Saturday, 02 March 2007 - Winter in Yellowstone National Park on snowcat for a second day.
An early day at the Yellowstone Club. Cal was headed back to Yellowstone Park for another
winter photography treat.
Before anyone even is up the crews grooming the ski slopes are moving across the mountains.
Hard to see but there is a little light in the left center on the snow where a grooming
tractor is moving. Cal was up ready for a trip into Yellowstone Park - pretty early
The valley leading toward Bozman from Pioneer Mountain just before sunrise.
We began the trip seeing animals right off. A elk to note of the humans while in a snowy field.
An of course the bison were up and moving about.
The ridge line on the other side of the Madison River. There were several bison and
elk in the valley which took your eyes away from the beautiful landscapes.
An elk relaxing on the snow.
We traveled along the Gibbon River moving east. This is Gibbon Falls, an 84-foot waterfall.
Beryl Spring's strongly boiling blue pool is about 25 feet wide and contains high-chloride
liquid water with a near-neutral pH. Immediately behind the pool is a loud, hissing
fumarole producing a white cloud of steam.
The valley carved by the Gibbon River.
Remarkable to see these Trumpeter Swans on the Yellowstone River moving between the ice
flows. We always thought of swans as more fair weather birds.
Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River - this waterfall is over 300 feet high and the ice
goes all the way to the top.
A tree grows on a ledge below Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River.
Normally you would see water behind the tree - but it is frozen over.
Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River - this falls is over 300 feet high - you can see the size
based on the trees and the river flowing out of the ice. The falls has iced up the entire
height and a huge ice flow is created at the bottom of the falls.
Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River - beautiful blue ice forms for the entire length of the falls
An River Otter sits outside a hole in the ice covering Yellowstone River. The otters would
catch a fish and come up onto the ice to eat - they were too fast for me to catch with the fish.
They would then pose for a picture and then go back into the water.
We watched the River Otters for a long time finally being pried away by our guide. They were so fun to watch
moving so fast and playing on the ice.
Typically covered with bison and, if your are lucky a wolf pack, is Hayden Valley.
Here the Yellowstone River meanders through the snow covered valley.
Norris Geyser Basin is the largest geothermal area in Yellowstone Park. We only had 40
minutes here and could have spent 3 hours wandering around the paths.
This is Emerald Spring, a 200 degree hot spring
Steamboat Geyser goes off rarely, 2005 was the last time. It is the largest geyser
in the world when it does erupt. Just bubbling on this day.
Cistern Spring, the silica rich water kills the surrounding trees - making for an interesting landscape
As we were headed out of the park an eagle swept down in front of the snowcat into the river a
plucked a fish out of the Madison River and then began dining on the other side of the river.
Wish they would humor all the tourist and stay on our side of the river the pictures would be much better.
A coyote in a field along the Gibbon River.
An eagle across the Gibbon River watching for fish. So cool that the first thing
we saw on the first day of exploring Yellowstone was an eagle in a tree on the Gibbon River
and the last picture is the same - maybe the same eagle??
