Yellowstone river and Fishing Bridge Area

Yellowstone River and Fishing Bridge Area - 7/25-26

Okay, I think we are about done with Geysers, Paint Pots and fumaroles…  Enough said..

We went around the Lower Loop further than yesterday, and reached the areas of Yellowstone River and Fishing Bridge.

The Yellowstone river flows from the north end of Yellowstone Park south to Yellowstone Lake, then picks up as a river again out of the south end of the lake, and flows out through the south end of Yellowstone Park.

The majority of Yellowstone River is not accessible to visitors in the north end of the park, other than by long hiking trails.  The River is readily accessible on the east end of the South Loop, from Canyon Village, where the Upper and Lower Falls (both shown in a previous blog update) are falls on the Yellowstone River. The loop road follows the River from Canyon Village, south to Fishing Bridge where it flows into Yellowstone Lake.

It is a meandering river, making its way south, creating lots of marshy flood plain areas where many of the wildlife can be seen foraging in these marshy areas. Here is an abstract picture, showing the meandering nature of the river.

You can see there are lots of side tributaries, creating these marshy areas where the animals feed.

I created two abstracts, so you are going to see them both. Here is the second one.

Here is a herd of Elk – Trust me, they are elk, even though they are small in the picture…

Just to the right of the Elk were some bison grazing – Trust me these are Bison..

Here is an image of 3 Grizzly Bears. It looks like one large, one medium and one cub, but don’t take my word on this one, because I’m not sure.

I took about 80 pictures of these bears, trying to get a better idea of their relationship, but to no avail.  Here is a closer version of the same image. You figure it out. Normally the Papa bear does not associate with the Mama and Cubs, but who knows…

Further south on the river, you can see that it has overflowed it’s banks, as it is covering the trunks of these trees.

Normally the buffalo just cross the road when they want to, but this bashful one was waiting in the trees for me to pass.

When I parked and waited, he hesitated for a minute or two, then came across the road.

We continued on past Fishing Bridge to an area where White Pelicans are sometimes seen. We got lucky, and here is the proof.

There were lots of other waterfowl there too – Canadian Geese and Mallards.

Down the road we found a herd of female elk, gathering for afternoon tea, or something.

Then we came across a Bull Elk, having his afternoon tea, alone.

Then a Bald Eagle sitting proudly on its nest.

As the sun went down for the day, it gave us a really nice red sunset that Sylvia couldn’t pass up.

And the picture she took…

Another day turns to dusk....