Fifteen years ago I was living at my parents home, recovering from an abusive relationship. As means of healing or searching for some peace in my life when not at work I would immerse myself in photographing the great outdoors. In fact at the time I had just finished a photo project for the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce thanks to the recommendations of a couple of family friends. Anyways I had gained a tiny bit of confidence in my photography and decided to enter the Rome Photo Shoppe's photography contest. To my surprise I was called and left a message requesting my presence at the opening night as I had won an honorable mention. I was surprised, thrilled. and very nervous. I went to the show alone. The upstairs room of the Rome Arts Center was filled with people chatting in small groups. I felt really awkward and very out of place. I wandered the large room looking at the photos alone in a sea of people. Waterfalls were one of my favorite subjects to photograph and there was a photo of Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca on the wall that kept drawing my attention. I thought for sure it had placed. When the awards ceremony started everyone stood with their friends and family and yet were gathered in a big group. I felt very out of place but I stepped into the middle of the crowd and stood next to a tall thin guy with brown hair and glasses. At the time I felt the need to apologize for standing next to him. Little did I know I would be standing next to or trailing behind him for the next fifteen years and hopefully more. There was a bit of polite clapping as I accepted the ribbon for my photo of which I can honestly say I can't remember which one it was. I returned to where I was standing and admired that guy next to me although I figured he was probably already married. After the awards and photos everyone returned to mingling and enjoying refreshments. The room slowly emptied as I kept being drawn back to that photo of Buttermilk Falls. The last time I looked at it before leaving I overheard the conversation between the man I had stood next to and an elderly couple. They too were surprised the photo had not placed. Evidently he was the one who had created the image that had captivated me. As I was getting ready to leave I was surprised as the man came over to me and struck up a conversation. He had noticed that I had checked his photo out like three or four times. I can't remember what was said. I remember being nervous and yet drawn to him at the same time. We chatted for what seemed quite some time and ended up exchanging phone number to coordinate shooting waterfalls together sometime. I believed he called it networking. The Art Center was closing as we went our separate ways. I grabbed my belongings and headed towards the exit and wound up following him out the door. "Great," I thought "now he is probably going to think I am a crazy stalker or something." To my surprise this waterfall photographer I met that night named Christopher Metott did call me about a week later. I had secretly hoped that he would call but had very much doubted it. That next weekend we photographed Pixley falls in the snow and traversed an icy trail to photograph several smaller but equally beautiful waterfalls. Two and a half years later we were married right there at Pixley Falls State Park. I think 85% of our dates had been going on hikes and photographing nature! I am so thankful I went to that Photo Show, I didn't know it at the time but I won something much more precious than an honorable mention that night! I got the blessing of a lifetime! Here is to hopefully finding a new home soon! Wedding Photo Credits go to Jolene Tarkowski. Happy New Year everyone! What adventures do you have planned? I will be offering prints and possibly some other merchandise soon. I may be bringing my hard working husband on board with this project also! Did you know he is a photographer too? Perhaps I will write a blog on how we first met for next week. Without him there wouldn't be any grand adventures. Lol, I do all the planning and he does the driving, and works hard to pay for it. He works so hard in fact he doesn't have time to share or promote his own photography. We have been photographing nature together for fifteen years. Chris is a really strong landscape photographer and over the years I have managed to interest him in shooting wildlife photography too. We are hoping and needing some big changes in our lives this year. As you know we are in desperate need of a home of our own. Due to the fact I literally can't breathe at the apartment our son and I are temporarily residing with my sister and her husband who have graciously offered their home as a refuge. My husband is back at the apartment eighty miles away so that he can still easily commute to work. I don't know what adventures lay ahead for us. Right now we need to concentrate on increasing income and a new healthy residence. I have a bit more research to do but I think we will be joining up with the print on demand company Fine Art America. I need to decide whether I will install a widget to promote our store on this website or do I make a separate store front and link it. This website does not get a lot of traffic so I need to figure out how to either change that or create a whole new website elsewhere. Everything seems so uncertain now but I really hope this year brings good tidings to everyone this year! I wish good health to you all and for the opportunity to have your own adventures. God Bless until next week! One of the things I remember growing up was that we always had a real tree for Christmas. Sometimes Dad would find one while out hunting, other years he bought one at a store. It was always magic though, the wonderful smell, standing it up in the corner. Mom would string the lights. My sister and I would decorate the tree and then argue over who would get to put mom's pretty angel on the top of the tree. Mom has wanted to replace that angel for a newer fancier one but my sister and I won't let her. Sure she is old and simple (the angel not my mother) but she is beautiful with her white hair and tiny gold strip of garland for a halo and old fashion pink porcelain cheeks. Her body is basically a toilet paper tube covered by a simple white dress and wings. I'd share a photo but I don't have one of just her. So to this day I have always put an angel on the top of the tree, whether it was some clumsily put together one I built out of Styrofoam cups and Kleenex, or tiny medal one actually meant for a branch. Last year my gift from Mom was an angel for the top of the tree. Yes, fancier than hers but I knew she had searched hard for just the right one. I can't have anything that flashes or strobes in my home and that was a big part of the challenge. The angel meant a lot to me especially since she put so much care into picking her out. Many folks just use stars as it was the north star that led the wise men to baby Jesus. It was however an angel of the Lord that first gave Mary the news of her first born and it was angels that sang and told the shepherds of Jesus' birth and so is equally important to the celebration of our savior. There was making cookies with my Aunts and cousins too, but those times have gone by the wayside. Especially since my waistline has no need of cookies, but it was something I used to look forward too. I usually try to do at least one batch with my son, but not this year. He did help roll out crust for the berry pie though. As far as the Christmas tree goes we have visited various Christmas tree farms either just us or with my husband's family. Some years we've driven a long ways for one and other years we overpaid for the convenience of not having to travel and have it all wrapped and mounted on the car. My husband usually cuts the tree down. I would pull our son on either a sled or tarp when he was little along with the tree. Last year I found a tree farm literally around the corner from some land my husband owns and the trees are reasonably priced. These trees remind me of some of the trees my Dad used to bring home as they are wild and not manicured. This year's pick of tree had two tops. I almost picked it last year. Someone else must have liked it too as the poor thing had been sawed halfway through. This time we let our son have the honors of trying to cut he tree down. Well, he tried but maybe next year he will be a bit stronger. This year we tree shopped in the rain, other years it was in varying depths of snow, sunshine with blue skies, or blustery eye stinging snow. Either way picking out a live tree is always treat and a good excuse to get outside and walk about in the otherwise unwelcomed cold. There is a peaceful beauty in the woods, and most folks are joyful. The getting of the Christmas tree was my most favorite part of Christmas this year, second only to my child's thankful hugs. We didn't really get to enjoy Christmas this year as I had a massive allergic asthma attack which also triggered the conversion disorder. So, ya frightening times! Among this years prized gifts were a new pair of hiking boots and a copy of "Chasing Awe," by photographer/You Tuber Gavin Hardcastle. Maybe just maybe we will find a way to get out this year. In the meantime I will have some inspiration to read and some gorgeous photos to envy. Hope you all had a great Christmas and let us all PRAY 2022 brings some big positive much needed change! Have you ever dreamed of having a home where you are safe, where you could be comfortable? For me that place is still only a dream. I feel pretty bad for some of my neighbors too. Well, it has been nearly three months since the bathroom spewed its guts all over. On occasion it still continues to pass gas back at us or threatens to overflow. Mold has developed. My face hurts, my eyes hurt I get headaches. I am allergic to mold. I have called on issues with the plumbing and the mold. The owner refuses to pay for the work that needs to be done. I have an email ready to review with my husband to send to Codes. A plumber was sent after one of my complaints, but the system for whatever reason would not back up. This was after a member of the maintenance crew had said the system needed to be snaked. The plumber was not allowed to snake or investigate with a camera. He was quite angry as it was the second time he had come to a call here at the Edge of The Pond to get not paid. Turns out the bathroom in the apartment across the hall from us had erupted too. They said it was a bit worse and just one push of a plunger had returned the drains to working condition. He had wanted to investigate the drains with a mini camera to find out why so much damage to the place had occurred. The owner would not allow it. No one was living there at the time. Well, they did do a bit of work on the bathroom and the whole place got cleaned, all of the flooring was replaced across the hall. Then the folks who smoke cigarettes and Marijuana both on their patio and inside the building (massive fire hazard) were allowed to move into that newly redone apartment. I have called and made complaints several times about the smoking as have other neighbors, especially for the stuff that smells like skunk. For a while just after we returned from our trip to Wyoming they had seemed to stop. Since they moved across the hall the problem has erupted again. Before the trip I had been having breathing issues every time anybody lit up. I would get coughing unable to catch my breathe. It felt like one lung would not function. I couldn't exhale in order to take in that next breathe. Diagnosis Covid free but turns out I have allergy induced asthma. I am allergic to the smoke. Side note, if you are a family member that smokes and you notice me avoiding you like the plague it isn't that I don't love you, but that I want to be able to breathe. I know that is awful of me. Apartments here are advertised as clean and smoke free. That is a complete and total bold face lie! I have also contacted the State Police and was referred to the Onondaga County Department of Health. I was told there was nothing that could be done. I guess this is what happens to decent folks when the nation is run by criminals. The whole building in which we live is deteriorating. The wallpaper in the halls is peeling the carpet is turning black, there are holes in the the filthy dented walls. Buyer be ware. This place used to be nicer, this place used to be kept up. I won't go on about the other things that we have suffered while living here. Oh, and they have raised everyone's rents for next year! What the hell are we paying for! The title of this blog is Tough Times. I know we are not the only ones having a tough time. Gas prices are skyrocketing out of control. Food prices have people struggling to feed their families across the country. I know I have changed the way I shop. Prices on houses and rentals make me cry tears of blood. I have looked into trying to find a safe and affordable place to live. We only have one income, and my husband started investing in some stocks which has not been as lucrative as hoped. So why don't I get off my oversized butt and get a real job instead of staying home and educating our child? Functional Neurological Disorder is one label and it takes many forms, mine is the life sentence with chance of remission. Hoping for remission and return to a normal life I chose not to undergo the super stressful ordeal of trying to get Social Security Disability. That was twelve years ago. Many days I operate fine, but when I get stressed, have PMS, encounter sudden loud sounds or flashing lights or get bonked on the head there are a myriad of not nice things that happen and it can occur lightening fast. My body often reacts before I even know what is happening. If often attracts unwanted attention. Not being able to control your own body is no picnic! That is all I will say about that. So what does any of this have to do with photography or travel? Well, traveling into the wilderness is like medicine to me. My nerves calm down, I can breathe, I can relax! We may not be able travel next year. I am not talking about going on a big adventurous trip, I'm talking about even local hikes. This past year all we did was camp one weekend in the Adirondacks for my son's birthday and the big trip I just finished blogging about. We need another income stream. Especially if we are to escape this apartment complex alive. Yes I know I'm being a bit melodramatic. This toxic hell was supposed to temporary! Completely my fault though for not working a "real job" since the onset of the disorder. I asked about interest in print on demand photo products on Facebook. I don't know how many people saw the post but I got no response at all! Silent crickets are frustrating. I do what I can to help out others when I can, I have bought fancy nails, tye-dye clothes, even Usborne books from people who ignored me when I was selling. Well, anyways I was disappointed, extremely disappointed. I was hoping to possibly make my photography available for sale. I can't afford a decent printer, nor is there space for any stock here. I would have to use a print on demand service, maybe even another website. I would be marking up someone else's base price, and having them take care of fulfillment and shipping and hope that they would provide a 1099 at the end of the year. Products would cost more that way, There are costs involved too, like website fees, my time, and marketing costs. I need questions answered. If I made the investment would anyone be willing or want to buy prints, metal or canvas prints? Would any one want nature themed photos on their mugs, card sets, notebooks, shower curtains (I think that would be awesome) pillows, phone protectors, bags, pillows, or blankets or would I be wasting my time and resources? I know calendars are a thing of the past. I made a calendar this fall and zero sold. I even offered discounts. I made three options last year and only sold four. It is very disheartening. Another downside is I won't be able to personally sign anything, have any control over packaging presentation. I think a personal thank-you note would be a nice touch but I may not have access to information on my customers depending on the route I choose.
