Wy to UT 2016

I left Gros Ventre campground at 7 am with early sun lighting up the aspens and cottonwoods. While the light on the trees was beautiful I could see dark sky ahead. Got in
to the rain within 50 miles of Jackson and it was wet from then on until I stopped.

I stopped at the Walmart in Vernal UT for the night, along with 6 other RVs. Up and on the road early the next morning, taking rt. 191 south. Once past Duschene it

goes through a long narrow valley and up over a pass. There are a couple of very old log cabins in the valley, some oil wells and range cattle.

I stopped to talk the dogs for a few minutes and took a photo of some snow on the top edge.

Little did I know that was only a hint of what I was to travel in. Thank heavens it was a clear and sunny day. I got up and over the pass (over 9100′) safely with
the
temps in the very low 30s. It was obvious the road had been plowed earlier that morning. 

Once over the pass and down a bit the road dried out and I got into dryer desert country. The rest of the trip down to Moab was uneventful and I got a nice site in a BLM campground.

Have to include this image of some of the fire damage. This was taken just north of Grand Tetons NP but the fires extended down into the park. The fires in Yellowstone were as close to the road in places, too. A friend in Jackson said they don’t expect the fires to be totally out until they get some good snow coverage….

Grand Tetons 2016, last entry

Tuesday morning I met up with a fellow photographer I’d met at Bosque del Apache and he

Milky Way over String Lake and the Tetons

kindly showed me one of his favorite locations in the area along with lots of tips about other places to go for wildlife. He also suggested I try String Lake for some night images. That night was wonderfully clear and the images I got are special.

Wednesday was full of moose. After feeding and walking the dogs I spotted a young bull in the area behind the trailer so I grabbed the camera and tripod. One of the fellows already out there said the big bull was laid down nearby. As I carefully went across the area I spotted another young bull and two cows. Wow, all the ingredients for action there! The moose spend a lot of time laid down with little

Young bull moose tempting fate

action going on but eventually the big bull did a good job of chasing one of the young bulls away, the other one left on its own. Another cow joined the other 2 and all the animals laid down, again. After 4 hours I quit and went back to the trailer for some food and to get some stuff done. Later I went back out and found the big bull and 3 cows laid down with one of the young bulls still close by. Eventually he wandered right over near the others and the big bull chased him up into the campground. I wasn’t in a good spot for any of the chasing shots, but managed to get a few other images.

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Grand Teton NP 2016, Moose

Heading back to the trailer after some shopping in town I saw folks hanging around a campsite…..naturally I slowed down to see what the attraction was. There in the shade was a bull moose and close by was a cow, also taking her ease. Since I had my camera in the truck I pulled into an empty campsite and got my gear out. The people who had the campsite were not there so I walked to the back of their trailer and used it as a blind.

I had nothing planned and figured I could wait them out. Eventually she got up and after a bit he did, too. He was definitely interested in her and slowly tried to work it out with her. For us bystanders it appeared to be a very slow and rather indecisive process but so very interesting to see the interaction. We can only assume they decided an audience wasn’t what they wanted. They moved a short way across the field and then laid down again. All told I think I watched them over 4 hours before I gave up and went back to the trailer to feed the dogs. They’re probably still around somewhere close by so maybe I’ll see them again.

 

Grand Teton NP 2016, 3

Sunset over the Tetons

A colorful sunset over the Tetons is always a delight. After spending a long time at the riverside hoping to see some moose I gave up, threw the camera gear in the truck and headed out since it looked like there might be a good sunset. Turns out the gamble paid off!

I was up very early the next morning and caught the sunrise lighting up the Tetons and then happened on some bison that were still frosty from the cold night. While driving around or
being stopped I’ve also seen two foxes and two coyotes.

The night of the full moon it was very clear so I headed out to see what a couple of places

Full moon light on the barn on Mormon Row with the Tetons and Big Dipper

looked like in the moonlight. First stop was the iconic barn on Mormon Row with the Tetons behind it.

After that I went to another spot on a hunch. On a good day the

Full moon light at Schwabacher’s Landing with Tetons and Big Dipper

Tetons are reflected in the river and I thought if things came together right the moonlit Tetons would be reflected in the river. Sure enough, they were!

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Grand Tetons NP, 2016,1

The Tetons are a favorite area of mine, the mountains so majestic and the animals fascinating. When I arrived at Gros Ventre campground the moon was waxing, giving lots of moonlight so the first night I arrived I went out for a few evening shots.

Big Dipper over the Tetons

Didn’t get much, but did see a fox that stopped within 15′ of me and heard an elk bugling in the night.  A fellow camper told me where to find some beaver so I visited their pond and I’ve spent many  hours watching moose. 

The campground is along the Gros Ventre River, a great place for moose. Watching their interactions is fascinating to me. One of the spots seems to be a hangout for a cow, her calf and a young bull. So far he doesn’t seem to be impressing the cow very much.

The young bull needs a new line…..

 

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Yellowstone 3, 2016

Been here in Canyon Village campground for a few days now, they’ve resurfaced a lot of the road and as usual the campsites are in excellent condition. It is at a pretty high elevation

Evening light on snowy Absaroka Mountains

(over 7900′) so it can get very cold this time of year. Labor Day brought several snow showers but  nothing lasted long. I did get a nice evening shot of the snow on the Absaroka mountains.

Bison bull on a frosty morning

Tuesday morning was very frosty and provided some nice images.

The bison are plentiful in Hayden Valley right now, causing many “bison jams” but the park has rangers now who are out and about in SUVs patrolling. They have loud speakers and tell people ” do not stop in the roadway”,  “get back in your vehicle”, etc.

They also do a bit of herding to get the bison off the road and have a loud sort of clicking sound on the speaker that the critters don’t seem to like.

Bison bull

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Yellowstone, Geysers 2016

Yellowstone geyser area has many interesting features which attract thousands of visitors. Fortunately there are some that are off the beaten path and less crowded. The colors in the hot springs are beautiful.

Great Fountain Geyser goes off every 9 to 16 hours, making it a hard one to see. I didn’t catch it during the day but one night it was supposed to go off at between 8 pm and 1 am so I arrived plenty early. Needless to say it took its time and erupted at about 9:30 pm, in total darkness. A factor hard to figure into it was the amount of steam produced by the hot water and cold air. That made it very hard to photograph any water being sent up. The eruption lasts a pretty long time and by the end of it there were some stars visible so I capture a bit of steam lit by a light I had and the Big Dipper.

One of my favorite geysers is White Dome Geyser since it goes of frequently (every 20-30 minutes) and is usually pretty free of spectators. The first evening I was at Madison campground I went over and got a nice sunset image of it.

 

 

Then I went back that night to see if I could get the Milky Way above it. I did, though there were clouds and smoke so the images weren’t as clear as in the past. The difference this year was the forest fires in the park, they reflected on the clouds and made the images very unique.

 

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