The bugle of Elk echoed through the the valley all night long, much like the loons when you are lucky enough to get a lakeside campsite in the Adirondacks. The sun rose slowly as I woke up. I was nice and warm in our sleeping bag but nature was calling. I unzipped the tent and put my shoes on. Then opened the rain fly to see if the coast was clear. It was and so off to the bathrooms I trotted. The boys were up when I returned. While they took their turn in the bathroom I started packing up the sleeping bags and deflating the pads. All of the sudden I heard my husband say, "Hey Jules, look outside to your right." Two more elk were coming. One female kept coming an the other turned off. When she was right in front of the tent about twenty five feet away, my husband then said, "look to your left another one is coming. " It was this years half grown fawn and it was limping. Of all the times that I wished I had my camera! My husband heard me and grabbed it out of the car and shoved into the back of the tent. They were really close, I started to photograph them and hope that they would not try to trample me in my tent now photo blind. My heart was racing! The morning light, the beautiful yellow blossoms and sage brush that filled the valley all framing mama and baby Elk. They were so close I could not fit them both in the same frame. They were in no hurry and just grazed as they slowly walked around and through our site. It was amazing! Once they were far enough from me I climbed out of the tent and joined the rest of my family next to the car. Now I could see the baby's hind legs. The poor thing was carrying its swollen right leg. I took a couple more photos and then they disappeared into the brush. I thought about letting the rangers know but decided not to as they would most likely let nature take its place. As I surveyed the landscape before me I noticed some movement on the the hill between us and the mountains. Was it a wolf on the hill? Probably not I had heard coyotes the night before. I raised the big lens and took a few shots. The smoke was bad again but added some slight color to the sky as the sun rose. The figure was so far away it was just a dot on the screen of the camera. I hit the magnify button, another coyote. While far from perfect this is actually one of my most favorite photos of the trip. Our son played with his stuffed animals at the picnic table while we tore down camp. Then I dug out some cliff bars for breakfast and we were on our way! We headed south towards the Madison Campground. We drove through road construction and straight past a gorgeous waterfall. I didn't see good spot to get over so no photos. Our next stop would be Sheepeater Cliff. There was plenty of parking and an outhouse. Somewhere I read there was a waterfall nearby if you followed the trail. Sheepeater Cliff is made of basalt lava formed in Columnar Joints. According to the sign the cliff is named after the Shoshone Indians who lived in the area and made a lot of use of the Big Horn Sheep. The cliff is fairly long but not spectacularly high. It reminded me of some of the Columnar joints found in Shenandoah National Park although I can't recall their exact location, only this was much bigger. We observed the cliff then followed the trail out to the river, no waterfall. We stepped out and walked along the river a short distance and picked up another trail! Jackpot, it lead to a cliff overlooking a waterfall. I do not know its name. We tried to get some good photos but I should note evening may be a better time to photograph this one. No actually the sun would be directly behind the falls, a good cloudy day would be best. It would could be a magnificent shot from the bottom, but from where we were there was not a safe way down. Although I could see fishermen in the river below us walking toward the falls. I snapped a few shots of them too. The majestic view in contrast to the tiny humans was too much to resist. After leaving this lovely spot we headed down the road. We stopped at a few overlooks and places with some thermal features. I managed a photo of the Norris Geyser Basin from one of the overlooks but we drove on by the basin as cars were parked for a mile or so down the road from where you turn to enter Norris Geyser Basin. We got lucky at Beryl Spring and managed a parking spot. This was a small thermal feature but it's beauty was huge. The water so clear and blue, steam rose over the white embankment framed by evergreens! Next stop was Gibbons Falls. This spot was very busy so I made sure we masked up. The best view was from the far end of the walk which surprisingly was all paved. Many of the leaves on the brush leading down to the river before us was bright yellow so I did my best to incorporate that in my photos. From there we made our way to Madison Campground, set up camp and had lunch. So from Madison Junction we drove to Fire Hole Falls viewable from the Fire Hole Canyon Drive. The lighting was terrible but I did the best I could. This too would have been better in the evening. From there we continued down the park road and stopped at the Lower Geyser Basin which contains the Fountain Paint Pots and a few smaller Geysers. The whole trail was boardwalk. My son pointed to the pictures on the signposts of little boy being naughty and nearly being burned or falling in to the boiling landscape. Even though he knew better I had to keep telling him to stay away from the edges and walk in the middle of the boardwalk. The pools were a pretty blue, some of the mud boiled. The Geysers were erupting! At one point they were on both sides of the trail. Don't think that you're safe there on the boardwalk either. I was photographing one Geyser when another behind me went