Yellowstone Day 4 & 5

Day 4 - So by day 4 we had finally gotten used to the altitude and the weather had finally warmed up significantly. No snow to be seen this morning. So we decided to do two hikes. The first hike was pretty special it went along the rim of the canyon and was about 5 miles. This hike can also be called the hike where we saw a whole bunch of animals :)

As we were hiking we came across this guy. We had seen one before when we went camping at Sequoia. He stayed very still the whole time and Jamie was able to snap this great picture. This is a marmot. They are somewhat common, we saw two of them at different locations during our hikes. After Jamie took his picture he scampered off.

We had been scanning the cliffs of the canyon trying to see some big horn sheep. I finally spotted one along the edge with a baby. I thought that was great and we were really happy we saw one even if it was through the binoculars...but then we turned away from the cliff and onto a small meadow/clearing and a whole herd of big horn sheep were starring right at us.

Apparently, they graze here quite often. Its still early in the season so none of them had their fully grown horns yet. They were losing their winter coats and getting ready for the summer.

After getting excited about the big horn sheep we start to make our way down the hill and out of the corner of our eyes we spot something moving. Just in the distance, to the right of the white tree trunk in the center of the picture is a wolf. We had come to understand that the prize viewing of the park were the wolves. They usually are in a pack but this one was making its way quickly past us. We were able to get a good look at him and I'm sure he got a good look at us as well. It was amazing, the way it moved and held itself was truly spectacular. I don't think either of us will forget this moment.

We did another hike that afternoon in a different location. It was 4.5 miles and was called the lost lake hike. The lake was beautiful and a good place to spot a moose but no moose in sight. Unfortunately, another trip to Yellowstone without seeing one. At least the views of the area were spectacular.

We did another short hike to a waterfall and I came across this guy. At first I thought it was a lizard but then noticed it didn't have a body. So we even got to see a snake in Yellowstone.

Here is Jamie in our hotel lobby enjoying the fire and talking to his amazing wife :) The Park doesn't have any TVs, Radios, Internet or even cell phone coverage so we truly got to get away from the world for a while.

Day 5 - Day 5 was a transition day. It was time to leave Yellowstone and head south to a very warm Zion National Park in Utah. As we were getting ready to leave the park we were delayed by a heard of buffalo. The buffalo are allowed to roam freely in the park but are not allowed to leave the park in the spring and summer. They carry a virus that is detrimental to cattle and so they are always herded by mounted rangers or helicopters to move them back into the park if they are too close to the borders.

So we also got to see mounted rangers herding the cattle back into the park. It took 20 minutes for the whole herd to pass us and some of those buffalo decided to run away from the horses and towards the cars. It was quite a sight. Our total animal sightings were 13 bears, a dozen big horn sheep, 2 coyotes, 2 marmots, a few prong horns, a snake, a bald eagle, a fox, a wolf, and lot and lots of bison, elk and deer. From here we drove down to Southern Utah and on to Zion.