It would be better and a lot more lucrative to photograph weddings or shoot portraits. I tried weddings a few times for people I know. The stress got to me and it was not pretty. Thank God my husband is also a photographer and had agreed to assist me, in both calming me down to regain control of my body and taking photos. I am glad he always has my back, and I know it is not easy. If I do move forward on that venture it won't be until next year. Please pray for us to make a good decision. If you have any feed back, please comment or private message me. Sorry for such a long winded and relatively negative blog/ cry for help. If you have read this blog, thank-you. I hope to try to keep writing weekly and continue to share my love of nature photography and travel. Departure day arrived. I was in no rush but I knew my husband most likely would be. Our someone little was also looking forward to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. It was a bittersweet day as there was a little bit left to the adventure, but I was not ready to leave. In all honesty I always dread returning to New York. Before leaving I really wanted to have a Ranger either swear in our son as a Jr. Ranger or at least sign off on his booklet to make it official and more meaningful. Well, we got up and went through the normal routine of packing up camp and leave no trace. I had hoped maybe we would see another fox but it was not meant to be. We went over to the ranger station and found it closed. We were an hour or so too early. As we walked back toward the car I notice a bird hanging about the store. I tried to take it's photo. It seemed curious about us. I think this was a Grouse that someone had obviously fed. It pecked me once on the leg and chased my son every time he tried to walk away. I told him to hold still and not move. The little bird charged him every time he moved. Finally I got him to hold still enough for the bird to lose interest and walk away. As it did we made our brisk walk to the car. Now I omitted part of our story from when we had explored the Moose-Wilson Road and didn't see much for wildlife. On the way back to camp it was dark and we missed our turn. There are two parking areas for Jenny Lake we pulled down to the first area that leads to the hiking trail that connects Jenny and String Lakes. There were several roads down that way and signage in the park is not great so we turned around and went back to camp the way we had come. Thankfully we did not miss the turn that time. So with an hour to spare we decided to scope that area out. We wound up at a parking area overlooking Jenny Lake and the Grand Tetons. We made a few more photos and took the arrival of a tour bus as our cue to leave. I would love to explore that hike between the two Lakes someday. We returned to the Ranger Station where a young ranger said that they were not allowed to swear in new Jr. Rangers due to Covid Regulations. She did however ask our son about what his favorite pages in the booklet were. He answered the pages on bear safety and proceeded to tell her how to be safe in bear territory. The ranger signed off on his ranger booklet. She smiled when she saw his name. Her last name was the same as his first name! We all thought that was pretty cool. I pinned his Grand Teton National Park badge on his shirt. He was pretty proud of his accomplishment even though I really had to push hard to get him to do complete the activities. From there we headed north and then picked up Route 26 east. We drove through a portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Shoshone National Forest. These areas provided jaw dropping beauty with every curve, hill top and valley with very few pull offs. This stretch of highway between the national park and Dubois, WY will take your breathe away! Both my husband and I wanted to stop and explore but we had a promise to keep and an extremely long drive back to our so called home. To me our tent is more like home when it isn't in our current dwelling. Along the way we did mange to find and stop at a pull off or view point and practice our craft. We both long to return in better shape some day and attempt a backpacking trip. It is mind blowing all the places there are to explore in this world! Doesn't the photo make you wish you could just step into it and wander. Are there any trickling streams? What wildlife would you encounter? If the wildfires weren't burning and smoke filling the valley could you imagine the smell of of the pines? How many different types of wildflowers grow here in the spring? What secrets lie behind those hills? Does solitude exist here? Come on now, am I really crazy for wanting to explore more? Once we left the region of federal lands the land scape became much flatter, and less lush unless someone was watering it and very desolate. It seems very few folks live outside of the cities unless they own a sprawling ranch. The drive to Thermopolis, home of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center took three hours. We stopped for store bought donuts for breakfast in Dubois, WY. Then we turned north in Shoshone. Along the way we crossed over Bad Water Creek where the husband had to stop for some construction. This allowed me to get a very quick snapshot. I believe Badwater Creek has been mentioned in several stories of the old west which made seeing it in person a bit special. Oh wait a minute, where is the water? Well, here is the dry creek bed because it was a drought year. Continuing north we encountered some beautiful red rock formations, passed by the some otherworldly lakes and drove through a mountain tunnel. Once we reached Thermopolis I turned to the phone to get directions to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. Upon reaching the museum our son was quite excited. However, once inside the excitement disappeared. He seemed rather expressionless as we wandered the small museum. I tried to point out some things to him and read just a few signs to him. He blew me off and refused to get his picture taken with the skeletons. I had to hunt him and shoot him unaware. My favorite is one of him between the jaws of the T-rex replica! Yep, when your child refuses to cooperate feed him to the dinosaur! Just kidding. It was hard to know what was going through his mind. Was he just soaking it all in or disappointed? I enjoyed the museum and it was my first time seeing actual dinosaur skeletons in person. You may not know it but I actually have a B.A. in Biology. I had actually been hoping to be a veterinarian but wound up being a total and utter failure. Anyways during college I did some research for a paper and delivered a presentation on the relatively newly discovered Archaeopteryx. I don't know how I did or even what I said during the presentation. I was so nervous I completely dissociated from myself. Anyways the museum was exciting. I probably could have read more of the signage and tried to absorb more than I did but this was more for my son than me and his attention span is not the same as mine. My husband was just along for the ride. Once we thought we were done with the museum part our son really wanted to go on the dig site tour. Cue the bad news. They had stopped dig site tours for the year just the day before. The result more money in our pocket but an extremely disappointed little boy. I sent him and daddy back into the museum while I Christmas shopped. When I finished and returned he was in slightly different mood. We went around observing the differences between the dinosaur replicas and the real fossils. The Camarasaurus and the Allosaurus were real and actually native to Wyoming. I believe the Maiasaura and it's nest of babies were authentic fossils too. Then I found the Allosaurus teeth that we had seen Coyote Peterson and Mario of Brave Wilderness dig up on You Tube! He was disappointed that the labels of who had discovered which tooth had been removed. I was a bit disappointed too. Despite how he acted I later learned he did enjoy the museum and begs to go back to do the tour and or a dig himself , next year he would be old enough for the dig. We did not spend as much time at the museum as I thought we would. However, we were getting a bit hangry. I was hoping to have lunch at a local restaurant but didn't know where to go so we wound up at Pizza Hut. The boys can never get enough pizza. We discussed our options. If there had been camping at Hot Springs State Park I would have pushed going there. Instead we decided which route to take to get back to "home." Back through the beautiful Big Horn Mountains or south to I80 through Nebraska. We decided to head through Nebraska. So we headed south along part of the route we had come. We shot a few photos once we passed through the tunnel. Then we stopped to see if we could camp at the Lower or Upper Wind River Campgrounds. According to the sign reservations were required and was not friendly towards folks not from Wyoming. So we drove to Casper and eventually found a Quality Inn which was really nice. If felt so good to finally take a shower! The next morning we enjoyed the complimentary breakfast. Staff there was very friendly and nice. We packed up and hit the road east. Wyoming became very flat and on occasion we saw some metal cowboys along the roadside. That day we would drive to another Quality in in Omaha, Nebraska. Nebraska had very few trees. The landscape rolled slightly. Although we were making miles it felt like we were setting still or stuck in groundhogs day. We stopped at one monument near Julesburg to stretch our legs. I took a few photos of the monument, the vast nothingness and the largest insect I have ever encountered! Further down the road we stopped in Paxton, Nebraska for fuel and lunch. We quickly settled on Ole's Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge. Well, we were surrounded by big game and photos of the founder/ big game hunter. At first my son seemed rather creeped out by all the dead animals hanging all around us but soon curiosity won out. The bison burger was excellent as was the service so stop in if your passing through. In Lincoln we fueled again and when we couldn't immediately find a hotel we pressed on through in the darkness, road construction and scary traffic jams to Omaha. Boy, was I glad to be off the road! The shower felt good and the boy let loose his pent up energy tossing his stuffed trout and playing catch. It was hard to get him to settle so we could all go to sleep. The next morning we grabbed the continental breakfast and visited with one of the employees who allowed us each an extra muffin for the road. She had to been from New York. During our discussion she mentioned the the roadway to get back on I80 was going to be closing soon for a memorial parade to honor a soldier who had died in the most recent Afghanistan blunder. While the parade was a nice sentiment we needed to make a lot miles, so we got out of there as fast as we could! That day way drove all the way to Elkhart, Indiana where friends we rarely see volunteered their home in exchange for a very pleasant visit. We owe them a very big thank-you! Along the way we completed the last of the 431 miles across Nebraska, drove by lots of windmills and cornfields in Iowa, bit our nails trying to get through city traffic in Chicago, IL and Gary, IN. We had arrived at our friends' home late, so we enjoyed donuts and a good visit with them in the morning. Our son had a good time playing with their children, at least until the sibling rivalry started. At that point being an only child he didn't quite know what to do so he came out and played by himself until someone came to join him. Eventually we did have to hit the road. Hubby usually wants at least one day to rest before going back to work. So we finished driving the second half of Indiana, all the way through Ohio, part of Pennsylvania to the middle of New Yuck! Yes, I am a fan of Judy Blume's writing. It took us about thirteen hours of driving and pit stops to get back to the apartment. It was ten o'clock at night, the apartment smelled strange. At least it didn't smell of Marijuana. Yes, we have some really awful neighbors and a few decent ones but the worst ones are always the closest. As I was setting some things down in the living room. I heard, "Uhh, Jules, come here the bathroom is covered in sewage, call PMA!" The lady on the phone took down my complaint and forwarded it to the maintenance team with no idea how long it would take to for anyone to show up. Our carpet was soaking wet too. We spoke to a few neighbors who had been out side. They had not had any issues. My husband was too exhausted to drive even though I really wanted to stay in a hotel. I opened as many windows as I dared. Around two in the morning we tried to get some sleep. I called maintenance again in the morning. Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. The maintenance guy was there. He cleaned the bathroom or at least the worst of it up. He looked at the side of the sink vanity that he had installed in June and shook his head. It would need to be replaced, everything in the bathroom that couldn't go in a washing machine had to be thrown out. I tried to see about getting reimbursed, and received no answer. The walls are moldy and dry rotted. They left a dehumidifier behind for us to use. It runs almost constantly. My face hurts from my allergies, and I get headaches. The owner refuses to fix the damage. No one knows exactly why the bathroom puked while we were gone. The toilet blows bubbles on occasion and the sink frequently gives off sewer gas. For a while my child was afraid to take a shower. I need to call codes, but I am also scared we could wind up homeless. We are looking for another place to live but on one small income and the current market all seems hopeless! I was first out of the tent on another freezing cold morning. "Come on, come on we've got to find some more wildlife." Yup, I love photographing wildlife! I dragged everybody out of bed and into the nice warm car to make our way toward the region of Gros Ventre Campground. It is supposed to be rich in wildlife. Those wild animals tend like to hang out at dawn and then disappear! As usual I was studying maps and giving directions as my husband drove. Thankfully we found the area I hoped to explore. A few cars were pulled over, I couldn't see what they were looking at so we continued on but not far. Just past a hedgerow was a female moose feeding! We pulled over and someone else pulled over just ahead of us. Thankfully she just kept grazing, but she was not alone. While it was rut season her company was not a big bull but her calf, The calf wasn't too much smaller than mom. While I have photographed moose before in New Hampshire and Maine, it never gets old! We stayed in the car and shot through the open window. Thankfully the child behaved and made no effort to scare them away. While photographing birds in Montezuma he has been known to put his window down and yell at the birds to go away.. Often not getting the results he wanted other than making me angry. To me this was a magical moment especially seeing the half grown calf. The early morning light was just right, and you can see a bit of frostiness on the sage brush. The only thing that could have made it better was to fit both of them in one frame. Now that I think about it I should have switched lenses! Can hear me smacking myself in the head? Further down the road was a line of other photographers and tourists near the entrance to Gros Ventre campground where a few bull moose were hanging out near a couple of trees. I bet they got some really awesome photos! By the time we got to an open spot to park the bulls were but dots. We moved on in hopes of finding more. I didn't see any signs of wildlife for quite a while. Then we saw one of those wildlife tour buses and pulled up behind them. At first we couldn't tell what they were looking at but across the road was a group of Pronghorn. We stepped across and quietly photographed the pronghorn while half listening to the tour. The pronghorn were some distance away so, I tried a few photos that included more of the hills and mountains in the background. We drove around more, exploring the area but could not find anymore wildlife. We turned around and headed back the way we came. There was a road I wanted to try. We drove by it of course. At the campground we turned around. The moose were gone. We did not go very far to find our missed turn. There were signs warning of Buffalo but none were to be found. Eventually we happened upon Mormon Row and the famously overphotographed Moulton Barn. Evidently it's fame has never reached my husband, so it can't be too famous, right?. There had even been a large photo of it at the Dornan's Pizza Place, he didn't even notice it. I snapped a few photos of the barn before being distracted by the bluebirds on and around it! I photographed the bluebirds on the roof. We followed them behind the barn where they seemed to line up along the fenceposts. Forget the old barn, forget the jagged mountains in the background, the Western Mountain Blue Bird was just too pretty to ignore. I crept up slowly all the while listening for the child and my husband. Then finally I had a few photographs to love! As we walk around to the front of the barn finding more blue birds to try to photograph a tour group walked up. I could hear the guide welcoming everyone to the famous Moulton Barn and then to my surprise he pointed out the bluebirds! I was also hoping to find some badgers but no luck with that. I think there had been too many people around. From there we went back to camp for breakfast, souvenir shopping and to make a battle plan for the day. As we drove into the campground though we were in for a surprise. As we rounded a curve a gorgeous fox was crisscrossing the road. It appeared to be inspecting the bear boxes for any leftover morsels. I tried to get a decent photo but it was fast and there wasn't much room to swing the lens around in the car. A family was out having breakfast and the fox entered their campsite. It did not beg but meandered it's way into the hills behind it. I hoped I would see that fox again. As I mentioned earlier from camp we walked over to the park stores for souvenirs, breakfast and to make our battle plan for the day. Instead of making a hard core itinerary, I made a list of options we could do in each area. While munching on cinnamon buns in front of the store we discussed our options. Our son was all for taking the boat across the lake to hike up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. I don't think I was even able to make any other suggestions. Remembering how bad my feet had hurt the night before, I voted to splurge, travel both ways by shuttle boat too. We properly disposed of our wrappers. Then stopped at the rangers station to get a Jr. Ranger Booklet. Next we hurried back to camp where we locked our new valuables in the car in exchange for packs ,first aide kit, bear spray, snacks, water and photo gear. Then we scurried off to follow the signs to the boats. We got there just in time for the next boat! I had not thought of it then but it was our son's first motorized boat ride! No wonder he was excited! We masked up, bought our tickets and waited a few minutes to board. Our son picked the seats in the front of the boat. It was a short trip across the lake. I managed just one shot. There was beauty every step of this hike. The availability of fresh air to breathe was not to be had, as smoke from western fires surrounded us. Once again I was left alone to hike with strangers. Embarrassed I huff, puffed and wheezed my way up the mountain while trying to put my anxieties to rest. I wasn't fast (story of my life) and many folks passed me by. Some however were very encouraging almost as if they could read my mind. I stopped to use my inhaler a few times and sip some water. Drinking water can also play a role in combatting altitude sickness. I finally found my family at Hidden Falls. The light was harsh leaving one half of the trees in the photo in dark shadow. You need a cloudy day to photograph this set for sure! At this point my son finally noticed and checked on me before continuing to Inspiration Point. They got away from me again but I managed to find them at what I thought was Inspiration Point. I wonder how many others make the same mistake. We made the discovery from overheard discussions. This time my husband allowed me to catch my breath and take a few photos before continuing up the scary part of the climb. Our son stayed with me this time. Perhaps out of concern that I had trouble breathing. The nice smooth path was replaced by craggy rocky terrain. We encountered an older lady trying to climb up the roughest, scariest part of the climb. She apologized for being so slow. I told her not to worry as I needed a breather myself. She let us by once we got to a safe place to pass. God bless her for still climbing, I hope in twenty plus years I will still be able to do it! My husband didn't leave us quite so far in the dust this section and we reached the 7,203 feet of Inspiration Point together. I took a few photos of men folk then found a spot to get packs off and serve everyone their Cliff Bar for lunch. Just as I was about to join my husband in taking a few photos of the view, my son informed me that he needed a bathroom. I grabbed the trowel, wipes and a plastic bag from my pack. We wandered down the trail to find a spot with some privacy. That was not an easy task but I found a solid depression for him to go. Poor thing almost messed his pants. He went to the bathroom, then dug a hole. As he burying his business a swarm of bees or wasps gathered on his back. I told him to stop and come to me immediately. He was like why, not wanting him to panic I told just to come. Once we were back on the trail I told him. Thankful that the bees did not follow. We weren't quite back to our packs when I guy yelled, "Get your phones there is a bear!" I told my son to stay calm and keep next to me. I quickly grabbed the 400mm and camera. I managed some decent shots as the cinnamon black bear meandered through the edge of the crowd. It was young bear. A few frightened people asked where the mother was, and a few said it was newly on its own. A few fools followed it, my husband included. Our son went to follow him and I told him no. He was mad at first then I explained how far you are supposed to stay away from bears. I also said to just let stupid people be stupid but not copy them. A man next to us smiled when he heard me. I don't know what my husband was thinking. The other thing is don't use your phone to photograph wildlife! You can't get close enough to safely get a decent shot! Invest in good camera and a long lens! We returned to our packs where a nice lady from Ohio and her very friendly son were resting. We enjoyed a nice conversation. She asked if we homeschooled and I said yes. I wasn't quite sure where this conversation was going, but turns out she hoped to homeschool her son too. I think he was only three if I remember correctly. My son enjoyed playing with him until Daddy got back. We decided to continue hiking into the Canyon until we needed to turn back. The last boat was to depart at 4pm. At some point not too far from Inspiration Point my husband left the trail. I wasn't sure where he was going and was a bit afraid he might be following the bear. Instead it was a spot that opened up and you could see a waterfall through some trees. It was a bit messy but I took a few photos anyway. We rejoined the trail. Fewer people were around and there wasn't much elevation change. The boy skipped happily down the trail ahead of us. The area was just joyous feeling in its beauty! I snapped a couple of quick shots of the trail. Kiddo continued to gain speed hiking down the trail ahead of us blissfully unaware of the potential danger to his left. I called his name, told him to stop and back up slowly. He was like why. " There is a bear next to you, just back away to me slowly!" At this point I think he saw the bear and jumped, but he quickly regained his composure and slowly side stepped his way back to me. Turns out it was the same bear we had seen earlier. It basically ignored us grazing as he or she walked about eventually crossing the trail. My husband proceeded ahead as we cautiously followed and made sure to warn others on the trail of the bear's presence. My husband kept trying to get closer for a shot which I could not understand since he was working with a 100-450mm lens! We stayed on the trail and watched the bear as it wandered and grazed. It never once lifted it's head to look at us. Then a large group clapped their hands and yelled a lot making the bear run up the hill and disappear. Just to note you need to keep twenty five yards from most wildlife like elk and bison but 100 yards from predators like bears and wolves. Turns out he thought it was twenty five feet and didn't believe me until I found and showed him the rules in the park newspaper. Thankfully he never got more than 50 feet of the bear. Only our son who didn't know the bear was right there next to him. We waited a bit to see if it would reappear but it didn't. The spot was lovely, I wanted to keep hiking! I looked at the time on my phone. It was time to go if we were to catch the boat. What a story our son would have to share, oh and he was also mad at dad for forgetting our can of bear spray. Evidently the boy did not learn his lesson about head down barreling down the trail. At the mention of needing to get to dock before the last boat he trucked it down the trail never once pausing to even see if we were with him! I had to nearly run to keep up with them. He didn't even slow down at the scary sketchy part of the trail. I was wickedly out of breath by the time we got to the boat dock and a bit perturbed when ever he got out of sight. Even my husband couldn't quite match his pace. He was afraid he were going to miss the boat. What took me nearly two hours to hike up, we did in less than thirty minutes! It was 3:30pm a boat loaded and left. He started to panic that we had missed the boat but I assured him another one was coming. He was quite relieved that he wouldn't have to hike all around the lake to get back to camp. Frankly so was I!
