Yellowstone National Park (June 9 2007)

On Saturday morning, I woke up with the Sun and headed to the restaurant at Grant Village. I had a good hearty breakfast and headed towards West Thumb Geyser Basin. There was only one other car there when I arrived - a family with two young boys. As I walked the path aroun the thermal areas, I heard a weird (and kind of scary noise). I thought the boys were goofing around. Then I saw the family come running towards me.

I asked them what the noise was. They said they didn't know and they didn't want to find out! They ran to their car and drove off. I was all alone. I contemplated running to my car too, but decided to stick around.

I heard the noise again, and realized that it was this female elk.

And she was calling her baby.

I stood quiety for a while watching them, until they got a little too close for my comfort. Then I continued my walk around the thermal areas.

After leaving West Thumb, I made a quick stop at Keplar Cascades.
And then I made my way to the park highlight, Old Faithful.
It was about an hour before Old Faithful was scheduled to blow, so I walked the upper trail to see other geysers and thermal features.





Finally it was time to see Old Faithful.
It was fairly windy, making it difficult to clearly see the water spout.
After leaving Old Faithful, I pretty much had my share of geysers and thermal areas. I skipped Upper Geyser Basin, and just took a few pictures of Midway Geyser Basin.

I decided to take the Firehole Creek one-way road.

There were a couple more geysers here.
After passing the Great Fountain Geyser, the road elevation changed, and became a narrow path above a deep canyon.

Looking into the canyon, I spotted this mother and baby elk on a little grass isthmus in the middle of the river.

Near the end of the drive was Firehole Falls.
Once I was back on the main road, I spotted some bison next to Nez Perce Creek.
I wanted to take the trail to get closer to them, but there was a big warning sign saying the trail was closed because of recent bear activity. Hopefully I will get to see bison closer up at some point.

Yellowstone (part 2)

Just past Madison, I made a quick stop at Gibbon Falls.

About two miles past the falls, I saw a male Elk in a clearing.

I found a safe place to park and walked back to take a picture.

It was already noon when I reached the junction to take the upper loop. I decided that I was enjoying my slow pace, and to just see the lower loop during this trip. I made the turn to the lower look, and almost immediately was surrounded by bison in the road. I couldn't get a good picture though.

A bit further along, I pulled off onto the Virginia Cascade Road. There was a nice picnic area, and a herd a bison were grazing right behind it.




After taking a quick picture of Virginia Cascade, I headed to Canyon Village for some lunch. After lunch, I drove to several of the overlooks for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The lighting was really weird. This picture almost looks like a painting, rather than a photo.
From the canyon, I got this view of the falls.
and a great close-up of a big-horned sheep.
By late afternoon, I was at Fishing Bridge. There were lots of white pelicans in this area.
I drove east of Fishing Bridge, and saw a group of people clustered near Mary Bay. I got out and saw this fox.
While they were still taking pictures, I continued towards Sedge Bay. I actually pulled over to turn around, but saw this coyote only a few feet from the road.


I made a stop at Yellowstone Lake as the sun was starting to go down. I didn't want to drive in the dark, so I headed back to Grant Village. I arrived just as the last bit of light left the sky. After a quick dinner, it was back to my room for sleep.

I woke up early the next morning, and headed south out of the park back to Jackson.

On the way I spotted this deer.

I make a quick stop at Lewis Falls.

And saw this marmot (and a bunch of his quicker friends) near Moose Falls. I then left Yellowstone and headed back to the Grand Tetons.

Grand Teton National Park (June 10)

Since it was only about 8 am when I entered the northern boundary of the Tetons, I had 6 hours before I needed to be at the Jackson airport for my flight. It was a beautiful day out, and right away spotted a colony of prarie dogs.
Wild flowers

Jackson Lake
Leeks Marina near Colter Bay
By Willow Flats, I saw a bunch of cars pulled over along the road. I stopped and got out and looked. There was a big group of grizzley bears!

I watched the bears for about a half hour before they wandered out of view. After most of the cars pulled back on the road, I headed up the road a little ways. I saw a forest service road, that looked like it went the same way the bears went. I pulled onto the road and slowly followed it for about a mile.
I was rewarded with this site of mama bear and her cub.

They walked out of site again. I waited about 10 minutes then continued up the road, to find the cub playing in the wild flowers.

Once back on the main road, I decided to take the outer road through the park.

I stopped at Oxbow Bend to take pictures. I loved the way the trees reflected in this lake.

Look at all the gnats flying around these flowers.
Chipmunk
I loved the reflection of the mountain in the lake.
I found another forest service road, and got off the main road again.
I spotted a beaver's dam.

And reached the top of a hill. When I went to turn around, I saw this brown bear.


wild flowers
Antelope flats was appropriately named.

Last view of the Tetons as I headed back to Jackson.

I stopped at a park with a pond, located on the outskirts of Jackson.


After about an hour, I returned to the airport for my flight home.