Road Trip 2016: Yellowstone National Park

September 29, 2016

Pongo and I took a drive around Yellowstone National Park on Thursday.  It was eventful, I'll probably let the pictures tell the story.  The day started with a rainbow over Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park.  That was a good omen.

Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, WY

Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, WY

Lewis River, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Lewis River, Yellowstone National Park, WY

River Otter -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

I was thrilled to see four river otters in the beaver pond near Lewis Falls.  I've seen a river otter in the wild once before but I wasn't able to get a photograph.  The otters were very active and often out of view behind the bushes that line the pond.  These aren't the greatest of photos but I'm still pretty excited by them.

River Otter -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

River Otter -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Tundra Swan

The best animal sighting of the day occurred on the Northern end of Hayden Valley.  The was a small group of photographers on the side of the road near a turnout.  I pulled over and asked some people walking toward their car what they had seen.  A badger was digging a burrow, they told me.  Holy cow!  I never thought I'd see a badger in the wild, and here was my opportunity.  I left Pongo in the car for this particular session.  He doesn't mind, to be honest.  He loves being alone in the car and it was a cool, overcast day.  He gets to guard it, barking at people that walk by and running back and forth from the back to the front.  He's also recently discovered the horn.  He was pretty good at honking it by the end of our road trip.

American Badger -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Badger -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Badger -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Badger -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

The animal awesomeness wasn't over for the day, though.  While photographing the badger a lady told me there was a grizzly bear up the road a few miles.  Holy mackerel.  A badger and a grizzly bear on the same day?  Could it actually happen?

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Yep.

The bear was on the edge of a meadow a couple of hundred yards away from the road.  A large crowd was watching the bear from the road with a couple of harried rangers directing traffic.  All I could make out with the naked eye was a dark spot in the field.  My camera and 400mm lens did a little better.

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Yellowstone National Park, WY

On our way back to our campsite at Grand Teton National Park we encountered another large group of photographers.  They were all looking at a tree.  Well, not at a tree but at a bird in the tree.  It was a great gray owl.  Man, what a day!

Great Gray Owl -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Great Gray Owl -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Our final animal encounter of the day was with a small group of elk who were walking toward the ranger station on the Southern end of the South Loop.  They looked like they were checking out for the day.  Miller time.

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, WY

Soundtrack:

• Daniel Amos -- Alarma
• Echo & the Bunnymen -- Ocean Rain
• Jack White -- Blunderbuss

Road Trip 2016: Grand Teton National Park

September 28, 2016

Pongo and I spent Wednesday touring Grand Teton National Park.  After a day and a half of driving I wanted to keep things low-key and give Pongo a chance to walk around, especially since the next couple of days would have us likely spending a lot of time in the car.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

I don't know if I'll ever tire of photographing the Teton mountain range.  These mountains never seem to give the same look twice.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

This early morning shoot was a lot of fun.  Not only did we see the sunrise light up the mountains, we were surrounded by elk.  We couldn't see most of them but we could hear them bugling.  I can't imagine many better ways to start a day.

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

I've never seen elk in the Grand Teton park before.  This was my third visit, the other two trips were in July.  I suppose the elk were all up in Yellowstone in the summer.  They move down into the elk refuge near Jackson for the winter, I suppose these elk were making their way down.  They weren't visible during the day, but at dawn and dusk they were easily seen in the lowland areas of the park.

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

After the photo session we went back to the campsite for breakfast.  On the way we saw a group of photographers so I pulled over to see what they were shooting.  There was a bull elk in the trees.  I took a few shots from the road but then noticed that some folks were moving in behind the elk.  He was basically being trapped by the trees and the photographers.  It was not a good scene so I left.

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

After breakfast, we went to Moose in search of a moose.  We actually saw one but only for a few seconds.  It was an even worse scene than what we'd encountered with the elk.  A few photographers were shooting a moose in the woods.  A couple of guys with iPhones decided they needed to get cloer so they went crashing into the woods for their selfies.  Of course, the moose didn't like that and quickly moved deeper into the woods.  I didn't get a chance at a photo.  That was a frustrating experience on a few levels.  I wouldn't mind seeing wildlife photography with cell phones being banned in our parks.

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Beaver Lodge -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Pongo and I took a couple of dirt road hikes in the afternoon.  They were basically uneventful although Pongo seemed to enjoy them.  We took a rest in the afternoon at the campground where we saw three mule deer and a marten.  We also saw three dusky grouse in our campsite in the morning.

Mule Deer -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

Mule Deer -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

We had one last uncomfortable wildlife encounter late in the day.  A pronghorn was standing by the side of the road right next to some parked cars.  People were too close although the pronghorn didn't seem to mind.

Pronghorn -- Grand Teton National Park, WY

Soundtrack:

• Interpol -- Turn on the Bright Lights

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

Road Trip 2016: The Long Haul

September 26, 2016

Pongo and I got back this afternoon from twelve days on the road.  We hit a bunch of state and national parks and ate a lot of bad camping food (sorry, Pongo).  I'm not a good cook.  The first day was all driving.  I'd been planning on taking four days to get to Grand Teton National Park, but the weather forecast indicated we'd be wasting a couple of days of good weather and would be camping in the rain for three nights.  So, we made that drive in a day and a half instead.  My plans were very loose for this trip, which generally worked to our advantage.

Somewhere on I-80 in Nevada

We camped at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho for the first night of the trip.  I don't think I have ever seen a clearer night sky.  The Milky Way was easily visible with the naked eye.

Not much else to say, this first day was all about the long drive toward Wyoming, I took very few pictures.

Don't worry, the trip gets better from here.

Soundtrack:

• case/lang/viers -- case/lang/viers
• Muse -- Absolution
• Woody Allen -- The Night Club Years 1964-68 [1]
• Lambert, Hendricks & Ross -- Sing a Song of Basie
• Depeche Mode -- Black Celebration
• Bob Dylan -- Biograph [3]
• Death Cab for Cutie -- Transatlanticism
• The Police -- Message in a Box [2]