Grand Teton Animals

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Bill

We departed Yellowstone National Park on September 22nd and headed south for our week in Grand Teton National Park. Needless to say, we were looking forward to overloading our senses with glorious scenery and captivating wildlife. Spoiler alert – we were NOT disappointed!

Our two bedroom condo in the Aspens development was a nice upgrade from the Dunraven Lodge back in Yellowstone. It was about half the cost and we had a full kitchen so we could cook and save on food as well. After spending nearly two weeks on the road we made good use of the clothes washer and dryer also in the unit. Several nights were cool enough to enjoy the relaxing wood-burning fireplace.

The Aspens are located on Moose Wilson Road. This road actually enters the park just 5.5 miles north of us. Our building was in the rear of the development and backed up to some woods and the mountains. One day I was standing on our back deck and was amazed to see this moose cow grazing just below me. I grabbed my camera and rushed downstairs to check her out. While there I met one of the full-time residents who explained that the cow and a bull had been living in that area for some time and had some offspring. We never saw the bull or the babies but, it was really cool to see moose right behind our condo. With a name like “Moose Wilson Road” I guess it makes sense.

A few miles up this same road but, inside the park we saw more moose. This big boy had his eye on a female grazing across the water. We arrived just in time to watch him cross the little tributary of the Snake River in hot pursuit.

We weren’t exactly alone out there gawking at the moose. Photographers with big glass seemed to sprout up like toadstools whenever an animal was spotted. I couldn’t resist standing back for a minute and just watching the people watching the animals. There’s around $200k of camera gear perched there.

On a different day but in this same area we saw what we thought was a dead cow and baby. They were completely motionless and sprawled out on the grass. After quite some time there was movement so we realized they were simply snoozing. We waited for them to get up and walk around but, they were too comfy. We had to move on.

We heard several reports from other photographers that moose were being seen on a regular basis in the early morning hours at the Gros Ventre campground. A couple of mornings we trekked over there but, only saw this cow and some fleeting glimpses of a bull in the distance. We heard the old story: “You should have been here yesterday, the biggest bull we’ve ever seen was just five feet away”. Yeah, and the fish were jumping in the boat.

The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is also located on Moose Wilson Road. Two or three black bears were being spotted there almost daily feeding on the huckleberries. I can’t resist an opportunity to photograph a bear.

This is the first time I’d ever seen a “Cinnamon Bear”. It’s actually a subspecies of Black Bear and quite common in the western US. This one was in the same area as the black bear shown above and didn’t seem to mind the company. The only difference between them is the color of their fur.

For over 100 years the National Elk Refuge near Jackson Hole, WY has been home to an estimated 11,000 elk. We expected to see lots of elk but, we really didn’t. The refuge covers 25,000 acres so it’s vast. Our problem was twofold…we were too early for the elk to be coming down from higher elevations and we didn’t know exactly where to find them. Fortunately, on our next to last day we got a tip about the Windy Point Turnout just northwest of Moose Junction. We spent the early morning of our last day observing several elk there and got to hear the echo of their bugle bouncing off the mountains. Nothing else sounds like that.

One day my sister-in-law, Barb, and I were exploring some back roads south of Moran Junction. We stumbled on Wolff Ranch Road. There were a couple of wildlife tour vans making their way ahead of us so we followed along. In some spots the dirt and gravel road was questionable even though we had 4-wheel drive. We had to ford 3 creeks that were over the running boards but, if those vans ahead could make it then, so could we.

In the first field out there we discovered a nice little herd of Pronghorn. As I mentioned in my earlier blogs, these critters were one of the highlights of the trip for me. They are so interesting to observe and I love their markings.

The males have beautiful black “horns” and a big black patch on their neck. The display of that black patch is what gets the females hot.

They can run really really fast but, they can’t jump like a deer. They also have a flat motion. Not bouncy like a deer. The one shown here is moving at a medium pace with all four hooves off the ground. He’s nowhere near top speed. No predator can keep up with these guys.

It’s time for breakfast!

This juvenile is almost the size of mom and has to get on its knees to eat.

How can you not fall in love with these little critters? The babies are just too cute.

Further down the same road we ran into a huge herd of Bison. At one point our car was surrounded and we couldn’t move. They were drinking water from the mud puddles in the road and we couldn’t move forward or back. They weren’t threatening us but, they weren’t moving either.