off! Hot, hot, hot thankfully it didn't burn me! I made sure to keep my son away when it erupted and moved him along quick when it paused. If it was not for the amount of people, it would have been more magical. I tried to keep in mind they were here to enjoy the park too. We tried to follow the mandates to wear our masks when in crowded spaces. The masks make things harder to enjoy. It can be harder to breathe, sometimes to see and your constantly trying to keep the thing in place. The one good thing about the mask though it cuts down the rotten egg smell! Some trails had more people than I felt safe with but my allergy induced asthma and generally being out of shape made me forego the mask. Perhaps my wheezing kept a few far enough away. Next up we stopped at the trail head for Fairy Falls, but that was not our destination. My husband was a bit disappointed. Did I mention I was trying to do all this with Plantar Fasciitis and Posterior tibial Tendonitis? We joined the throngs of people to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is a wide trail that starts nice and flat but don't let it fool you. The steepness was getting to my son, some kind folks were very encouraging along the way! Well, it took a while but we made it to the overlook. My husband was waiting for us on the viewing platform. It was crowded. There were also some trees in the way that made jockeying for position hard. Sadly as much as I wanted to stay and enjoy the view I just hurried to get out of the way. Come to think of it we should have taken a nap at camp or grabbed lunch in West Yellowstone and then try this section at like 4 or 5p.m. My feet were getting pretty sore as we approached the car. We drove by a couple more basins, and tried to pull into another but it was packed! My son was stoked about seeing Old Faithful in person and trying to find a stuffed Buffalo, so that is what we did next. He has no idea how lucky he is to have such experiences. I've been waiting over thirty years to see this place. I can remember looking through and seeing Old Faithful in my Grandmother's National Geographic Magazines at his age. I loved all the photographs and pictures. Can you imagine being one of the first people to visit this place before all the roads and buildings and stores? Anyways Old Faithful wasn't going to erupt for another half hour so we did a bit of shopping. Unfortunately we could only find a big stuffed Buffalo and it was $100 which is way more money than he had for souvenirs. Then we tried to find the visitor center just before it closed to get his passport stamped. We made it in and out just in time! Old Faithful would be going off any second now. The bleachers were crowded. My son and I opted to try to steer clear of the crowds and sat on the boardwalk right in front of Old Faithful. I showed him how to use my phone to take a video and prepared my camera. He pointed out some other boys putting their feet on the ground just off of the boardwalk. He was worried they would get burned. I told him "Yes, they are being naughty so let their parents deal with them and hope nothing bad happens." Just a few moments later water started to spurt from the ground, each spurt rose higher in the air. Old Faithful was beginning to erupt. My son loved recording it on my phone while I clicked away and answered his questions. He pointed out that there was both water and steam coming up out of the ground. He was so excited, I hope he never forgets! The show only lasted about 5 minutes and was somehow different from the other geysers. Afterwards I wanted to head into West Yellowstone for a real meal. Instead we wound up in a traffic jam in which most of the traffic was heading to West Yellowstone. We ate the last of the cold cuts and lettuce at camp. If we ever return perhaps we should wait until most everyone else leaves and capture Old Faithful under the stars. Or explore the basins mega early.
To end the day we uploaded the photos from our cameras onto our computers and saved them. There was a trail next to our campsite, although the light was fading I followed it down to the Madison River quick and returned just before all went dark. Not much for wildlife that day other than a bison or two which may or may not have caused the long traffic jam. I suspect it was just mass exodus. Anyways the adventure is not over so stay tuned for day three! Also if your in need of a nice calendar or a new mug check out the boutique in the link above! It would really help! Morning came early and I had actually slept! I heard the rocks crunching under tires of other vehicles attempting to sneak out of camp early to do just as I planned. I peered outside the tent. It was still dark but the stars had gone to bed. I roused the men folk and headed for the outhouse. We decided not to break camp just yet. We grabbed our cameras and hopped in the car. We too slowly drove out of the campground keeping our eyes wary for any sign of wildlife. I heard that the wolves had a den somewhere tucked back just off of the road to the campground. I strained my eyes in all directions as my husband slowly drove us back out to Lamar Valley even though I knew chances of the wolves being near the den in the fall would extremely slim. Nothing, all we saw was another Buffalo. We pulled out on to the main road through Lamar Valley. It was 6am and hoards of people lined the roads jockeying for a space. We stopped at a few pull off areas whenever we could find space. I'd hop out and scan the fields river and hillsides. There were Buffalo a plenty, and some Sand Hill Cranes way out in the distance. Then there was some movement closer to us but still quite far away. It was canine and good sized but was it a wolf? I stared as hard as