Montana - Day 5

Yesterday we headed out on the hike we had originally wanted to do on Monday.  The hike was to Passage Falls. It wasn't very long, or very steep and was for the most part a walk in the forest. 

We got to see a Pica.  Thanks to Lacey for pointing it out.  :)

Then we saw a couple of ruffed grouse (we think that's what they are).  Again thanks to Lacey and Coulee for flushing them - much to all of our surprise.  ha!

The terrain was very similar to the hike we did on Monday as it was in the same area.  Marlin is constantly playing with his binoculars trying to find wildlife.

There was a fork in the trail - one trail headed to the falls, another to a ridge. Coulee really wanted to go to the ridge (probably because that was the route most of the horses probably took).

She wanted to go so badly, she posed for me.  :)

Lacey was much more interested in hunting than posing.  She is ALWAYS on the look out for squirrels.

Again, we were the only people on the trail so the dogs got to go off leash the whole time.

The falls at the end of the path.  Quite pretty.  I can never seem to get these kinds of pictures quite right.

I tried one of those slow shutter, dreamy water pictures.  Not as easy as it sounds when you need to straddle a log and balance your camera on your thigh instead of a tripod.  ;)

Coulee was happy to reach the top and have a chance to frolic in the water.

And on the way down, it was back to the bridge again.  She got a little dirty on the hike.  You can even see horse poop on her neck if you look closely.

We could tell the dogs were happier with this length of hike.  They still had a spring in their step on the way back.

It wasn't even 1:30 when we were done so we decided to head out to Yellowstone. We only had a few hours there but it was pretty amazing.  Our first sighting of a bison in the distance excited us.

Then we saw a grizzly bear on top of a recent kill.  He was napping when we first got there, but briefly got up before laying back down to nap again.  I had serious lens envy... you should have seen the photographers and their HUGE lenses photographing this guy.

Then on the way back, we saw a herd of bison.  It also started to snow...  :(

And then, just as we were almost back out of the park again, we ran across this gorgeous elk and all his ladies.  :)  There was also a large herd in the townsite but it was so nice to see them in some natural terrain.

The only thing missing was wolves... Hopefully we'll see one next time we head down.