San Luis National Wildlife Refuge

Pongo Gets Back in the Navigator's Seat

July 26, 2015

It's been over a month since I've taken Pongo out on the road.  I would have loved to take him on the road trip with me, but National Parks don't tend to be friendly to dogs.  There are a few exceptions.  The South Rim of the Grand Canyon, for instance, has a very long paved trail right along the edge of the canyon and dogs can walk the entirety of it.  That's the exception, though.

Texas Burger, Gustine, CA

Pongo

We stopped in Gustine for gas and grub.  Texas Burger has become our regular stop on this drive.  It has a walk up counter outside so Pongo doesn't have to wait in the car.  Their burgers are OK.  Pongo likes the fries.

If it was winter I'd have tried to hit both the Merced and San Luis wildlife refuges.  Merced is probably even better for  birds, but in the summer it's mostly a big field with blackbirds and sparrows.  San Luis always has the elk reserve if the birds aren't around.  We see more cows on the drive to the Merced complex, which is a big bonus for Pongo.  He loves seeing those cows.

Ash-throated Flycatcher -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We saw a couple of deer in the underbrush.  Pongo didn't see them until they ran.  They made an awful lot of noise.  He thought that was exciting.  I was surprised at how nervous they seemed by the presence of our car.  I guess I'm used to the urbanized deer in the Bay Area and Monterey.

Black-tailed Deer -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

We got a few good looks at the tule elk in the reserve.  Sometimes the elk are too deep in the interior to get any pictures.  There were a couple of groups of males near the perimeter yesterday.  It looks like they've shed most of the velvet from their antlers.  Soon they'll be pointing those things at one another as they try to woo the ladies.

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Tule Elk -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Road Trip: Going to California

July 11, 2015

All good things must come to an end, as the saying goes.  Saturday was our final day, in it we'd bomb down the highways and Interstates of Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and California for fifteen hours to reach our ultimate destination: home.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

We gt up early and packed up the campsite.  We were on the road by 6:15.  I wanted to get an early start to minimize driving in the dark.  Turns out we made it home in daylight, so that worked out well.  We stopped at the Bunnery in Jackson Hole for some pastries and coffee to go.  They make some fine baked goods.  That was probably the longest stop of the day.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

I hear Idaho is beautiful, but from what I've seen of the state--which consists of two drives in the last three years on their interstates--I don't know what folks are talking about.  Nevada is pretty awesome because most of it is bleak desert wasteland, which I like.  Wyoming is pretty awesome.  California, well, it's way awesome, obviously.  Idaho, though, I dunno . . . It mostly seems to look like the picture below.  Less fuzzy, obviously.

Somewhere on Some Road in Idaho

Dry skies greeted us in California.  It doesn't rain here anymore.  I hated to see the trip end, but we all have to return back to reality at one point or another.

Interstate 680, Concord, CA

Soundtrack:

• Fleetwood Mac -- Rumors
• Red House Painters -- Old Ramon
• Roxy Music -- For Your Pleasure
• Ryan Adams -- Ryan Adams
• Steve Martin -- Let's Get Small
• The Hi-Lo's -- The Hi-Lo's Collection
• Journey -- Escape
• David Bowie -- Hunky Dory
• Depeche Mode -- Black Celebration
• The White Stripes -- Elephant
• Rush -- Moving Pictures

Road Trip: Grand Teton & Yellowstone

July 10, 2015

Friday was our last day in the parks and it started out  dreadful and wet.  We'd been dealing with sketchy weather all week--with a couple of serious storms mixed in--and the thought that our final day would be overcast and rainy was almost too much to bear.  I considered packing it up early and getting a start on the long drive home.  I'm glad we didn't do that because things cleared up in the afternoon and we ran into something almost on par with the grizzly bears we we'd seen the day before.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Jackson Lake

We toured around the Jenny Lake area in the morning.  It was very gray and very wet.  I took a lot of photos but most were not interesting.  We had hoped to go kayaking on one of the lakes or hiking but the weather squashed that idea.  Our only real option was to stay close to the car and hope that the rain cleared up.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Fishing Cone

We decided to drive up to West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone.  The drive is only about an hour and we didn't do a lot of touring around the thermal features the day before so it would hopefully feel fresh.  It worked out alright.