Once we were back across the lake we hiked back to camp. Along the way were some statues of animals with information boards. Just after we walked by one of these for a stoat, ermine or weasel (whatever you want to call it) one of them dashed across the trail in front of us. No photo for evidence you will just have to believe my story. Once at camp it was dinner time. Kiddo dropped his back and promptly began playing with his stuffed animals. One being a stuffed trout he had bought that morning. We teased him about Ranger Bear and Ranger Otter wanting to eat his fish, and warned him to keep an eye on Wolfy-Brows as Ranger Elk might come up missing. He was not impressed with us! To keep them from getting dirty he was told to play in the tent. We broke out our water, bear canister, tea pot and plastic wear, Hubby made us a nice campfire to boil water on. It was going to be our first time eating Mountain House Meals! Unfortunately I spilled a good portion of my husband's meal while trying to set the measuring cup down. Just what we needed spilled food in bear country! I put back as much as I could. There was some left still edible. The mac n' cheese was safe. While the meals were rehydrating I did my best to clean up the table. As for under it I grabbed our poop scooper and a plastic garbage bag. We try really hard to practice leave no trace! I think I got it all. To my surprise our son chose to share the Mac'n cheese with me, something he has refused to eat for a few years now. Then while I was cleaning someone whom I had hoped to see again made an appearance. Of course my hands were full repacking the car and not with the camera. Was the fox after the spilled food? Nope, all of the sudden there was a high speed chase of a chipmunk to somewhere across the road. Pretty amazing to see these creatures live in the "wild." I don't know if fox caught the chipmunk or not. Once camp was all cleaned up and most of the JR. Ranger badge requirements were completed we wandered down to Jenny Lake to catch the last few rays of light before bed. It was so peaceful, I wanted to stay. I wasn't ready for the day to end. Tomorrow we would start the long trip east with one scheduled stop on the way. Golden light stretched across the dry lake bed awakening the sleeping mountains. A hawk took flight in greeting of the sun. Another exciting day had begun! I took a few photos from behind our tent before we packed everything back up. Then I dug through the bear canister to forage for cliff bars and fruit snacks. You know the breakfast of hiking champions, right? We decided to head over to Oxbow bend and try again. The morning light was still pretty and we managed to score a parking spot. Unlike the Adirondacks the Grand Tetons seem to greet the sky in much lighter shades. Probably due to the the type of rock and lack of vegetation. The Grand Tetons mingled with the trees reflecting on the still water. The child ran about like a mad man seemingly to make his own racetrack. A few people smiled as he said something to me and took off again. He drives me crazy, but no one seemed to mind. Finally I said something to him about sticking closer to me and he got really mad. Mama was the party pooper again! Better to be the pooper than to have your child come up missing! He got over it eventually. From there we headed over to Jenny Lake where our next campsite would be. Along the way we stopped at a chapel. It wasn't the one I was looking for but had a pretty stained glass window in it. I believe it was called the Chapel of the Sacred Heart. When we arrived at Jenny Lake there was no where to park and too early to check into our campsite . So we drove further down the road to the trailhead at Taggert Lake where we snagged the very last spot. Next we wrestled our backpacks out of the cargo box and packed them with snacks and water. Some one was not happy to be going on a hike. He wanted to go shopping. Along the way there was much bad behavior until Daddy told him, "that is it we're not stopping at the Dinosaur Museum, and you won't be coming with us on vacation again! " I can't blame my husband the child was being deplorable and making us miserable. After it was like someone flipped a switch, suddenly he was skipping down the trail. The rest of the day went mostly without complaint from him. The trails were nice, relatively smooth and clear of trip hazards. Most likely due to the parks popularity. Anyways the sun was shining and the colors were dazzling. It is about a two mile hike to get to Taggert Lake. I think I failed in capturing its stunning beauty. Lots of people were spread out along the lake. The color of the water was a gorgeous greenish blue. After almost loosing a backpack we hit the trail again. We decided to continue on to Bradley Lake. This may have been a mistake. I think 1.8 miles is longer than it sounds especially with foot problems. The trail took us around more of Taggert Lake where a young couple stopped and asked me if I had a long lens or binoculars. I said "yes". They pointed out a couple of Bull Moose across the lake. I am very grateful to them for the tip. If they had stuck around I would have let them look through my viewfinder but maybe they had already packed their gear away. I really enjoyed watching the moose. The trail followed around Taggert Lake a bit further before heading away and up many switchbacks. I found myself getting out of breath and my feet had started to scream obscenities at me. This is also where the child complained too. About two thirds of the way up people began hiking toward us saying that Bradley Lake wasn't much further. Out west "not much further" is a very relative term. Eventually I stopped to try to stretch my calves and a string of people passed me. My husband had disappeared ahead of us again. He did eventually stop and wait for us to catch up before disappearing again. Then finally we caught a view through the trees. We continued around the trail hoping for a viewpoint but found a sign where the trail split. You could turn and go back to the parking lot or continue to more lakes. My soul wanted to wander endlessly, my body was cursing me. We walked just a little further down the trail and joined another small group enjoying the shore of Bradley Lake. My son and I did something that made everyone think we were crazy. Honestly, I was just trying to reduce my pain. We took off our sock and shoes, rolled up our pant legs and entered the icy cold water! No we didn't swim but just waded in ankle deep. I sat on the rocks listening to the conversations and soaking my feet. The only wildlife anyone could find were other humans, that is until a raven flew over and landed on the the shore about 50 feet from us. We grabbed our snacks from our packs, taking our leave when finished. Our son joked about how the lake had been named after his friend! We enjoyed the scenery on the way out. Finding ourselves on the same trail we hiked to get into the lakes the boys kicked it into high gear. I hiked along alone as fast as I could unable to catch up. Finally I stopped to drink some water, use my inhaler, and to stretch my feet and calves on a big boulder. The pain was getting pretty unbearable. Another hiker came by and asked if I was okay. Somewhat embarrassed I said yes, I was just taking a break to stretch. I didn't mention my anxiety of being left so far behind. I photographed the stream I was next to, grabbed another swig of water and started gimping down the trail. Turns out the boys were waiting for me about 25 yards ahead. This time our son hiked out with me. When we reached the final turn he pointed out a snake on the trail. I did not see it but followed his instructions and hiked faster. He knows I am terrified of snakes. Behind us a class of kids stopped to check the snake out. I hope no one got bit. It had to have been very tiny for me not to see it. I couldn't help but to wonder what this class or program was the children were participating in. Were they local, was it run by the park agency? I guess I have some research to do. When we reached the car I was glad to be off my feet yet, I still longed to be in the back country. It had only been an eight mile day. That seems to be the max I can do. I would love to back pack in and camp at some of those lakes. I am not sure if that goal is attainable for me but it is a lovely dream. From there we returned to Jenny Lake and set up the tent after a lecture on bear safety upon check- in. We had one of, if not thee best site there. Another great thing about the campground at Jenny Lake is that it is tent only! While we were not on the lake we did have a clear view of the mountains! I had planned to boil water and eat Mountain House meals for dinner but I was exhausted and needed to get off my feet. So, we hopped back in the car and drove down to Dornan's for pizza! This place had been highly recommended for meals by many people and for good reason! You can also rent bicycles there too and there is a long pave bike route running all the way up to Jenny Lake.
After dinner we drove Moose Wilson road in search of wildlife. It was a rough, bumpy and busy road! In the end the moose never showed themselves at the pond or anywhere else that evening. I saw one black bear in a tree swarmed by people much too close to it. While my husband paused just a moment for another vehicle I lined up my shot and hit the shutter as he floored it. Gah! I wasn't sure how to get back to camp once we reached the end of the road so we turned around and went back the way we came. I was glad to reach the end of that road. Back at camp everyone got ready and went to bed except for me. I broke out my Bob and Brad mini massage gun and set to work on my feet and calves. Night had already fallen and temperatures plummeted. The stars twinkled above among the mountains. I wanted to photograph them but I was tired and sore. I just soaked the beauty into my memory. My legs and feet felt much better after the massage. I quietly put everything back into the car and locked it. I took one last look up, one more big deep breath and climbed into the tent. Good-night! Freezing temperatures greeted us in the morning. That first trek to the bathroom sure had me crossing my legs and walking as fast as I could! Sadly not all of us made it without accident. Good thing the laundromat was open and warm! We enjoyed another visit with John which made time move a little faster. We were late getting back on the road, but I knew setbacks are inevitable. We headed south stopping a few minutes to photograph Lewis Falls from next to the bridge. Wide angle isn't quite the way to shoot this one as it sets back a ways. I tried to play with the rocks and fallen timber in the river as foreground. Again we had to keep a close eye on the water loving kid. He had fun floating his "boats." We headed south observing forest and sections of burned forest. Then finally we arrived at the bridge that marked the location of a short and steep trail down to Moose Falls. I loved Moose falls! There are a set of stone stairs that lead down to it. The fall leaves were golden and another plant was pinkish red making a beautiful frame for Moose Falls. Moose Falls is not the tallest or biggest of the waterfalls we had seen on the trip but the prettiest. We didn't actually get to see all the waterfalls in the area. Time would not allow that, nor my painful feet. I loved the smell of the spray and lack of crowds. We weren't alone there but we could spread out and take our time. The sun shone high above causing problems for photography but with patience clouds would roll over creating a moment of fabulous waterfall shooting light. Our son had fun scurrying up and down the sloped path and the stairs testing my mother's heart. Thankfully he didn't take any tumbles. Shortly after Moose Falls we drove through the Yellowstone's southern exit/ entrance. We pulled over and took pictures with the welcome sign even though we were departing. The scene behind the sign was nice with the river "snaking through." Between Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks is a section called John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway which is pretty in its own right. There were some more waterfalls I had hoped to see along Grassy Lake Road. It took us a little while to find the road. The pavement ran out and we were on gravel. I was not sure how far we could get, not knowing the road condition. There are some dispersed campsites along the road and all that we saw were occupied. I was curious about them. In being able to snag a campsite competition is super fierce. I made sure to make our reservations in the park the second the system became live. I didn't want to take the chance of driving 2,000 plus miles to have no where to camp. As we drove over Polecat Creek I thought I saw a pair of otters playing. I had my husband pull over. This was going to be exciting, my son loves otters. We grabbed the cameras with the 400mm lenses and walked over to the bridge. Where were they? I looked and only saw a Great Blue Heron which promptly flew away. We sat there a while as quiet as possible. Did I actually see them? Did the car frighten them away? Were they hiding out of sight in the rushes? I don't know. It was a very pretty spot, though. We drove on and the road seemed to get rougher and rougher. Eventually we stopped at the trailhead for Glade Creek. I decided we would stretch our legs and then drive back. The car probably could have gone farther but with all