They love to rub on the base of trees. You can always tell if bison are in the area because the bark is rubbed off nearly all the trees.

We got a little dusting of snow and it really made them stand out.

I ended up getting some of my best Bison images out there. So many subjects and situations to choose from. All it took was some imagination to get the shots I wanted.

We didn’t have quite as good of weather in the Tetons as we did in Yellowstone so that impacted our light and shooting somewhat. We also tried not to go from dawn til dusk every single day if the conditions were bad. Regardless, we got to see lots of animals and beautiful scenery. It was splendid. My next and final blog post will hopefully show some of that scenery. Stay tuned…

Yellowstone Landscape

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Bill

We bid farewell to the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota on Sunday September 15th and headed up through Sturgis and Spearfish. Finally, we were on our way to Yellowstone National Park.

We crossed the state line into Wyoming and realized that Sundance is just 30 miles from Devils Tower National Monument. Surely, we can’t pass that close and not take a small side trip. A couple of bison and longhorns agreed to pose for us there.

The size and scale of Devils Tower is not obvious until you look carefully at some of the telephoto shots I took. We never noticed in the field that several people were climbing the tower while we were there.

Just north of Sheridan we left I-90 onto US14 and soon entered the Bighorn National Forest. The vistas and canyons were amazing as we paralleled Shell Creek. We paused for a few moments to soak in the views before pressing on through Greybull and Cody.

We made our way into the east entrance and were finally in Yellowstone. Yay! We made it!

The rugged terrain along the east entrance bears no resembleance to the wooded west entrance as shown in this image. The topography in this huge national park varies all over the place.

Our home in Yellowstone for the entire week was at Dunraven Lodge in Canyon Village. The stunning Lower Falls and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River was about two miles from us.

For much of this trip I had a hard time getting my head around the scale of everything in the western US. Mountains are taller, canyons are deeper and horizons farther away. That impression is tough to capture in a photograph.

Even in this closeup of the lower falls you cannot see the people standing on the observation platform just to the right of the top of the falls. The trees in the foreground are too close to my position to really provide proper scale for the 308 foot high falls.

We were blessed with beautiful weather for most of our visit and even treated to a dusting of snow. This image of the Yellowstone River was taken in Hayden Valley near Nez Perce Ford. The Nez Perce indians crossed the river near here in August of 1877 while being pursued by US troops. They were trying to avoid being forcibly relocated from their home in Oregon.

We spent a good portion of our time in the park looking for animals. Many could be found in Hayden and Lamar valleys. The journey from our home in Canyon Village up to Lamar takes us over 10,243 foot Mt. Washburn and then to Tower Roosevelt. Just south of Tower Roosevelt junction is Tower Fall, shown here, on the Tower Creek.

Mammoth Hot Springs lies in the northwest corner of the park near the Montana border. Heat, water and limestone combine to form the interesting lower terraces. It’s a sight you might expect to see in a cave somewhere but, it’s out in the open.

The Main Terrace I found to be even more colorful. Not sure if there’s a body under that hat or not. Looks like a nice hat though.

A closeup view of an area in the main terrace reveals patterns that might be fractals. They seem to mimic the larger terraces on a much smaller scale. I was reminded of a coral reef by their appearance.

South of Mammoth Hot Springs and west of Canyon Village is Norris junction and the Norris Geyser Basin. Steamboat Geyser is located here. It’s the tallest active geyser but, it rarely erupts. I had read that it erupted this summer for the first time in eight years. As you can see here it was pretty active but, not actually erupting. I gave it maybe an hour but, then had to move on. Oh well, maybe next time.

Continuing further southward from Norris junction we came to Artist’s Paint Pots. We ended up visiting this area twice because our first visit ended in a hasty retreat when lightning strikes were happening all around us. These areas are quite exposed and dangerous in thunderstorms.

Our next stop was a beautiful overlook of the Gibbon River. It was still overcast from the passing storms but, you can see the vivid colors on the hills and in the river.

A short distance away are the Gibbon Falls. It’s a lovely little ribbon-like 84 foot falls.

South of Madison junction are the Fountain Paint Pots. Here we found the Clepsydra Geyser. Since the 1959 earthquake it erupts pretty much continuously. Prior to that, it erupted every three minutes. The geyser reaches heights of 45 feet or so.

The beautiful Firehole Lake Drive is home to Firehole Spring. It’s a very active and colorful thermal feature with many others along this route.

