Day off in Yellowstone! Drove by a herd of bison and stopped to take a close look and take pictures. They were very close to the road so we could get a good look. There were maybe a hundred or so, they didn’t pay much attention to us lookiloos. Not like cows who turn to stare at you as you ride past, these guys just didn’t give a hoot. There were a couple of young calves horsing around and butting each other, cute little things. The bison are not as large as I had expected, about the size of cattle, but big heads of course. We saw our first bear, a small black bear eating something on the side of the road. There hasn’t been any signs of bears other than that, again the park is very cautious about making sure that people put all foodstuffs in bear lockers and don’t leave anything out in the campground. Now we have to find a moose! We toured the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which was pretty impressive. There were two huge falls and the canyon was some 1000 ft deep, the river cutting into this soft yellow rock creating a multicolor fantasy land of steep rock faces, rock pinnacles with evergreens trying to grow along the slopes. Yellowstone of course is a huge caldera of an ancient volcano that exploded some 600,000 years ago. There are many steamy hot springs scattered throughout the park with the smell of sulfur in the air when you get close. We saw several more herds of buffalo as we were driving around. This is really a paradise on earth for them, now that they can no longer be hunted except occasionally for that bison-burger). Plenty of grass to go around now that there are no longer millions of them. Plenty of water with the many streams and rivers feeding the park. Passed by a huge elk that was grazing not 100 yards off the road. You can tell when there is wildlife to see because cars will be pulled over and people’s cameras out. A ranger drove by with a loudspeaker trying to shoo people along, but people didn’t pay much attention.
Biking across the USA with Mike 
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