YELLOW STONE - THE HOME OF WILDLIFE

May 23, 2008. The second day in Yellow Stone National Park and the 12th day for Team Travel America since started travelling on may 12. We are going to continue our visit tomorrow too. This park is huge. The distance from North to South visitor center is 79 miles and, East to West visitor center is 83 miles.

When we woke up in the morning the weather was beautiful. It was a perfect sunny day to see the mountains top covered with snow. We started driving leaving the tent the same place we spent last night. We are also planning to camp tonight here.

The first thing in the morning we went to visitor center. We got map for the park and more information where we can see the wild animals better.We grabbed our binoculars and started heading from Mammoth Hot Springs to Roosevelt Lodge.

There were Bison everywhere in the field. On the field right and left side of the road what we saw frequently was a Bison. Sometimes we saw them when they cross the road where we were driving.Most of the time we saw them ranging from one to twenty ( even more) in number either grazing grass or walking.

Bison were heavily hunted throughout in the 1800s and by 1900. Only a few dozens remained wild. Male Bison can weigh as much as 2000 pounds and both sexes can run faster than humans.

It was not also hard to see Elk in the mountainous area. Elk is a member of the deer family. Only male Elk have antlers. The antlers are shed each spring and regrow during summer. They feed on grasses. Their mating season is autumn and start calling to attract female.

Then we saw Pronghorn which is the fastest land animal in North America. Approximately, 200 Pronghorn live in Yellow Stone.

Andy and Avi have been using their binoculars to see many wild animals. Then we headed to Roosevelt Lodge where President Roosevelt camped. President Roosevelt put a corner stone for an arch to North entrance.

Every time we travel we have food in a cooler. We have turkey sandwiches for lunch. So we sat down on grass and grabbed lunch. After lunch we kept on driving to North East entrance. It is located in Montana. On our way there in addition to looking for more wild animals to see, we also really impressed with snow covered mountains. We also stopped by the mountain and played freesbee.I recommend you to go and see the pictures in our web site. You will love it :-)

It was closer to the evening so it was the best time to see more wild animals.When we drove from Roosevelt Lodge to North East entrance and back to Mammoth Hot Springs we saw Grizzly Bear, Black Bear (one with 2 young cubs),Moose, Wolf, Coyote, Goats, and many kinds of birds including a bald eagle.

In the early 1900s, Wolves and other predators were killed in Yellow Stone. Since that time , Scientists have recognised predators as essential members of any ecosystem. They eat Elk, Deer and a variety of small mammals.

Now we are heading to our tent. Avi is going to fix pasta for dinner. The weather was nice today so I am not going to sleep early like yesterday:-) Tomorrow we are going to visit hot springs and geysers and then drive to Grand Tetons National Park. Hope you are enjoying our trip. Keep in touch.