the brake warnings, wonky gas readings and being thousands of miles from home with a borrowed roof rack I didn't want to tempt fate any further. This area had obviously been burned in the last ten years. It was sad and yet beautiful seeing the forest and meadow attempting a comeback. We probably walked a mile and a half of the Glade Creek trail. It was quiet. Some of the views were obscured by the dead standing timber. We didn't see any animals, perhaps the folks with the bear bells had frightened everything. They were just leaving as we arrived. I would love to explore the area further if we ever get the chance to return. On our way back to the main road we stopped at Pole Creek again. No, I didn't see anymore otters. I just wanted to capture the creek. It was so pretty, next time we will hike it for sure. In wanting to get the name of the creek correct I stumbled upon an article about the trail and or trail head that sounds as if it begins at Flag Creek Ranch. A fire went through after the folks had who had written the article had hiked it so I am not sure if the trail is still in tact. From there we were off to Lizard Creek Campground where our reserved site was right on Jackson Lake. I had visions of wading in the lake, beautiful views and a night time lullaby of the waves when I made the reservation. Unfortunately Jackson Lake is a reservoir. This sadly was a drought year. What our site overlooked was a dry lake bed or a desert. Cue sad face! You also weren't allowed to walk out on the lakebed either, incase of wandering onto an area of quicksand. I could see a few people wandering out there but they were scientific researchers. I found out about the lake being dry a week or two before the trip. The water had been sent to crop farmers in Idaho. We set up camp again and made lunch We made sure all the food was cleaned up before .continuing our adventure. We also had a nice chat with our campground host. Now Jackson Lake is pretty big so it wasn't entirely empty (but at least half gone) so we decided to try to find and explore some trails at Colter Bay. We stopped at the visitor Center just before closing time to stamp our son's National Park Passport. As we did a ranger asked if my son could help her take down the flag. What an honor! He loves our flag, so it would be a good experience. Turns out though, he wasn't quite as helpful as she thought he would be but he tried. He looks a lot older than what he actually is! It was exciting but, he didn't really know how to do it. His job sounded simple, to catch and hold the to bottom corners of the flag as she lowered the top to avoid it hitting the ground. Catching the flag was harder than he thought it would be. We really need to work on his strength. The building closed. As we started to go get our cameras from the car for our hike I discovered I didn't have his passport. I went back and knocked on the door. The ranger came back looking a bit upset, it was closing time after all. I told her I think I left his passport in the store. She ran back while I waited outside. She was back with it in less than a minute and I made sure to thank her very much. So where was this network of awesome trails. We looked at a map on the side of the building and walked down to the dry lakebed to look for the trail heads. We couldn't find them, so we left. I decided to try to locate Oxbow Bend and maybe the trails for Two Oceans and Emma Matilda Lakes. Along our route a jeep suddenly pulled to the side of the road. My first thought was what did he see. Then I caught a glimpse and made the hubby pull over. By the time he pulled over and we walked all the way back quite a crowd had gathered. The guy in the jeep left. A large bull elk was quenching his thirst in the murky water! A series of bugles came from the woods. Challenge accepted, as the large bull departed the water and disappeared into the thicket. That was pretty cool! We jumped back into the car to find our next destination! To reach the trailhead for Two Oceans and Emma Matilda Lakes we had to drive a long dirt road. It was a beautiful drive but we nearly turned around before reaching our destination. Eventually we did pull into a big parking area right next to Two Oceans Lake. One trail would take you all the way around Two Oceans Lake and anther lead to Emma Matilda Lake through the woods. It was late in the day so we opted to just hike along Two Oceans Lake until we were forced to turn around due to the dying light. The trail as most in the area was smooth. The Lake was just to the right of us but you could only catch occasional glimpses. My son kept yelling out, "Hey bear" to scare off anything in our path. Eventually I chose an animal path and walked down to the lake. My son cut me off and raced down to the shore flushing a huge flock of ducks! I took a few shots as they flew across and further down the lake. They were too far out in fading light to identify. Part of me was mad at him for scaring them away but they may have reacted the same way even with a quieter approach. We photographed the lake in challenging light as we were facing west. I played with the long lens and even tried some black and white photography. Eventually we gave up and head back to the car, even though I really did not want to. Along the drive back the colors of the leaves and mountains were on fire. We just had to stop to try to capture their beauty! I hoped to stop at Oxbow Bend for sunset on our way back to Lizard Creek, but cars were lined up forever there. The sky was gorgeous as we drove by, I was totally envious! My husband bless his soul suggested finding another spot to pullover. We continued north and found a spot to that had fewer onlookers. They were watching a small herd female elk. The Tetons were visible in the setting sun. I took a couple of wide angle shots and then took some neat close up photos of the peaks. From there we returned to Lizard Creek to have dinner in the dark and the usual things you do at camp. It was cold again but not as cold as the night before. This week for the first time ever someone contacted me to let me know that they enjoyed my blog and asked if I had any tips or ideas for a similar trip that they are planning. You have no idea how incredibly uplifting that was for me! I have been seriously close to throwing in the towel with this website and the boutique. So if you are reading this thank-you from them bottom of my heart and I hope you have a wonderful trip! Big Brown Buffalo by: Grady Metott I am a big brown buffalo Crossing the road, clip, clop, clip, clop. I wallow in the dusty dirt, flip, flop, flip, flop I am a big brown buffalo I hope you enjoyed my son's poem above. We worked hard on it for a recent school assignment. He hates writing or at least physically writing anything. The one thing besides Old Faithful that he wanted to see most was buffalo. His wish was granted! We got up early and packed up camp like a well oiled team. Then we returned to Hayden Valley. I was determined to see a wolf in the wild! I scanned the the valley and river thoroughly only ever finding buffalo or elk. Much of the time they were just very tiny specks in the landscape. Some of the buffalo did come hang out on our side of the river. We stayed right next to the car to photograph them. There were three bulls that seemed to be hanging out together. At first they were just grazing, then one wallowed in the dirt for a bit. They slowly walked closer to together. Then all of the sudden two of the bulls started fighting. I wished I had a higher ISO and a stronger tripod with a gimbal head! My photos turned out badly but I think you might get the feel of the situation. It was so sudden and quick I didn't think to increase the ISO. I just swung around and tried to keep focus, firing away! The moment didn't last long either and the loser slowly walked away. The third buffalo seemed to ignore the two butting heads, but they must have irritated him as seen above. Buffalo tend to raise their tails when annoyed. Instead of partaking in the headbutting festivities he made his way to the edge of the river, wallowed in the sand and then swam to the other side! A swimming buffalo or bison is not something us northeasterners see everyday! We drove a bit further down the road and then turned back to hike a small section of the Mary Mountain Trail. I was still hoping to see a wolf in the wild. We probably hiked a mile and a half through a pretty valley. There was bison poop galore lining the trail. I prayed that we would not encounter any on the trail. Then we encountered some really muddy parts of the trail and I was wearing the wrong shoes! I did my best to navigate a few big sections. Then in the distance we saw a buffalo laying down along the side of the hillside. The condition of the trail was deteriorating and we did not want to risk upsetting that buffalo, so we turned around. Okay, do you remember we had to walk through some really muddy sections? Well, we had trouble finding the little detour around the worst part. My husband having long legs had no problem stretching his long limbs over a narrowed muddy area. There was no way our son or I could cross dry that way. A couple thicker branches had been laid across the mud, so my son decided to cross them. After he made it across it was my turn. I stepped on the sticks trying to find my balance as the camera and big lens swung from my neck. "Hey, Mama (I looked up) don't fall." Thanks for the famous last words kid! Just then my foot rolled right off the branch into the foul smelling muck! I caught myself before taking a complete mud bath! At that point I just walked through squishy muck. My feet were soaked and caked in mud! As we rounded a corner we saw a buffalo in the distance that appeared to be right on the trail! Please let that be across the road and not between us and the car, please I silently begged. My husband managed to get quite far ahead of us. We were getting closer to that buffalo. "Mama, what do we do about that buffalo, is he going to charge us? "I don't know but if we stick together we might look like one big animal and deter him. If he does try to charge we should hide behind a tree or something." My husband had slowed down and our son walked a lot faster to try to catch up to him and I followed suit. There was an old fence post and gate hanging to the side. I slowed my son and took a moment to determine if we could keep walking or if we needed to take cover. The buffalo looked at us, marked his territory and walked to the top of the hill in the opposite direction of us. Whew! I shot photos while picking up the pace. We beelined it to the car. I never did get to see a wolf, just a track or two on the muddy bank of Slough Creek. A few months prior to our trip my son had a visit with our dentist, Dr. Sheffield. We mentioned our upcoming trip only to find out some really surprising things about him and his family. It turns out his grandfather or great grandfather was a Yellowstone Park Ranger. He told us a funny story about his grandma and a bear on the roof of their home in the park and that his grandpa had discovered a thermal feature and named it Dragon's tooth or Dragon's Caldron. So of course we had to investigate. I am glad we did some of the features were very interesting, but beware of when the wind shifts and blows the dragons breath your way! It seriously needs to brush and use a few thousand gallons of mouthwash! That was in the Mud Volcanos area. Judging by the sign's I think he was talking about the Dragon's Caldron. From Mud Volcanoes we headed toward the next campsite. We stopped at Yellowstone Lake and bought some sandwiches at the store. The wind kicked and the temperature was going down. I don't know why but I did not take photos there (I should have). Then we back tracked a bit to the Pelican Creek Nature walk. It was pretty and quiet. I think we were there the wrong time of day as there wasn't much for wildlife. Our son had fun climbing the bank trail down to Yellowstone Lake. The lake was a bit low. There were a few Canada geese along the shore and an Eagle sored above for a moment. Then we moved on to find Grant Campground and get set up for the night. Are you bored yet? Guess what the day isn't over! The folks over at "We're In The Rockies" a YouTube channel I watched while planning said, "don't miss out on West Thumb Geyser Basin." We had some trouble finding it, but I am glad we didn't give up! West Thumb Geyser Basin is located near the bottom of Lake Yellowstone. I used Yellowstone lake as background in a lot of the photos I took. The sapphire pools are so intriguing. I can't really think of any words to describe it, wonderful and awesome don't quite cut it. The fishing cone was neat just hanging out along the edge of the lake with twin geysers. When we finished it was back to camp for dinner and laundry! We may not have been able to shower but clean laundry is heavenly even in such circumstances. We learned from John the super cool manager at the laundromat that we had booked the last night of the year at Grant Campground would be open. The laundry room would close at 11 am the next day for the year. By the time we cleaned up from dinner it was black out. I used lanterns to get everything cleaned and packed up. I could see my breath too! It was one of a few freezing nights in which we would be thankful for a four season tent and a zero degree rated sleeping bag. The next day our exploration of Yellowstone would come to an end. It is a very curious place!
