welcome to the callenharty.com yellowstone trip day four page


6/18/02, 9:15 a.m., Cody, Wyoming
I completely forgot to document one of the more magical moments of the day yesterday. There have been so many magical and mystical moments that it can be hard to keep track of them all. This trip has been magical from the start and very spiritually rewarding to me.

On the way back from Old Faithful, Brian pulled over so that I could take some more pictures of a buffalo. As I was just about to finish I noticed something moving in the brush beside the buffalo. It was another coyote. I yelled at Brian that there was another coyote, so he could get the video camera out. The coyote went behind the buffalo and then sort of circled around and suddenly was looking right at us and walking our way as well. It was still across the highway, but he kept getting closer for us to view.

He then disappeared down the embankment and we didn’t know where he was at for a number of moments. Suddenly I saw him coming up the embankment on our side of the highway and then turn and start heading directly at us. There were no other cars stopped. We were the only ones around and we were there with this lone coyote. Coyote at Indian Pond

He walked almost all the way over to the car before turning and continuing on his way. I got a couple great shots of him standing next to a beautiful green lake. It was the closest I’ve ever been to a wild animal (that is, until the buffalo incident on the highway a short time later).

6/18/02, 11:00 p.m., Cody, Wyoming
Again I can’t begin to describe the miraculous events of the day. The vacation continues to surpass any possible dreams of what it might have been.

Today we went toward some of the waterfalls. It was a rainy and grey day most of the day, but virtually every time we stopped for pictures or to get a view of something the sun came back out again. The one exception was at Tower Fall, where we got rained on. But even then it was no big deal.

We saw more bubbling cauldrons, waterfalls, and animals today, including a mother moose and its baby. This one was very young. We also finally got a couple pictures of some mule deer. Despite having seen them repeatedly we had not been able to capture a photo. I got some nice photos of buffalo today, as well as some white pelicans and many hot springs and the like.

Three Bison The Dragon's Mouth Cracked Earth
Sulphur Cauldron
Landscape under Clouds Canyon Wall Lower Falls and Canyon
Bull Elk Portrait

Buffalo at Indian Pond
Buffalo Drinking
Mule Deer, Shoshone National Forest


But the piece de resistance was a grizzly bear, up close. We were on our way out of the park again when we saw a number of stopped cars and a ranger car. Brian saw it first and said, “A bear. There it is,” or something along those lines. We pulled over and for about five minutes got to watch the bear feeding along the side of the road. We were considerably closer than you could get in a zoo, within 25 yards or so (but safely in the car). It was incredible. Grizzly

Return to Yellowstone Trip page. Return to Yellowstone Trip Day Three page. Go to Yellowstone Trip Day Five page.


 Return to the Home Page Return to the Photography Page Return to the Travel Page

All material on this and other web pages within this website are copyright 2006-8, Callen Harty. Most photographs are available for purchase. For further information, please contact charty@tds.net.

Page last updated 01/26/08