Sunday, August 2 - Otter-Watching and Horseback Ride in Yellowstone

Yellowstone mornings always begin early, and this was no exception.  Even in July, it is always quite cool or  downright cold at 5 a.m. - even in a cabin.  We dressed in our warm clothes, winter jackets and hats and headed for the Lamar Valley. I had been here earlier in July but for Rosie it had been almost a year.  We all love this valley.  On our way, we saw Rick McIntyre stopped at a pullout near the Slough Creek road, but he didn't seem to be actually watching anything so we went on to the valley anyway.  The morning light hitting this valley is so beautiful...the water in the Lamar River glistens and the yellow grasses seem to positively glow at times.  I love to spend my mornings here.

We didn't see any wildlife so we went back through Lamar Canyon and noticed cars parked near the end of the Slough Creek Road.  We were lucky to get a parking spot (they later made people parked along the road move).  We got there just in time for me to see a few wolves that we were told were the Cottonwood Park, a new pack this year whose Alpha Female is a former Slough Creek wolf who was born a Druid - her parents are the infamous 21M and 42F.  They went in and out of sight at one point I was the first to see them reappear again uphill and pointed them out to Rick McIntyre.  Hearing "Good spotting!" from him is high praise, I was quite happy!  Poor Rosie never saw them despite some new friends, Jeff from Alberta and a guy that we thought was named Joe (but we later heard him called Doug we think so we're confused) who manages an inn in Silver Gate, letting her use their scopes which are better than ours.

The wolves were gone so we went to the campground to see if any sites were available and we were very lucky to get one.  Then we immediately went out to Lamar again.  We were driving just before the confluence, where the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek join, when I saw something in the river...it was a family of river otters! 

They are in the park but we have never been lucky enough to see them.  They were so cute...there is just no other word.  They would swim, then float back downriver, then swim again. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsPwvP0-3AI
We were the first to see them but soon there was an otter jam...our first. 

Then at one point the otters came out of the water on the road side of the river and looked as if they might want to come up and cross. 

I tried to get people to stay back and give them some space (you've heard this before) and of course only a few people listened.  I now suspect they had been fed by people and that's why they came out and were looking at us..they were looking for food.  The people talking are not us, except at the end where Rosie (who is taping) makes a comment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vagabondmom1#p/a/u/1/igfHWjaHOtA

These aren't the greatest videos...we're new to video camera use.  But they are better than nothing!

After that we went back to camp to cook brunch but somehow it took way longer than we thought and we had to rush to get to Rosie's horseback ride.  I had promised her a ride in Yellowstone and the longest ride available at Roosevelt Corrals (or Canyon) is 2 hours.  By the time I looked into it they only had one spot open that day so I said she could go alone...not a problem for her, she's a very independent girl (she just might take after me, do you think?). 

Rosie was given a horse named "Spud"...at least it wasn't the one named "Ug".   They left and I spent time reading my book in the shade and watching the other horses play.  I give Roosevelt Corral a lot of credit...I have never seen riding stable horses have such great accommodations and be so happy.  These horses were not tied in the hot sun, they were loose in a large paddock that was surrounded by many trees.  Some of them were chasing each other around and being very playful...that was great to see.

Ouch!

Bison Crossing the Lamar River

The rest of the day was spent wildlife-watcing.