The Midway Geyser Basin looks like something from a distant planet and contains several thermal features.

This is a portion of the Excelsior Geyser Crater within the Midway Geyser Basin.

This ground level view of the Grand Prismatic Spring doesn’t do it justice. To really appreciate it you have to see it from high overhead. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to hike up the hill behind it nor could we hire a helicopter.

I wasn’t going to visit Yellowstone without seeing Old Faithful Geyser. It’s the signature thermal feature in the park. It may not be the biggest or the most beautiful but, it’s impressive nonetheless.

The Old Faithful Inn first opened in 1903 and is one of the largest and grandest “log cabins” ever built. The 65 foot high lobby shown here features a massive stone fireplace and clock. It’s a beautiful and warm space that seems to take you back in time.

A classic Yellow Tour Bus parked at the Old Faithful Inn with Old Faithful Geyser in the background. These White model 706 tour buses were specifically manufactured for the park in 1935. They were refurbished in 2007 and can be seen throughout the park.

Well, this has been just a small sampling of the hundreds of images I took in Yellowstone National Park. It was quite simply a trip of a lifetime and I’ll forever cherish the opportunity I had to view the many wonders of this glorious park. It is certainly worthy of being our first national park and makes me extremely grateful that visionary leaders in our country were successful in setting this region aside as a park for future generations. I cannot wait to return but, our next stop is Grand Teton National Park. Fantastic!

Yellowstone Animals

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Bill

During our week in Yellowstone National Park I took around 1,500 images. Good thing I was shooting digital instead of film. I didn’t see nor photograph all of the magnificent animals that live there but, I captured several. Even after picking and choosing just a select few of my images to include in my blog, I quickly realized that it would make sense to split Yellowstone into two posts. One for the animals and another for everything else. So, let’s take a look at some critters!

No animal represents Yellowstone more than the Bison. In the early 1900’s nearly 50 million bison roamed North America. Over hunting drove the species to near extinction. Efforts to revive and protect the bison have been successful and now there are around 150,000 in America.

The current bison population in Yellowstone is estimated to be about 4,600. These are the descendants of a tiny heard of 23 that managed to hide out and avoid mass slaughter. We’re lucky they made it.

Bison are the largest land mammal in America and can weigh a ton. This dusting of snow we saw in September is only a small preview of the weather these animals must deal with. It was a special treat to see them in the white stuff.

Most of the bison we saw were in Hayden Valley and between Norris and Madison. The areas they frequented were easy to spot because the bark was rubbed off the base of the trees.

We only got a fleeting glance of some animals like this porcupine. He was at the edge of the road and made a quick retreat into the woods before we could get a good shot. It was cool seeing him nonetheless.

Another surprise was seeing several River Otters in the Yellowstone River within Hayden Valley. They were fishing in one particular spot and would dive, surface and dive like dolphin.

It took some effort to get this shot. They were diving too quickly to aim and shoot normally. Basically, I had to pick a point in the water where I anticipated an otter might surface and click the shutter as soon as I saw one appear. It’s really satisfying when you can actually capture the image you have imagined.

We heard and saw some bald eagles. This one is a young adult. Maybe four years old. This is easy to spot by the white patch under the wing and the “dirty” white head. He sat in a tree for several minutes while we snapped away before flying off.

We spent a couple of mornings looking for wolves and met some very knowledgeable people in the process. But alas, we saw no wolves. We did, however, see some coyotes.

I knew if I carefully observed his body language that I might be able to capture him doing the “pounce”. Success! He captured breakfast and I captured him with all four feet off the ground.

Another big predator we hoped to see was a grizzly bear. We ended up seeing quite a few although most were very far away like these three cubs we found in Lamar Valley. Their mother was dining on an old carcass while they explored.

Also in Lamar Valley, this huge Grizzly was headed toward a bison carcass near a bridge. Once again my sister in law, Barb, was essential in spotting a critter and bringing him to my attention. The carcass was too hidden in the woods for me to get any closer images.

We were staying in Canyon Village and found this grizzly about a mile from our lodge. It was feeding on something in a ditch off of the road between Canyon and Norris. We were unsure if it had found a carcass or just some roots.

A big grizzly was feeding on an elk carcass on the far side of Swan Lake just south of Mammoth Hot Springs. Another smaller bear foolishly tried to get a share and was immediately chased away.

