Glacier National Park 10-18-11

After the fog burned off it was a gorgeous day in GNP. I hiked up Synder, Sprague Creeks a ways, walked along McDonald Creek and about half way to Avalanche Lake.
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 McDonald Lake

 Colorful rocks in McDonald Creek.

 Along the trail to Avalanche Lake, surrounded by trees and the sound of rushing water.

 Avalanche Creek at the gorge. I've always photographed the gorge when it was wild with water. This was interesting with all the different shapes and colors.

 Synder Creek

 Walking along the creek I looked down and saw this rotting piece of wood covered in moss, the golden leaves of Fall with the water. I thought it made an interesting shot.

 Upper Sprague Creek

 Synder Creek just above Lake McDonald

Sprague Creek.

Another beautiful Yellowstone day

These are assorted shots from the last couple of days. My next post will be on waterfalls, check it out. Upper, Lower Falls on the Grand Canyon and Tower Falls are the most publicized but I'll post my favorites along with these.

 Hot water flowing into the Firehole River at the bridge going into Biscuit Basin. Photo was shot at 1 second shutter speed.

 "Reflections"

 Two Oceans Lake on the continental divide. Half of the lake flows east and the other half to the west. Actually the lily pads and reflections of the old trees caught my eye.

 Coyote after field mice. Lucky he doesn't live in my neighborhood.

Walking along the upper reaches of the Gibbon River and I spotted these 3 cutthroat trout lined up by size. Look close the smallest is to the left. There is also a 4th on the right side of photo, looks u shaped. These are native cutthroats.

Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis)

Here are a few of my better shots of the bears I photographed. It was very exciting being able to photograph these amazing animals especially after years of trying to get these kind of shots and only getting glimpses. If you're hiking in bear country remember you are a guest in their home, make noise, respect, space, always carry pepper spray, back away slowly.

 This bear, the same in first 3 shots, you can see why they're called "Silvertips"

Yellowstone Park, Water & Wildlife Part 1

Today we explored the Norris Junction to Madison area of the park. I was concentrating on finding some small creeks, cascades and water falls to shoot. As a bonus we ran into another old bull bison and a bull elk with his small harem. Since the elk rut is in progress I'm hoping to find a couple of bulls fighting.
I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do finding the subjects and taking the shots.

 A nice section of cascades on the Gibbon River

 Gibbon Falls

 Headwaters of the Gibbon River.

 The beginning of the Madison River.

 Nice shot of this old bull. The white spot is his tongue.

 Nice bull elk grunting. Trying to impress the cows without much success.

Oh! my nose itches.

Yellowstone Park and more geyser pools & pots

We took a little hike to look at these "artist paint pots". Smelly, but very interesting and colorful. No surprise why they called mountain man John Colter's discovery, "Colter's Hell".

Bubbles coming up from somewhere.

These pools were deep and this aqua blue color is beautiful.

Artist Paint Pot

Notice the next bubble is making it's way to the surface.

Yellowstone, first couple of days

After setting up we toured all the tourist shops in West Yellowstone and stopped by the local grocery store. The next day we awoke to clouds, rain and cool weather. Forecasts says it supposed to change tomorrow and then be nice for the rest of our stay. We visited Old Faithful and made several stops and side trips on the way. Even with the bad weather we enjoyed our day.

 Bull Elk and his harem relaxing along the Madison River.

 Another Buffalo, I was trying to get a shot with him looking straight at me but you don't want to get to close to these guys.

 Geyser pool enroute to Firehole Lake.

Old Faithful......not quite as faithful as it used to be.

Grand Teton National Park

We left Laramie and drove to Jackson, Wyoming. I hadn't found an RV park I liked so we drove over the pass to Victor, Idaho (15 miles) and stayed a nice little park, Teton Valley Campground and RV Park. The drive back and forth over the pass wasn't that bad for the couple of days we visited the area.

These two photos I took from the place we ate breakfast at Moose Junction.

This spectacular mountain range was established as a National Park in 1929.

On the trail to Hidden Falls.

Along the shores of Jenny Lake

Beaver pond along the trail.

Hidden Falls. We hiked up to the falls, then Carol went down to the boat dock and returned on the boat. I continued to Inspiration point and then hiked out.

A grove of Aspens. Won't be much longer and the forest floor will be decorated with the golden leaves from the Aspens.