A Trent Runs Through It

OR


Me watching other people watching other things

OR

Big bear! Big bear chase me! (John Candy, Great Outdoors for the slow ones in attendance.)

You guys tell me which one you like (after you read the post, of course).

First off, I failed to mention yesterday that I saw all these people freaking out over a few deer on the side of the road. I mean, they were still alive and all (the deer). They were pulled over and taking pictures and stuff (the people...not the deer) and it just blew me out of the water that people would freak out over a normal occurrence. Hell, I can go behind my building at work and see deer every morning but I don't stop and take pictures of them. I guess some people just don't get to see deer that often.

Today I woke up and had the whole day to spend in the park. I had heard from a nice lady from Ohio that I should check out the Lamar Canyon area which is in the far northeast region of the park. I, however, was in the west central part. So, I planned my route and figured it would take me about an hour and a half to get up there (and that's without stopping to check out anything cool I happened to see). My goal was to make it back to the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" village which is where I was camping that night. Long story short, it took me the better part of 5 hours to get to Lamar Canyon. I just couldn't help but stop for stuff like this...

Then I came to a spot that I had picked to do a little hike. It was to a spot called Cascade Lake and it was a simple little hike so I thought what the hell. Shortly after I started (maybe a mile), I saw way off in the distance some people just standing there. As I got closer, I initially thought they were just resting. However, even closer I could tell that they were looking at something way off to my left. Once I approached them, I asked what they were looking at. Their answer? "The bear." "I'm sorry. What?" was all I could muster. So here's my shot of the bear (and I assume you'll have to zoom in to find it but it's just to left of that front and center tree). It's way off in the field but you can see the black dot in the middle all by itself. It was pretty far away but still pretty surreal. Turns out this bear was just chillin' in that general vicinity and didn't seem to mind us or really even know that we were there.

Further evidence of bear activity (not to mention the warning that was posted at the trail head).



And I don't know what was wrong with this guy but it cracks me up every time. Poor little fella.

Well okay, I'm not here to show you the poo of Yellowstone (although...never mind). Still trying to make it up to Lamar Canyon, I came to Tower Falls. I did like everyone else and went to the overlook but then I saw that you could actually make it down (and by down, I mean down) to the river. I just had to. I'm not sure why but this was one of the coolest parts of the trip (once I got away from all the people). It was like something out of A River Runs Through It. But unfortunately, it still smelled a bit.

So that's all for now. Too...tired...to continue (typing).