Yellowstone National Park  8-28-01

On my way back to Dallas from Seattle I stopped in Montana again and took another side trip to Yellowstone. This time I entered the park via hwy89 at the North Entrance in Gardiner. my first stop was at Mammoth Hot Springs then it was on to Tower Falls, and then the west side of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Next I got to the Norris Geyser Basin just in time for Sunset. as I drove towards the north entrance the sky continued to darken I was watching closely for Moose and Elk, just as it was almost dark I spotted a massive bull Elk and heard of smaller elk just off the road. about 100 feet down the road was a turn off  that went towards the field that the Elk were in. I pulled in and turned off the car, I got out and leaned against the car and watched the Elk as it became totally dark the bull let out a series of  bugling calls that seemed to announce the coming of the night. As I stood against the car in the near total darkness watching the huge shadows of the elk in the moonlight they slowly began moving toward the car, before I realized it I was surrounded by Elk, they were all around the car and remained so for about 15-20 minutes. Then someone slammed a door on one of the cars that had stopped on the main road, that spooked the elk and they moved off away from the road. I got back in my car and drove back to the road and headed back to my truck. I will remember this day for the rest of my life!

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