Wildlife Bonanza

(July 28th)

Today was the day that we hit the wildlife jackpot - especially in the morning. For once, we were up and moving long before the sun was up. We hit the road while the wildlife was still kicking. We first encountered a mule deer in gourgeous light (if only the shots showed it better :) ).



Right next to the mule deer were a pair of yellow-bellied marmots, one of whom seemed a little tired in the early morning hours.



After the excitement with the mule deer and marmots, we ran into two very sedate elk who were sleeping their morning away. Both of them gave us all the shots we could ask for.



Towards the end of the morning, we left the wildlife behind and sought out one of the major geological attraction of Yellowstone - the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (not to be confused with the one carved by the Colorado River). It is quite impressive, with a waterfall leading to a large canyon.



Late in the afternoon, we took a stop in Canyon Village to get some food and gasoline. Just a few hundred yards away were a few large bison.

Out of the Backcountry

(July 27th) Yellowstone gave us a good, old-fashioned whipping. We had a few unfortunate experiences, so it seemed wise to head out of the backcountry for a bit and do some wildlife watching. First we had to get out of the backcountry though. Alex and I spent the morning hiking around near our campsite and got to witness some of the devastation the 1988 fire caused in Yellowstone.



While we hadn't seen much wildlife that was different from Michigan so far, we were treated to a lovely American robin in fantastic light and scenery. We also just missed quite a large bear that crossed our tracks as we headed back to the campsite.



On our way out of the backcountry, we had quite a few amusing experiences - including our favorite activity - water-crossings - this time complete with a buffalo that looked as if it was considering charging us and our cameras. But towards the end of our hike out, I spotted this blue grouse which let Alex and I approach it for some nice shots.



Once we got back to our vehicles, we spend the early part of the evening looking around for wildlife. Even Andy (witness to two photography nuts for the first time ever) was starting to call out things like, "the light is getting great". We spent the golden hours working a wonderful pronghorn male. He barely noticed our presence and spent the evening grazing and at one point scratched his head on a tall thistle.

Entering the Backcountry

(July 26th) Since we arrived at Yellowstone after everything was closed (if you ever want to use a campsite at Yellowstone, make sure your reserve a spot by noon) yesterday, today was the first day we were able to do much. We spent the first few hours of the morning getting our first wildlife shots in. Alex had some fun shooting some ruddy ducks and coots for the first time.



Nowhere else in the country can your car be held up by a herd of some 3 score buffalo as they meander across the road in the early hours of the morning. Like most animals, the buffalo were at their most active during the first two hours of the morning.



After leaving behind the buffalo and a black bear that vanished from view almost as soon as we saw/him her, we headed up to Mammoth to make our backcountry reservations. We stopped off to take a look at some the impressive hot springs near Mammoth. Although I'd have to say that the wildlife interests me most, the geology in Yellowstone is amazing - and the reason why Yellowstone was declared the first National Park.



We had a late start on the trail and our hike was punctuated by glaring buffalo, wrong turns, and hazardous river crossings. We stumbled into a campsite (not ours, but fortunately we had great hospitality from the two father/son pairs sharing the site) around sunset - just in time to fall asleep to the pleasant sound of an adjacent stream.

A Small Start

Lately many of my friends, co-workers, and family members have been asking me to see some examples of the photographs I have been taking. Perhaps they are getting fed up with my endless shooting or my tireless talk of photography. My answer of "I need to work on them a little bit and then I can show you them" feels grossly inadequate. Considering that "working on them" really means going through and separating the chaff from the relatively few photos that don't make me cringe and doing relatively minor finishing (correcting white balance, resizing, and framing), I really should be able to show some examples much quicker. This blog will be a forum for me to show some of the photographs and briefly describe the locations, wildlife, or events which generated the images. I promise to restrain my typical verbose inclinations.

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Wyoming where mose of the time was split between Yellowstone N.P. and the Wind River mountain range. Thanks to Alex and Andy for a great trip, and a special thanks to our host Tony for putting us up several of the nights. There was ample time for backpacking, wildlife watching, and shenanigans - but somehow it seemed like there wasn't enough time for photography. I am just now going through and organizing the roughly 4,000 images I took (quite a large number which I have deleted). We began the trip in Yellowstone. I am in love with this place - the only thing I would change would be the number of visitors, but such a wondrous place should be shared and seen by as many as possible.

(July 25th) We entered the park late on the first day of our trip and were treated to a wonderful sunset along with a first taste of Yellowstone mosquitoes.