2017 Teton Stars, Moose and Snow

From Yellowstone I headed back to the Tetons for several days, hoping to find some moose. Second night I was there it was very clear so I headed up to Ox Bow Bend to see if I could capture the Milky Way over the water. All the while I was there I heard Elk bugling.

The moose were around. First morning at Gros Ventre as I was putting on my shoes my youngest (and most watchful) dog started barking at something outside one of the side windows. I got up to look and was face to face with a moose cow that was under the awning looking at me. Yikes!! No chance to get a photo, either! I made certain she was gone before opening the door with the dogs. Sure enough she and a mother cow were a ways behind the trailer so I hurried the dogs in the opposite direction and hoped they wouldn’t notice the moose. They didn’t so all wen well. Once they were back in the trailer and fed I grabbed my camera and headed for the river since the moose were likely to head that way. Sure enough, but with the 2 cows and a bull somewhere around it was also a bit spooky in the willows. Fortunately there weren’t any close encounters and I did capture this young bull crossing the river.

At one point I turned and captured a mule deer who came down to the river.

That was it for the moose until a few days later I was headed out and came across some folks watching a cow, calf and bull at a creek. Managed to get a few images of them.

A couple of days later there were 3 cows and a bull in the campground so I spent several hours watching them. I find it so interesting to watch them interact. When I got there they were all laid down, but eventually they got up and then it got interesting. They all keep an eye on each other, if one cow got near the bull another cam trotting over, but that second one had run away when approached by him. With them all moving about we had to keep our eyes on all of them so we weren’t in their way and didn’t upset them. To be honest watching moose takes a lot of patience, they seem to spend a lot more time laying down than moving around. But for me it’s worth it.

The weather turned very cold, with my down jacket and wind pants being the norm when I went outside. It was also liable to spit snow at any time. After one such day I went over to the well known barn on Mormon Row, the snowy Tetons made a nice backdrop for it.

 

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2017 Yellowstone, September

I moved up to Mammoth Hot Springs campground the end of August for several days. The fires in both ID and Montana are causing a lot of smoke to blow this way. It’s rare to see a blue sky and when the moon rises it is orange. This makes a good base to head over to Lamar Valley in search of wildlife so I’ve been there a few times and expect to return before I leave here. There is a small herd of Pronghorn Antelope that is sometimes visible so I took advantage of that one day.

I’ve heard of and seen some photos of the Big Horn sheep that live on the cliffs on the road to the North Entrance. Finally spotted them on the way back from Gardiner so I stopped and spent quite a while watching them. I wanted to see where they would go on the cliffs. They moved across the cliffs then went up and around out of sight.

 

Back in Lamar the bison are all over the place it seems. Yesterday morning I stopped to watch one group and was pleased to also see a Coyote hanging around them. They didn’t seem particularly worried about it but finally one of the bison chased it off. Before that happened I watched a calf following a raven around for about 5 minutes. The calf was always about 6′ behind the raven and seems quite curious.

Then I moved further into Lamar Valley and saw that some of the bison were on the move from up in the hills to down by the river. I parked where I thought a group would be crossing and sure enough, I was right there, too close for many photographs as it turned out.

This last image shows how much smoke has been around. 

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2017, Tetons, short visit

On my way to Yellowstone I stopped in the Tetons for only 4 nights. Got another great site at Gros Ventre CG. There is a lot of smoke around, sometimes you could be at the south end of the Tetons and couldn’t even see the north end of the range. Last year the fires were raging in both Yellowstone and GTNP, this year they are not in the parks but still affecting them.

The second night I was there it was wonderfully clear so I went out to see what I could photograph. First stop was one of the old Mormon barns. There were a couple of guys there already and they were using some LED flashlights to light the barn. Not the best light since it tends to be a very cold white but I warmed it up a bit in the processing.

 

The night was so clear I wanted to take advantage of it so I headed down to Schwabacher’s Landing unsure if the setting would work or not. Yes!  Just the spot to capture the Milky Way over the calm waters.

2017 Yellowstone NP, Hayden Valley

 

Friday May 26 I was up bright and early to drive from Mammoth Hot Springs campground down to Canyon Village campground. That was the day it opened for the season and I had no idea if there would be a long line of folks waiting or not. I had to take the road on the west side of the park  down to Norris then across to Canyon. It snowed a bit and I encountered a group of Bison with some calves making their way along the road. Eventually I got to the campground and was surprised to find I was one of the first to arrive and check in. Good thing they weren’t facing a rush of folks because their computers were not working right. The campground had obviously been plowed out and there were great piles of snow everywhere. When I first pulled in it was like backing the trailer into an icebox. As the days warmed up a bit the snow started to melt. I was assigned a nice site with good exposure for the solar panels which I set up promptly. This year I was pleased to see a few other trailers also had solar panels of one sort or another. It was extremely cold and snowed off and on the first couple of days I was there and I was amazed at the number of tenters. So glad I had the trailer even though the furnace was not working consistently. 

