2011 Yellowstone May

May 13 2011 Friday Leaving Jackson we went over Teton Pass and drove north to Bozeman then down to Gardiner. Although there was a lot of snow in the park and some roads were closed due to mudslides, we were lucky enough to do all that we had planned with no problems.

May 14 – May 16 2011 By far, the highlight of this trip to Yellowstone was the BEARS! We saw 28 bears….8 grizzlies and 20 black bears. The first part of the trip was all about grizzlies! We saw a lot of snow on the East side and in the Southern part of the Park. Even at Old Faithful, there was evidence of the deep snowpack of 2011!

May 17 – May 22 2011….Now we started seeing a lot of black bears in the park. The day that they opened Tower Road to the Store was the best bear spotting day….great fun! One of our favorite spots in Yellowstone is the SilverGate/Cooke City area. We met Toni and Cheryl in Silver Gate at the STOP THE CAR TRADING POST and enjoyed seeing their store and having hot soup and muffins. One morning we shared a four-moose spotting with Cheryl in Silver Gate. We also really like the Log Cabin cafe….great food!

In May there are lots of animals and baby animals in Yellowstone National Park.  Some years the weather can be good and some years like 2011 there is a heavy snowpack.  For 2011 the snowpack was the highest since 1964!  It caused the animals to act a little differently, since they could not go up the mountain to higher ground as early as usual.  And the bison had nowhere to move off the road since the snowbanks on both sides of the road were 8-10 feet high in some places.  Caution is required anytime you encounter these majestic beasts!

To see more photos of our 2011 Yellowstone trip, click here