We didn't wake to anything special at the Madison Campground so, we hurried to dismantle camp. Then we drove towards West Yellowstone in search of Harlequin Lake. Parking for the lake is across the road. The parking area had a pretty view of a meadow framed by evergreens and a wall of mountains (see above). The photo doesn't do it justice. Once across the road we hiked a narrow trail through a thick grove of young lodgepole pine. It was beautiful and mysterious. I hoped that we wouldn't meet a grizzly along it but at the same time though we should be able to hear it lumbering through the pines first. No such encounters were to be had. After a short hike we reached Harlequin lake. It was full of weeds. A few ducks and coots were all we saw. We tried to wait patiently for more wildlife to appear. Elk were bugling all around us and we thought for sure they would make an appearance. Sound carries well between mountains. After a while we headed back to the car. Once there we spoke with a couple of folks who had seen a bear further up the road and some elk. Just as we were about to get in the car I spotted some movement and the person we'd been talking to pointed out a doe and her offspring just across the road. I made a few quick photos before they disappeared into the thick woods. After that we headed toward the Canyon area and took the older route to view Virginia Falls. You can see Virginia Falls easily from the road. It is difficult to find a spot to pull over without having to walk the very narrow road back to the view spot. Once at the best viewing spot it was hard to photograph. Bring a telephoto, not a prime and surely not a wide angle lens, you want reach for this waterfall. My photos did not turn out. The area we had pulled off though was very pretty. The undergrowth was displaying fall colors. A stream meandered beside the road for a bit. Just down the road there was a pretty and inviting meadow too! We decided it was time to find and set up our next camp. Once I finally found the check-in for the campground I discovered we were too early. So we set back out to explore. We found the trail to the brink of the falls. We were greeted by a doe next to the trail. While the area was pretty I wasn't impressed. Maybe if it had been sunnier so that you could see a rainbow in the mist, but not that day. The doe was more exciting. In fact she is featured in this years wildlife calendar for the month of January. That can be found in the boutique linked in the navigation bar. From there we went in search of food and souvenirs. The line for burgers was out the door. We didn't have many options and our cooler pickings were slim to none so I waited in the long while the others picked out drinks in the store. Once we ate and set up camp our adventure continued in the canyon area. We joined many other revelers basking in the beauty of the Lower Falls from Artists Point. Folks leave your hats in the car or you will loose them before even getting a chance to kiss your hat good-bye! A good strong wind was blowing and one gentleman's expensive John Deere hat departed his head and flew over the the crowd behind him and into the unreachable canyon below! While this spot is famous and over photographed it's beauty just beckons you to capture its image! I tried to get a few different perspectives but with view points being limited that was challenging. Another challenge was trying to capture the sky without darkening the foreground, or blowing out the sky to get the foreground just right. Yes, I did use a polarizer. I don't mix, blend or focus stack my photos together like most professionals do, I don't really know how to do it. I get the concept while shooting but the post processing ack! Or I could just say I am a purist and prefer minimal processing. One of the You Tubers I follow is a photographer named Adam Gibbs. He often shows you both the raw and the edited versions of his photography. After seeing his raw photos maybe I am not as bad of a photographer as I think I may be. Anyways I am sort of off topic, I am glad we didn't miss this "tourist trap," as it is a true marvel. There is the blue rushing water, the white cascade, tall colorful cliffs and spires! Then you turn around and the canyon sans waterfall is just as spectacular. It would be easy to "play" photographing the canyon for hours which as it turns out we did! There is a trail allows you to hike the northside of the Canyon. Unfortunately my feet hurt a lot that day so we drove it and got out at few different pull offs instead. Eventually we made it up to Inspiration Point. The canyon view there was for a lack of a better word inspirational! I heard my son strike up a conversation with a couple close to where we were photographing the canyon. I turned around to double check on him and we all wound up in quite a long conversation. Turns out they were camping not far from us that night. They were going to go backpacking along the Lamar River the next few days. I'll be honest I was a bit jealous. They were incredibly nice folks. The guys name is Rob, I didn't catch his wife's name. He told us about some bike packing adventures he had been on with his friend who had all this fancy camera gear similar to ours. Turns out Rob is YouTube famous as he often joins his friend Chris Wilson on his adventures. I wound up subscribing to Chris's channel. I really enjoy the way Chris films and the camaraderie they share. So Rob if you are reading this thanks for the tip, and it was nice meeting you and your wife. Oh and below is my version of the canyon at Inspiration Point. Hubby (also named Chris) has to share his own photography!
Nope, this canine was another coyote! This one was thirsty and waded into the river before returning to the far bank and disappearing amongst the grasses. If it had not been moving I may not have noticed it at all that and it was quite far away.
After that we returned to camp for dinner. I was cleaning up while my son was getting his stuffed critters out to play before bed when Rob and his wife walked by and said a quick hello! You never know what kind of people you may meet when traveling. So far we've had mostly positive experiences. I think most people are just out for an adventure and willing to share! Hope you are enjoying our journey as I document it here! Have blessed week! 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! The struggle with depression has been very real the last six months. I desperately needed something to look forward to, a reason to get up off the couch and move so, I talked to my husband about going on a "big trip" this year. We haven't been anywhere in what feels like forever. I decided against going to Utah since I have had to cancel that trip twice, although I could use it as a back up plan.
So what is the plan? It is to make my poor husband drive over 2,000 miles to our destination and and another 2,000 miles back. He always says that he needs a vacation from his vacation. I tend to pack a lot to see and do in a vacation. I don't drive anymore and won't get into why. I homeschool our son which gives me a very tiny bit of purpose in life. I can count this vacation time as school work since someone will have two if not three junior ranger badges to earn. In general I feel trapped and suffocated at our apartment and feel like I am about to loose it with the blaring music , cigarette and skunk (pot smokers) smells infiltrating our so called home. If you guessed that we are going to visit some National Parks you would be correct. Second tip would be we should have a fantastic time photographing a wide variety of animals, not just birds! Third tip there will be lots of hot water, beauty and the smell of rotten eggs! Have you guessed it yet? We will be traveling west and will be about seven hours south of my most favorite National Park. Barring any natural disaster or catastrophe we will be going to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks! Sadly I think six days of this two week adventure will be spent on the road getting there and back. We thought about flying or taking the train but not only does that increase risk of Covid exposure it is also expensive. We will also be tent or "SUV camping" the whole time in the parks to make the trip more affordable. Most accommodations in and around the parks are over $200 per night multiply that by 8 and add tax it doesn't work out for us, not to mention hotels along the way. I have spent a lot of time and research planning this trip. It would be nice just to head out into the backcountry and disappear but I'm not in shape for that. I don't think our child is up to that amount of mileage yet either so this time around we will hit up a lot of the touristy places. I could have save myself a lot of time in coming up with an itinerary and just bought one but I actually like to do the research. If you would like a great itinerary for visiting National Parks visit https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/ , she also has a lot of great information even if you want to plan it out yourself. Another good resource is https://wereintherockies.com/blog/, they also have a great You Tube channel. I thought about making up and trying to sell trip itineraries too, however I have not been to many places and you need to constantly correct them. Many of the National Parks are beginning to require reservations in order to just enter them to battle the problem of overcrowding! Sometimes things like road construction or natural disasters can throw monkey wrenches into even the best laid plans. There is a big section of Yellowstone that we will miss out on due to a road closure, I found this out after I had almost the whole trip planned out so I had to go back and rework the whole thing. I try to minimize the amount of driving as much as I can so I had to choose a different entry route to avoid hours of backtracking. Anyway I am very excited to get out there to photograph wolves in the wild, grizzly bears, buffalo, badgers, Mountain goats and sheep, oh my! Not to mention the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountains and all the lakes, meadows and geysers! I just hope we can avoid the crowds as much as possible. To make camping reservation I stalked the reservation site for hours exactly six months before the day we needed and carefully watched the clock for the second the site became available and made the reservation. Competition for reservations is fierce! Anyway we thankfully got all of our reservations made! I left one day unreserved as I thought perhaps if someone is a good boy, we will leave the parks a day early and visit the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis! Hopefully that day goes well and we can find a site or a more affordable hotel once we are out there. Do you think I should delve more into making a vacation planning service. My family sure could use an additional source of income. I am not sure if or how this idea would work yet but let me know if you think it is a good idea or not. I am thinking of sharing our plans for this trip in another blog. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! The Tufted Titmouse is one of my favorite birds (Can't have just one)! I love it's soft grayish blue plumage and dark blue eyes. Or at least I think they are blue. The Tufted Titmouse also seems to have a sense of justice as can be seen in the slide show above. At first not knowing the background of the story one could say the Tufted Titmouse is mean! That Dark Eyed Junco had been feeding for ten minutes straight and not letting any other bird get a bite to eat. I guess the Tufted Titmouse had enough of this guy hogging all the food. It flew up to grab a bite only to be scolded and instead of meekly backing away the Tufted Titmouse grabbed that food piggy and tossed it out of the feeder! The Tufted Titmouse then grabbed a mouthful and flew off to its branch allowing other birds like its partner, chickadees and finches to feed too! It wasn't until I looked at these amazing photos that I realized exactly what had happened, due to the shutter going off like lightning. To capture such a moment felt amazing to an amateur like me. I rarely capture actual interaction! Although I had previously caught a short spat between the two. I am not sure what was going on then other than maybe they did not want to share the same branch. This delicate bird is a delight to watch and quite a challenge catch in flight. I think we have four of them that come to feed. It is rare to see them around the spruce tree at once but on occasion I have seen them. Most of the birds will fly back and forth from the nearby woods to the spruce tree where we hang the food. It can be interesting to watch the birds and even more so if you can catch their interactions. Hope you enjoy the photos. -Julie
When folks talk about the birds who visit their feeder it is usually the flashy Northern Cardinal they most look forward to seeing. There is also a ton of merchandise out there covered in Cardinal photos, painting or shaped ornaments. Why? Because people love Cardinals. Some people even believe that when a Cardinal graces them with their presence that it is actually a deceased friend or family member coming for a visit. While I don't believe that is true, it is a nice sentiment. From my observations we have two pairs of Northern Cardinals. One pair lives somewhere across the street and the other somewhere in the woods around the pond behind our apartment complex. The males fight each other and don't come to the feeder unless they are sure that other is no where near. I have yet to get a photo of a pair of Cardinals together. During the summer months they prefer to stay up higher in the trees, just out of reach or hidden in the woods. The female likes to play coy, anytime the male comes close she flies off about ten feet ahead of him. While on rare a occasion I do see them both feeding on the ground she makes sure there is a respectable distance between them. I'm sure that will change in the spring but for now old red is just going to have to keep trying. After all persistence pays off right? , While the Northern Cardinals do not seem to mind coming to the dinner table with assorted guests, they do approach timidly. They don't seem to mind the flock of White Throated Sparrows around them. However, not all species are as welcoming of their presence. I once witnessed a Red Bellied Woodpecker give the male Cardinal a warning with his facial sword. stay on guard! He just stepped back a couple of steps and allowed the Red Bellied Woodpecker his space. I find some of these photos with the White Throated sparrows funny because it almost looks as if they are snuggling the Cardinals. They were just feeding side by side though. In addition to my son's bird feeder I also take and slather two spruce cones in peanut butter and roll them in bird seed. I use pipe cleaners to hang them in the tree. I also try keep the birds guessing where they are by putting them in slightly different places. Usually one they can just sit on branch for easy access and the other they have to work for. At first the Cardinals paid no attention and were content with what other birds spill on the ground, but lately I have caught the male Cardinal trying to get some of that sweet peanut butter, which is what he is trying to get to in the photo above. Yesterday, I saw the male try to hover and get at the one just hanging. I didn't get a shot as he was on the opposite side of the cone. I nearly died laughing at his unexpected lack of grace and prowess. I wish I had some in flight photos for you but the few I have managed to make did not turn out sadly. I often find I am too slow on the draw and miss. However, I will try, try and try again! After all persistence pays off, right?
