yellowstone via the east entrance

May 1st marked teh openeding of the east entrance, which of course meant Sunday we packed a cooler with food and drinks, loaded the car with all teh essentials one needs for the park-- bear spray, the backpack to carry Sierra in on hikes, layers of clothing for the different temperatures of the park, cameras and binoculars.

Before we ever got to the park the drive up the North Fork Rd was very kind in giving us ample wildlife opportunities. We watched several bighorns bouncing around on the side of a mountain, while a larger herd of them crossed the road in front of us. Farther down the road we watched two male and one female bald eagle ...we presume they were feeding on a carcass, but we were too far away to know for sure. We would have watched longer, except 3 young men who had stopped next to us for a few minutes soon chased the majestic birds off in an attempt to satisfy their curiosity.

It was a rather chilly morning, and between the cold and the chocolate milk I had for breakfast it wasn't long before I was dancing in my seat looking for the first available bathroom. I'd leave this out normally, but I feel I am doing a public service announcement for you all here... After a 11 can long line to get into the park, which seemed like it took forever.. and ironically enough.. there was only one vehicle behind us in line..ugh! ...anyway, there were pit bathrooms just past the entrance stations. Beggars can't be choosers, especially at this time of the year. Now here comes the part you all need to take notes on. Apparently the NPS likes to play a cruel joke in the winter/ spring. You see, the roofs tend to be cracked from the long, cold winters, and while they make an attempt (I think..) to caulk the cracks... there are strategically placed water droplets. ..lemme tell ya... it was a very glacial good morning I recieved. I certainly wasn't expecting it, but when the cold water made contact with my skin, I was definetely awake!

After complaining about their sense of humor, we were on our way again. We worried a little about their signs that suggested snow tires or chains, but figured maybe they just forgot to take down the signs, or that they really do have a warped sense of humor. The roads were all defintely passable where they let you go through, although some of it was less than fun. The scariest section was in an avalanche zone. The snow was plowed above the tops of vehicles, and you could see in various places where there were mini avalanches, and snow that had fallen making snowballs ...building a snowman would have been easy if you could have reached any of them without causing an avalanche!
We were in winter for a while, and as we were driving, we found a pull off with several cars, spotting scopes, cameras and a ranger.. usually a good sign of something really cool. It was an otter playing in the river. Definetely not what we were expecting, but very cool indeed. The thing we learned about this experience... otters look a lot like the loch ness monster when they are playing in the river, and they are also incredibly hard to get a good shot of! They are very cute though! ...I also realized just how much I really want the monster lens I saw on Amazon.com for 250. After watching him for a while, and after Randal finished talking to the Ranger, we moved on again. We saw teh normal critters, elk, bison and deer. Even saw teh first baby bison in the park. We found a place that had a ton of vehicles, people, cameras, binoculars, etc.. and several rangers.. we had the window down just in time to hear the ranger tellin the people next to her that there was a bear down there and they didn't know where it went, and if it pops out right here.. we are WAY too close. That was all we needed to hear. several seconds later we were pulled over, parked, and checking things out. The black bear never showed itself to us, it stayed hidden under the boardwalk for the terrace of Mamoth. ...Foiled again. Were were told of grizzly bears, black bears with cubs, and wolves all that we had apparently missed as well.
We went to Artists point to see the waterfall and we were gonna have lunch there when I realized I forgot to pack the bread for sandwhiches. argh. We decided we'd buy a loaf at the Canyon store since it wasn;'t too far away. The ice formations around the falls was pretty awesome.
We headed to Canyon and walked around the store, only to discover they didn't have any decent shirts for Sierra, and they didnt have any bread. We considered getting some hot food from the snack bar, until we saw 5.50 for a hot dog! I expect to pay a lil more for food there, but holy cow, thats highway robbery!
WE had lunchmeat and cheese rolls instead haha. Improvise when you have to! We hiked a little at the mud volcano area, but it started snowing and sleeting. It did the same thing to us at the waterfalls.
We also stopped at undine falls, a very nice little waterfall that I dont think I'd saw before. I was treated to an elk on the other side of the river, looking down teh canyon. I didn't really have enough of a lens for the shot, but I took a picture anyway.
We were a fraction of a minute too late (during a pretty good wet snow downpour) to see a bear AND a wolf in the same location. I'm almost not sure I'm sorry we missed that one.
We went home via cooke city and the chief Joseph scenic highway. We discovered a very important piece of information... Cooke City raised their gas by about 20-40 cents a gallon since Thursday!
talk about price gouging just cuz tourist season has begun!
The drive home was fairly uneventful, we saw lots of mule deer and elk, and drove through rain and mist most of the way. Which I might add is far better than snow.
I'm sure I missed a few things here and there.. but Randal can fill you in if I missed anything super important. For now, it's late. I promise to update this more often very soon. I will be done with college for the semester soon, so I can put more effort into this!