canyon day tour

Yesterday we were booked on an all-day tour to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which not only goes to Canyon but also drives the entire lower loop of the park as well. Because all of the interior roads are closed, a tour like this is the only way you can get to the Hayden Valley or Yellowstone Lake. We knew the other six guests on the trip, and our guide and driver was our neighbor and all-around great guy, so we were excited to get loaded up and on the road.

Our first stop was Gibbon Falls, where the NPS is working on moving the road and constructing a new bridge to restore some of the thermal features in the area.


A short while later we pulled over along the Gibbon River to see a total of 6 swans 'a swimming


When the snowcoach is in motion the front windows are kept open a crack to prevent the windshield from fogging up, but whenever we stopped we had to make sure that we closed them to keep out the ravens.


Yup, ravens are apparently winter's criminals, and there are signs up everywhere warning you to secure your lunch. Apparently last year a tour group came back to their coach to find a huge raven inside, ripping into someone's lunch.


We stopped at the Chittendon Bridge, over the Yellowstone River, to look for Otters.


Sadly we didn't see any otters, just their tracks.


Steve still managed a smile anyway.


We had a picnic lunch at Artist's Point, which overlooks the lower falls (and is one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world.)


And then we drove up to the Lower Falls for a quick look around.


We were all anxious to get to the Hayden Valley, as wolves have been spotted near Mud Volcano this week. Our friend, who delivers snacks to the vending machines via snowmobile, interrupted a pack of wolves chasing a herd of bison on Saturday: they stopped just ahead of her in the road and basically shook their heads at her for spoiling their hunt.

Just north of Mud Volcano we spotted two bison off in the distance, and all of a sudden they started running. Soon two wolves could be seen coming down the hill, and we watched them from a (great) distance for a while rolling in the snow and half-heartedly pursuing the bison.

We haven't seen any bison since we left the northern range, but in the Hayden there were hundreds of them, including this guy who looked like he was wearing part of a Christmas tree


and of course, the requisite snow-on-bison-face shot, from rooting around looking for something (non-frozen) to eat.


We did stop at Mud Volcano, where it was cool to see mud bubbling up from the earth, the steam mixing with the snow that was falling.


As we approached Fishing Bridge we spotted this fox on the side of the road. He watched us, we watched him, until he grew bored of us and wandered away into the forest.



Our last scheduled stop of the day was at the Lake Hotel, where Yellowstone Lake has only frozen over about halfway at this point.


We all arrived back at the lodge at 6 p.m. Guests who have taken the tour always tell us how tired they are, and we couldn't understand why until we jumped out of the coach. It was an awesome, but awesomely long day, and we still had to finish up our regular shift. We grabbed a quick dinner (and some caffeine!) and worked until 9. As we were heading home our little coyote friend went running past the front door of the lodge. We watched him, and his partner, for a few minutes before we headed home for the night.