Bears!

After lunch, we headed north to spend some more time at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We took the south rim drive and saw the Upper Falls. Then we walked along the rim trail to Artist's point. Along the way we were rewarded with some great views of the Lower Falls and the canyon, with its multicolored rocks. The trail was rather steep at points, and it wound along very steep dropoffs, most with no railings.

We walked back to the truck along the road. Then we drove up towards the Lamar Valley, where we hoped to see some wildlife. We came to a traffic jam along the highway before we got to Tower-Roosevelt. We stopped and got to watch a mother grizzly and her two cubs up on the opposite hillside. Mom was mainly eating, but the cubs were playing around. Finally the mother walked away over the ridge. One of the cubs was left behind. It stood up to look around, spotted its mother leaving, and hightailed it over the ridge.

As usual, we also saw bison. When we asked a ranger why we saw bison alone rather than in a herd, he said that most of the loners were old males who had been beaten by the younger bulls.

We stopped at Tower Falls and walked back to the overlook to see this picturesque waterfall. We ate our sandwiches sitting outside the Tower General Store. Then we drove on towards the Lamar Valley, looking for moose and bighorn sheep along the way (no luck). When we came to Slough Creek, we drove back to the campground. The drive was two and a half miles of gravel road. The campground was nestled along a creek and held mainly tents, but also some smaller RVs.

We drove further along the road and came to a place where several people had stopped. We talked with a lady who had watched the night before as some wolves killed an elk calf and then a grizzly came along and tried to get the carcass.

Further we found lots of folks stopped. We parked, and it turned out that we were right behind the yellow Xterra that we had been told belonged to a wildlife biologist studying wolves. We climbed the adjacent hill and found him with his tracking equipment and wonderful scope. He said that the wolf pups were in the long grass across the river, but that they hadn't been seen for some time. Two of the adults in the pack have collars, and neither was in range.

Maybe we'll make it back to the Lamar Valley another time with more luck.