This June will be our fourth trip to Yellowstone in four years. We have seen many amazing sights and witnessed some amazing animal interactions. Looking back over our previous three trips there are several events and moments that stand out. Seeing our first wolf, watching a black bear take down an elf calf, watching wolves dig into a coyote den and seeing a moose calf struggle to avoid drowning all stand out in my mind. With all that we have seen and all that we have experienced, its still easy to pick out the moment that we both completely fell in love with the park. We didn't know it at the time, but this series of events was to have a great impact on our vacation planning for the next several years.
Our first trip to Yellowstone was in June of 2010. We visited the park as part of a giant circuit from Denver to Mount Rushmore to Devil's Tower to Yellowstone to Grand Tetons and finally back to Denver. It was an amazing trip. We entered Yellowstone with no real expectations and only the vaguest idea of what we might experience.
One evening we arrived late back at our cabin at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. One thing we learned on that first trip is that the availability of food does not always match the time that you are hungry. We found the snack bar closed at the hotel so we had to head to the General Store at Fishing Bridge in hopes of finding a sandwich. As we drove the short distance between Lake and Fishing Bridge we saw an elk cow with a very young calf on the side of the road. We stopped in the fading light and snapped a few photos before hurrying away to try to beat the closing of the store (we didn't).
As has been true with all of our trips to the park, we woke well before daylight the next morning, packed the suv and headed out in hopes of seeing animals. We were heading to Hayden Valley that morning. As we drove along the same stretch of road that we had driven the night before, we spotted a grizzly along the side of the road. We were the only vehicle on the road at such an early hour so we slowed to a crawl to watch. As we watched the bear we realized that we were in the same location we had seen the elk cow and calf in the night before. We also realized the bear was scent trailing something. We could only guess that it was the elk and calf from the night before.
We eased our suv to the side of the road and quietly watched the bear as it trailed its prey. Finally, the bear found a stronger scent and took off at a gallop. He quickly crossed the road in front of us and disappeared into a grove of trees.
We scanned the trees for looking for any sign of movement that would indicate where the bear had gone and what was happening out of our sight. In a few moments motion caught our eye as an elk calf and cow came bursting from the trees into a clearing. We could only assume that it was the same cow and calf we had seen the night before. We watched as the pair ran into a second set of trees. By this point we were very excited about what we were seeing. We watched both patches of trees to see what would unfold next. In a few minutes we were rewarded with one of the strangest sights either of us have ever seen. The bear came galloping out of the first set of trees following the trail of the elk. Inexplicably, hot on the heels of the bear was a coyote. We were both caught so off guard by the appearance of the coyote that neither of us managed to get a single shot of it. The unlikely pair quickly crossed the clearing and entered the second group of trees.
We sat breathless, staring into the trees to see what would happen next. As we scanned the trees for any movement the elk cow and her calf ran out of the trees and crossed the road in front of us.
After crossing the road, the elk cow jumped a fence, the calf scoooted under the fence and they ran out of sight.
We quickly turned our attention back to the trees from where the elk had came. We watched and waited for several minutes hoping to see more. Unfortunately, the bear nor the coyote came back into view for us.
Later, we would take much better photos. We went on to see other interactions that were equally if not more interesting. But it was that moment, as we sat there reliving what had just happened, that we knew that we would be coming back again and again.
Yellowstone is full of surprises. We didn't set out that morning to see a coyote chasing a bear chasing an elk. That is where the magic lies. There is always something unexpected to see, there is always something amazing unfolding. It is simply a matter of being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and then patient enough to see what unfolds. With each trip, with each day, with each turn of the head there is always the possibility of seeing something amazing.
