***Editorial Comment***

What is it with the tourists in Yellowstone?  No sign, no warnings, no amount of telling, yelling, or advising gets through to them.  I do consider myself a tourist here.  Several times today I witnessed ignorance to the MAX!  

Example #1.   I had crawled on my hands and knees for a significant distance to photograph two Sandhill Cranes.  When I got to the place I chose to shoot the birds I very slowly sat up and set up my tripod.  So here I sit and my camera is inches off the ground.  The shooting began.  I guess when a guy leaves the road with a very big lens that means act stupid?  

It was interesting watching the Cranes preen themselves.  Occasionally they would look my direction to check for any movement.  Believe me I was pretty inconspicuous.  Then the birds seemed nervous.  And then they were off.  At the same time a lady walked (upright) to me and asked what I was taking pictures of.  "here's your sign".

Example #2.  The park rules say that tourists must stay a minimum of 100 yards from any bear.  Of course there are examples of when a tourist comes upon a bear or visa versa.  Near Holmes mountain there was a Grizzly Bear and a cub.  A significant crowd had gathered.  The longs lens stops cars in their tracks.  I was at least 100 yards away maybe even farther by a little.  My time there turned from a photographer to a one man audience of a comedy and stupidity show.  As cars and people stopped they gathered around me.  Within thirty minutes I was farthest from the bears.  At one point a young lady with a very young child pushed the limits.  They were about 40 yards from the bears.  Another photographer standing with me whistled and yelled at the women.  Soon there was others by her.  A grizzly bear can cover 40 yards faster than any person I know by 4 times.... easy.  Then the mother and child (human) pushed it a little more.  Fortunately the bears departed quickly instead of charging or injuring the tourists.  Ok.  Here is the amazing part of the event.  As the crowd dispersed the lady and child walked past me and the other photographer.  The other photography mumbled a few expletives and said how stupid the woman was.  And emphasized that because of her actions others can't enjoy the bears.  

Her response......"I wanted my child to see a bear in it's natural environment"  More expletives flew from the photographers mouth.  I just stood in amazement.   

I had three other similar experiences today.   Yes the Tourist approaching a very large bull elk to pet it was one of them.   I had a long conversation today with one of 'lead" rangers".  We swapped stories.  His favorite.....the man that tried to climb the same tree that the bald eagles nest was in to get a close up of the eagle chicks.  INCREDIBLE!!!!