This has always been a fascinating region for me to explore. It's laced with a rabbit's warren of wildlife trails, and has a huge variety of interesting things to see. A lot of Griz also wander this ridge, so it's imperitive to make plenty of noise and to stay alert. I've encountered Grizzly, black bears, bighorn, elk, mule deer, porcupines, coyotes, pronghorn, and wolves while wandering along the steep slopes of Specimen Ridge.

The cliff in the bottom photo is the bottom part of Stump Bluff that was shown on a previous page. Note the rocks in the cliff face that are (very) loosely held together with volcanic ash. That's the main reason that rock climbers rarely ply their sport in Yellowstone - there's simply nothing to hang onto. In their terminology, Yellowstone peaks have "rotten" rock.