Days 8 to 10, based in Cooke City, Montana — looking for wolves in all the wrong places Day 8: We were on our way after breakfast and drove through the foggy Hayden Valley where we were stopped by another bison jam. As we got higher, the mist cleared and at the top of the hill we parked and walked up the fairly steep trail. There were lots of lovely chipmunks along the way and there were band-winged grasshoppers everywhere….
Day 11, at Old Faithful — exploring the geology We had one final wolf vigil at the Institute in the Lamar Valley but, alas, a sighting there would not be. We spoke with some people who were in radio contact with the wolf project team and they told us that no wolves had been seen since we arrived in the area. We did get rather excited as we got out of the van as we could hear distant howling but…
Days 12 to 15, back at Jackson Hole — bears and beavers Some more geology As we had some free time, Carol and I took a walk around the boardwalks and past a variety of geothermal features. We managed to see some river otters and watched an Osprey catch a fish. It was now time to leave Yellowstone but not before we visited the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is a fantastic place. We had lunch at a nice picnic spot…
The mountains and Savegre River Valley — 3/3 – 5/3 The next journey was to the cloud forest, stopping for coffee, lunch, and a spot of birding along the way. We arrived quite late in the day having driven up through the cloud forest to a height of about 3,000m before we turned off down to Trogon lodge where we were staying for the next few days. It was cold and the air was rather thin but the rooms had…
Carara Biological Reserve — 1/3 – 3/3 As the lodge Heatherlea normally use was full, we stayed at Punta Leona, a rather touristy resort on the Pacific coast. In the late afternoon we went on a boat trip along the Tarcoles River and then watched the sun set over the Pacific and looked for owls. The following day, we went walking in the Carara forest where the first thing we saw was a Ghost Bat hanging by one foot from…