Roosevelt Country is less frequented by tourists because it has few geological features marked out for walking and viewing, but people love driving through here because bison hang out this time of year and bear sightings can be common. There's also lots of fly-fishing, the Roosevelt Lodge (a quaint turn of the century log structure with a stand-up bar and seated dining), tiny log cabins for rent by tourists or use by employees, and horses and "stagecoach" rides for hire (in roofed, open-sided, horse-drawn, Yellowstone-yellow metal coach-lookalikes pulled across the plains and meadows of the area--think Yellow Cab meets Walls Fargo). This huge area is in the northeast corner of the park. Another wonderfully sunny day to enjoy.
Lamar Valley Bison. Note all the people on the beach of the river. By the time you get to that level, you're so low to the opposing bank that the bison become just humps of brown above the grassline.
Cruising across the river...and stopping.
Another bison jam, this time near Silver Gate, the northeast entrance of the park.
These bones have been here so long that a trail spur leads to them. We presumed it was a sheep or elk, but it may have been a hiker.
Yellowstone River, as seen from the Specimen Ridge trail.
Columns of rock, possibly basalt, line the upper canyon of the river here. They reminded me of enormous pencils stacked against a wall.
Munch time for a bird.
Another view of the Yellowstone River, this time from the hill at the end of the trail; the little bit of rapids is from the creek spillout of Tower Falls to the west (right). In the center of the shot, at the far side of the curve in the water, is a small beachhead and low cliff area...
...which is just about where I was standing for this photo of the river looking the other direction. The tallest part of the hill in the background is the end of the Specimen Ridge trail hike where we were in the previous photos.
Tower Falls from the viewing platform. Sadly, the trail to the base of the falls was closed by storm damage.
A black bear claws and digs at the earth on an embankment near the road. Cars were backed up ten deep and people were out of them, getting photos, way too close...
...as seen here when the bear started shambling up to cross the road. You can barely see its back and ears behind the tall grass beyond the Elk Creek sign, but I'll be those folks ten feet away got a good angle. Note that one lady high-tailing it across the street. The bear took little notice of any of them, and we left everyone flocking to the other side of the street to follow it for more photos.
Lamar Valley Bison. Note all the people on the beach of the river. By the time you get to that level, you're so low to the opposing bank that the bison become just humps of brown above the grassline.
Cruising across the river...and stopping.
Another bison jam, this time near Silver Gate, the northeast entrance of the park.
These bones have been here so long that a trail spur leads to them. We presumed it was a sheep or elk, but it may have been a hiker.
Yellowstone River, as seen from the Specimen Ridge trail.
Columns of rock, possibly basalt, line the upper canyon of the river here. They reminded me of enormous pencils stacked against a wall.
Munch time for a bird.
Another view of the Yellowstone River, this time from the hill at the end of the trail; the little bit of rapids is from the creek spillout of Tower Falls to the west (right). In the center of the shot, at the far side of the curve in the water, is a small beachhead and low cliff area...
...which is just about where I was standing for this photo of the river looking the other direction. The tallest part of the hill in the background is the end of the Specimen Ridge trail hike where we were in the previous photos.
Tower Falls from the viewing platform. Sadly, the trail to the base of the falls was closed by storm damage.
A black bear claws and digs at the earth on an embankment near the road. Cars were backed up ten deep and people were out of them, getting photos, way too close...
...as seen here when the bear started shambling up to cross the road. You can barely see its back and ears behind the tall grass beyond the Elk Creek sign, but I'll be those folks ten feet away got a good angle. Note that one lady high-tailing it across the street. The bear took little notice of any of them, and we left everyone flocking to the other side of the street to follow it for more photos.
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