could through my camera, the snout was pointy! It was just a tawny colored Coyote. We have lots of coyotes here in New York but I hear them way more than I ever get to see them. So I took as many photos as I could of it. Personally I think the photos are not very good but I will share a few as they are still documentation of the trip. Off in the distance a pair of pronghorn raised a dust cloud. I didn't see anything chasing them so perhaps they were feeling frisky. The coyote ignored them. After that I turned my attention to the buffalo as more and more were coming into the valley for breakfast. At one point we stopped in a jam. Bison were coming down a hill on one side of us to cross into the valley. I noticed one bull at the top of the hill and just got the feeling. The car ahead of us started to move, "Gun it," I cried! That bull came charging down the hill and crossed the road just missing the back of the car! I was grateful my husband listened to me! I enjoyed watching the mothers and calves. We returned to camp and had everything repacked in the car by 9:59 a.m. Today we were going to head over to Mammoth but I wanted to get some hiking done in Slough Creek first. I told my husband that we were not going to do the whole trail but just a small section as we did not have the time. The first part of the trail was steep so I had to take a couple of breathers but I can guarantee you my son's whining and complaining did not help. I am sure he frightened all the wildlife away except for a chipmunk. It was nice when the trail finally flattened out and we caught up to my husband who was carrying the bear spray. Next time I'll buy my own can since I get left in the dust ninety nine percent of the time! Spoiler alert though we didn't have any grizzly bear encounters this trip. We turned around and enjoyed the scenery. I think we only hiked a mile and a half up the trail. Perhaps we should have tried going further on the Buffalo Fork trail maybe there would have been less complaining and more wildlife. Anyways we hopped in the car and headed west toward Mammoth. I kept my camera and big lens with me in the front of the car. You never know what you will encounter. Not to far down the road Mama Pronghorn was crossing the road so we stopped. Youngster took a few steps into the road and went back turned around wanting to be with mama but scared to cross the road. It eventually ran back into the field and Mama crossed back over. We pulled off the road, turned the car off and watched them run about for a bit. Then Mama took off running making everyone else hit the breaks with the youngster a few body lengths behind. This time they both made it across and didn't stop running full tilt until they were quite some distance from the road. I enjoyed watching them and glad they crossed safely. I don't blame that youngster for being hesitant in the least, perhaps it will live a good long life! We drove by several ponds along the route.. Most of them had ducks or Coots on them. They were not very big but most were labeled as lakes so they must be fairly deep. Pictured above is Floating Island Lake. We stopped at the trail head for Wraith falls, I looked behind me and someone was asleep. We woke him but he pitched a fit and refused to go on the hike. We drove down the road just a little further to the parking area for Undine falls. This waterfall was roadside. The lighting was rather harsh so the photos did not turn out well. Meanwhile my little buffalo wallowed in the dirt at our feet, despite being told to get up off the ground multiple times. We weren't going to be able to shower for a whole week! Can you tell I was getting frustrated. Eventually he saw his antics were not getting him the attention he wanted and he stopped. After that we headed straight for Mammoth following more buffalo down the road. It took a while but we found the visitor center, put on our masks and picked up a Jr. Ranger booklet. We wandered the exhibits. Then stopped at the gift store where our son picked a stuffed wolf that would provide means to further their conservation and j paid for it himself. After that we went off to find and make camp. The guy at check in warned me that a big bull elk liked to frequent the area near our site. My husband would love that but this was rut season so I was also a bit nervous. We had great a view despite the pea soup looking sky hiding the further mountains. The smoke from the wildfires in California and Oregon was thick and heavy in the air. We set camp up as quick as we could grabbed lunch and headed for the Hot Springs. This area of the park I really wanted to see and it did not disappoint! When first arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs, rangers had a portion of the boardwalk blocked off. At first I had no idea why but then when we chose to take a different route I notice a bull Elk lying down in the spring. I went back to the car and grabbed our long lenses. By the time I got back the elk was head down napping. We continued traversing the series of boardwalks and stairs. I was having trouble breathing partially due to being out of shape but more because of the smoke in the air. I used my inhaler a few times. The colors and shapes of the formations were amazing. The skies were lackluster so I was glad I had gone back to the car to get the 400mm lens. I played around with the colors and textures of the rocks but really wished I had the tripod with me. I didn't bring it because I didn't want to cause any trouble for others walking on the boardwalk. A trip over a tripod leg could be deadly in a hot spring! At one point though my son looked down into the water tricking below us and saw a Killdeer walking around in the shallow water. "Mama, how