First, we start in Wind Cave National Park, SD. I camped in a nice campground in the park. As I was settling down at my picnic table to review some maps for my next day's journey, I heard a little girl two campsites over shrieking, "a snake! A snake! It's a rattlesnake!." Her father, doubtful of her wild claims, said without getting up from his chair by the campfire, "it's not a rattlesnake." She insisted it was, so finally he got up to inspect, at which point he agreed, "you're right, it is a rattlesnake." Naturally, I had to walk over, introduce myself, and investigate. Sure enough...
The next morning I got up early, and it turns out dawn is a great time for viewing wildlife. Here we have an elk with a magnificent rack of antlers.
And a bunch of wild donkeys.
And a gaggle (?) of wild turkeys.
Next we stop in Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Here we see a baby mountain goat, with his mama behind him/her. I saw many mountain goats in my trip, and I found them universally unafraid of humans. They would graze directly next to a trail and seemed completely unaffected by the throngs of people that would stop to take pictures. Of course, I thus have many pictures of mountain goats, as you will see.
Next stop is Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Here we find some prairie dogs. They live in large communities, and they always have several dogs acting as sentries for the colony. If any potential threat approaches, they start chirping and barking warnings to the other prairie dogs. They are also really cute.
After Teddy Roosevelt, it was on to Glacier National Park. Within ten minutes of entering the park, I ran into a traffic jam caused by this bear foraging at road's edge. I luckily got a couple of pictures before he ran off into the woods. This was bear number 1 of the trip.
Later that day, I was on a hike up Avalanche Creek. I spotted a deer back in the woods, basically by sheer luck because their coats really are very good camouflage.
The next day in Glacier, I hiked near the top of Logan Pass, which proved to be rich in wildlife. First we have a bighorn sheep or ram, whatever you like to call them.
More mountains goats, and yes, I was this close. They are very docile, not so much that I was tempted to try petting one though...
Here is a yellow bellied marmot. Big Lebowski jokes aside, they are rather cute.
Parent and baby mountain goats.
Finally, I got a picture of a mountain goat with his habitat in the background (i.e. mountains). You'll note that they look very mangy, but that is because they shed their heavy winter coats all summer. By August, they have almost completely shed their coats. They will start to regrow them in September.
Here we have a ground squirrel posing.
Bald eagle number 1.
Bald eagle number 2.
This was bear number 3 (I wasn't able to get a picture of bear number 2). I saw this one on my way to Canada on my third day in Glacier. I had woken early to tackle Logan Pass before traffic backed up. As I was climbing the pass, this bear poked his head up above the retaining wall, looked around, and decided it was safe to jump into the road in front of my truck. I slowed down and immediately started fumbling with my camera (stupid digital takes forever to initialize). He scampered down the road in front of me for about 25-30 yards, then found a place on the cliff that he could climb. I passed him at that point, and because of the low light and his quick movements, all I was able to get was a blur of blond fur charging up the cliff. I think he was a grizzly.
In Canada, I stopped in Waterton, which is the town inside Waterton Lakes National Park, the Canadian analog to Glacier National Park. In town there was a park, which I parked my truck next to, full of deer, none of whom seemed to give the slightest damn about all the people mmilling about.
From Glacier National Park, I headed south to Yellowstone National Park. Right after entering (and before I spent any real time there) I encountered these elk lounging around on the lawns of Mammoth Hot Springs, which is the closest thing to a town inside the park. The park rangers were out in force to keep people from getting too close.
The next morning, I started my tour of the park. Again, it was early, which turned out to be perfect for seeing wildlife. Here is bear number 4 of the trip (first for Yellowstone). I remember thinking he was a grizzly at the time, given his fur color (which isn't dispositive) and what I thought was a hump over his shoulders, but his head in this picture makes him look a lot like a black bear.
A short drive from bear number 4, several cars parked along the side of the road indicated that there was likely some animal worth seeing in the meadows on either side of the road. Sure enough, there he was: bear number 5. This one is clearly a grizzly.
South from there, I entered the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone, which is prime area for seeing large wildlife like bison. The mass of the herd, however, was at the other, roadless, end of the valley, so I only saw a couple. Here's one napping at a distance.
And two swimming across the Yellowstone River.
Some geese chilling in a pond.
A squirrel with a nut.
If you've been following the blog, you've seen this picture before, but I reposted because this is about as close to a wild bison as I've ever been--and about as close as I'd ever want to be (if I wasn't eating him in the form of a delicious burger).
While this isn't wildlife, I had to post this pic as evidence of wildlife. This is where a bear has scratched a tree, and by the look of the gashes, relatively recently. I started making a lot more noise after seeing this.
A robin.
After Yellowstone, I headed south into Colorado, which marked the end of seeing large animals. Near Steamboat Springs, CO, I came across this little guy, who was struggling with a large nut. I maintain chipmunks are the cutest of rodents. And so full of energy--they must run everywhere; I've never seen a chipmunk walk. When they run, their tails stick straight up in the air. Adorable.
More rodents in Summit County, CO.
Another ground squirrel vogues for the camera: divas of the rodent world, I say.
More chipmunks. These guys would eat out of your hand if you had some sunflower seeds for them.
At the same place, there were a couple of blue jays competing for the remnant sunflower seeds that the chipmunks and ground squirrels left behind.
After Colorado, and my laziness in New Mexico, I headed into Zion National Park. Here we see some deer, barely captured before a cyclist blocked the view.
And a lizard--what kind, I don't know.
Finally, the wildest of all the wildlife encountered...
Stay tuned for more special editions in the coming days!
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