This weekend in the park was nothing short of amazing. After entering the west entrance in the late afternoon, I made my way to Madison Junction without seeing much in the way of wildlife.
Heading north towards Norris I passed by several herds of bison with baby red dogs and a surprising number of elk. They’re definitely making their way back into the interior of the park after winter!
As I reached Elk Park I noticed quite a lot of steam coming from Norris geyser basin, in the general vicinity of Steamboat Geyser. After I got back into cell reception I learned that Steamboat Geyser had erupted early that morning! Steamboat is the largest geyser in the world, shooting water up to 300 feet. Although its major eruptions are unpredictable, once the water is ejected the geyser will continue to release steam for up to several days! I was lucky enough to witness one of these eruptions several years ago, and it was so powerful that it shook the ground and sounded like a jet engine. Truly an awesome experience.
I headed south at Canyon Junction and passed through the always-gorgeous Hayden Valley. After passing Mud Volcano, (which contains my favorite feature of the park: Dragon’s Mouth Spring,) I came upon an animal jam. Looking on the hillside I saw not one, but two subadult grizzlies! These siblings are the cubs of grizzly 864, who were recently booted out to be on their own. Over the past few weeks I have seen them wandering in different locations, miles apart; however on this evening they were clearly buddied up. Cubs will occasionally stay together for up to a year after mom kicks them out, although it’s more common for them to stick together for only a few weeks.
After taking a few photos and enjoying watching the bears just be wild bears, I made my way south and then east to my destination: the Lake Butte area. My favorite bear of all time resides in that area, and I was unable to see her and her new cubs last year, so I’d been itching to see them.
Stick around for the next trip report that delves into what happened next….
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