Road Trip Day 9

June the 19th was going to be may last full day in the Jackson Hole/Teton National Park area. The next two days after this would just be the long drive home. The weather was supposed to be promising, so I headed out very early to go shoot what are probably the most photographed barns in the world, Mormon Row. This is an area that is now inside the borders of Teton National Park. It consists of a few clusters of old buildings and barns that were built back in the early 1900's by some Mormon families. No one lives there now, and these buildings are on the National Historic Register and are being preserved. It is not unusual to see dozens of photographers there every day at sunrise when the light is soft and the majestic Teton Mountains are just glowing. If you do a google image search on Mormon Row Barn, you page after page of images.

As usual, I was very early and had time to kill before the sun was even going to come up. While I was waiting in the dark, a large Bison heard wandered through forcing me to grab my camera bag and tripod while ducking into this barn so as not to startle them. As the first rays of light started showing, I was disappointed that the mountains were totally socked in with clouds. As the light came up the clouds started breaking up and the show was now on.  The barn above is the one you see the most photographs of in magazines. 

This barn is several hundred yards farther away and you must walk to it. You do not see this one depictied nearly as often. I think it is very unique, and I thought it made a great photograph. Clouds were still a little to thick here though. 

Then I drove south down to another cluster of buildings and found this barn. I was extremely happy with what I was able to capture here. The clouds had cleared off the mountain tops and  settled down at the base of the mountain giving me a really unique look here. The light was soft and golden warm now. I have this one printed in a 24x36 inch canvas gallery wrap. It looks amazing! 

The weather was getting to be near perfect now so I headed back to Jackson to get the others so we could do some more exploring. We headed up to Jenny Lake and toured that area. in the morning.

Unless you scew up the settings on your camera so bad it won't work, it is almost impossible to take a bad photo in this area. The scenery is just awe inspiring.

We headed up the mountain in the gondola car at the Jackson Hole Ski Lodge. The ride is very smooth and scenic. You can really see how steep the mountains are.

This is the view from the top looking East.

A few die hard skiers were still sking on the next peak over where there was still enough snow. They would hike over there and then up to the top and ski down.

I was out driving some country roads and found a field of Blue Sage Brush that also had these clumps of wild flowers growing all over the place. These are called Mules Ears. (No idea how they got that name) But I got down on my stomach and put my wide angle lens right up to the flowers and made them the focal point of the photograph with the Teton Mountains being the distant background. This was another one I got lucky and it turned out vey well. Another 24x36 canvas gallery wrap that looks great! Probably one of my favorite photos of this trip.

I reluctantly had to head home the next day. I ended up driving about 3600 miles in 11 total days. Took  a lot of photos and got a few decent ones. I will be going back somtine in the near future.

  

Road Trip Day 8

On the eighth day of my road trip journey, June 18th, I was leaving West Yellowstone Mt. and again driving south through Yellowstone Park and heading to Teton National Park. I was planning to spend a couple days in Jackson Wyoming nearby so I would be close to the park. We started off in really bad weather. Clouds, fog, and a steady cold rain prevented me from doing any photography or sightseeing. The traffic was heavy, and road construction had started between Yellowstone and Teton parks, so it was a long slow journey.

We had stopped at a rest area to stretch a little since it had stopped raining. As you can see the moutains were clouded in quite a bit and it was a very gray day. This Yellow-headed Blackbird was pretty friendly though and he allowed me to get close enough to get a few quick shots in.  

The drive from Yellowstone NP to Teton NP is pretty spectacular even on a crummy weather day. I could see the weather was starting to break in the afternoon. So we stopped for a late lunch and again waited out the weather. This allowed me to catch a few landscape photos before heading into Jackson.

One reason the Tetons are famous is because of their great elevation above their base. Unlike most mountain ranges, the Tetons lack foothills, or lower peaks which can obscure the view. This is due to the fault zone being at the base of the range on the eastern side, and the range being too young to have had time to erode into soft hills. As such, the Tetons rise sharply, from 5,000 to nearly 7,000 feet above the valley floor.

The town of Jackson is located in the Jackson Hole Valley, not far from Teton National Park. Jackson is a really interesting place to stay. There are numerous art galleries and plent of great shopping. It is not cheap in Jackson. If you are looking for a bargin vacation spot, this is not it. I highly recommend it, but just bring your check book!                                            

Joints like the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar are really fun and the decor is amazing. Did I mention that you need to bring your check book.

A street scene in Jackson before the traffic picked up, At night it is usually bumper to bumper. Had to turn in early for a goond nights sleep. I had planned a very early photo trip in the morning. 

Road Trip Day 7

I thought I would get an early start on my second day of touring Yellowstone N.P. on June 17th. Before I even got in the west entrance gate, I encountered my first wild life traffic jam of the day. A large heard of Bison were right on the edge of the road so everyone was stopping to take photos. I was pretty far back in the traffic jam so I had to just sit and wait it out. I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw this approaching Coyote.

