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February 2009 Yellowstone In Winter
This was a belated Honeymoon trip. We were unable to take our honeymoon when we were married March 23, 2008.
So we went to West Yellowstone, Montana, February 9th of 2009. There we toured the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center on Tuesday and again on Thursday.
The morning of the 10th we were picked up at out motel by David the driver of a snow coach named, "Rosebud" and headed for Yellowstone National Park. Our destination was, "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone". We saw all points between, including Lower Yellowstone Falls, plus we went into the Hayden Valley.
Then on the 12th the snow coach, Griz and driver Joann took us to Old Faithful and all points between and brought us back to the motel late that day. Naturally we took lots of pictures for our friends to enjoy and to help us not forget what we saw and the good time we had.
Date(s): February 9, 10, 11, 12, 2009. Album by Ron Carrick. Photos by Ron Carrick. 1 - 251 of 251 Total. 21676 Visits.
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All the Grizzly bears and wolves you see below are in the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center which is in West Yellowstone. They allow you to  take your camera in and photograph them all you want. There is a young and old pack of wolves in their own habitat there also. Our first visit to the center was February 9th....

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Groups of bears are released into a special pen where they look for food hidden by keepers. It keeps them busy looking. They are active and you get to see them in action rather than laying around.

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There are several kinds of bears in the discovery center....

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This guy was just let out and is looking for food.

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They smell around looking for food.

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These wolves are 11 - 14 years old

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Older wolf......

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This is an older wolf.... we spent the February 10th at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center and Thursday also....

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It must be down there...... This was our Monday tour of the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center visit.

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This guy wondered around looking in several places for food.....

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There he is sniffing again...

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Grandpa

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Grandpa

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Old wolf

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This Raven flew up and was looking for some left over food the bears may have left. They are always close by during feeding time too.

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The Ravens like to hang around the Bear and Wolf enclosures to scrap up extra treats the bears and wolves miss at feeding time.

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2 year Old Wolves are in this enclosure.

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They are sometime active but lay around for a while too.....

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These are the old wolves. They are 12 - 14 years old.

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Three photos of a grandpa?

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Old wolf

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Grandpa walks.........

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Nice looking wolf....last of the older ones in this series.....

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Not sure what this wolf was watching but I liked the pose.

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This was a small elk cow herd that was along the Madison River coming from West Yellowstone into the park. There were a few  bison (buffalo) there too.

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This was a big elk herd at one time.....

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This was February 10th as we go along the Madison River on our way to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

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The elk herd again..

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Along the Madison......

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Bison of course

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These are a few close ups of the buffalo.

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What it looks like in the area...

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It was snowing a bit......

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They have to clear away the snow but in this area the warm water kept the snow thin.... easier to find food to eat.

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They like the open areas if there is food...

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A few Canada geese near where the Bison were feeding......

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There weren't to many Bison in this bunch but they were well fed.....

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Close up.......

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I like the Bison......

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They were moving around so I got a few different shots.......

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There were bulls, cows and younger Bison in this group....

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This shows the background in relationship to where they were....

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This was to the right of the last shot....

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A lone bull near the water.....

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We're about done here......

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It seems they spend most of their time eating just to survive the cold winters of Yellowstone.

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Gibbon falls........

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I can't remember the name of this .....

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There Bison were farther down the road in an open spot. It was snowing so they are a bit blurred.....

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There are geese in the river....

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The Bombardier we were in the first day, February 10th....it's name was Rosebud. That's Viki... (my wife)
The second day we were in Griz.


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This is Lower Yellowstone Falls. It is the most photographed falls in the park..... This view is from Artists point.

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A distant shot...

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Zoomed in.....

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Lower Yellowstone Falls..
This view is from Artists Point


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I took many different shots... It is hard to quit trying to get a better shot so you keep trying. It's going no where but it still is beautiful.

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Notice the blue-green ice on the right?

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That ice below the falls is the frozen spray from the falls

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My bride......

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This is a medium zoom shot....

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Along the Madison River going into the park from West Yellowstone, MT

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Upper Yellowstone falls......they are not as pretty as the lower fall is.

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This used to be a vehicle bridge but now is a foot bridge above Upper Yellowstone Falls....... not sure where it goes or comes from.

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This is the Upper Falls of Yellowstone

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Part of the herd below the road we were on that the bison joined.

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Same herd

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Two swan on the Yellowstone River...

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They have their heads under water feeding a lot so you get quite a few shots of their main body and of a head stand in the water as they reach as deep to feed as they can.

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There were a lot of swans on the water.....

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This swan kept it's tail in the air a lot.......

