Drive Through December 12

Share your latest adventure in Yellowstone.

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billandkaren
Posts: 129
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:50 pm

Drive Through December 12

Post by billandkaren »

We decided to make a quick trip to our cabin in Idaho to shovel snow off our deck and around our chimney on the roof. There was about a foot of snow so it wasn't too bad but we like to keep the weight off as much as possible (the deck and us :lol:). On the way in on Tuesday we drove through the Tetons but didn't see much except elk, bison, and a bald eagle perched in a tree on the way out to Kelly.

After shoveling on Wednesday we drove out to Gardiner. Lots of eagles and a couple of hawks, a herd of elk, and lots of deer along the way. We then drove over the river at Corwin Springs and along the Old Yellowstone Road into Gardiner. There were two herds of Bighorn Sheep along the road and the males were very active in pursuing the females and showing dominance behavior towards each other. We even got to see two of them square off and butt heads. That was the first time for Karen and second time for me. Sooo cool. Unfortunately, it was just after we arrived at the second herd and they were at the wrong angle to catch the moment with the camera through the car windshield. But got lots of other good shots.
ImageDSC_0131 by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0141 by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageImageDSC_0137 by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0128 by William Reinke, on Flickr

Thursday morning we got into Yellowstone at first light. We stopped and talked to a guide who had a client with him. They were looking for the eight-mile pack that they had seen yesterday across from the Rescue Creek Trailhead, but nothing out today. They then told us about a cougar sighting yesterday near Petrified Tree so we took off hopeful to see the number 1 animal still left on my bucket list. There were people out scanning the area but no cougar. It had apparently been collared yesterday and the signal was still in the area but was holed up somewhere out of sight. Bummer :( . The Junction Buttes were out yesterday but now had gone out over the ridge and not visiible either. As my dad used to say "A day late and a dollar short". We headed out to Lamar and it started to snow. I had never seen Lamar look so deserted of animal life. There were a few single bison a couple of places and that was it. We were going to head out through Cooke City and Chief Joseph Hwy, but with the snow I chickened out. Instead went back out through Gardiner. On our way past Slough Creek we did see a coyote catch a fairly large rodent in the snow, maybe a ground squirrel??? Thought they all hibernated but whatever it was, it was a pretty big mouthful which it quickly devoured.
[imgImageDSCF8979 by William Reinke, on Flickr][/img]
It was a bit disappointing in terms of seeing wildlife, but it was still beautiful and the bighorns outside the park were neat. We also saw about 20 eagles total on the trip which was cool. We will probably head back out in February or March sometime and when we do, we will post what we see.



lah
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:47 pm

Re: Drive Through December 12

Post by lah »

Thanks so much for a fresh trip report.
Wow, a cougar. Would sure like to see one of those. Sorry you weren't able to get it.
Great ram pix, though, and I always love to see coyotes.



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

Re: Drive Through December 12

Post by Dorothy »

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

A COUGAR?!? That's definitely on my bucket list -- sure wish you had the chance to spot it. But yeah, day late and a dollar short (my mom and dad used that all the time! :) ) tends to be me most of the time, too. Still, sounds like it was beautiful and I'd love to be there, even without a lot of animals. Really appreciate you sharing your trip with us.



RikWriter
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: Drive Through December 12

Post by RikWriter »

Wow, I would love to see a cougar. Still, I find it a bit disturbing that they're darting and collaring cougars.



billandkaren
Posts: 129
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:50 pm

Re: Drive Through December 12

Post by billandkaren »

RikWriter wrote:
Wed Dec 25, 2019 6:41 pm
Wow, I would love to see a cougar. Still, I find it a bit disturbing that they're darting and collaring cougars.
Yes, I would have had mixed emotions seeing one that was just collared. I would love to see one in the wild, but do they really need to collar them?



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