YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Today was one of those long days that began early, before the sun had come over the mountains.

My intention was to go to Sylvan Pass to find Judy’s Alpine rabbits and their balls but I decided to take a side trip down the Six Mile one way drive of the Blacktail first.

Something about being on the Blacktail Plateau, with no other cars in sight, and seeing the full moon to the west and the sun rise to the east that begins the day just right.

I made it to Sylvan Pass and the pikas without too much more interruption but was disappointed to see Hayden Valley covered in heavy fog.

The pikas were easy to find because they had giant haystacks and were doing a lot of calling.  As opposed to photographing these tiny creatures on the Beartooth where the wind is often so powerful I can’t stand and I usually only see one at a time, this was fun.  The wind was minimal and there were Pikas everywhere!  Just everywhere.  But, I quickly settled into two that I liked – one was prone to sneaking up on me while the other was busy stealing large mouthfuls from another stash.  I spent about 4 hours with the pikas and was thoroughly entertained.

The rain chased us away and I soon encountered heavy hail that was followed by thunder and lightning.  A bolt of lightning hit close as I drove by and there was an amazing burst of light and then thunder that felt so close that I ducked.

I drove out to Lamar but it was raining and I was tired.  My plan had been to stay for the evening pup show but I decided to go home.  I hear that it was a terrific wolf morning with a lot of viewing of the JBs and Lamars.

Touchdown was on the lawn at Mammoth, surrounded by a bunch of girls that seem to adore him but are not quite ready.  He is ready and frustrated but right now they just console him and get out of his way.

It is kind of odd because there seems to be an easy comfort and knowing between the bull and the cows.  I noticed and was thinking that they knew each other well and then one of the volunteers said the same thing.

Anyway, Touchdown was lying down when I arrived and so I waited.  When he got up he went around to the girls to see if any were ready and got nothing but frustration.

And so he decided to attack the lawn.

Which was quickly followed by attacking the rear end of a small black car.  The car’s driver laughed and did not even stop to check the damage but there had to be some because it was quite an impact.

After the black car came something bigger and Touchdown wanted to attack but thought better of it in the end.

We were all behaving and standing on the other side of the street, very far from Touchdown, until he decided to attack the cars.  And then suddenly he was coming straight towards us and there was a minute that I thought that he was going to come our way but luckily he did not.

There was red in his eyes though and we all breathed a sigh of relief when he found another girl to inspect.  But, secretly I was hoping he would go for more cars.

Last year I thought Touchdown was kind of puny compared to the other guys and they said that it was his big attitude that won him Mammoth.  This year he is not puny, though still a 6 x 6 and his attitude is bigger than ever.  If he gets some challengers, and I am sure that he will, it will be a force to be reckoned with.

I am ready for the show.