Yellowstone Day 3 or who put the bison in the road?

Today we drove from our camp on the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake to the extreme NW Corner of the park to visit Mammoth Hot Springs.  To give you an idea as to the size of this park, it is a round trip of over 150 miles.

On the way we met a bison with an attitude...



He just strolled down the right lane of the road and challenged anyone to tell him to get off the road.

At over 1200 lbs - no one did.

When we passed him - his face was 3' from Kates, and at eye level.  Now mind you - we are sitting up high in the cab of this RV - his head had to be 8' off the ground.  We have some good video of the pass by.



Here are some shots of his better behaved friends.

Then of course it woundn't be yellowstone without a Bear or two.

I haven't really headed to bear alley - that will be tomorrow, but bears can be hard to spot and we might be lucky to get this one.  In the center is Mama, and just to her right the other dark spot was her cub.

Click on the photo to enlarge it and you will get a better view. 

I didn't have time to put on my telephoto lens as they were on the move and obviously one does not want to get too close to a Mother Bear & her Cub.

Up at Mammoth Hot Springs, you are at the Park Headquarters.  The Park uses the old buildings from Old Fort Yellowstone.   The Army first guarded the Park in the late 1800's till the National Park Service was established around 1915.  These are some of the buildings.

Visiting our Great National Parks & National Forests restores my faith in our Government.   Anybody who wants to arbitrarily tear down our system just has to look at these fine examples of what government can do to improve the lives of all when the mission is put first.  From the Natl Park Service, to the Natl Forest Service to the Bureau of Land Managment.  Everywhere we have been has been a stirling example of government gone good.   Nice change of pace.

Enough of That.  Visit a park and see for yourself.

Lastly - just a few photos of our lunch stop.

Tomorrow I have some work related things to do in the morning then we are off to the North and East starting our arc back to the East Coast and will be spending the night in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.

Till next time.