Bison in the Sagebrush

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/1600s, ISO: 1600

We saw this guy off by himself traveling North toward Mammoth Hot Springs on the West side of the Grand Loop in Yellowstone.  We had him/her all to ourselves for a little while.  We stayed on the opposite side of the road.  This photo was taken completely zoomed in to 400mm and is roughly fifty percent cropped.  I point this out because we were careful to keep our distance.  The people that pulled in front of us and got out of their car within twenty feet of this large animal were not nearly so cautious or respectful.  This is one of my great frustrations with the national parks.  The parks are great but people with their cell phones often spoil what could be amazing experiences with a little more care about their surroundings.

American Bison

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 6400, f/5.6, 1/1600s

The high ISO on this shot from a month ago meant for a bit of fuzziness and drab colors, but fiddling around with it in DxO OpticsPro in black and white I found I could draw out the texture of the fur nicely.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 186, image #9264.

American Badger

American Badger -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO: 2000

I never thought I'd see a badger in the wild.  It happened a couple of weeks ago in Yellowstone.  Pretty cool.

Rolling in the Grass

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

We saw this guy lying in the grass on our way up to Mammoth Hot Springs.  We stopped for a few pictures from the other side of the road.  He was pretty cool to us.

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

Gibbon Falls

Gibbon Falls -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

If I'd never been to Yosemite I might think Yellowstone has the most amazing waterfalls of any National Park in America.  I've been to Yosemite, though.

To be honest, although Silver Falls State Park in Oregon doesn't have any single waterfall over two hundred feet tall, I might take that park over either in terms of drama and mood.  Tough call, given Yosemite's waterfalls are probably a bit more dramatic if a little less moody.

Anyway, Yellowstone's waterfalls are wonderful.  I think the main drawback is that it's tough to close close to most of them.  This is the best view you'll find of Gibbon Falls, and it's obviously taken from some distance away.  Pretty awesome waterfall, if you ask me.

How Close Is Too Close?

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

This, folks, is too close.

I shot this from across the road.  These tourists were as close as they look, maybe ten feet away from this elk.  I'm always amazed at the patience of these beautiful creatures.  I was frustrated with these people but not enough to chastise them.  I'm not a ranger, just a fellow tourist, after all.

This reminds me of another encounter with some even bigger elk in Redwood National Park.

Roosevelt Elk -- Redwood National Park, CA

Firehole River

Firehole River -- Yellowstone National Park, WY

I'm pretty sure this is the Firehole River.  I've been uncertain about that with other pictures in the pat and I turned out to be right so I'm just sticking with it here, too.  This is a little-above-average roadside view in Yellowstone.  The steam in the upper left is coming from Grand Prismatic Spring and Excelsior Geyser. 

Lewis Falls

Lewis Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Coming into Yellowstone from the South, Lewis Falls is tough to miss.  It's a stunning little section of Yellowstone National Park where the Lewis River meanders alongside the highway.  I've seen buffalo in this area.  On this particular day, fly fishing seemed to be the rage.

Lewis River, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon PowerShot SD770 IS

It was raining cats and dogs when we hit Mammoth Hot Springs last July.  I would have liked to have been able to spend a little more time to get some good shots, but as it was I couldn't even take the big camera out of its bag.

Beaver Dam

American Beaver -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5, 1/1000s, ISO: 1250

This beaver dam can be easily spotted from the road leading into Yellowstone National Park from the South.  We stopped for some photos of the dam and the beavers' lodge to the left of this photo.  We never spotted a beaver, though, at least not until I got home and found one in this picture.  It's a little tough to make him/her out to the left of the dam with a branch in mouth.

Sunset Lake

Sunset Lake, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, f/10, 1/100s, ISO: 100

Black Sand Basin is a nice stop on the Southern Loop in Yellowstone National Park.  It has a handful of pretty pools with the Firehole River running right through it.

Return to Firehole River

Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, ISO: 100, f/10, 1/100s

Black Sand Basin is a nice stop between Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring on Yellowstone's Southern loop.  It has some volcanic pools and a geyser or two and the Firehole River runs through it.
I need to learn to fly fish.  This type of river is what fly fishing is all about.  One of the problems I have with travelling is that I don't stop in one place for long.  I'm always moving on to the next thing.

