Close and exciting

Before we went to Yellowstone I had only seen antelope in the wild, once, at a very great distance. That time was the kind of sighting where I mostly trusted DH’s declaration “Look! Antelope!” because they were tiny specks on the horizon far, far away. Antelope? Skinny cows? Darned if I could tell the difference.

No problems with these sightings. Antelope!

These antelope appeared over the crest of a hill as we drove by. A convenient pullout allowed us to watch as one, then a small herd came into view and eventually crossed the road in front of us.

These two critters were the highlight of my trip. Bighorn sheep. They were close enough that I saw the slit pupils in the eyes of the one on the right. I’m still excited.

I’ve been trying to see bighorn sheep for years. When we lived in California we went to Death Valley National Park about 20 times. Over the years we learned that bighorn sheep could sometimes be seen in Titus Canyon, a rough 27-mile journey that could take a good part of a day. We drove it numerous times, looking, and once missed a sighting by seconds. Our consolation prize was once seeing a coyote pounce onto its dinner. Cool, but no bighorn.

We saw other bighorn sheep twice in Yellowstone, on the high crest of a hill. They jumped across jumbles of rock outcroppings like gymnasts on parallel bars.

Tomorrow I’ll start showing you other sights at Yellowstone.