Yellowstone in February

 With the spring-like weather, we decided to drive over to Gardiner, Montana, on Friday and do a day trip into Yellowstone yesterday. It is always a treat to enter the Park this time of year as the crowds are a small fraction of their summer size and everything looks different with snowy highlights.

In the top photo you will see an interesting collection of Goldeneye. Yellowstone is one of the few places where you are almost certain to see Barrow's instead of Common. The interesting thing about this small group is that not only are there male and female Barrow's, I am pretty sure the duck in the lead is a female Common. The one that is third in line and to the front is an immature and may be either a Barrow's or a Common. I need someone with more knowledge and experience to confirm.

The next two shots show why it is always nice to have two camera bodies on hand; one with a long lens and one with a wider angle of view. Both shots are of the same Bighorn Sheep. In the first shot the landscape becomes the subject with the large ram merely a point of interest within the frame. In the second shot, it is all about the animal and we get to see the evidence of his many battles in the detail of the horns.

 This coyote was all alone when we spotted him crossing a snowy field in Lamar Valley. But as we rolled down the windows to take a shot he raised his head to howl and was immediately answered by other song dogs both to the west and then to the east. I can never get enough of their voices raised in chorus!

 After Lamar we backtracked to Tower Junction and set out on cross country skis on the groomed trail up the hill toward Mt Washburn. Along the way we stopped for a quick view of Tower Falls encased in ice.


Below is a shot from our Friday afternoon hike above Gardiner. In the center near the bottom of the image you can see the Roosevelt Arch with Yellowstone stretching off into the distance behind it.

Snow Lodge

As far as Ken and I could figure out, I think this was our twelfth, or so, visit to Old Faithful during the winter. It may be more. The first time we stayed there during the snowy season was before 1995 because that was when the new Snow Lodge was built. 

For anyone who hasn't had the experience, it is hard to describe how different it is from the summer months. It is not just the lack of people - the entire attitude of everyone there from guests to workers has a more intense feel to it. After all, when the average temperature hovers around zero degrees Fahrenheit as it did this year, it takes a hearty and dedicated soul to really enjoy getting out and exploring each day. 

 Ken and I take our back-country cross-country skis with us when we go and we have our favorite ski trails all planned out in advance. Some years, like this one, are a little more challenging because of the need to break trail through pretty deep snow but we always come back with a renewed appreciation for the incredible environment that makes up Yellowstone in the winter.

The first photo, above, shows the bobby sock trees at first light.

 This tree, covered in rime frost, was barely visible through the fog at Fountain Paint Pots.

 The next two images are also from Fountain Paint Pots. The fog gave a mystical feel to the morning.

The bison were looking especially frosty this year. They always have the right of way on the roads, above.

I captured a shot of this collared bison, left, very early one morning.

 This bighorn ram almost looks fake with the amazing sky as a backdrop. This shot was taken between Gardiner and Mammoth on our way into the Park. I have seen lots of rams with broken horns before but never one like this where there is a big chunk broken off the very top. That must have been quite a battle!

 Ken skiing on the boardwalk near Castle Geyser. Usually we hike the boardwalks because the trails are so icy but the amount of new snow this year convinced us to don the skis for a loop around. Note the three bison grazing on the far river bank.

This coyote was passing through as we made our way back to Mammoth at the end of our stay.

A Tale of Two Winters

There is nothing quite like Yellowstone in the winter. Ken and I spend more time in the Park in the cold months than in the regular tourist season of summer. But conditions can be very different depending on the year. Last year at this same time we spent five days at Old Faithful during a period of record cold temperatures. The high while we were there last year was -30 degrees. We were warned by everyone not to ski because of the frigid conditions. But we know our capabilities and so we went ahead and enjoyed day after day of cross country ski adventures where we had the backcountry all to ourselves. 

This year is a marked contrast. The road in by snow coach from Mammoth was bumpy because of lack of snow in so many areas. The temperatures were at record highs with averages in the mid 40's each day and night temps barely making it to freezing. Again we were warned to stay off the ski trails, this time because of incredibly icy conditions caused by the daily freeze-thaw cycle. Even walking the boardwalks was a challenge because of the ice. And again we ignored the naysayers and enjoyed the incredible peace and beauty of near empty trails. 

