Today, we got started a bit later than we did on the first day. We left at around 7:30 a.m. and headed east into the park again. We had tons and tons of bison right next to the road on many occasions today. We were able to see some big bulls up close and we were lucky enough to see two collared bison. We also saw several harems of elk with some larger bulls. We didn’t see much for predators today except the “crazy coyote.”

The coyote situation was unreal, probably something that none of us will ever experience again, and that’s probably a good thing. We hiked a little bit today and learned about different climate change indicators that we’ve noticed and their effects. That tied in with our presentation that we had tonight about climate change and different parts of the park to explore. We hiked to this area along the banks of the Lamar River and there we took a half an hour to split up and journal about what we could see, and feel, and the wonders of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It was a time to reflect on our trip and what we had experienced. It was difficult to think about what to write at first because it was deemed an “assignment” and this is sort of like a mini vacation from school, even though we are here for a class. But once I was able to sit down alone and just think, I was able to journal a considerable amount. It was a good assignment after all.