finally one moved. The bear was not too far from the roadway, so we could get pictures. Sooo exciting!! It was swimming upstream (actually probably walking because the water looked shallow) with its head near the surface. We absolutely love that we were able to spot a bear! But what kind? Studying the pictures, it definitely had a shoulder hump which all grizzlies have. And black bears usually don't have a shoulder hump. Color wasn't any help because grizzlies can be black, brown, and cinnamon, just like black bears. Could we tell whether the rump was higher than the shoulders? Not clear. Was the nose straight? I was sure it was a grizzly because it had the shoulder hump, but decided to show one of the pictures to a park ranger. He said it was a black bear because the hump is very pronounced even in a juvenile grizzly and my bear's hump wasn't large enough. He also said the nose was too straight for a grizzly. I was disappointed for some reason, not exactly sure why, but the ranger was pretty excited and wanted to know where we spotted it and when. He thought it was a great sighting. So all's good.
On our busy second day at Yellowstone we toured the thermal areas in the park. Beautiful. And just under the surface in those areas is steaming hot. You don't need to tell us twice to stay on the boardwalk!A place we visited without expectations, and which proved to be breath taking, was the artist point of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Just gorgeous!
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