On our first full day, we went into town, picked up our general delivery mail, and visited the Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center. At the latter, we watched "Spirit" enjoy the nicely-done exhibit and entertain the guests with occasional close-ups and various antics such as...
scratching one's hiney on a tree...
or searching for goodies (looked like a tangerine had escaped its hiding spot and rolled out into the open by the rocks on the right - Spirit soon found it and ate it!) as part of the habitat enrichment the keepers do. This guy was obviously living the good life and had adapted to his new settings. Most of the bears at this place have, unfortunately, become "trouble bears." Because of ignorant, careless humans, they have accessed easy, tasty human food one too many times. And rather than be killed, these lucky few at least get to live out their years in comfort and ease - thanks to entry fees/donations by visitors - so go visit: http://www.grizzlydiscoveryctr.com/! (they have wolves there too, but you know, a CarrieBearie's bias would be towards the bears!)
I heard a few bear bells on fellow hikers, but mostly what I found was no noisemakers were necessary on the popular trails (I did go on one lesser-used trail outside of The Park, and I made occasional noises, just in case - but no bells)!! The endless chatter of hiking groups on these crowded paths was more than enough to warn any wildlife away well in advance!!
One exhibit at the center featured...trash cans! Their bears participate in design testing! Especially smelly goodies are placed in the various trash containers and the bears do their part and try to break in. If, after 90 minutes, the bear has not succeeded, the container is certified as bear-resistant, and you probably have a grumpy, frustrated bear! Otherwise, the bear is happy, but the trash can is not a good one for bear country!
A Carrie and A Bearie!
Man, this guy is a real animal lover, eh?! Some of you might recall a certain photo from our Carlsbad, NM, visit last year - where he was caught kissing a bat statue!
OK, now to the good stuff! Here's our first real stop in The Park. This is the run-off from one of the little pools (Silex Spring, I believe) by the boardwalk around the Fountain Paint Pot area in the Lower Geyser Basin.
A pretty little geyser (that fount is only a few feet tall) in the same area - I'm not sure what this one's name was (OK, I think I figured it out - Clepsydra Geyser). Hard to keep them all straight - there are reportedly over 10,000 geothermal features in Yellowstone!!! And I believe it! There are pools, springs, vents, fumaroles, geysers, and other steaming, spitting, and stinking things all over the place here! It's wonderful!
And I thought this was the Celestine Pool (when looking up this stuff on-line, I found that this was one of the pools that someone dove into - to save a dog - and died hours later as a result...). Like in a Nathaniel Hawthorne story, beautiful but deadly! But now I realize I don't know what pool this is! I can't find a matching photo and can't figure it out! Oh well, blame it on the next vision of greatness - this next one eclipses all the others - even on-line!
Folks appreciating the Grand of the Grand - the Grand Prismatic Spring (in the Midway Geyser Basin), undoubtedly one of the most amazing and beautiful sights in all of Yellowstone. Thus, all the photos that follow!
No saturation required! These colors pop on their own - they are realistically unreal/naturally unnatural! (but a polarizer was used)
Check out all the foot/hoof?prints in the orange part, probably bison?
Excelsior Glacier - another awesome sight, near the Grand Prismatic.
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