The Forest Service seems to take great pains to leave alone the natural flora and fauna in the park.

Animals have numerous natural enemies…other animals, and the weather…and no obvious attempt is made to keep them apart. The natural interaction can have surprising effects.

We heard that the introduction of wolves has dramatically affected the growth of small trees and shrubs in several areas. The theory is that deer had been nearly stripping bare these areas for years, but the wolves either have killed them or chased them away to other areas.

And the flora grows how it grows, and burns as lightning causes it to burn, and lies where it falls. Only the minimum is done to keep trees and vegetation out of roadways & trails.

All very natural.

So we have encounters with interesting fallen timbers like these:

And rocks…wow, this place has rocks of every sort. These pictures are just some we ran across that seemed more unusual than most.

The first is a single rock on the shore of Lake Yellowstone. It has broken into interesting fragments.

I actually shot the last one when it was so dark I could barely see those monsters right in front of me!