Article Contributed on: 7/21/2007 10:32:05 AM
Eagles can be spotted at the west entrance. Wolves can be seen near the northeast corner ... but when
Don Buss advised us at the visitor center that we might spot bighorn sheep, I had only one wildlife goal for my time in
Yellowstone on July 17.
I remember the name Don Buss because he was the nicest, most knowledgeable visitor center person I have ever come across. Sure, he had a speech for visitors, promising that the view from above Lake Butte would be just like the painting to the right of us in the visitor center.
But he was a virtuoso, not a mechanical regurgitator of tourist tidbits. He could surely sing that speech and draw a traveler's itinerary on the Yellowstone map in his sleep. He gave the same little lecture three times, effortlessly outlining a trio of maps. Then he shook all of our hands and told us it was a pleasure to meet us-- it was like shaking hands with Yellowstone itself ...big, refreshing, welcoming ...
The bighorn sheep beckoned because my father loves them (my grandmother did a painting of them for him at least a decade ago) and because I'm going to
CSU, where the bighorn sheep is the mascot.
So I looked.
And looked.
And -- is that one? -- looked more.
We came home with photos of black bears, bison and plenty of mule deer, but not one ram or ewe. The only sheep horns I saw during my time at the national park were the ones sitting at one of their visitor centers.
I guess I have to be as cool as
Barbara Neff and visit Waterton Canyon to get close to bighorn sheep. Check out her blog
here.