Close Encounters With Bears

Our first full day in Yellowstone National Park really put the "full" in "full day." We began with another roadside bison encounter on our way north (and counter-clockwise) around the park's Grand Loop Road. Soon we arrived at the Mud Volcano (a roiling pit of liquidy mud) and Dragon's Mouth Spring (a belching cave of steam). These aren't exactly "hidden gems" of Yellowstone, as they're right there on the loop road -- impossible to miss unless you simply choose not to stop. But I think they're among the neater places in Yellowstone that would never be on the Family Feud board for "Name a feature of Yellowstone National Park."

From there, we continued north to a feature that almost certainly would, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I wrote a lot about it from my previous Yellowstone trip, but it was easy to be awed all over again. I've never been to the actual Grand Canyon myself, but have heard plenty of "it's not as impressive as you'd think" reviews from people who have -- including from the friend who was traveling with us, who is from Arizona. But she was as wowed by the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone -- and its massive two-tiered waterfall -- as I was.

Continuing north in the park, we reached the area near Mount Washburn. Winter persisted at the tops of the peaks here, and we soon encountered an unusually large traffic jam. In Yellowstone, this can only mean two things: road repair or rare wildlife encounter. It was the latter, as some eagle-eyed visitors had spotted a black bear shredding on a tree stump far back in the woods. How they'd spotted it so far back, I can't imagine... but it's not like you'd want to have been much closer.

Soon after that, we stopped at an area that was new to all three of us, an overlook at a spot named Calcite Springs, a real treat for park visitors interested in rock striations.

After that, we headed out the north entrance of the park to Gardiner, Montana -- both to enjoy a cold beer and a few minutes of solid cell service, and to snap a picture at Yellowstone's iconic Roosevelt Arch entrance.

Re-entering the park, we stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs, which I am sad to report was the one stop of the entire trip that didn't live up to my past experience of it. Yellowstone is changing all the time, and it isn't being kind to Mammoth Hot Springs. And lest I think it was a minor fluctuation, I overheard a conversation where someone told their friend "you should have seen this place 40 years ago." Water sources seem to be gradually drying up in this area. The alien "shelves" of rock are drying out -- still pretty in a way, but increasingly leeched of color and looking lifeless. This area, which was actually used as the backdrop for Spock's home of Vulcan in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, may in my lifetime look more like the desolate lunar landscape than anything else.

From there, we gradually worked our way back to our lodge -- a drive of well more than an hour, as far out as we'd gone... and longer even than we expected, owing to what may count as the day's "awkward encounter." Back at the start of the day at the Mud Volcano, a gushing woman came up to us (uninvited, so far as I know) to tell us that a mama grizzly and her two cubs were about a half mile up the road, and if we hurried, we might see them. No such luck. (Actually call this the awkward encounter -- she'd just decided to go up to strangers and con them?)

But as we were now approaching the Mud Volcano again on our drive back, traffic again ground to a halt. Sure enough, there in the meadow -- just barely outside the recommended distance park visitors should keep between themselves and bears -- was a mama grizzly and two of the most playful cubs you could imagine. They wrestled with each other like I remember our two cats doing constantly as kittens. One even got dismissed with a smack when it tried to start something with Mom. They put on a show for at least 15 minutes, that drew oohs and "aaaaaaw"s from a crowd of well over a hundred. I estimate at least 3,000 pictures and videos were snapped in this short span (and it felt like we took half of them). It was an amazing encounter to shake you out of any torpor about seeing "more wildlife" at Yellowstone, and a great capper on a great day.