Saturday, June 20, 2015

It was a waterfall day.

Nobody was seeing wolves anywhere. Even the Wolf Project people and Doug and Cathy and Ray left the northern part of the park and came down to the Hayden valley in an attempt to see something. They had no luck there, either.

In the afternoon, I hiked up the Gibbon River to photograph the falls from below. I've been wanting to do this for years. It requires wading across the river just below the falls to get past the last turn.

Most people take this picture of the falls, from above:

Standing on the patch of grass on the right side of the stream at the lower edge of the picture, I was able to take this one:

Not many people take that picture.

Friday, June 19, 2015

The day started with a Scarface sighting. He was just below the Tower store, crossed the road and headed up the hill:

The, it was over to Gardiner for some internet to see about a package. The replacement camera is scheduled to arrive at my house on Tuesday and I needed to know if it needs a signature. It doesn't. That means my last full day here will be Sunday. I'll leave Monday morning and get back home Tuesday afternoon or evening.

On the way back were bear cubs:

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Lots of driving around and a few photos.

I ended up in Bozeman buying new lenses to replace one I'm not happy with. On the way, I saw some elk calves:

In the evening I went down to the Hayden Valley to see of the Wapiti pack pups were visible. They never were, but the 2 adults came out and chased some elk around in the river before the elk ganged up and chased the wolves away.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Today was a waterfall day.

I drove down to the southwest corner of the park (I'm in the northeast corner) to photograph Cave Falls. Along the way, I stopped at Mesa Falls. There was a pretty rainbow there:

And lots of flowers:

Cave Falls was also spectacular:

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

It was a mixed day.

I went out intending to update the blog in Cooke City. To get there, you pass through the Lamar Valley, so I figured I'd see if any wolves were to be seen. Each time, I'd see a full turnout, so I'd stop in the next one, but couldn't see anything. Finally, at the end of the valley, I saw one wolf cross the road - I saw it for a total of about 15 seconds.

So, I continued to Cooke City, updated the blog and then came back to camp. It was laundry day, so, after lunch, I did that. On the way I saw a bear:

The laundry is closed from 1:30 till 3:00 for cleaning, so I didn't get started until 3:30. So, I ate dinner in the Canyon cafeteria.

Then, it was back out to the Lamar to see if any wolves would make an appearance. They didn't. The turnout was full of people who had heard you could see them there:

Monday, June 15, 2015

Today was hiking and taking photos of non-moving stuff.

I hiked out to Farie Falls and took several shots.

It was a bit of a comedy of errors. I forgot a part I needed for the tripod, so I had to take the shots hand-held.

On the way out, I saw this neat scene of people on the boardwalk in the geyser basin

Also on the way out, I wanted to climb the hill above Grand Prismatic Spring and get pictures of that, but the Park Service has closed that area. It seems so many people have been going up there and they've worn many unofficial trails that erosion is a problem. People are still going up there, but I didn't. I found another way to get the picture.

Instead, I climbed the hill across the road from the geyser basin. After looking at topo maps, it's just as close to the spring and only 50 feet or so lower. On top of that, there are no trees to block your view of the spring. It was a steep climb, but not too bad.

The rest of the day was showering and recovering and putting my gear back in order. Right now an evening storm is coming and the wind is shaking the trailer a bit and marble sized hail is banging on the roof.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Today was mostly checking out some places I want to photograph over the next few days.

First, though, I went out to see what the status of the bison carcass was in the Lamar valley. Its status is gone. Nothing is there, now. Along the way, there was a fox near the road.

And an antelope.

And the black bear with 3 cubs.

In the evening I went down to the Hayden Valley and saw the one of the alphas of the pack there, briefly.