I saw some beautiful photos of Snowy Owls in some groups on Facebook and naturally wanted to see and photograph them myself. Wisely, no one wanted to give out exact locations to protect the bird which was in the next county over. Knowing some about the area and the preferred environment of the Snowy Owl I made a couple of guesses (One correct) and researched Snowy Owl sightings. To protect this magnificent creature I too will not divulge the location. I told my husband about the photos I had seen and then asked if we could go for a drive to try to find one. I suggested the location closest to us. Finally he agreed but figured it would be just a wild goose chase. He was wrong it was a snowy owl quest and very successful! We drove out to the location I thought we would find a Snowy Owl and saw a group of photographers lining the roadway. A Snowy Owl Jam. We pulled over but couldn't see it and then drove around the block only to come back to the same area. My husband and son stayed in the car while I put my mask on grabbed the camera and headed over to the group. They were aiming up at something but I couldn't discern so I asked a lady where the snowy Owl was after surveying the trees and fence posts. She looked and sounded astonished and said it's right there pointing at the nearest telephone pole. Jackpot! However, boy did I feel dumb! Turns out it is a waste of time to check the trees, they only use posts, rocks, and hay bails. I had been looking at the fence posts but I guess I had to look higher. I took a few shots then told my husband and got our son out of the car to show him the Snowy Owl. While our son enjoyed seeing the Snowy Owl he did not have the same enthusiasm as I did. We stood out in the cold for a very long time, staring at, photographing the female Snowy Owl on the pole while she rested, preened and looked around at her adoring paparazzi. She did not seem stressed but maybe was curious as I don't think she'd encounter so many folks in the Artic Tundra where she most likely summers. How do I know the bird is female? Female Snowy Owls are larger than the males and have more colored bars on their plumage. Males are smaller and whiter. From the bits of conversation I overheard this female was one of a pair and have been in the area in years past. The lady I spoke briefly to had been coming for weeks and was very knowledgeable. I wondered if perhaps she was a wildlife biologist but I didn't ask. She had been observing the owl since 8 a.m., talk about being hard core to spend that much time in such cold conditions! I had thought we would stay mostly in the car so we weren't dressed to stay out long. At one point I took our son to go warm up in the car. We had to park too far away to be able to stay in the car. We got out after a while and tried to observe her again. This time he was really bored and decided to play in the snow with only sneakers despite being told not to multiple times. Yes, he paid for it , did he learn his lesson. Probably not, but next time I will be sure to pack extra socks, snow pants and wear his boots even if we plan to stay in the car because plans don't always go the way we want. Thank-you Christopher Metott for indulging my adventurous side!
After the experiences of 2020 I have not dared to make any travel plans. Covid is scary and so is our political and financial landscapes. With the changing of the regime and spreading terror staying put until we know what the heck is going on is probably the best choice, not that I like it. Who knows maybe we will do something spur of the moment. My husband has been looking into trying to get us more financially sound. I just want out this apartment and into a place all our own! Yet there is this constant feeling or need to get out of here travel explore. How can we balance the two? As most of people I am feeling the stress and in general feel rather lost. Each day I get up cherish morning snuggles with my son, make breakfast and begin the school day. I scroll through Facebook out of boredom. For exercise I pace back and forth the few feet of open space in our apartment. The cold of winter keeps us inside much of the time as does our neighbors German Shepherd (one of the reasons I want out of here). Weekends have been mostly spent home or for grocery runs. My only real escape and joy lately has been a Christmas gift for my son..... .a bird feeder! He painted it and I set up in a spruce tree in front of our sliding glass door. I get much joy observing and photographing the birds! It breaks up my dreary day. It also can be used for science class! Chickadees are the first to come, then Black eyed Juncos, White Throated Sparrows, Tufted Titmice, House or Purple finches, a Gold Finch, Cardinals, a Blue Jay, Downy woodpeckers, and a Red Bellied Woodpecker come to visit daily! Maybe I will blog some of my observations of each species. Hopefully we can get out more in February but January has been all about birds and trying to get the best photos possible of them. Yes, I am always obsessed with getting a better shot, tuning my skills and trying different approaches to possibly make a better photo.
I have heard rumors of Snowy owls not too far away, I wonder if I can con my husband into a drive/ search! Well, a few years ago we drove by a smaller mountain that intrigued me with its stone face looming over a vast swampy area. I took a quick photo in dying light and we drove away. It didn't come close to showing the mountain's beauty in that moment. I discovered its name and did some research. It sounded completely doable at only 2 miles of hiking as described by the DEC. The DEC mileage is crap don't believe it, they are always off by half a mile or more. Perhaps that is where the term Adirondack mile came from because it is a lot longer than a normal one. My fit bit showed close to 7 miles round trip. It was a long hike but the terrain was sweet!
Nothing says I love you like freezing on a mountain top photographing a sunset! Yup, perhaps we are a really odd couple. Although I did pack blankets up that mountain we didn't snuggle or even talk that much, we were each too busy trying to soak the beauty into our cameras. We left our child with my parents for the night and drove a couple of more hours, to have lunch/ dinner at the Adirondack Hotel in Long Lake and off to our destination. Although already popular I won't name the mountain. For once we arrived in plenty of time to reach the top and scope out potential compositions. We had a 360 degree view that was amazing, so I knew sunset or sunrise would be fantastic given the right weather conditions. Then sunset right between Horseshoe and Tupper Lakes. While the sunset was beautiful the afterglow was even better! Hovering just above the afterglow and Horseshoe Lake was a crescent moon! The already cold temperatures began to plummet with the sun down. The sky was clear and stars were coming out. I yearned to photograph them from the summit but it was too cold and we still had to hike down the mountain and find a place to camp. We quickly put our winter jackets on, packed away the photo gear and turned on our headlamp and Luci light. To my surprise my husband stuck with me and chatted most of the hike down. Usually he just disappears ahead of me, but I guess he decided to be nice since it was pitch black under the trees. It was quite enjoyable! Now it was time to find a campsite, I was apprehensive as we had struggled finding sites most of the year. Horseshoe Lake was closest to us, even though we usually get skunked trying to get a site there I figured maybe we could just park in one not lakeside and sleep in the back of the car. Well, the heavens were on our side for sure! We grabbed the first site we saw, and it was lakeside! Can we say happy dance! My husband built us nice fire to warm ourselves with while I arranged the back of the car for our first night SUV RVing. Yes I got the idea from a You Tube channel by the same name. I used our kettle to heat water over the fire and made hot tea for him and hot cocoa for me. We had some cheese and crackers too. I kept hearing this noise and saw flashes of something white. Next thing I knew I was looking at the cutest mouse and friends coming up to the fire and then darting off. I told them they were welcome to warm themselves by the fire but to stay out of the car. Ugh, just like my child such disobedient little rascals! Anyways my husband and I took turns photographing stars over the lake and warming by the fire for a bit. Then we sat together for a while enjoying the crackling flames and the loons yodeling back and forth. Oh, it was an evening I had desperately been needing! Once the fire was out we went to climb into the car. Our little brown and white "friend " greeted us waiting on the rear tire. I grabbed my phone to take a photo, poof it vanished! We warmed the car and snuggled down into the sleeping bag. It wasn't long before I painfully discovered my mistake. At 2 am the rascals were playing loudly somewhere under us. Since my husband was awake I told him that we needed to flip the sleeping bag so that my stomach acids would stay down. Nothing like sleeping on your head. Since temperatures were around freezing we tried to do it without opening the car. We struggled but did it and the pain vanished. The mice quieted for a little while before racing end to end somewhere in the car. Apparently on top of it too since there were tracks all over the top of it too in the morning! The next morning marked twelve years since we said I do! While colder that morning, it was equally beautiful as the day we were married. We walked out to find fog rising and the clouded sky reflected on the lake. We took photographs of course. It would have been beautiful to paddle then but we opted for the very first time in camping history to have a morning fire and a warm beverage. Chris built the fire while I folded up and put away our sleeping gear. Then we warmed ourselves while the water boiled. Again we had super cute company that someone had obviously fed previously. It wasn't the mice this time but a chipmunk. He was very interested in our stainless steel mugs sitting on the rock awaiting hot water. At first he seemed interested in my husbands tea. I shouted, "hey," at him and he ran off. A minute later the chipmunk was back, climbed on top of my mug sniffing intently at it. I was wishing I had the camera out and or that my phone was charged but alas not so. Then the cutie decided to start gnawing my cover! Nope that was it, I don't share hot cocoa with rodents I clapped my hands shouted again. He made a couple more attempts and then just watched us from a distance before returning to the woods. In just a bit we had our beverages, put the fire out and drove to the the boat launch area. We paddled the whole lake enjoying the ever changing and colorful mountain scenery! On our way out we discovered another waterway to explore and oh is it ever popular! Cars lined both sides of the road. We just investigated on foot real quick. Then we stopped and used a picnic table near the bog river to have some turkey sandwiches for lunch. After that we set out on the long drive to pick-up our son and another two hour drive to get back to the apartment. Although we did make a really quick stop at Pixley Falls State Park on the way home since it was the spot where we got married twelve years ago. Hopefully we will have many more adventures ahead of us! We are not where we would like to be for sure but at least we have each other! God bless and hope you enjoyed our little adventure!
Well, this year has not gone according to plan at all! I bet everyone can say that too! Our Utah trip planned for April was canceled due to Covid 19. No we didn't get sick just avoiding it. I am not sure if or when we may go. The riots were a bit frightening too and we would have been passing too close to those cities for comfort. Right now we are trying to figure out how to move from this one bedroom apartment to a real home of our own. Inflation and bidding wars are not helping us! We are waiting on estimates for groundwork to see if building is even a possibility. While working to clear the land to try figuring things out my son and I wound up tangling with poison Ivy. Guess who is no longer immune to it! ( Don't scratch, don't scratch......ugh I scratched!) So what have I been up to? A lot of backyard photography! There is a pond and a swamp behind the apartment building so I have been shooting whatever wildlife I can find be it chipmunk, squirrel, rabbit , bird or even a snapping turtle. We did do some small section hikes along the North Country Trail from Canastota, NY to almost DeRuyter Reservoir. We did camp in the Adirondacks three or four times but unfortunately most of our time was wasted in trying to find a campsite. Word has gotten out on some of our "go to" spots and with most things closed we have been displaced from what we love. I am hoping and praying 2021 goes better, so I have designed a few calendars to sell! I have opened up a boutique for Naturally Adrift Photo! There is a link to the boutique at the top between the blog and the galleries. Sorting through my archives, walking down memory lane has been making me wish to be able to get back out to mountains, catch more sunrises and sunsets, try to improve my skills as a photographer even more. With the boutique I do plan to add more merchandise in the coming months like more mugs, bags, posters, notebooks, and tee shirts. I have a few ideas sloshing around in my brain. I need to look around for some free photo software as we updated our computers last year to Windows 10 and our copy of Photo Shop is so old it is no longer compatible. I can't do some of the photo edits I have in mind with my camera's software, hence the delay. I do hope to have more merchandise available as the Christmas holiday approaches. Another dilemma I have is marketing. I need to figure out how to get the word out and develop interest in the wares I have for sale. Sure there is Facebook and Instagram but with less than 100 followers I am sure they would get tired of the constant bombardment too. How do I extend my reach? All things I need to research. I guess I should have studied art and marketing in college instead of biology! Part of me wants to jump up and down and scream "pick me, pick me!" but that just isn't me. I secretly wish to be picked but find it is difficult to step out and yell it! I sure would love for Naturally Adrift Photo Boutique to fly! It would mean a great deal to my family! Yet I can't help but to feel like a fish out of water (just like in gym class). So if you don't already follow or like Naturally Adrift Photo on Facebook please do so to see even more photography and weekly updates or to find out when a new creation hits the web! If you have read this far Thank-you and please remember us when shopping for gifts or making your wish list!
