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We have spent the last three days driving through and around the south and north loops of Yellowstone National Park. We entered the park through the east entrance, leaving Cody and driving towards the West entrance which is in Montana. The first thing that we encountered was snow! Lots of snow! It seemed surprising, as we have had such hot sunny days, we expected it all to have melted, but at the high elevations within much of the park, it seems to stick around. Our agenda was to see if we could spot the wildlife foriegn to us back home in NZ, namely Bison/Buffalo, Bears...either Black or Grizzly, Elk...both Does and Stags, Moose and Wolves. The latter two is getting very hopeful as there are only about 200 moose in the whole park, and its a BIG park and they are known to be a little shy, and the wolves have been reintroduced to Yellowstone over the last 10 years, so they are monitoring their breeding and how they interact with the people and their impact on the farmers that border the park. Needless to say, we were unlucky in spotting either Moose or Wolf. Bison however, are prevalent! We had
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Mammoth Springs...a bit like what the pink and white terraces in Rotorua must have looked like. them running beside the van either singly or in large herds, and watched large traffic holdups ensue as they moved from one place to another, using the roads as the easiest course. Luckily, we were going in the opposite direction to the herds on most occasions and were not held up too much. On our second day in the park, on our way out and only about 4 miles from the West entrance and 10 miles from our camp, we saw a Black Bear (which was actually brown in colour) moving through the trees beside the road. It was gone into the undergrowth before I had a chance to take a photo but it was BIG! But not as big as Grizzly Bears! We saw two the next day on the northern loop, on the road south from Mammoth Springs. Grizzly's are solitary creatures and on both occasions they were fairly far away from the road, one in a valley and one on the side of a hill. Even from far away you could see how powerful and large they are. I wouldn't want to see one too close! We haven't needed our Bear Spray yet, but in the campground
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Old Faithful where we were staying was a cooler that had been left out overnight, instead of being locked in a car, and there were some pretty impressive teethmarks in it! We have also spotted the Elks and Marmots, more chipmunks and voles and spotted the odd eagle flying overhead.As well as the wildlife, the scenery has been equally as impressive. It is a bit like New Zealand but on a far far larger scale. We crossed the continental divide twice saw Old Faithful and timed it perfectly so we didn't have to wait to see it erupt. There are amazing waterfalls, mountains, geothermal pools, lakes, rivers and forests. It took us 6 hours to get around the south loop and 4 hours to get around the north loop. It is almost the 4th of July and we are not sure yet just which camping ground we will be at on that day, but for now we have travelled a short distance north to Bozeman. Dean and I both have dodgy tummies so we are taking it easy today. I could not post this blog without mentioning the mosquitos! They are voracious! I made up a little dance to the Bird Dance
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Steaming pools music which starts with waving your arms around trying to brush them away like flies, then using the bug spray to coat your entire body and then when you would normally clap, you go slap slap slap slap! The flying part is of course the moquitos flying in again to suck your blood. You can just picture it cant you? Thats exactly what its like. Anyway, love to all. The weeks are going by so quickly, its now just under 6 weeks and we are back home. xxx
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