Bison, Bears and Wolves, Oh My (We hope)!! - TR UPDATE!! 8-19-14 - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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What's he eating??
We continued our drive toward the Mammoth Hot Springs area - today was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and wonderful scenic views.
We continued the drive north - and along the left side of the road saw a pull out just FULL of cars with people looking through cameras and spotting scopes - so being nosy -we pulled in. The pullout was next to Swan Lake. We didn't see any swans - but we did see this guy -
A large Grizzly bear in the water eating the remains of an elk he had killed the previous day. Some of the people there had seen him eating it yesterday. We all thought he had "hidden" the carcass in the water to protect it from other bears, wolves, coyotes, etc. Smart bear. I wish the photos would have come out clearer - that was with the tripod - he was just so far away. We also got some video of him.
After about 30 minutes of watching Mr. Bear - we continued on our way.
We passed through the "Golden Gate" - a high pass that has a really neat bridge (if you think bridges are neat - and working with engineers, I've learned to appreciate them) -
It was originally built by the US Army Corps of Engineers as a wooden trestle - and this version is the 2nd concrete trestle (also built the the Corps - whom I work for). I take pride in seeing the benefit to the nation that my federal agency can provide. And has provided to the national parks over the last 150 years. ok - commercial and bragging moment done.
There is a little pull out in this area with a placard about the trestle - as well as a view of a waterfall in the canyon.
As you decent through the Golden Gate - you approach Mammoth. It is the northern most visitor area in the park and sits at the lowest elevation of most of the park.
We came down into the valley where Mammoth is located and passed through a narrow area where the caldera had collapsed and the rock piled up. Yellowstone refers to this area as "the Hoo Doos." These are not TRUE hoo doos like you see in Bryce Canyon National Park - but they are large rock structures that in some ways resemble those famous structures. I had seen a video podcast about them before we left home and I was shouting at Chris to take photos since I was driving.
Then we arrived in the Mammoth Hot Springs area. We decided NOT to go to the hot spring terraces this evening. We were both tired and hungry - so our primary goal was to get into our room and get some dinner. Chris did take some photos as we entered the area - and after I edited them to remove my nose, I think they turned out pretty well.
The springs weren't as vivid in color as I remembered from 29 years ago - but they are constantly changing, and we would explore them further tomorrow.
We parked the car, unloaded all our STUFF (why do we have so much stuff?) and headed to the front desk.
We were quickly assigned to a room, given our keys (real metal keys!), given our charging cards (paper) and pointed to the elevator. We were on the 4th floor - and to be honest with you - I didn't take any photos of the hotel or our room (today - I did do that tomorrow). I was just too tired. My one remaining goal was FOOD.... and that was where we headed next.
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How neat to see the bear - that's about the distance I'd be happy seeing one from. I spent most of our time in Yellowstone terrified we'd have an unexpected close encounter with a bear, but from that far away, that would suit me.
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A great bear sighting! Your comments on the bridge are so cool. It's wonderful to be involved in projects that will benefit us all far into the future.
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Dinner with Wimpy
We headed over to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Dining Room and were quickly seated at a table toward the back. Our server was Stephania from Macedonia. Chris ordered a bison burger and I had prime rib. It was a pretty good meal. We also ordered dessert - the Yellowstone Volcano sundae for him and cheesecake for me.
While we were eating dinner - we heard there was a bull elk outside the restaurant, across the street who was bugling and trying to get the attention of a cow elk who was not too far from him. However, this cow "belongs" to another bull elk that has a harem of more than 20 cows... and she didn't seem that receptive to the bull.
Bull elk trying to get the cow
Here is the cow he was trying to court
He is a beautiful animal!
After dinner - we headed outside - and right into Elk Central!! It seems that during rutting season - a herd of elk settle in at Mammoth to rut and mate... And the lead bull elk has charged and chased (and damaged) cars and hurt people . He has a harem of more than 20 females....So - now the park service has volunteers and rangers that herd people around the area to be able to see the elk - but not get too close or between to bulls during rutting....
The cow headed across the street and toward "her" bull - you can see him in the background.
The bull that was trying to get the cow is actually larger with more points in his rack than the bull with the harem -- but he is SCARED of the bull w the harem and the rangers have named him "Wimpy" he runs whenever the other bull gets anywhere near him. I thought it was kind of funny. One of the volunteers told us there is a bull they call Godzilla - who weighs in about 1,000 lbs and was directly responsible for damaging more than 30 vehicles last year!! I would hate to try and explain that to the insurance company!!
Wimpy
While we were out observing the elk - we came across a few historic buildings at Mammoth - which was formerly called "Fort Yellowstone" - including the Army Engineers Building.
This is now the office where you go to get back country hiking and camping permits - but I thought another link to US Army Corps of Engineers history was pretty cool.
Actually we ended up stuck on that front porch area while the elk challenged each other (and passing vehicles). We also saw the bull with the harem attempting to mate with some of his cows... to quote my husband "Bow Chick a Wow Wow..."
Chris' camera has a much better zoom....
One of the rangers in orange and yellow keeping the tourists away from the elk herd. If you get too close - the bull will charge you - and they run much faster than people do.
Bugling - letting all the other males nearby know that he is here and these are his girls!!
After about 45 minutes of watching the elk - the sun started to set, it started to get cold and we opted to go back inside.
We headed up to the room and got laptops and headed to the lounge in the dining room - which is one of the only places in Mammoth that has wifi available - for $5.00 an hour. I downloaded photos from both of our cameras, as well as logged on for about an hour to post a few Facebook updates with photos. And then we headed off to bed.
Well you definitely had the PG-13 version of after dinner entertainment, didn't you? What a greedy guy, though - twenty girls and he can't share with poor wimpy?! I know I would not want to get between two bugling males in or out of a car!
You must have had a premonition when you named this TR! Definitely a wildlife-full trip. What a scene this is, with the animals weaving in and out of traffic as they go about their WILD business.
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you saw a live grizzly bear! 
Deb
. He has a harem of more than 20 females....So - now the park service has volunteers and rangers that herd people around the area to be able to see the elk - but not get too close or between to bulls during rutting....
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