this was my trip journal from July 7th

The drive into YELL from the northeast entrance road was undoubtedly the loveliest of the five
entrances. The national forest up there is cut by only two roads, both well maintained by the
state of Wyoming, and both smoothly winding. The towns outside the park are very small one-street,
no stoplight camping villages, accessable from Cody or Billings.
Within five minutes of paying our user fee (25$ for the week for those folks not of senior age)
we saw a brown hump on the edge of meadow, and my first thought was 'bear'. Well, it was one!
I had never before seen a bear in Yell, although I had seen them in GRSM. We turned around and
clearly saw the classic teddy-bear ears. He spooked and we didn't get a picture, but the luck
had begun.
Our next stop was Lamar Valley, where we found people eagerly looking up the North side
at a fence-enclosed forest in the middle of a sagebrush covered hill opposite the river and valley.
They had seen wolves, including pups, but the canids were hidden. After finding bison fluff on
the valley side, I got into the car and thought, 'hmmm, how did you get a radio signal out here"
when my mom pointed out that it was a howl! So melodic! It sounded like a woman singing a
country song, and really did give me chills.
We saw hundreds of Bison in Lamar. When we saw the first Griz, it was busy digging something out
of the ground, and where we parked, it was the required 100 feet away. I watched it through
the long lens of the eos and tried to get pix when it popped its head up. However, when I turned
around, the car was no longer there! They had driven up to get a better (closer) view and left me.
So I had to go closer to the bear to get to the safety of the car. The ranger was not amused, but
since I was on the far side of the road, allowed me to pass and get in. He would not allow mom
to stay out and take a picture, though. It would have served them right if they'd had to find a
turnout to come back for me, if I hadn't been allowed to walk toward the car.
We had our first Bison in the road. Fortunately, its eyes were calm and mellow, not rolling, and
he stared right into our car. I thought I got the picture, but perhaps the eos (camera) jammed,
because it couldn't be reviewed. I am hoping photoshop will be able to resusitate it.
Lastly, on the way out of the park to Gardiner, MT, I saw the famed stone arch. I thought it
was at the Northeast entrance, and I was vexed not to have seen it. Turns out the Roosevelt
arch is right outside the pay station on the North entrance. I was so close the prior to visits,
and I never knew, because I had the wrong info. So the next morning we stopped for the pictures.