can that bird stand that hot water and not get burned?" Well, I wasn't quite sure how to answer other than it is probably not as hot in that area and that bird may have less feeling in its legs than we have in our legs. We explored the Hot Springs all afternoon into the evening. As we neared the end of the boardwalk I spotted a Jack Rabbit grazing a few bits of grass. I tried to hold the men folk back so as not to frighten it. I managed one or two shots before they frightened it away. We talked about it as we neared the end of the trail. I had seen the direction it had ran. I told them to walk softly and be quiet. We slowly walked in the direction I had seen it run, and there it was grazing again. We approached quietly and I sat on a bench watching and photographing it for quite a while. It isn't everyday you get sit and watch the antics of a wild rabbit just a few yards away from you. It may seem strange but photographing that one jackrabbit was more exciting to me than the buffalo, coyote, or pronghorn! Did you think that was the end of our excitement for the day? Oh, no remember what we were told at check-in about that bull elk? Well, he did make a visit while cleaning up from dinner. Suddenly there was a bugling! We looked out over the sage grass and rabbit bush blossoming before our tent, lo and behold there he was coming straight to us! He would walk a short ways stop look around and bugle, maybe graze bit and repeat. I was excited and nervous. My husband was beyond himself in joy! He loves elk and the sound of their bugle. That bull just kept coming closer and closer. I must have been excited because I had to delete almost all of my images between fading light and hand holding, they were blurry! Then the moment came I made everyone get in the car just in case he decided to charge. Thankfully he did not and just casually meandered through! What a thrill! At least two shots came out of when he was playing peek-a-boo with us! That was the end our our first full day in Yellowstone National Park!
Well, after a very restless night for me, I let my husband rest. It is hard work driving over 2000 miles although we still had about a hundred or more to go to enter Yellowstone National Park. Once everyone was roused we locked our stuff in the car and grabbed breakfast at the hotel. It was a really nice atmosphere. After I did a quick sweep of the room to make sure nothing was left behind. Then I turned in the key. Next we went to Walmart. I went in to buy some groceries while the boys waited in the car. Then we stopped for gas but surprisingly the car wasn't very thirsty. So we headed off in the direction of the Chief Joseph Highway which should have been a left turn. Next thing I knew we were passing through another little town and then into Powell.. "Umm, I think we missed our turn." I said. We turned around and headed back to Cody. The brake light came back on. Nervous about going through more mountains with the potential of brake failure. My husband decided we should get someone to look at it. He thought it was just a bad sensor but better safe than sorry. I looked up auto repair shops on my phone but wasn't sure which was the best. I saw a car parts store and told my husband to go ask for a recommendation. Thankfully we only had to go across the road. They couldn't look at the car until 2pm and wouldn't be able to fit us in for repair until the next Thursday. We decided to explore part of the Buffalo Bill Museum while we waited. In the parking lot of the museum my husband decided to call our mechanic back in his hometown. After a short discussion they came to the conclusion that the sensor had just gone bad and we were fine. Our son was excited about the museum so we explored that. The boys loved it, but I was a bit bored. They loved the gun section. I wanted to explore Lamar Valley and look for wolves! It wasn't until about 3pm that we headed out over the Chief Joseph Highway which we actually found this time. The turn off was still in the town of Cody. We would be camping in Slough Creek if things went along fine. The Chief Joseph Highway was beautiful and very windy. We could overlook what we would later see up close miles away from us. It looked like a cool place to explore, but it was late in the afternoon and we still had to make camp yet. We shot photos at a couple of pull offs. The Clark Fork of the Yellowstone carved a deep path through the mountainous terrain. It is a spectacular feature to see. We passed by Dead Indian and Hunter Peak Area Campgrounds where we were supposed to have stayed the night before. If we had not been so long at Devil's Tower that probably could have been a reality. From the mountains above we could see a huge plateau in the distance like you would see in the movies. As we drove the switchbacks down the mountain it would disappear and reappear. After we photographed the Clark Fork River we rounded a bend and there was the plateau larger than life in front of us! I don't know its name but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something table top. It wasn't long after that when we turned left onto the Beartooth Highway and stopped in Cooke City for gas. I wished we had time to have driven to the top of the pass and back down but the small section we drove to get into Yellowstone National Park was very pretty. As you can tell we need to go back! Once we entered the park we saw several cars pulled over and looking across a field to some mountains. I made my husband pull over and grabbed my camera with the 400mm. I scanned the field and mountain trying to figure out what animal was attracting everyone's attention. Nothing in the field but after a while I found a few white dots. Were they rocks or Mountain Goats? So