National Park Bum: Last week of snow removal

What better way to finish up snow removal than to see two grizzly bears? Though we didn't have time to stay and watch the feeding frenzy or even take pictures of the second bear, it was still was nice to get a quick glance. I only had time to take five photos of this grizzly and for me that was way too short. Five pictures for a grizzly is silly so I had to shoot the pictures in "auto" mode. :(

My boss was nice enough to give me two days off before I headed over to Mammoth. One day was spent packing and cleaning and the other was a trip out to Canyon. I took some pictures but nothing worth showing off. While in Canyon, there was a family from Utah and this girl was feeding the ravens some chips. She held up her hand and wanted the birds to fly down and grab it from her...I didn't feel like talking to them at the moment so I went to the overlook and enjoyed the serenity for a while. I saw an osprey flying around so I decided to head back to the car and grab my 17-500mm lens. Before heading back I lit up a cigarette and watched the family from Utah. When I smoke in public, I tend to distance myself from other's due to the smoke. Thoughtful, I think. So after I finished the cig, I decided to open my mouth and inform the "tourons" (It's what we park people call idiot tourists), about what they were doing...

Me: Just to let you know it's a $500 fine to feed the animals.
The Dad: Oh, okay.
Me: Yeah, so if a ranger came by you would be fined. (Still throwing chips to the birds...) It's also pretty bad for them...
The Dad: Yeah, well smoking cigarettes are bad for all the animals in the park!

So I remembered their plate number, 006-UUE Utah. The mom was just as bad and the family "cheered?" their dad on. It was probably the rudest family I've met in a long time. But anyway I saw a ranger that I know and pasted along all this information and he said if they went five over the limit he would pull them over. I talked to him a week later and he never saw them. :(

The difference between feeding animals and smoking in the park are completely different. I wasn't breaking the law...they were. And yes, I know smoking is bad for me...

Later that day I saw a fox about 100 yards away. As I rushed to get my camera and change the lens out I saw the fox jump in the air and it looked like an upside down "U". I knew from there that I had missed the best shot possible but I continued to watch and hope for another jump. He walked around for several minutes before retreating into the woods out of view.

I made it back to Gardiner but not before I watched an osprey for 30 minutes. I took many pictures of the osprey so that I could have something to show. Five minutes before the osprey got a fish, a photographer showed up with his huge lens and tripod and pretty much had an easy photo session with the bird.