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They’re not rare, they’re not even uncommon, but they are elusive. There are people who have been going to Yellowstone for years that have never seen them and then there are those first timers who casually say , “Oh yeah we’ve seen them every day this week, want to see a picture”. It just goes to show you that life is unfair and it’s often unkind. Otters is what we’re talking about. Otters here, otters there, Otters everywhere, just not where you are when you want to take their picture. I was one of the fortunate because I was lucky enough to find them floating and fishing their way down the Madison river one afternoon and they stayed in a stretch of the river known as the log jam near seven mile bridge for several hours. That’s where I got hooked. From that point on Otters have been one of the big three for me whenever I’m in the park. This particular bunch happened to be up at the north end of Lake Yellowstone in Pelican creek near Indian pond and were headed back out into the lake. There were several den holes in the bank along the creek and they had been resting in one getting ready for as much chaos and mayhem as they could pack into the rest of the day. As you no doubt know each otter contains all the energy in eleven five-year olds who have been fed all the sugar they could gag down and then compressed into a long sleek supple body created solely for mischief. Fun to watch but don’t get involved.