 We saw very little wildlife on our trip into Snow Lodge. Even the swans on the Firehole River seemed to be in hiding. One exception was a pair of healthy looking coyotes who were hunting rodents along the river's edge.

Once we arrived at Old Faithful we threw our stuff in our room and headed out on a hike around the boardwalk. This Hairy Woodpecker entertained us for a while as he searched for bugs in a downed log.

 There was a small herd of bison hanging around the Upper Basin for most of the time we were there. I know they must have been enjoying the chance to get at the winter vegetation without having to push through inches or even feet of snow.








Our big plan for our time at the lodge was to try and get a winter shot of Grand Prismatic - no easy feat in a normal year but definitely possible this year with the incredible stability of the snow making the avalanche danger much smaller.

On our first morning back at OF I ventured out alone with my camera before sunrise in the hopes of capturing some special light on one of the features in the basin. As it turned out the light was extremely flat and nothing very exciting was happening with the thermal features. I wandered around for about an hour, enjoying the amazing opportunity to "own" the boardwalk with not another person in sight. About 7:30 am I found myself back in front of Old Faithful debating whether or not to return to the inn and join Ken for breakfast when I saw my first fellow humans of the day. As social creatures are wont to do they approached me and began making small talk. It turned out they were a very nice couple from Atlanta, Georgia; newlyweds despite being about my age. After we exchanged a few pleasantries, I heard the woman ask a question that I have only heard before as a punchline.

Her: So what time do they turn Old Faithful on?
I laughed politely then turned to see her indignant expression and realized she was dead serious.  Her husband, to his credit, was looking decidedly embarrassed.
Me: Ummm…they don't turn it on. It is a natural phenomenon.
Her: Well then, how did they turn it off during the sequestration last year?
Me: They didn't. That was a joke.
Her: They certainly did! I read that they shut it off to save water while the Park was closed.
Me: They didn't. It was a joke.
Her: I DON'T THINK SO!
At this point her husband, embarrassed for her, interrupted in an obvious effort to save face.
Him: What is that can you're carrying on your belt?
Me: (relieved at the change of subject) That is bear spray. With the warm weather we have been having, a few grizzlies are already leaving their dens.
Him, to his wife: Honey, I should get you some bear spray since you like to hike so much.
Her, obviously still upset: Why on earth would I need bear spray? The only bears in Georgia are black bears and they don't hurt people.
Me: (Bite your tongue, bite your tongue, damn…can't do it) Ummm…actually black bears are just as dangerous as grizzlies. Any wild animal is dangerous if it feels threatened.
Her: Well you obviously have a different kind of black bear here than we do in Georgia because OURS DON'T HURT PEOPLE!

At that point I decided the safest thing to do was to go have breakfast. I walked away feeling depressed. This was not a stupid woman. She was just incredibly ignorant of the natural world. How does nature stand a chance when humans are so blind to the world around them??

Once Ken and I started out on our mission of ski touring/climbing above Grand Prismatic, my depression quickly evaporated. It was a perfect day in so many ways. We managed to climb to the top of the ridge above the hot springs and I captured a five shot panorama of the area with no people and no vehicles, just pure white snow and glorious sunshine. On our 7 mile ski back to the lodge we crossed fresh wolf prints followed a short time later by fresh grizzly prints. As we entered the Upper Basin we encountered a charming woman from California who was absolutely overjoyed that she had just witnessed the eruption of Riverside Geyser. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

All in all we did about 12 miles of skiing on our first day and loved every minute of it!

Snotet

You're probably wondering what a Snotet is. It is Tetons spelled backwards. Our hectic fall continued this past week with a trip to Driggs, Idaho, on the west side of the Tetons. Ken had a couple days of meetings while I got to drive and hike with my camera in hand, hoping for some inspired shots. Driggs is a great town about 30 miles northwest of Jackson Hole. It is much quieter than its Wyoming neighbor and feels like a true community rather than the tourist mecca that Jackson can sometimes appear to be. The views of the Tetons from the Idaho side are just as beautiful but rarely captured - I assume because they lack the drama of the stark rise from the valley floor. 