Having my camera sitting next to me with my 70-200mm and a 1.4 extender attached allowed me to easily capture him as he trotted by unfazed by all the traffic and people around. You can see he is in the middle of shedding his heavy winter coat.The richer colors in his summer coat are showing well as he losed that dull winter fur.

As we headed to the southern part of the park you start to encounter the many geo thermal areas of the park. Again the weather was ever changing and frustrating me at times, but I just made the most of the limited chances I had to try and capture some good images.

The thermal pools and geyers are amazing to see and watch.

 

This massive male Bison was resting right by the side of the road. Kinda nice when you do not even have to leave the car to get some amazing closeups. Converted this one to a B&W  and thought it looked better than the color version.

A river of gold!

Old Faithful goes off around every 92 minutes.

After a long day of touring the park, I was heading back when I saw something running arcoss a large open area. At first I thought it was a bear, and then I realized it was an Elk being chased by wolves. So I hit the brakes and jumped out to photograph one of the most dramatic scenes that I have witnessed live and in person. I put on my 400mm f5.6 lens, but they were still pretty far away. I then attached my 1.4 extender to the 400mm lens. This lens does not have image stabilization, and adding the 1.4 extender knocked out the auto focus of the camera. I attached a mono pod and leaned against the car to try and steady myself here while trying to manually focus on the action. The three wolves continued to attack, but the elk would jump into this shallow stream to keep them from attacking his rear. I was able to get about 20 sharp frames total of this scene. This went on for about 20 minutes until the Elk finally decided to take the fight to the wolves. He started aggressivly charging them and had them running from him. They soon decided they did not have enough of them to take down this healthy bull, so they let him trot off.

Road Trip Day 6

Early on June the 16th, we left Cody WY. and headed to Yellowstone National Park. My plan was to enter the park at the east entrance and tour the northern half of the park on this day and stay in West Yellowstone Montana, just outside the west entrance to the park. I had attempted to find some lodging in one of the main park lodges, but you need to make these reservations about a year ahead of time to get the dates you want. The weather on this day was variable to say the least. Cloudy and rainy would give way to some breaks in the clouds and nice light, but it never lasted more than a few minutes at a time. Somewhat frustrating to me as a photographer, but again the moody dark clouds made for some dramatic landscape photos.

This is you first view of Yellowstone Lake as you come in from the east entance.

My goal was to try and get some good wildlfe photos on this trip, but when you are traveling with other people you have to try and make everyone happy so I limited my time when I was trying to get some photos. Unfortunately many of the animals are fed by the tourists and have become shameless beggars. As I pulled up at the side of the road to decide if I wanted to take some photos of the lake, this enormous raven hopped up on the sign right in front of me and gave me a perfect pose. Of course he was eyeing me up for a handout. When I did not offer one and started to get back in my car, He decided he was going to come right in with me.

All the roads in the park are two lanes with not much shoulder or places to pull over except at designated locations. Any wildlife sighting just brings traffic to a halt. People stopped in traffic will abandon their cars to go take photos. So getting through the park can be a very slow and frustrating at times. 

This Grizzly Bear was pretty far across a river alongside the road. I had a 400mm lens and still had to crop into this photo to create this image. Here he was scratching his back on this tree, but you can see all the scarring on the tree from previous bears marking territory. 

This is a shot of the LowerYellowstone Falls. Here the Yellowstone River flows through the Grand Canyon of the Yellwstone, which is up to 1000 feet deep.  There are many hiking trails and scenic overlooks that provide breathtaking views and photo opportunities along this amazing canyon.

It is incredible to see how many of these trees and shrubs cling and grow on the steep rocky embankments. Erosion continually exposes their root systems, and many of the trees appear to have the majority of their root system exposed, but they still survive.

Just an amazing landscape to behold. I could just sit for hours and stare at it's incredible beauty.

I probably would not have spotted this baby Elk on the hillside since it naturally blends in so well, but it was calling loudly for it's mother and I was able to locate it.

Manmoth Hot Springs is a must see area if  are planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Located in the Northwest area of the park, Mammoth is a large hill of travertine that has been created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flows into Mammoth each day in a solution).  Some of the most surreal landscapes you will ever see due to the geo thermal activity that occurs. It was a very long day and I did not get to my hotel in West Yellowstone until after dark. With only a couple days to tour the park, I could not spend nearly enough time at the many locations I stopped at. But I did take many , many photos. Tomorrow will be the southern half of Yellowstone National Park.

