Yellowstone National Park--Part 3

That evening after dinner we went for another walk, just to see what we could see. Generally wildlife is more active during the morning and evening than during the daytime. And right by the campground there is a river flowing past and a mountain on the other side. Very pretty. And the hill on the campground side is perfect for a family to walk along and look for wildlife.

When we got down there, we turned around to see this:



A lone coyote trotting through. They are pretty. And it stopped to stalk a gopher or rabbit or something it thought might be worth a try.

Besides a couple of elk on the far side of the river up the mountain (that kept looking our direction because Calla was SO loud), we mostly had to settle for evidence of animals rather than the animals themselves. Which is okay because the evidence was close enough to step in.



And pretty fresh, too.

At the gift shop at Old Faithful we had gotten a book, "Who Pooped in the Park." It has all sorts of information on identifying animal skat as it's called. And it said that you can burn dried bison patties.

Grace thought she'd give it a try.



Now I don't have a picture of the burning bison patties, but I do know that it saved the fire that night. And here they are, Daddy, Grace and Calla sitting by the fire that was fueled by bison patties reading about who pooped in the park.



The next morning daddy and Grace went out with my camera (Calla wasn't interested in waking up, much like her mama) and tried out their new skat identifying skills.

Elk:


Elk again:


And they couldn't decide on this one. Either wolf, bear or coyote. I'll have to ask them later.


Interesting, don't you think?