wish I had a big tripod with a gimbal and and 800mm lens! Well, turns out most of them were rocks but one turned out to be a baby Mountain Goat laying down with and adult climbing over a rock behind it. Here is the shot, not my best but you can see them just barely. My son needed a bathroom, so we drove further down the road and found one next to a river. We stretched our legs and took a few photos before moving on. As we drove deeper in to the park my son's deepest wish for our trip became a reality! Buffalo everywhere! Smaller "red dogs, " medium sized mamas and giant bulls! He was excited. My husband was like, "ah, they're just Buffalo." I scanned everywhere I could, no wolves, just people and buffalo everywhere. Eventually we turned down the road to camp. I kept scanning for wolves and interesting places to hike. We would not have much time in Lamar. So we finally made it to camp at Slough Creek which I had reserved six months in advance. We had a creek and a mountain view, and lots of neighbors. Thankfully everyone was quiet and polite. We all had just enough space from everyone else too! We made quick work of setting up camp. Then we had dinner . After which we cleaned up immediately because this was known Grizzly Country! I grabbed my camera and we hiked a very short section of the Buffalo Fork Trail. Not far down the trail we spotted a mule deer. I tried to photograph it but the light was almost gone and I did not have it on a tripod. There were actually two deer there and we could have watch them longer but seven year old children are not still or quiet creatures. The deer got nervous and crossed the creek. I continued in my best effort to get a good photo of one of them but it was not meant to be! After the deer disappeared my son and I stepped down to observe the tracks around the creek. Of course we saw deer tracks, but one track made my heart skip a beat! No it wasn't a grizzly track but one I've only seen in books, a perfectly formed wolf track! I should have switched lenses and photographed the wolf track but I did not think of it at the time. We had to make sure the boy stayed out of the water. I looked up at the sky, "let's go back, we're out of light." As we rounded a bend in the creek we heard a big slap! My husband pointed out a beaver. We watched him a while and headed back to camp. It would be early to bed so we could be early to rise! Oh this last photo is lousy, but look wolf evidence! I was so concentrated on the deer I did not notice the bones! T It took us three and a half days to drive to Yellowstone National Park. The whole trip had its highs and lows. We had great weather, brake light warning issues, our child had lots of fun on the long drive with Mad Libs. I swear every dump in the nation had its covering off as we drove across America, it stinks! We drove through horrendous city traffic and marveled at corn fields, and prairie where you could see the road ahead for endless miles! Yet we did things like arrive at Mount Rushmore in the pitch black just in time for the mountain to be lit up above hundreds of flags and countless people waiting in reverence. Along the way we stopped for gas at the awesome 1880 Town! For those who don't know it is home to the set of one of my favorite movies, Dances With Wolves. It was a great stop to stretch our legs and our imaginations. Our journey across Wyoming took us through the Big Horn Mountains and over the Powder River Pass. Good thing I had something to grab a hold of because it was a wild ride, but oh it was so beautiful! I could easily spend a week or two there just exploring. There weren't too many places to pull off and get good photos, but I would go again in a heartbeat! The smoke from western wildfires challenged both my ability to photograph and breathe the whole time we were in Wyoming. Some days were better than others. Oh and did I mention the brake light kept turning on but would go off for a while when we turned the car off! Thank God the brakes held on our way down this twisty mountain road! At the bottom of the mountains we passed through the tiny town of Ten Sleep which seemed to have more bars than anything else. It was an intriguing place but we had somewhere to be so, foot down on the gas peddle.
There was a long distance of asking where are we? The phone had helped figure out which way to go and then went dead, good thing we had a map! Maps are our friends, I have a growing collection! Our goal was to at least reach Cody, if not to a certain campsite on the Chief Joseph Highway but daylight was burning faster than we could drive! The sun was setting but soon we came to civilization! We agreed to get a campsite near Cody to save money, however we were exhausted, darkness was falling quickly and we had seen a surprising number of vacancy signs as we drove through Cody. As more beautiful and mystifying mountains and great tunnels loomed before us we turned around and settled down at the Sunrise Motel. It was an older Motel but clean and the people who run it were super nice! I wish I could say I had a good night but my stomach and nerves kept me awake most of the night despite being exhausted. We would hit up Walmart in the morning for groceries and something to turn my stomach acid off! This is getting long so I will leave you in suspense! Do we ever make it to Yellowstone? Did we drive through the mountain tunnels? What other sites did we explore? Did we get the brakes fixed? Oh and the cars computer went wonky so we weren't sure how much gas or range we how much had either! I will leave a phone pic of the sunset as we approached Cody, Wyoming! To be continued! |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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