Well, we're going big this year! Traveling over two thousand miles to finally complete a trip I started to plan way back in 2013. However, shortly after gathering and sifting through information, I discovered at the time of the trip I would be nearly eight months pregnant. Well, that little miracle will be almost six years old at the time of this trip. If you've liked our page on Facebook then you already know we are heading to Utah! So did I call my favorite travel agent? Of course not! I hopped on the computer and found the nearest airports and googled flights and looked up the number for Amtrak and asked how much round trip fare for three would cost. Well, flying was going to be over a thousand dollars for all of us to go. Back in October the price was $970 to travel by train from Syracuse, NY to Grand Junction, CO round trip and was told the longer I wait to book the more the price inflates. Either way we would have to rent a SUV when we got there, adding another $700 to $800 to the cost. Well, guess what folks hubby is driving us out in our own car. Then I researched some of the old brochures and decided to order new ones because a lot can happen in six years! I do get tired of staring a computer screens so sometimes those paper booklets of information are awesome to have. To get this information I searched for Utah Vacation guides. You can do this easily, find the button for brochures and often you can download a pdf of info or simply request the information and provide them with your address. It is free of charge. If you are a member of AAA you can also request guide booklets for the whatever region you plan to go to! Then I explored the National parks websites for a variety of information. How much does it cost to get into a park? Thanks to Mom and Dad it will cost us nothing, as we will soon have an Annual National Park Pass which will get us into any National Park, or National land. It retails for $80. Entry fees into all of the Parks we want to visit would cost more than $80. So your next question might be which parks do you plan on visiting? In order of current plan (I may change my mind) is Dinosaur National Monument, Cedar Breaks National Monument (maybe), Zion, Bryce, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley State Park, Arches and Canyon lands National Park. I hope to camp at the two state parks. I have made reservations for two nights in Zion National Park. Arches National Park's campground booked in less than 24 hours! We are going to "wing it" most nights. I have downloaded the app for www.Campendium.com on my phone to help find a campsite if we get into a bind. I have made notes of some BLM land camping opportunities in and around the National Parks. We plan to go in late April. Nights should be in the low forties and days should be warm but not like triple digits. Unfortunately timing to be warm enough to camp also means it will be warm enough for the dreaded Rattle Snakes to be out. I encourage you to pray that we have zero encounters! We may stay in a hotel if the weather is to be bad or if a real bed is badly needed but camping is the cheaper option. We do not have scorpions here in the north either but I do intend to treat the tent and ground cloth with Permethrin in hope that it works in much the same way on scorpions as it does ticks. I made a list of hikes that we could possibly do by visiting each park's website. So anything listed easy to moderate and under 6 miles round trip is fair game. The length and number of trails we do will of course depend on how we fee,l especially our son. I could order a book or two on hiking trails in Southern Utah, however our time is extremely limited so I will just use the parks resources, this go around. I am trying to whip myself into shape and I have been encouraging my son to get up and move about with me. Hopefully spring comes early and we can try to do local evening hikes before the trip so he can get used to hiking everyday rather than just weekend warrior stuff. That has proved to be a problem in the past. Another invaluable resource has been YouTube! Thanks to those hikers who have been there I am now looking forward to a big slice of pie during our visit to Capital Reef. To be honest there is so much to see and do it is overwhelming. To take a break from hiking I looked into going on a jeep tour but you have to be at least seven to eight years old to do that, or most anything else. Well, I guess it just means we get to save our money. It would be fun to Kayak the calm parts of the Colorado River, but again to rent or go on a tour someone didn't meet the age requirement. We could take our own boats but our racks need to be replaced and it would make a big difference in the fuel mileage getting out there too! Recently I dugout the suit cases. When we went to Glacier National Park in 2013 via train I packed all of our camping gear in one big suitcase. Well, our gear has gotten bigger since then so I wanted to figure out just what I could fit in a suit case to try to keep the car neater. The tent, pillows, air mattresses, and our sons sleeping bag fit in it easily with room to spare. Since we are car camping and don't have to worry about Grizzly Bears, I may pack our cook stove, pots and pans in it too. I will want the double zero degree sleeping but that is too huge to fit in the suitcase. I told my husband that if he wanted to take the smaller mummy bags he would have to let me buy a new sleeping that would fit my hips so I can have some wiggle room and be able to sleep (I hate mummy bags)! I am also trying to figure out the best way to pack and carry our camera gear in our 50 Liter packs for backpacking/ day hiking. We will need to be able to carry a lot of water. We used bladders on our trip to Glacier but the last time we used them the water tasted of plastic. I plan to pack our water bottles but may look into how to clean or get different bladders as water is more readily available that way. Oh and make sure everything in the First Aid kit is up to date! Another thing I need to plan is laundry and where I may find laundry facilities. Kodachrome Basin State Park does have laundry and showers. I will also need to do wash the last night of camping because I really don't want to smell our dirty clothes the 30 plus hour drive home! I am sure Moab, Utah must have a laundromat. We did not get out a lot last year but hopefully we will have better weather this year and take advantage of all the sunny weekends. I know I have been pretty quiet on here lately. I don't like the cold either so we've spent most of our winter either home or visiting family! Hopefully I will have lots of new photos and adventures for you in the coming months! Take care! Summer where did it go? If it wasn't raining, the heat made it to uncomfortable to be outside this year in New York. Our camping trips were few. We did get out to do a few short day hikes but they were fairly unremarkable. We tried to find and buy a home which yet again wound up in huge failure. Prices and taxes here in New York are awful! Still stuck in a small apartment and going crazy with wanderlust we decided to go do something in the Adirondacks. My husband loves to go kayaking which has been limited in the past few years due to our son's refusal to go or be out in a boat for any length of time but now he is showing some interest. So where to go, what to do because the Adirondacks are vast? I remembered my husband telling me about a friend who had told him how great Lake Henderson was up in the high peaks. So I suggested we give that a try. Oh, what an adventure it was! We used the portage carts for the second time ever. My boat came off twice leaving my husband in quite a tirade of cussing, but eventually we figured it out. The lake was beautiful and surrounded by mountains. It was not flat calm but nor was it overly rough. Our son wanted to ride with Daddy but there wasn't enough room for him, so he rode with me. My cockpit is is larger but I don't know what we will do next year if he grows much more. I let him have the paddle to try. He can't paddle straight but he can make the boat move. Once my husband was on the lake I made our son surrender the paddle and headed out out further down the lake. We exited the cove and the water was a little rougher. It appeared that the lake had several coves so I turned to the right to explore. Oh my, the further I paddled the rougher it got. I wanted to turn around but was too scared to try for fear of the waves rolling us over if I got sideways. The water was breaking over the bow and my son was laughing about getting a little wet. I had wanted him to keep dry since he'd had not quite gotten over a cold. The lake was deceptive. When the wind calmed I took a few photos and turned around. My husband was having a blast. The waves kept raising us up and down and trying to spin us around. "Mama I'm getting wet." The wind had picked up and although we were heading in the same direction I still had to dig and paddle for all I was worth. An osprey flew above us and I did manage to spot a loon! My 400mm lens was in the kayak with us but I did not dare stop paddling to attempt any photo besides nothing would have turned out with the waves tossing us about. Eventually I managed to get back to the start of that "arm." There was a small protected area formed by some rocks jutting out into the lake my husband and I paddled in and wedged ourselves between the rocks to get a rest. It was a pretty spot and I took a few shots. The photos looked amazing on the back of the camera but once uploaded I was not impressed, but here they are. Once recovered we paddled straight across. My arm and hips were killing me. Our son wanted out of the boat. I spied a very small beach on the other side and landed. . My husband paddled up behind us but stayed in his kayak. Our son explored a little then threw rocks and sticks into the water while I did some yoga and stretches up on a smooth flat rock. Feeling better I agreed to continue paddling further down the longer stretch of the lake. It did not take long for me to realize my mistake. The patch of water where all of the arms come together was rising a foot over the boat. I dug hard and once across it was not much easier going. I stuck closer to shore and found a slightly calmer spot to rest. I took a few photos and waited to get my husband's attention to let him know we had had enough. The paddle back was scary. My son got soaked. I prayed out loud. Crossing back over that midway way junction where all the arms come together took everything I had. There was no stopping it was constant dig. I looked around at one point praying my husband was still upright. Praise God he was! Then I finally broke into the calm cove/ arm that we had started in. I let my son have the paddle and did some photography and even threw on the big lens to play with one of the mountains peaking under a cloud. I have no idea which one it is. It was a hard paddle. I don't like rough water. My husband was amazed I stayed out for as long as I did and was thankful! He had a blast! My son although scared at times had fun too! I think his favorite part was riding in Daddy's boat while on the portage wheels back to the car. He had gotten completely drenched so I immediately changed to into dry clothes when we got back to the car.
Lake Henderson is beautiful and I would love to return (on a much calmer day)! Below is my favorite photo of the day! We weren't able to go camping last weekend so I tried to think of some place local to park and photograph the stars. The yard at the apartment complex has way too much light pollution. It also had to be a place where we could keep near the car as our child would be with us and most likely sleeping. I opted to give the fishing pier at Labrador Hollow Unique area a try. It did not disappoint. The sky was beautiful and fairly clear. I grabbed a lantern to illuminate the fishing pier slightly, but as you can see in the photo even on the lowest setting, it was overkill! I put the lamp away and focused more on the tree reflections and stars. Fireflies flickered, bull frogs croaked deeply and tree frogs trilled. Looking up toward the boardwalk there was more light and a few illuminated clouds. Initially the clouds in the photos looked yellowish but I changed the white balance to temperature and decreased it to 3200 k to whiten the clouds and give the sky a more blue tone. The big dipper shown above us. I tried to capture but I think a portion of the handle got missed. Click on the images to see them larger. The hillside across from us was very dark as it was looking down the pond. There was a small spot of illuminated cloud in one corner just peeking over one of the hills. None of my images are stacked as I have yet to download a program to do that. Stacking is said to help get rid of noise in a photo. I shoot with a crop sensor so there is a bit more noise than you would find with a full frame camera. My camera settings were ISO 1250, f 2.8 with shutter speeds varying 8 to 10 seconds. In the last photo I love the tree curling around the stars like a giant wave. Later I may be able to try to stack it and eliminate noise as I did take multiple shots. I hope you found this blog informative and enjoyable. Our adventure ended at one in the morning as our beds were calling all of us, although it was hard to tear ourselves away from such a peaceful and beautiful spot. Be sure to check back for more adventures in nature photography and get outside for a few of your own! |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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