I put on a lot of miles in a few days as I tried to take in much of Teton Park as well as hike some of the local trails. 

 This big bruiser, above, surprised me in Lamar Valley on the way home. I had hiked out to the edge of the cliff that led down to the river, hoping to capture some bison crossing the shallows. I didn't realize this lone bull was just over the hill and coming my way. I was further away than it looks with my 400mm lens but he still caught me off guard when he suddenly appeared.

 These two baldies were sharing a branch in a tree near Hoback Junction.

 I love the "plasticized" look of this common merganser as she popped up from underwater fishing at Oxbow Bend.

 This pronghorn seemed to be fat and healthy despite having horns that were obviously distorted.

 A trumpeter swan shakes off water in a pond near Jackson. This shot made me think of the movie "Ten" when Bo Derek was shaking her head as she ran down the beach!

Fall Getaway

This summer has been busy beyond believe with many obligations taking us to lots of different places. This past week we decided to get away again, just for fun, by heading into Yellowstone for a few days of beautiful fall weather. On the way out our drive we came across mama golden eagle sitting on a rock with her youngster just off in the distance. The sun was hitting her in a way that truly showed off her golden crown, making it obvious why the species is named as it is.

 Our first day was spent just outside the northeast entrance of Yellowstone near Cooke City. We have enjoyed quite a bit of time in the mountains to the north in the winter but really have never penetrated that exact area in the warmer months. We rented an ATV to get us back the 10 miles of jeep track to the Forest wilderness line and then hiked into Goose Lake from there. The photo above was taken after we left the ATV and were hiking toward the lake. The large mountain sticking up in the background is Wolf Mountain.

 In the photo above I was standing in the middle of Goose Creek shooting back to the west.

 The next morning we got up early and headed into the park under overcast skies.

The fog was hanging in the valleys as we crossed the Lamar River and began climbing to get a panoramic view of Lamar Valley once the sun broke through.

The small dots in the foreground in the image below are bison.

 This rough-legged hawk chased a red-tailed hawk out of the tree before landing. He then sat quietly while I snapped a half dozen shots of him.

 The third day we moved on to Mammoth for a hike up Sepulcher Mountain. It is one of our favorite hikes in the Park at a distance of 13 miles and 4000' vertical. We didn't see a soul the whole time although the Park still seems to be full of visitors on the roads. The elk are just beginning to move down into the Mammoth area but we saw lots of bulls with their harems up high, like this one near the top of Sepulcher, above.

 When we popped over the top of the last ridge we found ourselves eye-to-eye with a herd of mountain goats. I actually missed most of the shots because I was too close with my 100mm - 400mm lens! This fellow was the last one over the edge and he stopped to take a look back at us - to make sure we weren't following, perhaps.

Then, a minute after they had disappeared out of sight, this little head, below, peeked back over the ledge for one last look.

 On our way back to Mammoth we spotted a dark creature moving through the grass toward us. We immediately stopped and so did he. We started up again, trying our best to move away from the black bear but he followed right along, paralleling our tracks. We stopped again and he stood on his hind legs to get a better view of us. Finally he came down lower and crossed the path some distance in front of us before heading up the other side and out of sight.

Spring in Wyoming

It has been a while since I last posted so to make up for my absence, I am going to post a bunch of "awwww" today! 

Ken had meetings in Red Lodge for two days last week which meant I had a rare opportunity to explore the Beartooths and a little bit of Lamar Valley on my own schedule. The first day was absolutely beautiful with perfect temperatures and lots of sunshine. The next day was winter all over again as I inched my way over mountain passes in four wheel drive buffeted by a mixture of blowing snow and hail. Even so, I managed to find a few special moments to capture.

I hope you enjoy seeing these images as much as I enjoyed taking them!

 This little pine marten was definitely curious about what I was doing climbing around in his rocks.

 I loved witnessing this tender moment between a mama pronghorn and her newborn baby.

 A rare moment of sun breaking through the clouds on day 2. The roads were icy in the morning and snow covered when I came back through in the afternoon. Today the pass is closed because of additional snow.

