Yellowstone: Sheepeater Cliff
We made a wrong turn and when we realized we had done so, we came upon Sheepeater Cliff and decided to stop and get our bearings.
Sheepeater Cliff was named for the Shoshone Indians who lived throughout this region. Their use of bighorn sheep earned them this name. The cliff is lava that cooled nearly 500,000 years ago.
When we pulled up, we saw a lot of folks admiring this pile of dried lava and wondered what the heck they were looking at.
Then we saw them.
Baby Marmots!
And Mother Marmot.
These brothers were wrestling and flashing their sharp teeth.
Marmots are large squirrels and typically live in burrows within rock piles.
I’ve also heard them be referred to as rock chucks.
They were rolling around like kittens! It was hilarious!
They mostly feed on plants and insects.
Little sister wasn’t having any of it. She was just crawling around the rocks looking cute and eating plants.
Needless to say, we were glad we made a wrong turn because we sure did get a good chuckle. 🙂
My daughter and I love marmots! Thanks for taking a wrong turn!
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Love them !! We hand such fun !!
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🙂
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Great photos of baby marmots…did you see any pika? If you get a chance go to Hellroaring and go to the right of the parking lot at the bottom of the rocks near the grass…should get some photo ops…baby pikas are pretty cute too…tho like marmots they look almost identical to adults…
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I don’t guess I did. I saw baby ground squirrels and chipmunks. I didn’t know to look for pika but I just looked them up and now I wish I had. They are so cute!!
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They are pretty darn cute.
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Aren’t they though!
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Excellent!!!
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Looks like you took the right turn to me! I have been enjoying you beautiful pictues Leah, you and your family sure made a wonderful trip.
Larissa
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Amazing pictures!
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