Yellowstone

 School is back in session which means a couple things - 1) I am taking more photos than ever...but very few of them are the ones I really want to be taking and 2) My spare time is suddenly non-existent.

Both these things mean the blog posts are going to be fewer for the next 8 months or so. I will certainly try and post on weekends and will add in a post during the week when I can.

 Last weekend Ken and I went to Mammoth in Yellowstone Park for the weekend. The weather was glorious, the tourists were fewer and, surprise, the elk were already starting to make their way down from the high country.

We did two really good hikes while we were there: Specimen Ridge on Saturday and a 13 mile loop up and over Bunsen Peak from Mammoth Hotel on Sunday.  There were a few great wildlife shot opportunities and I am sharing a couple of my favorites here.

 The funny thing was that we didn't see a bear while we were in the Park but as we got about 15 miles from home I suddenly caught sight of a large animal moving in the nearby field. I screamed at Ken to stop the car - I'm sure he thought I was dying - and he pulled over so I could get these pics of this huge grizzly bear taking a mid-day stroll! You can see how close he was in these shots and this is after he had moved away from us while I was fumbling with my camera. In the shot below he is letting us know he sees us and doesn't want us any closer.

In several of the shots he actually looks like he is smiling.