Saturday, October 8, 2016

Road Trip 2016: Craters of the Moon & Grand Teton

September 27, 2016



Pongo and I woke up at dawn on Tuesday morning.  We'd already adjusted to camping time, it seems.  I made some coffee and gave Pongo his breakfast, then we set out for a quick tour of Craters of the Moon before heading East to Grand Teton National Park.

Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
Craters of the Moon gets its name from the large lava field that it encompasses.  From atop the highest point one can see the lava field extends to the horizon.  Today we might know that the surface of the moon doesn't quite look like this, but one hundred years ago this must have seemed like a pretty reasonable thing.

Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
There's nothing all that unusual about this particular lava field apart from its size.  Eastern Oregon and Southern Idaho are littered with these things.  It's the size of this one that is impressive.

Pretty cool first stop.

Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID
After our brief tour of Craters of the Moon, Pongo and I drove East to Grand Teton National Park.  We got there early in the afternoon and found a camping site at the Signal Mountain campground for the next three nights.  I set up the tent and we took a much-needed rest.
Grand Teton National Park, WY
As we entered the park, the ranger at the entry point gave us some great advice. He told us that dogs are limited to going basically anyplace a car can go..  That includes unpaved roads.  He said I could walk him on any of the unpaved roads and we'd probably not see anyone else.  While not quite true--we usually saw two or three cars on each of our hikes on these dirt roads--it basically held up in spirit.  After our afternoon nap, we set out for our first adventure on the shadow of the Teton range.

Grand Teton National Park, WY
This first dirt road hike was our most eventful.  As we rounded a clump of trees we spotted a small group of pronghorn directly ahead of us.  Pronghorn seem to be the unofficial greeters of Wyoming's wildlife.  They've been the first mammal I've seen on every trip I've made to the state.  They seem to be common, like black-tailed deer in Northern California, but I'm always excited to see them.

Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
The pronghorn kept their distance but they didn't run away.  We were able to spend twenty minutes or so watching them.  It was just me, Pongo and the pronghorn.  Fantastic.

Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
I should point out I use a 100-400mm zoom lens for my animal shots, and the close up shots are generally cropped.  I'm able to keep a safe, respectful distance.  I saw a lot of craziness with people and their cell phones on this trip.  I'll address a couple of specific scenarios in upcoming blog entries.  Please, if you want to shoot wildlife, get a camera with a good zoom.  You don't need to spend a lot of money, my old camera had a 40x zoom and it cost $350.  It took great photos.

Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY
After our pronghorn hike, Pongo and I drove around a bit then settled in at our campsite before the sun set.  All in all, it was a pretty good start to the Wyoming part of our adventure.

Grand Teton National Park, WY
Soundtrack:

  • Bob Mould -- Bob Mould
  • The Police -- Message in a Box [4]
  • Left of the Dial [4]
  • Count Basie & Sarah Vaughan -- Count Basie / Sarah Vaughan
  • Count Basie & Tony Bennett -- Strike up the Band

2 comments:

  1. Two more places I haven't been to, yet. I like the massive lava fields. Nice you can hike the roads with Pongo. Death Valley allows that too. What a great wildlife sighting to have to yourselves. Some tourons just don't get the approaching wildlife thing. Spot on about getting a zoom lens for those kinds of shots.

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    Replies
    1. Grand Teton is pretty cool because you have a lot of the same wildlife opportunities you'll get in Yellowstone but it's generally less crowded.

      I've got to work the word 'tourons' into one of my blog entries. I smile every time I see you use it. That recent picture you posted with the two women out on the rock was crazy.

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