Road Trip Day 5

Cody Wyoming has a lot to offer if you are planning a trip out west. Numerous attractions to visit, amazing scenery, and every type of outdoor activity you can wish for. But I had planned to be in Cody on a specific day, June 15th, for the Rodeo! The town of Cody has a rodeo every night during the summer for the tourists, but this night was a special event. It was an all bull and clown competition. Nothing but bull riding, and then rodeo clowns having bulls chase them around while they try to earn style points from the judges. It had been cloudy and rainy all afternoon, and when we got to the rodeo arena is was also now windy and very cold. Like any good photographer I had brought my camera to take some photos. Sitting in the stands gave you a good view, but I was able to talk my way down right to the fence for a BULLS eye view. as the event started, I started getting some breaks in the clouds and some shafts of sunlight.

Sit back and enjoy the photos. But I will tell you that the bulls won on this night. There was not one complete 8 second ride. Not sure I would ever want to jump on the back of several thousand pounds of upset bull and try and hang on for 8 seconds.But I know I also wouldn't want to be the clown  either. The rodeo clowns do an amazing job running in to divert the bull's attention to them to allow the rider to get out of harms way. I saw a couple clowns get clobbered hard to save the cowboys that night. I salute them!

Dark stormy clouds and dramatic shafts of sunlight just in the right place. Got lucky here. I shot all of these with my Canon 50D and a 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens and added my 1,4 extender.

This photo does not depict proper bull riding technique. He got launched almost right out of the chute.

Send in the clowns! Another save here.

Now this cowboy had good form and a good ride for about 4 seconds. Then he was ejected.

Would you purposly jump into the arena and not only let this really upset bull chase you, but stay so close that one slip and you are in serious trouble?

Now you know this is gonna hurt real bad. It is amazing to watch them get up and limp off, and then get back on for another ride.

This was may favorite shot from my stay in Cody Wyoming. There is an attraction there called Trail Town. They have brought in cabins and building from all over the west and reassembled them. They even have Butch Cassity and the Sundance Kid's Hole in the Wall cabin. I was wandering aroound and found this old wagon and piles of wheels and other junk. A wide angle lens shot very low to the ground was used to create this composition.

Road Trip Day 4

June 14th we left Deadwood, South Dakota and headed for Cody, Wyoming. If you are in the Deadwood area there is a must see scenic drive you should take. The highway through Spearfish Canyon is amazing. I probably would not have taken this side trip out of Deadwood, but a friend who used to live there told me about it. Amazing deep canyon with to die for scenery. Then it was on to I90 and heading west . You leave South Dakota and enter Wyoming in a short distance. But before I leave South Dakota I want to say what a great vacation destination South Dakota is. I wished I could have spent an entire summer exploring all the great attractions across the state. I will be going back. If you are planning to go, send for the South Dakota Tourism guide. A great resource to help plan a trip. I used theirs  for planning my trip. It is free if you call or email for a copy to be sent to you. Here is there link.     http://www.travelsd.com/

Driving out west is a really an enjoyable experience for me. I love to drive, and the scenery and wide open spaces make it a relaxing, stress reducing pleasure. I was constantly wanting to stop and take photos but I knew I would never get to Cody before dark. So I had to limit myself, but it was difficult.

This is the Big Horn Pass on I-90 through the Big Horn Mountains. Elevation is about 9700 feet here. Still a lot of pockets of snow even in mid-June. Storm clouds were building here. 

                                                                               

Sometimes I got a little carried away chasing down a good looking landscape scene I wanted to photograph and got off the Interstate and started driving down some roads an overloaded Ford Tarus probably should not have been on.  But hey, anything for the shot!   Right?

As I was approaching Cody Wyoming late in the afternoon I watched this developing storm moving across the vast open plains. The  clouds were only a couple hundred feet off the ground at this point. I pulled over to take some photos. There was some awesome lightning striking the ground, but I could not time it right to capture that. (Oh to have that Lightning Trigger) 

                                                                

  Cody, Wyoming is a really great place to visit. I was actually staying a couple days here because there was more that I wanted to do than I could squeeze in with just a one day visit. One of the most famous landmark's in Cody is the Irma Hotel. The original owner of this hotel was William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. If you know anything about the history of the American West, he is one of the biggest names.

Interior shots of the Irma show what a historical place this is. Listed on the National Historic Register, you can stay at the Irma and stay in rooms that were occupied by some very famous figures in American History. The all Cherrywood Bar was a gift to Buffalo Bill from the Queen of England. Probably the most photographed thing in Cody.  Here is a direct link to the Irma.   http://www.irmahotel.com/

The Cody Gunfighters put on a nightly show outside the Irma that is free to the public. Another must visit attraction is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Way to much there to cover in my blog, but I added a link to the center. Plan on at least a half day to see it all.

  http://www.bbhc.org/home/index.cfm?CFID=29563765&CFTOKEN=85780842

 

The sun is setting on another day, but the action will pick up again tomorrow!