Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
This is a wider shot of the bighorn sheep I posted a while ago, the telephoto shot made it look like I was rather close but not only was I a ways away beside the road, there was a river between us. He came down the cliff behind him to graze at the river’s edge then went back up the cliff. From my trip to Yellowstone in 2004.
Many people know cats can climb trees. Not so many know sheep can too.
This bighorn sheep calf was getting rather large to still be nursing so it had to get down on its knees to be able to drink its mother’s milk. The mother only let it nurse for a short time before moving on.
I met a group of bighorn sheep ewes and lambs while hiking up to Mount Washburn on the last day of my trip to Yellowstone in 2011. They were on the trail itself and while it is a wide trail it was still a bit unnerving to have to walk so close. They were very relaxed, however, so I put the telephoto end of my zoom to good use and played around with some close-ups, including this shot of a ewe’s tail.
After a wonderful week of hiking in Wyoming in October 2005, in the last few hours of my last day I decided to take quick jaunts part way down three Yellowstone trails new to me, to get a taste for future visits. I planned an hour for each trail but when I reached the designated time on the the first trail, the Rescue Creek Trail, I wasn’t ready to turn back so I continued on at the cost of only having time to sample one more trail before sunset.
Having reached the new turnaround time, I stopped to drink in the dry landscape and some water. Strange looking trees down the hill caught my eye so I raised my camera for a closer look. The telephoto lens turned my strange trees into six bighorn rams of various ages.
I never made it to any other trails, I spent the remaining hours watching the rams until they wandered up the trail in the opposite direction and I headed back to the car to start the long journey home. One of my all time favorite hiking moments.
They’re terrible at hiding. Just terrible.
Boolie 