Actually, day one is really day two but the day we got here, the real day one, we did nothing more than land in a plane and get a hotel room in Gardner. They had a couple hotel dogs which made the stay really nice. But, I did not think of taking photos of the dogs so there are no dogs here :-) Anyway, our first day in Yellowstone consisted of a very short drive to the north entrance.

Our first critter. A cow elk. Little did we know how many elk we would see - bison too, both are quite abundant in the park, though the elk a bit less so since many have migrated down south for the winter. Bison too have been lessened a bit due to political pressure from the cattle ranchers who have fears of brucellosis which is carried by bison here. Ironically, elk also carry this disease, but we have not heard any concerns about elk, or mentions of them needing to be culled...

We stopped by Doug Smith's office and said hi. He had a program to give and was not happy to hear that two feet of snow was predicted. Fortunately, the program was canceled before he had to drive through a blizzard.

Meanwhile, we headed up to the springs - this being Mammoth Springs, and got springy photos. Really cool hot springs which were enhanced by all the snow. In one photo, and only after looking at the photo later, did a bone, probably elk, maybe bison, but cool to see. Anyway, it was really a cool place. It was snowing a bit, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. I can imagine how busy and crowded this place must be in the summer! I like it better this way with nobody here but us.

We then continued along the road toward the Lamar Valley, our destination for the next three days. We stopped for a few quick photos of the Undine falls. I used my 100-400mm lens and zoomed in and got some nice photos.

As we approached the Yellowstone Institute,we found we were early so we headed along the road and found some animals to photograph including a bull elk and a couple big horn sheep. The roads here are on the valley floor for the most part, and that is where much of the wildlife lives in the winter. It makes this place a great place to see animals!