That might become a thing, fishing.  We'll see.  I also want to do more river kayaking and buy a small travel trailer.  My list is getting longer.

Old Faithful

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, ISO: 100, f/10, 1/200s

According to Wikipedia, US military personnel stationed in Yellowstone used Old Faithful as a laundry service.  Soldiers in the late nineteenth century would stuff their dirty laundry into the opening of the geyser then wait for it to erupt.  When it did, the their clothes would be launched into the air while receiving a nice steam cleaning.

I'm not quite sure I believe that, but it's certainly entertaining to imagine that scene, especially when one suspects soldiers of the day probably didn't have a lot of extra underwear at their disposal.

I took this shot in July.  Old Faithful is beginning to build up to an eruption.

Photo inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 143, image #7080.

Oh, what the hell, I can't show the geyser thinking about blowing its top without actually showing the eruption, can I?

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, ISO: 100, f/5.6, 1/640s

Mama & Her Cubs

Grizzly Bear -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/6.3, 1/50s, ISO:640

One of the highlights of this summer's road trip was seeing this grizzly bear and her two cubs feasting on this bison carcass.  We saw five bears on this trip.  The other two were black bears in Grand Teton National Park.

There's potentially a sad story that goes along with this photo.  A couple of weeks after this photo was taken a hiker was killed by a grizzly with two cubs.  She was put down and her cubs sent away to zoos.  She was put down because it wasn't a defensive killing, she hunted the hiker down for food.  The killing happened only a few miles from where I took this picture.

An estimated seven hundred grizzly bears live in Yellowstone.  Out of those seven hundred, how many are mothers with two cubs?  Within that subset, how many were known to frequent that area?  I'm guessing the odds are pretty good that this was the same bear involved with killing of the hiker.  It breaks my heart to think that.

We know we're entering their world when we venture out into a national park like Yellowstone.  How respectful of that environment are we being?  There was a large ranger-managed crowd at this feeding scene we saw.  These bears had been working on the carcass for four days.  They were probably pretty used to the crowds by the end of those four days.  Mama might have even gotten it into her head that one of us might taste good during those four days.  We try to be respectful but whether we like it or not we will have an impact on the lives of the animals we encounter even from a distance.  Something to think about, for me anyway.

Image inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 131, photo #8680.

Dance of the Rocky Mountain Elk

Rocky Mountain Elk -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon PowerShot SD770 IS

This is from a series of photos I took of elk on a ridge as we were exiting Yellowstone one evening this summer.  We counted five young elk on the ridge.  They look calm in this photo but they were anything but that.  They were frolicking in the fading light with this lone mother elk in view.  It was a magical end to what had been an amazing day of sightseeing in this oldest of national parks.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun, image #4305.

American Bison

American Bison -- Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Saw this guy alone in a meadow a couple of weeks ago.  The scene was someplace between lonely and peaceful.

Firehole River

Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon PowerShot SD770 IS

OK, I think this is the Firehole River.  There is actually a Firehole River, isn't there?  Pretty sure.  If not, it ought to be called Firehole River, it's a great name.

Top of Lower Yellowstone Falls

Lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon PowerShot SD770 HS

There's a short trail that descends 900 feet to the top of Lower Yellowstone Falls.  It's not too tough going down but it's steep and tiring going up.  It's a trail that shouldn't be missed, though.  An astonishing view of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone awaits the intrepid as well as the unmatched sight of the clear waters of the Yellowstone River roaring over the falls.  The water is clear and mesmerizing to watch as it rolls over the rocks near the edge.  I tried to capture it in photos but it's something one needs to see in person to appreciate.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, WY
Canon PowerShot SD770 IS

Love this place.  Looking forward to going back in a month or so.  Bring on the next road trip!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone -- Yellowstone National Park, CA
Canon PowerShot SD770 IS, 1/250s, f/8.0, ISO: 80

I've been using this as the background for this blog, but it's never fully visible so I thought I'd post it as today's photo.  This is one of the pictures that got me into digital photography.

They say even cheap cameras are capable of nice photos and I think this picture bears that out.  It's one of my favorite shots and I got it with one of those little PowerShot cameras that easily fit into a pants' pocket.  Now, there's a reason people spend thousands of dollars on camera equipment, so there's a certain level of bullshit to the idea that  it's all about the person behind the camera rather than the camera itself, but yeah, cheap cameras can take very nice pictures.