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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Winter Vacation Scenes

Here are a few snapshots from our trip to Yellowstone. I was struck by the vast vistas and towering mountains all around us. Every time we stepped out of the car, there was another jaw-dropping scene. The weather was mostly cold with temperatures dipping as low as minus twenty at the start of the trip with sunny skies. Later in the week it warmed up to the twenties and even thirties and there was snowfall, heavy at times. But we were prepared with all of our cold weather gear. I found that my feet got cold in the car while I was wearing my big boots so when we’d drive somewhere I’d remove them and keep the blood flowing to my toes. Occasionally my fingers got cold when I was busy looking through the scope or making photos.

We stayed outside of Gardiner for three nights and in Cooke City for two nights. Cooke City is interesting. It is ‘the end of the road’ for the long winter season. The main transportation around there is by snow machine. We were the odd ones out because we like walking! It was pretty obvious that we were tourists.

A Walk Around Mammoth Hot Springs

During the winter months, the only plowed road in Yellowstone is the one that goes across the north side from Mammoth and out to Cooke City. So the only thermal features we saw were at Mammoth. We spent part of an afternoon walking around the travertine terraces. It’s an ever-changing spot with hot springs drying up in one place showing up new places all the time. I particularly enjoyed the contrast of the hot water, the snow, the steam and the frost.

Rabbit?
Magpies were finding small bugs in the hot water

A Few Water Birds

Winter is not a great time for bird diversity in Yellowstone. We probably saw less than a dozen species of birds. Bald and Golden Eagles, American Robin, Barrow’s and Common Goldeneyes, Mallards, American Dipper, Clark’s Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Common Raven, Black-billed Magpie. I think that’s all.

The goldeneyes were in small mixed groups, diving and feeding most of the time and easily seen from the road. The dippers were busy too, flying up and down the stream, calling to each other. Only once did I get a chance to make photos of them.

Yellowstone Fox

We’d been told it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a fox in Yellowstone but that wasn’t our experience. We got to see one as we were making our last drive through the northern part of the park. A number of other people were watching and photographing it so it was easy to spot. Several us photographed from the road but one person had made her way down into the draw to the viewer’s left and after a few minutes the fox got up and moved farther to the right. Maybe the animal felt that she had invaded its space? There are strict guidelines for watching and photographing wildlife in the park and no doubt, it is tempting to want to get closer. It appears that this animal has a case of mange or maybe an injury to its tail.

Elk and Bighorns and Moose, Oh My!

Yellowstone is home to all manner of wildlife and we enjoyed watching lots and lots of animals in the snow. Our biggest challenges were moose, otters and fox. We did find one fox on our last day as we were leaving the park. We never saw an otter. And as we approached our friends’ house, south of Missoula, Brad jumped out of his car and began waving his arms like crazy. What? There was a cow/calf pair of moose in the pasture not a mile from their house. They weren’t in the park but we were happy to see them on our vacation to Montana and Yellowstone!