Julie Chen Photography

We just returned from a 16 day road trip out west to the Badlands, the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Yellowstone & the Tetons. Here are some wildlife highlights:

The above image is essentially the epitome of Yellowstone: bison next to geysers next to creeks in the middle of forests!

This was our home for 13 nights straight. Camping is THE WAY to experience Yellowstone at it’s finest.

Bison. Road blocks. Calves nursing. The above bison decided to walk along side our car for a bit.

We even got to watch 2 bison swim across a river!

And, you know you’ve been in Yellowstone too long when you are animal hunting & say, “OH, it’s JUST ANOTHER bison!”

White tailed deer. Moose eating the “river grass” & elk! {Elk are another one of those, “OH, it’s JUST ANOTHER elk!” sightings.} So amazing to see so close!

Now, here’s some action: we are driving along & you learn to park when you see a crowd & there was a huge heard of elk feeding at dusk, but Sam said NO ONE is looking at the elk… so, we happen upon an area where a grizzly bear {actually 3 different ones} fed off of this bison carcass for 5 days straight. We saw days 2, 4, & 5. It was amazing to see the size of the carcass diminish before our eyes. This other photo is on day 4 when you could see the grizzly ripping the pink meat off the bison! At one point, she was aware of another bear in the area & tried dragging the carcass off! {It did not get far} {Oh, & this all happened in the Canyon area about 2 miles from our camp site… a little weird knowing you are in bear country.}

And, the grand finale of Yellowstone was our last night there & Pumpkin-Poos just wanted to see a wolf the entire time {she would ask every park ranger “where the wolves are?”} … This is Hayden Valley & we spotted the onlookers {I am talking scopes, biggest camera lenses I’ve ever seen, etc…} so we pulled over to see a 5 pack WAY off in the distance. The alpha & another were frolicking around & quite playful, but it was far it was hard to see. So, I said let’s go look for more “action”… as we drove to the next outlook, I watched the pack as best I could & notice they were QUICKLY moving closer to the road, so we parked it. We got out to watch the above alpha wolf cross the road with another & learned there was another bison carcass behind a hill {out of view}. We waited for a while, watching the remaining 3 wolves playing, and low & behold, the alpha wolf trots back across the road with a hunk of bison meat in it’s mouth for the pack!

All of this meat action reminded me of a funny sign in a gift shop that said, “VEGETARIAN: a Native American word for bad hunter.” So funny.

Come back again to see the thermal feature of Yellowstone & some sweet portraits I took of my kiddos!

Grace & Peace,

Julie