Thursday, July 19th: Canyon Village Yellowstone Nat’l Park or … Wildlife hunting AND falls viewing!

At 5.30 am the alarm wakes us: is this your surprise? Getting up early on our duff day??? Yeah: we’re are going hunting for wildlife. The “Looser-Cruiser” of Yellowstone is picking us up at our door. 

The Looser Cruiser in Yellow, of course!

Trevor, our guide of the day is one bundle of energy and excitement. This going to be a fun tour! Another 12 people join this tour and soon we are on our way. North, that is to Dunraven Pass – with its 2700 m the highest point in Yellowstone Nat’l Park. 

We are above tree line, but there are enough yellow wildflowers to feed some grizzly bears. I guess they’ve already had their breakfast, ‘cause not one shows its head. The pressure is on, Trevor! We ride past Mount Washburn: on top there is a manned fire tower. That guy up there must have one hell of a view – and one lonesome job!  As we approach Tower Junction the terrain is carved by the Yellowstone River. We now turn right towards the Lamar Valley. A herd of bison blocks our way on the bridge over the Yellowstone river. 

There are some calves in the herd – so cute. One big bull looks at us as if he wants to charge us… 

Good thing we are in the Looser-Cruiser! At last, the park ranger in the car behind us gets his siren going and off they go – not so willingly giving away their space to us. As we enter the Lamar Valley we immediately see cars parked in a turn out. Out of the bus we go – but we were a bit too late to see a grizzly!

It doesn't say what carcass!

 More pressure on Trevor! He is best friends with the Wolf people here 

and he is telling us that yesterday some park rangers saw two wolfs catch an elk in the river. One grabbed the shoulder, while the other one went for the throat and then they held it under water for a couple of times, until it didn’t fight anymore. The wolf people here were around and they were sure the wolves were going to cross the road again to go for some more hunting today. The pups were in the den above where the trees were.  Some turn outs further on the drive another traffic jam. Yes – there were 3 wolves fooling around amongst the herd of bison. Soon they were going to go over the hill. So we hopped back on the bus and drove to the next turn out. 

It's hard to see but next to the road stands the black wolf!

And yes, just as we got there the black wolf crossed the road – on it went to the river! Excitement all over! Some more waiting and then came the grey wolf. She took her time and played around for while. It was just so amazing to witness all this in the wild – just as nature wants it to happen. The wolf people and the park rangers helped everyone out pointing out where the wolves were, they let us look through their scopes and they had their eyes on the safety for the wolves as they told people in cars not to stop between certain points. On our way back home we saw some more amazing things: a herd of antelope – someone sitting near the river with a bison at her back (scary) – a coyote – a black bear with two cubs resting behind some trees (here the ranger was in charge again).

People watching the bear behind the trees

Trevor: you got all your points! This valley is certainly a must! Back at the cabins we took the Sweet Machine and cycled a short distance (crossing a bison along the road) to the turn off for the North rim drive of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. A masterpiece of nature, carved by the Yellowstone river. Lewis and Clark never got this far up the river – how would they have reacted seeing all this beauty here! We hiked down to the brink of the Lower Falls (which is the tallest one in the park with 94 m) and enjoyed seeing the rainbow. 

A hike on the trail of the rim wasn’t exactly meant for the Sweat Machine but we pushed her up and down this narrow path to the Lookout Point. 

Then my boss chose to cycle the rest of the North Rim Drive. Back at the cabins, we felt so lucky to have seen so much in one day. Thanks Trevor, thanks Mother Nature!