This is the smaller bear. He was running so fast to get away from the larger bear that I was only able to get a quick grab shot as he headed for the hills.

We saw some black Bear, too. This one was on the side of the road just west of Tower Roosevelt. It was almost dark when I shot this. Had to use ISO 6400. Got to love the Nikon D800 in low light!

I fell in love with the Pronghorn on our trip. We found them all over Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. A few were seen in Minnesota and Nebraska as well. They are such an interesting animal and extremely fast as I mentioned in my Black Hills post. This male was near the gravel road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner.

A group of large male Bighorn Sheep were found in a canyon along the main park road between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs. The light was pretty harsh but, we managed to get several nice images.

Our September 15th through 22nd visit was a little too early to see the Bighorn smacking heads in the rut. They were still very impressive animals to behold.

No Yellowstone visit would be complete without spotting an elk. They are majestic, beautiful and can be dangerous during the rut. A park Ranger told us that this big male was responsible for taking out three car windshields.

He’s got an attitude and shows the females he can strut his stuff. We found him and his harem just south of the spot where the Bighorn Sheep were hanging out.

Even the young ones learn to point their nose in the air and act tough.

Antlers come in handy when you have an itch.

One of the main reasons I’ve always wanted to visit Yellowstone National Park was to see the animals. It was fantastic. I’ve only posted a small fraction of the images I took but, there’s no way a simple image can communicate the feeling one gets when you’re actually viewing these creatures. It’s quite an experience.

My next blog post will cover some of the landscape and thermal features we saw in the park. Stay tuned…

Black Hills of SD

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Bill

We planned our trip out to Yellowstone to take us by the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. The Black Hills of South Dakota seemed like a great place to explore so we planned for a three day stay in Keystone.

One of the premier attractions in the area is undoubtably Mount Rushmore National Monument. The brainchild of South Dakota Historian, Doane Robinson who had read about sculpturer, Gutzon Borglum’s work at Stone Mountain in Georgia. The original idea was to sculpt the “Needles” in the area into the faces of Lewis and Clark, Chief Red Cloud and Buffalo Bill Cody. He hoped to attract tourists to the area. Borglum deemed the granite in the needles too poor to work with. He found Mount Rushmore and proposed a national focus instead of local figures.

Borglum never completed his work at Stone Mountain but, the techniques he developed there were deployed successfully at Rushmore. Basically, he sculpted models where one inch on the model would equal one foot on the mountain. He used a pointer to locate points in three dimensions on the model and translate each point to the mountain.

Overall, the four figures are quite impressive to behold. The eyes have depth and realism. Even more amazing are the glasses on the Roosevelt figure.

We stayed at the K Bar S Lodge in Keystone which even provided Mount Rushmore views from our building in the evening. The lodge is in the woods and tucked up next to a mountain. Each morning we saw mule deer and wild turkeys on the grounds while we ate breakfast.

Rail tracks that run from Hill City, SD to Keystone cross the K Bar S property. This gave us a perfect opportunity to photograph the “1880 Train”. Locomotive #110 shown here is the only operational Baldwin 2-6-6-2T Mallet in the world. We couldn’t resist walking down to the tracks one day and taking some images of the train.
While Mount Rushmore is a national monument and well known around the world, we were captivated by Needles Highway and Custer State Park.

Peter Norbeck was the South Dakota governor who championed Mount Rushmore and obtained federal funding for the project. He also pushed for the creation of Needles Highway which is part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. Some of the tunnels were oriented to point directly toward and frame Mount Rushmore.

It’s easy to see why Doane Robinson wanted to create sculptures from the needles in the Black Hills. Many of these naturally eroded spires already look like human figures or animals. This one looked like some sort of guardian to me.

This needle reminded us of Snoopy or maybe the Sphinx. After a while your imagination runs wild like when staring at clouds. There’s something interesting at every turn.

I could imagine this stone figure having a conversation with the nearby tree. Who knows what they may be discussing!

These needles look like something from Easter Island.

I liked the juxtaposition here between the dead tree, cloud, live tree and the needle figures.

While we were marveling at the needles my sister in law, Barb, spotted a Mountain Goat high above us. There are only 24 or so of these animals in the entire Custer State Park so this was a very special sighting.

We saw our first pronghorn in Custer State Park and found them to be quite plentiful throughout South Dakota and later in Wyoming. These critters are very cool and FAST. They have 13 separate gaits and can run as fast as 55 mph. They are second only to the Cheetah in top speed but, they can run much longer distances.