There were some Bison in Hayden Valley, along with lots of Elk. I stayed at Canyon for 9 nights and didn’t see any Elk calves until late in my stay. The Bison were often close to the road but the Elk tended to stay on the other side of the Yellowstone River, a long ways away, even with the telephoto lens I have.

One afternoon while hanging around at a pullout I saw a black Wolf. It it was by itself, sort of chasing some Elk. I lost sight of it quickly and moved to another pullout later on. Lo & behold I saw movement and realized it was the Wolf, directly across the river from me. Managed to get a few shots of it, what you see here are greatly cropped.

Late one day as I was headed back to the trailer I came up to what was a growing “bear jam”. There was a pullout with no cars in it so I swung in and grabbed my camera. Just had time to catch it as it ran across the road and across a small open area into the woods.

 

Bison do swim, not going to win any awards but they can get from one side of the river to the other, with some drifting in the current.

One afternoon I was surprised and dismayed to see some obviously foreign visitors using a drone. Drones are not allowed in the park and it is stated plainly in various info sheets handed out. These people, along with the make and registration of their vehicle,were reported to the Rangers. I really hope they were caught and that the drone was confiscated.

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2017 Yellowstone Nights

When I’m this far north I regularly check out a website that gives info about possible Aurora Borealis sightings. On May 23 when I was staying at Mammoth Hot Springs campground the possibility for seeing the aurora was good so I went out at about 10 pm. The ideal spot would be as high as I could get, but unfortunately the folks at MHS don’t see to understand about light pollution. The view from the parking on the Upper Terraces was compromised by the lights below so I found a better spot on a pullout just below there with trees to hide the lights. The yellow plume in the image is steam from one of the hot springs that is lit up by the lights.  Once I was satisfied with that image I turned more to the east and was able to get a nice image of the Milky Way.

Three days later I got a notice that the Aurora might again be visible. O10:15 pm on the 27th I left the Canyon Village campground and headed south to Hayden Valley. When I had parked and got out to check the view I could immediately see some lights high above, Bingo!  Quickly got the camera and tripod out. Wow! Had to put the 14 mm lens on to capture the sight. The vertical spectre was amazing and moved slowly from north to northwest then faded out. This phenomenon is called “Steve” in Aurora circles for lack of a better name.

After that I concentrated on the Aurora down near the  horizon and moved to different spots to get different views of it with the Yellowstone River in the foreground. In some of the images you can see a bit of the Milky Way, but the moon is waxing and it isn’t the best time for that.

I went out the next night but didn’t see any lingering color. Once the moon was down low I did manage to capture the Milky Way, though not as good as it would be with no moon.

 

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2017 Lamar Valley, Yellowstone

A good scratching post

A variety of animals can be found in or near Lamar Valley, From the large Bison  to the more delicate antelope, all are  fascinating to watch. This time of year a lot of them still have not shed out their winter coats so they tend to look a bit shaggy or moth eaten compared to later in the year.

On my last trip out I was able to watch a black bear with her

Black bear

cubs for a short time and then a grizzly with a yearling for a quick few minutes before she left. Click here for more images

Grizzly sow & cub (on the left)

2017 Lamar Valley, 1

Recently moved from the Tetons up to Yellowstone NP and was able to get a campsite at the Mammoth Hot Springs cg. This will work nicely as a base and  Gardiner, MT, is close by for supplies. I plan to head over to Lamar Valley at least once a day. It isn’t a whole lot warmer here than it was in the Tetons but at least the only snow (so far) is on the ground, not falling.

Bison & coyotes in Lamar Valley, Yellowstone NP

Went over to Lamar Valley and got a few shots of some of the critters, most are quite a ways away, near or across the river.

One afternoon on my return trip to the valley I came

Black bear boar, resting and stretching

across a typical “bear jam”, but I was able to park at a turnout right near the action. Not much action for a long time since the black bear was lounging behind a tree. He got up and moved about 20′ then laid flat out, with one foot braced against a tree trunk. Once in a while he’d stretch a foreleg up.

Since I had a prime parking spot and nothing planned I

Coyote came along to keep the crowd interested

decided to hang out there and see what the bear would do next. He rested for about an hour but a coyote came along so it wasn’t totally dull.

Hmm, what’s he going to do?

Finally the bear got up and wonder of wonders he moved towards the little pond, nearer the road, not off into the woods. I guess the water was appealing or maybe it looked easier to swim by the rock scree than to climb over it to get to the other side of it. He did swim the pond then got out a did a great job of shaking the water off.  This was a nice way to spend a few hours.

Since then on my trips to Lamar I’ve seen two more black bears, many elk cows, a few bull elk, a moose, some bighorn sheep ewes, antelope and lots more bison. As is often the case, the opportunity to take photographs was severely limited or impossible to do safely but I’ll keep trying.

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