Thursday, July 7, 2011

adventures in the west: the wildlife

While driving, walking, biking, hiking through the park and enjoying the scenery is wonderful, I'm pretty sure that most people would be lying if they were to say that they aren't anxiously awaiting their first encounter with the animals of the national parks. Christina and I were lucky and had the chance to see a few different kinds of creatures in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons!

The first animal that we encountered was a BULL MOOSE! Very exciting, as not many people who go through the area get to see them! It was to the side of the road as we neared the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and the presence of the moose was made obvious by the cluster of cars and camera-carrying visitors that had gathered to document their witnessing a moose mulling about in a creek.
Then, we had our first of many bison sightings to come. The first sighting not as exciting, as they were far away, but as our trip went on, we came across bison right next to the cars on the side of the road, and some even walking through traffic! I have picked this iconic shot of a bison on top of a hill out West to share with you.
Last, but certainly not least, THE MARMOT!!! We saw three or four marmots, and they were ADORABLE. Our first marmot-sighting was on our hike up to the top of Mount Washburn. We saw this lil' guy close up at the end of our Cascade Canyon hike in the Grand Tetons! This marmot and another one were quite curious to see what we were eating and doing and came very close to us. Take a look!
There are all sorts of other kinds of wildlife that I wish we could have seen, including an elk or a pika. Especially a pika. However, I am quite content with the fact that our bear count stayed at a happy zero throughout the course of the trip.


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