Yellowstone 5/19/17

Share your latest adventure in Yellowstone.

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outdoorz1
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:05 pm

Yellowstone 5/19/17

Post by outdoorz1 »

Originally I was planning on an April trip into Yellowstone but I wasn't able to venture into the park until the last part of May. Anyway after a 14 hour drive I made the West Gate just after 4am. I decided to drive across to the Northeast Entrance Station taking in the sights along the way while checking trailhead conditions. Not a creature was stirring as I made my way past the Norris intersection. Finally a foodservice truck passed me going southbound just north of the intersection. At this point I had been on the road 16 hours with a short break at a rest area and thought it was a good time to pull over. Just past Twin Lakes & Roaring Mountain I pulled off onto the shoulder just before the start of the construction. I stood on the passenger side of my vehicle looking across to the west side of the road when I heard some movement behind me. On either side two small grizzly cubs ventured out both behind and in front of my suv. I maneuvered around my vehicle shutting the hatch and jumping into the driver's seat. Both were intent on digging into the soft shoulder disregarding me. I took a few photos with my long lens attached doing what I could to capture the moment quickly. I moved forward 50 feet and put my hazard lights on as the two bears moved out into the road just shy of the curve. After watching them I was able to determine it was a skinny sow and cub. Through other discussions my understanding was they were most likely hazed the previous night from the Norris Campground. I hung out on the curve for thirty minutes hoping my hazards would slow approaching vehicles. Finally both sow and cub scampered up the road.

Anyway it was a good trip with good hikes. Attaching a few other photos. I'm glad the Forum is back up.

Jeff

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Last edited by outdoorz1 on Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.



Dorothy
Posts: 201
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2017 7:45 pm

Re: Yellowstone 5/19/17

Post by Dorothy »

Wow, a VERY close encounter with grizzlies -- very cool! We may have seen the same "skinny sow" and cub as we exited the park (at least, a couple of griz in the same area that look a lot the same as the ones in your pics) back in early May. Great photos! Thanks for your report.



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TNBob
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Jul 30, 2017 11:01 pm

Re: Yellowstone 5/19/17

Post by TNBob »

Jeff, Great pics and exciting encounter. I was in park around same time late May as you were and also got caught in that horrible traffic jam. I was changing lodging from West Yst up to Gardiner.....It took close to 7.5 hours just to make it to Mammoth!!! Glad you had some good hikes. I did too, but always a surprise....I planned to hike Cygnet Trail south down to Hayden Valley. Got to the TH, geared up, started in and quickly lost the trail up to 2 ft snow. Anyway, things usually work out. On a venture later that day, this sow had eyes on me as her yearling cub was catching up.

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outdoorz1
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:05 pm

Re: Yellowstone 5/19/17

Post by outdoorz1 »

TNBob wrote:
Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:11 pm
Jeff, Great pics and exciting encounter. I was in park around same time late May as you were and also got caught in that horrible traffic jam. I was changing lodging from West Yst up to Gardiner.....It took close to 7.5 hours just to make it to Mammoth!!! Glad you had some good hikes. I did too, but always a surprise....I planned to hike Cygnet Trail south down to Hayden Valley. Got to the TH, geared up, started in and quickly lost the trail up to 2 ft snow. Anyway, things usually work out. On a venture later that day, this sow had eyes on me as her yearling cub was catching up.

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Glad your trip afforded some fun and adventure too.



outdoorz1
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:05 pm

Re: Yellowstone 5/19/17

Post by outdoorz1 »

Dorothy wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:56 pm
Wow, a VERY close encounter with grizzlies -- very cool! We may have seen the same "skinny sow" and cub as we exited the park (at least, a couple of griz in the same area that look a lot the same as the ones in your pics) back in early May. Great photos! Thanks for your report.
I was fairly surprised how small the sow was and only the tracking collar and ear tag made me do a double take. If she would have been alone and without the collar / ear tag I would have been confident she was a two year old. Of course I would have been very wrong but I was tired
however this energized me for the remainder of the day. I caught another sow and cub near Lamar Canyon west. My estimate would be that sow outweighed the one that surprised me by over 2:1 if not more. Watching the one in Lamar Canyon she strutted with a purpose as if too say don't mess with this gal.

Dorothy I hope you had a good trip. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to post from a planned September trip as I plan to hike Pelican Valley which has always yielded surprises for me.



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