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The hills lining the sides of the Hayden Valley where coyotes and Bison could be seen....

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They mate for life too....

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Lots of snow with trees on top.....

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It was snowing on the other side.....

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We didn't see sun much the two days of snow coach rides we took.....but it was still beautiful

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The snow was intense up there.....

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Bison in the valley...

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Buffalo calf and cow in the road in Hayden Valley

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Skyline profile....

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Bull feeding in the snow.... in Hayden Valley

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I liked these horizon profile shots.....

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This was a young bison and it decided we were to close so it headed up the hill away from us.

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More skyline profiles....

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This bison came down the hill from the right and started our way at a steady walk. Then........

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I am not sure if it was a big cow or a bull myself but it turned to its' right, our left and headed down the hill where more Bison were.... the steep grade caused it to go fast and it threw up a lot of snow when it hit a low spot on his way down the steep hill.

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It starting its' down hill run....

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It kicked up a lot of snow right after this when it went into a dip in the ground that it didn't see. The snow was deep and it plowed it out with a big burst of fluffy snow. I was surprised it kept its' footing but it did and went all the way to the bottom of the hill.

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This photo was taken from where I was setting in the back of the Bombardier......

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Dave our driver and tour guide....

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A  coyote looks for creatures under the snow....

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Sticks it's head in the snow and tries to catch the varmint under the snow.. It eventually caught something and promptly ate it without showing it to us.

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I got up closer with the zoom to this bunch........

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They weren't bothered by the snow coaches in the least.....

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Hope you get a perspective of things with all the different angles and zooms both in and out.

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Up close and icy cold.....

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Can you see the blue-green ice better here?

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There isn't anyone on the overlook above the falls..... Bad place to be in the dead of winter?

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Lower Yellowstone falls from another angle.

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It is hard to see the water coming over the falls but it's clear here.

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I never get tired of photographing this falls....it is so majestic no matter what time of year you are there...

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Zoom out scene....

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Zoomed a bit more than before......shows all the river without ice in this shot.

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Across the canyon from where we are.

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The Canyon to the left of our outlook and below the falls.

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Looking in the opposite direction of the falls.

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This is farther to the left than the photo before this....

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The river way down at the bottom

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wider view of the Yellowstone River...

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One last look at the falls.....then on to another outlook that looks down the canyon only.

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Another overlook that also looks down the river from the falls areas.
You can not see the falls from this  outlook.


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As far as you can see down the canyon from this point.

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Down canyon again.....

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A look down the river

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Down stream through the trees...

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The left side of the valley up close.....

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Another look through the trees......

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Buffalo Herd on the way back our along the Gibbon River

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Closer up of the Buffalo

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We take a closer look at who's laying down....

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Whole group

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Cow elk along the Madison....

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Two cows along the Madison as we head back to West Yellowstone, MT.

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Madison River scene

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Last Photo of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Tour the 10th of February 2009.

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Fire Hole Falls on the Fire Hole river...

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Fire Hole Falls in Fire Hole Canyon. This is on the way to Old Faithful

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There's Grizz and the gang...... Joann was our driver and tour guide this day. (I sure hope I got her name spelled corect)

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The same water never runs down that falls unless it goes up into the sky first of down into the ground first..... That doesn't happen every where, you know.

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Fire Hole Falls up close.... Because the water comes from the geysers and hot pools along the river the water I believe they said is 45 degrees here even in the winter. To cold to swim in but to hot to freeze.

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Three Bombardier together...

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Now there just happens to be 4 together.....

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People are every where....

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To the left is Fire Hole Falls

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See I told ya so.....

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Bison we came to on our way to Old Faithful

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Another bunch of Bison in the same location.

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A single Cow elk along the river from Madison Junction to Old Faithful. She could be wolf food if she doesn't get out of that area soon.

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This cow found some good long dry grass and she was busy chowing down too...

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More bison........

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They didn't move around much either.....

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Cow and calf crossing the road...

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Bison grubbing for food in the snow.
This photo was our first one for February 11th as we head along the Madison River towards Madison Junction then head south to Old Faithful.


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Hot springs and pools along the ski - snow shoe trail to Old Faithful...... 2.5 miles...

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Feeding time for one youngster.....

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My guess she's not pregnant or the calf wouldn't be feeding....She'd be dry......

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The river is pretty steamy with all the little geysers and hot pools draining into  it.

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Another picture of the cow elk along the fire hole river

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These guys were in a herd on the way to Old Faithful

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She found some good eating in a wet area with old dried grass. This must have been under a lot of snow.

