A Photographic Journey To Fishing Bridge
Looking For Bearsby Dan Hartman
July 2, 2011
My daughters and I journeyed down to Fishing Bridge early yesterday morning. We were hoping to find a bear or two. We counted four bull moose between our cabin and Pebble Creek.A little after 6AM we ran into Bill Hamblin. As usual he had a bear in his scope. He told us he had a black wolf on the road near Hitching Post at dawn.
At Rainy Lake, always a good location for black bears, we found a scruffy black grazing on dandelions. On the south side of Mt. Washburn a large cinnamon black stood below the road. To my surprise he went into his thunder walk. I would hate to run into him in the back country. He soon calmed down and disappeared back into the forest.
Becky and Cloe were at Grizzly Overlook in Hayden Valley. They were scanning for the Canyon Pack but weren’t having any luck., so we drove on south. A small herd of bison swam the Yellowstone, blowing steam out of their nostrils, sounding like breaching whales. A duck with nine fluffy youngsters swam across a pond. Cassie spotted a ruffed grouse perched on a log.
A quick breakfast at Fishing Bridge, then we started back. Still no wolves sited in Hayden. Two coyotes hunted near Canyon, one catching a fat vole. A long-tailed weasel crossed the road in front of us near the Junction, but there wasn’t time for a photo. We stopped to photograph glacier lilies at the same place we’d seen the cinnamon black earlier.
Hundreds of bison dotted Little America and a small band of pronghorn bedded on the hillside. As we neared The Buffalo Ranch, a mule deer with twin fawns moved away from the highway. One youngster romped through the sage, while the other shyly hide behind its’ mother.
Since it was clear, sunny and starting to get hot, we headed home.
Photos
Large Cinnamon Black On Washburn
Scruffy black bear
Bison blowing steam
Duck family
Ruffed grouse
Coyotes on the hunt
Glacier Lilly Paintbrush
Mule Deer and Fawns