Brandon Broderick Photography: February 2010

I'm going to begin this blog by saying that Yellowstone National Park is one of the most amazing places I've ever been and if you ever get a chance to go, please do.

Now I guess I should explain the circumstances that lead me to Yellowstone...

On January 24th, I got a call from my Grandpa. My father had passed away. I flew back home to Windsor, Ontario on monday the 25th and began planning the funeral and all that other stuff associated with a death...not fun. Being that I'm the executor of my fathers estate, I've had a lot of responsibilities thrown my way. In order to deal with all this stuff properly, I have to be in Windsor.

I now had to figure out a way to move home, and already being home made that kind of tricky. Flying back to Vancouver would be expensive and I would have to either rent a U-Haul truck or ship my stuff home, which is also very expensive. It turned out the cheapest way for me to get back to Vancouver and get my stuff home was to drive. My stepdad was generous enough to let me use his truck and that was it...now time to plan my route.

It would have been nice to check out all the provinces since I have never made that drive before but I decided to drive through the U.S.A. instead. It's a more direct route and the gas is cheaper. As I was mapping out my journey, I noticed my route would take me fairly close to Yellowstone National Park. If the Discovery Channel has taught me anything, it's that Yellowstone is a place you just can't pass up.

So that's how I ended up in Yellowstone. Ready to hear what it was like???

Ready or not, here it goes...

If the Discovery Channel has taught me anything about Yellowstone, I was in for a day of watching Bison grazing in roadside meadows, Bighorn Sheep head-butting on rocky slopes, and packs of wolves hunting down weak Elk. Now I may not have seen the above mentioned animals doing what the DC depicts them doing, but I did see all of those species, and then some. In the winter there's only one road open to wheeled vehicles. It's the road at the north end of the park that goes from Mammoth to Cooke City. There's no loop so you basically drive to Cooke City and back. That drive took about 6hrs in total including stopping to take photos...in that 6 hrs, I saw the following animals:

Elk

American Bison

Pronghorn Antelope

River Otters

Bald Eagles

Wolves(2)

Coyotes(3)

Bighorn Sheep(1)

I guess it's time for the photos.....so here ya go

Coyote with a mouse