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Younger buffalo taking a rest

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I wasn't ready for this coyote but it stopped after it passed us by on the trail and waited till I got the battery in the camera.

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It just stood there as I got ready.

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Decided to look at the right time it seemed

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We left it standing in that spot..... not sure where it was going. It was only 20 feet from us of less, on the trail.

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There is a lot of water running into the river at this point....

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Just one of numerous hot springs.....

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Edge of another hot pool.......

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More than half the hot pool....

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Gives new meaning to the word, green tee?

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In almost every direction your look in this area you will see steam coming up.........

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It keeps the ground bare where hot water runs over it....

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It makes this a winter wonder land for sure.........

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Looking back at that bare spot....

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More steam every where.....

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A closer look at an area photographed before......

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This geyser was just slowing down from spewing water I think.....

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Viki heads towards Old Faithful.

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Pretty good sized pool here.....

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closer look at it......

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A look at a geyser with a big cone on it......

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Not sure which Geyser this is.....

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The same geyser again......

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Another hot steamy place......

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A look at all the steam......

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The river with the steam coming from all the geysers and hot pool around the area...

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Castle Geyser.....

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Castle Geyser again.....

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This is the area close to Old Faithful....

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Old Faithful Lodge.......

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Old Faithful Blows

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You see more steam from this far back.....

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Steam raises high in the air. We were in the area of Castle Geyser when it blew so I took these photo's from that area. It is actually more impressive from a distance because the steam is so visible.

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I backed off with the zoom a bit......

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The following are various phases of Old Faithful as it calms down....... It always lets off a bit of steam.

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Old Faithful is calming down again....

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The steam goes straight up.....

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We are getting close to Old Faithful...

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From near Old Faithful after we arrived

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Left the Old Faithful area.....this is the paint pots area

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Paint pots

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Steam was really coming out of this hole......

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There was a geyser really throwing water around but it wasn't going to high in the air...

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Before the earth quake this area was a parking lot... after that it turned into the bubbling mud of paint pots..

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Some of the curbing of the parking lot can be seen if someone points out that it was a parking lot....... they you see it quite easily.

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The curbing is in the steam to the left a bit of center..... not sure if you can see it though.

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More steam......

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An anxious wolf.... These were the young 2 yr olds. The old pack went into their pen and got fed.

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That tree is collecting ice from the steam........

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A pool below the paint pots area...

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Leaving the paint pots area on our way to Madison Junction then on  to West Yellowstone, MT. The snow coach rides are over for us at least for this year.

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It was feeding time and they missed it because one wouldn't stay in the holding pen so they could hide the food in their area.... the keeper won't go in with them.... Can't say I'd go in there either.

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He was up close........

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The activity for quite a few minutes was a frenzy until they finally realized that the feeding time was not going to happen.

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They were real active for quite a few minutes thinking they were going to be fed. Maybe tomorrow they will go into the holding pen and stay?

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They looked around and ran around quite quite a bit too..

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Ahead and to the right of this wolf is where the holding pen was...

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Still looking and wondering around hoping food will happen...

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They are still running around in expectation of getting fed...

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Another Day at the Discovery Center. A young 2 yr. old wolf in the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center at West Yellowstone. It's worth the visit.

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This was the beginning of the lesson on submission...

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Domination in action.. this was Thursday the 12th of Feb.. We spend the better part of the day there...

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Now we know who's in charge?

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When you are up you're up and when you're down you're down.

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Now we know

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A cow and last spring calf on an island in the river...

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Up close of the cow and calf as we were leaving the Old Faithful area

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Old wolf in the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

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Grizzly in the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

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Same bear same area

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Another bear resting

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another view while it relaxes

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I thought it was going to look at me but it had a buddy it was watching

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A yr old wolf in the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

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Young Gray wolfe

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In deep thought?

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again

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Looking right at ya

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more looking

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dreamy look?

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Old wolf

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Just walking around....

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another grizzly

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a few steps later

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1,100 lb. Grizzly

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Young wolf

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Old wolf at feeding time, it's food was in front of it.

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Eating a snack

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Old wolf looking for hidden food

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They do a lot of resting

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Looking for hidden food

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They are watching others look or eat the food they found

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This is the biggest bear in the Center. Think his name was Sam. He weighed over 1,100 pounds... Much bigger than his sister.

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He was walking around looking for food.

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That's a lot of bear....

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This is a smaller bear.. might be his sister, I can't remember now.

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It was looking for food too.

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Still looking....

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These two bears were also related and about the same size... They were just playing but if they played with us like that we'd get hurt for sure.

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They looked much bigger when standing on their hind legs too.

 
   
 
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