The little Prairie Dog may be a rodent but, they sure are cute.

How can you not love these little guys?

Here’s Mr Coyote.

He loves Prairie Dogs…especially for dinner. He’s on the prowl for one right now.

Bison are numerous in the Black Hills. This large male likely weighs close to a ton.

Time for a little drink from mom.

We throughly enjoyed our visit to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Mount Rushmore may have brought us to the area but, Needles Highway and Custer State Park will likely bring us back. It’s a stunningly beautiful part of our great country and worth much more than the meager three days we could afford to spend there.

But, we have to move on toward Yellowstone.

Badlands NP

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Bill

Way back in the summer of 1976 I took an epic road trip. I had just graduated from college and decided to drive cross country with two of my buddies. We packed up our tents and sleeping bags and headed west from North Carolina to see the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Bonneville Salt Flats, Mono Lake, Hoover Dam, Yosemite and San Francisco. We even managed to swing by Golden, Colorado on the way back to secure nine cases of Coors beer (a rare commodity east of the Mississippi back then). Ahh, those were the days!

When we returned home I started my career with GE and promised myself that in a couple of years or so I’d strike out on another drive to see Yellowstone and the Tetons. Somehow life and other obligations got in the way. 37 years later and it’s now or never to make good on that promise.

On Tuesday September 10, 2013 I headed west once again. This time it was from Hampton, Virginia with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. We were FINALLY going to embark on the journey we’d been discussing for years.

You may be wondering why we wanted to drive 7,000 miles. Well, that’s the best way to really experience our great country. We could be totally in control of our schedule and free to take as many bags of camera gear and clothes as we wanted.

We were able to “Yelp” across the country and visit some excellent local eateries.. Here’s the Black Russian sandwich and Izze Sparkling Birch I had for lunch at Kelly’s Bakery and Cafe in Bloomington, IL. Yum!

We got to see thousands of acres of corn. Oh boy! That’s the same corn that’s used to make ethanol for gasoline. One interesting thing we found in Iowa and other corn producing states is that you can buy gas there with or without ethanol. I wish we had that option back east. Just today I replaced the fuel lines on my Weedeater because ethanol gas destroyed them. Don’t get me started on all the reasons putting ethanol in gasoline is a very bad thing!

Ethanol production from corn takes more energy and produces more hydrocarbons than you can imagine. It’s a “false green” in my book. Wind power is quite another story. We saw thousands of these huge windmills along the road. These things may not be perfect but, they make a lot more sense than ethanol. But, I digress.

Once we set eyes on the BelAire Motel in Chamberlain, South Dakota we knew we were wise to drive instead of fly. You can’t make this stuff up!

Finally, after three days of driving we reached our first major stop. The Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Woo-woo! Here I am doing the no-holds-barred tourist thing by getting my picture next to the park sign. You can’t prove you were ever there unless you have a photo like this. It’s one of those things I guess.

The landscape is quite amazing. Eroded buttes and spires appear other-worldly and display resplendent colors as the sun’s light changes. It makes you want to run out and get a degree in geology so you can properly appreciate what’s there.

The vistas reach out to the horizon and are set in an endless prairie.

Ancient layers of sediment have left a beautiful pallet of colors and patterns.

The topography is as rough and unforgiving as it is beautiful. It makes you wonder how anything can eek out an existence there. Yet, there are creatures that thrive.

This young Bighorn Sheep had no trouble scaling the rocks to find a bite to eat and keep up with the herd. Audubon’s Bighorn Sheep were native to SD but extinct by 1916. The three herds currently in the state were transplanted from Wyoming and Colorado. These herds are in the Badlands, Custer State Park and Spring Creek Canyon in the Black Hills. There are 300-350 among the three herds.

It’s exciting to see these beautiful creatures living again in an area where they roamed for thousands of years. They may be transplants but, there’s something right about them being there. We didn’t see any of the big male Bighorns in the Badlands but, we hoped to see some in Yellowstone.

In addition to the sheep we also saw several Prairie Dogs and a couple of Coyotes. The images I shot were too distant to bother posting here. Later on we got some closer looks at those animals in the Black Hills.

Our quick stop in the Badlands was quite rewarding and served to whet our appetite for even more impressive scenery and interesting critters yet to come. Stay tuned!