 This pair of pronghorn was definitely spooked by something much scarier than me. They came flying over the hill and ran beside my car, never stopping until they were well out of sight. I don't think any of the eight feet in this image are touching the ground!

 One of my favorite things about the Beartooths this time of year is finding the mountain goats playing on the cliffs. This young fellow was part of a group of three youngsters that seemed oblivious to my presence.

The cliff swallows have taken up residence on the back side of Soda Butte.

Another sweet moment as a young bison tried to shelter from the blowing snow by tucking behind its mother.

The East Gate is Open!

It really seems that over the last few years the number of photographers traveling Yellowstone Park has increased dramatically. Most are respectful of both wildlife and their fellow visitors but there are some who seem to think the Park is their private shooting gallery and everybody else should stay away.

I will admit it sometimes make me more determined to try and capture those amazing locations and special moments in areas outside the park boundaries.

Be that as it may, it is tough to ignore opening weekend of the East Gate - the entrance nearest Cody - in this incredible place. I was unable to attend either of the first two days; the ones when all my friends and fellow photographers captured unbelievable shots of grizzlies, fresh out of their dens, fighting over carcasses left from winter hardships. But I did have a chance to go in on Sunday with wonderful friends in the group "Shoot like a Woman"

 While we saw moose, bighorn sheep, elk and lots of mule deer along the Northfork, our sightings inside the park were of the smaller variety of creatures. I am always happy when I can photograph birds  and there was no shortage of those. The sandhill cranes in the first and last photos were along Yellowstone Lake. The pintail, below, was in a small lake in Hayden Valley. The coyote was near Gibbon Meadows and he was determined to track down a meal under the snow even though he was constantly plunging through the soft spring cover.

One of my favorite moments of the day was watching the standoff between a pair of Canada Geese and some cranes. The geese finally got frustrated and flew at the bigger birds who seemed unperturbed by the noisy twosome.

Old Faithful

 I have so many images from our recent trip to Old Faithful!

Ken and I make it a habit to visit Snow Lodge at least once every winter. This year we were accompanied by four long-time friends from Cincinnati who went in with us once before a couple years ago. The last time however, we were experiencing warmer-than-normal, spring like conditions. Not so this year! Lucky for us we had lots of warning that we would be facing record cold temps so we were all able to prepare both physically and mentally.

The photo to the left shows Tim and Dee on snowshoes and Ken on skis on our way to Black Sand Pool on our last day at Old Faithful. This was actually our warmest day of the visit with a high of 0 degrees.

Winter wildlife is generally easy to spot in the Park. For a few minutes this coyote and I were the only two creatures on the Old Faithful Boardwalk. He did not seem the least bit interested in me. 

One of the treats of traveling in on the snow coach from Mammoth is the chance to see Trumpeter Swans in the Firehole River.

There are many cross country ski trails right out of the lodge but if you want to do a longer trek it is possible to get a jumpstart with a Bombardier shuttle to a drop off point. On this morning Ken and I left the hotel at 8:30 am to ski to Lone Star. At -22 degrees, we were the only ones on the shuttle. As it turned out the next day was even colder!

Our timing was amazing. We arrived at Lone Star with seconds to spare before the geyser erupted. We had a private viewing of the performance. Barry, Karen and Dee caught the 10:30 shuttle and snow-shoed in to meet us for lunch by the river. It turned into a beautiful day. 

The following day Ken and I decided to attempt one of the most difficult trails at Old Faithful, Mallard Creek. Everyone from our breakfast waiter to the shuttle driver tried to talk us out of it, for good reason. The trail had only been skied twice before us this winter so there really was no trail and the terrain is pretty difficult at the best of times. We have done it numerous times and knew we could again but the problem was that any small difficulty could spell disaster at 36 degrees below zero. As it turned out it was truly one of the toughest cross country skis I have done. We had to break through approx 2' of snow the entire way  until we reached Mallard Lake Trail at about 5 miles in and we discovered we couldn't stop for more than 2 minutes without our fingers and feet going numb from the cold. We slept well that night.

A shot of the run off from Daisy Geyser.

Swan Lake Flats early one frosty morning.