Early Morning Elk

This morning and yesterday evening we went to see see the elk at Winslow Hill in Pennsylvania. We went to the viewing area behind the new Visitor's Center that has just opened. It was a bit foggy this morning, but we saw a large bull watching over his harem, appearing out of the mist over the ridge of the hill. It is mating season and the bugling of the elk could be heard all around.

As it got lighter the sun began to burn off the fog.

The group moved across the field, heading for the woods to rest for the day.

The bull must have decided that they weren't moving fast enough and he prodded them into a little faster motion.

There was a youngster amongst the group, not a whole lot smaller than mama.

What had begun as leisurely feeding became a faster pace towards the trees.

They were alert and watchful when they heard any noise.

The bull was a large elk in his prime and quite beautiful. The bugling sounds he made almost sent a shiver down the spine.

As we moved on down the road, we spotted an old bull near the road. He was quite thin and looked a little ragged. I imagine that just a few years ago he looked much like the bull in the photo above, but time takes its toll on us all.

Last night we saw a herd of probably 25, with maybe 8 bulls among them. They were quite active, and I did take quite a few photos, but the light was fading fast and the photos weren't as clear as those I took this morning. I think we are perhaps about a week early to see the most action, but I think we did all right for the limited amount of time we had to spend at Winslow Hill. It was well worth the time we took to see these majestic animals. As the morning progressed, we continued on down the scenic road through the Pennsylvania Wilds. The leaves have begun turning color and it was a gorgeous sunny day for a drive through the woods.

Snowy Yellowstone

We left Victor on Saturday and headed back east towards Yellowstone. We stopped at a car museum and an old Montana prison museum. I'll post more about them later. It was a beautiful sunny day for a drive and we made it to West Yellowstone where we spent the night. Of course the snow caught up with us again and Sunday morning it was snowing with about three inches on the ground and 14 degrees. We went on into Yellowstone Park and it was beautiful. A couple legs of the roads were closed but most of the park access was open.

We stopped at the mud pots and went for a walk around them.

A couple of ravens were in the parking lot greeting everyone. Ravens are great beggars and I think they were a bit annoyed that I didn't give them a handout.

We continued on towards Old Faithful.

It was snowy and cold, but we waited to see Old Faithful erupt. It was a bit of an anticlimax though as it was cold enough that all you could see was lots of steam.

We then continued on towards the east entrance of Yellowstone. We had checked at the Visitor's Center before watching Old Faithful, and the roads were okay, but as we started out they had the gate partially closed but said chains required, so we and several other people went on. We have a Ford 350 that is set up for Alaska winters so we weren't concerned about the snow. However, when we got over the Continental Divide that runs through this section of the road, the gates were closed and locked and we were unable to go on. We had to turn back and go over the pass again. I think there was a little miscommunication on the two ends of the road. We got back to the Old Faithful visitor's center and checked to see what was going on. The only road still open was through West Yellowstone. Time for Plan B! We decided it was time to head south and look for some warmer temps. We did come across a herd of elk, so we stopped for a few photos.

On our way in we had seen a couple bunches of elk, but they were too far away for good photos.

We also saw some buffalo but they were too far off the road. Coming down the mountain we saw a grizzly bear cross the road but he was into the trees before I could get a shot.

Driving out of the park the snow had stopped and the sun came out. The roads were clear and it was a beautiful drive.

It was disappointing to have to backtrack west again and to miss so much of the park, but we'll try again another time. We have both seen Yellowstone before, although it's been many years. I saw it in 1972 and Marty was there in 1951. Sunday we got as far as Logan, Utah, and we got out of the snow and found some warmer temps. However, Monday we head east and back over the Continental Divide again. The Midwest has forecasts for storms for the next couple of days, so stay tuned to see if the snow and cold follow us! Ironically, back home in Fairbanks there is no snow and the daytime temps are up to 60 degrees and that is likely to continue for another week. When we left home and it was snowy and cold Marty said we should have left a week earlier. After seeing the temperatures at home now, he said we should have left two weeks later. But we've seen some beautiful scenery, gotten some wonderful photos, and visited with good friends. We said we were going to see where the road took us, and this leg of our journey is a little unexpected, but there are lots more adventures ahead of us. Until next time......