Black Pool, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

We decided to drive up to Hayden Valley in the hopes of seeing more wildlife.  We thought the bears might be back if we were lucky.  We didn't see any buffalo or elk between the lake and the valley, which was a little disappointing.  It was even more disappointing to see only a single buffalo once we entered the valley.

Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, WY

We headed up to the ridge where we watched the grizzlies the night before.  The rangers had moved the buffalo carcass a little way off from where it was Thursday.  There wasn't a bear in sight.  We saw something even more surprising instead.

Gray Wolf -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Gray Wolf

I had no expectations of seeing a wolf on this trip.  Everything I've read and heard about wolves in Yellowstone suggests that while not an uncommon sight in winter they tend to stay out of sight in the summer.  I was honestly more excited about seeing this wolf than seeing the grizzly bears the night before, and the opportunity to see a grizzly bear or a moose were the biggest drivers for coming back to Yellowstone.

Gray Wolf -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

We headed back to the campsite after that, making occasional stops for photos along the way.  I wanted to get back early enough to get to bed by ten or so.  It was going to be a long trip the next day and we were going to to need to leave early in the morning.

Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Jackson Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Soundtrack:

• The Decemberists -- The Hazards of Love

Road Trip: Yellowstone

July 9, 2015

Thursday would be long day of touristy adventure.  Our plan was to tour the North Loop of Yellowstone.  We did the South Loop on our last visit and it took all day.  Given we'd be entering from the South we assumed this bigger loop might take even longer.  I think it did.

Uinta Chipmunk -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

Rocky Mountain Elk

I woke up early in the morning.  Jim was snoring away in his tent so I took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring on my own.  First, I headed to the lodge for some pictures of the lake.  Then I hit out on the road to a couple of wildlife viewing points to see if there was any morning action.  I ran into some elk and a couple of deer.  Well, I didn't literally run into them, I just spotted them in a couple of different areas.

Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, WY

Mule Deer -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Bald Eagle

When I got back to the campsite Jim was moving around.  I'm not sure I'd describe him as being awake.  That would take some caffeine.  We ate a little breakfast then hopped in the car and headed up to the big park.

Lewis Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis River, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Gibbon Falls

We stopped for some photos along the Firehole River.  I wanted to stop for pictures of Grand Prismatic Spring but it was extremely crowded and we had a lot of ground to cover so we kept moving.  I got some good pictures there on my last trip, so it was only mildly disappointing.

Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison

We saw our first buffalo of the trip not too far from Mammoth Hot Springs.  I can't imagine it's possible to take a drive for long in Yellowstone without seeing a buffalo, but it's still exciting.  We found this guy rolling around in the grass and had him all to ourselves for quite a while.

Yellowstone National Park, WY

A storm was rolling in as we arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs.  We tried to wait it out by having lunch at the cafe, but the rain was intense.  We settled with it slowing to a mild monsoon and headed out for some pictures of the springs.

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Osprey

I'm skipping over large portions of this drive not because they weren't interesting but because this blog entry has to come to an end at some point and I've still got a long ways to go.  Anyway, let's leap forward to Lower Yellowstone Falls, shall we?  It's an amazing sight, an unparalleled combination of power and beauty.

Lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY

We also visited Upper Yellowstone Falls.  This was also an impressive sight.

Upper Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Upper Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY

In my limited experience the stretch between Yellowstone Falls and Yellowstone River is usually rich with wildlife.  I think I'm done writing here, there's not much to say about these amazing animals that isn't expressed better in these pictures..

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

OK.  OK.  I have one more thing to say.  WE SAW GRIZZLY BEARS!

Not one.  Not two.  Three grizzly bears.  THREE GRIZZLY BEARS!

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Grizzly Bear

Holy Schnikeys!  We'd hoped to see a grizzly bear, but figured the odds were pretty low.  We saw a small crowd on a ridge in Hayden Valley and turned off to take a look.  The rangers had set up a perimeter so visitors could watch the grizzlies as they ate.  The ranger said they'd been working on this buffalo carcass for four days.  Jim and I snapped a lot of pictures.  The light wasn't great being overcast and close to dusk, but the pictures came out OK.  I flipped through a lot of different settings on the camera in search of something that worked well.  I think I eventually found something decent.  The ISO was high on all of the pictures, but some of the slower shutter speeds worked out since the bears weren't moving around too much.

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Soundtrack:

• James Bond Theme Songs