Day 7 we headed out to see more otherworldy hydrothermal features. Heading out earliesh in the morning, we drove, as we had many times before, through Hayden Valley. Hayden Valley is a big open valley, and many people hang out there all day to watch animals in along the river below, or in the hills across the way.
Seeing a big crowd gathered, we stopped to see what was up. I grabbed the binoculars and quickly yelled, “Bears!” I’d already made it clear that I only wanted to see bears if they were at a very safe distance and I got my wish. In the valley below, two grizzlies were eating from a bison carcass, while a third one paced around hopefully. At one point the larger two stood up and threatened each other, some secret bear pecking order was reestablished and they went back to eating. Eventually they got full and swam away, and the smaller bear got a chance to dig in.
We went on the Grand Prismatic Spring. The only thing we can say about it is that the burnished iridescent orange color exactly matches a painting we have in our house.
As we were walking back to the car we stopped to watch an osprey fly along the river. On the road heading back to the lodge, I thought I saw the osprey again, being chased by a smaller bird. Then I realized the smaller bird was an osprey, and it was angrily diving on a bald eagle. A second osprey soon joined. We figured the eagle had gotten to close to their nest. It was exhilarating to watch them fly. The ospreys would attack from above and the eagle would roll over to defend itself – sometimes doing a complete 360 degree roll. One of our absolute favorite moments of the trip.
A complete Gallery of the day
