r/nationalparks

A Day in the Park

I took my parents on a drive through the Yellowstone yesterday. There were still areas of good Autumn color, although I suspect the current snowstorm will put an end to much of that! My first photo was of a Cottonwood Tree in the Lamar Valley that had lost half its leaves, while the rest were bright yellow/orange. I shot this with a 600mm lens from a ways back to get the perspective from which I first noticed it. If you look closely you can see two leaves making their flight to the ground.

After a quick lunch at Calcite Springs overlook, we headed up towards Tower Falls and Dunraven Pass. There was a herd of Bighorn Ewes and their lambs doing a fair job of rolling rocks down to the road below them. They were using the hooves to scrape away at the soil, looking for valuable minerals. It’s really incredible how comfortable they are on slopes that I could probably not even stand on!

Hayden Valley had a few of what I figured must be Wolf jams, but not being particularly mobile, we needed to find wildlife a bit closer to the road. I did stop for a few Bald Eagles, which are a bird I have trouble driving past without making a few images! After getting skunked on any bears on the northeast corner of the Lake, we turned around and started the 3hr drive back to Bozeman. Thats when we came upon a lot of people pulled over. There was still a lot of space on the end of a parking area, so we pulled over and started looking in the direction all the cameras were pointed. There, through the tall grass, a Grizzly Bear appeared! I was able to get a few images and my parents had a great view of the entire encounter.

As we approached West Yellowstone there was a compelling scene of a cow Elk with its calf crossing the Madison River, so I stopped to memorize that moment. Our Bear sightings were not over though. To the north of West Yellowstone, we came across what appeared to be a very large Grizzly Bear. It was pretty far away in tall grass, but I managed to get an image of it testing the air for new smells. It was a wonderful day with two people who really were the catalyst for my love of wild places and who constantly encouraged my creative side.

This was such a lovely, accessible place to visit! Volunteer Bob was so sweet and proud to share information about the geology of Brandywine Falls and Ohio and Pennsylvania in general, and the nature center folks were really enthusiastic about the Junior ranger program. I was very impressed and happy to hike and explore this place.

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Had an amazing time and enjoyed seeing things in both the sun and clouds/fog. There was some smoke around Diablo Lake the last few days but otherwise it was clear everywhere else I went. Photo locations below:

1. Maple Pass

2. Washington Pass overlook

3. Diablo Lake

4. Maple Pass

5. Washington Pass overlook

6. Blue Lake

7. Ann Lake

8. Cutthroat Lake

9. Meadow near Cutthroat Lake

10. North Cascades Hwy

11. Forest near Canyon Creek

What a wonderful place! Banff has stollen our hearts and we can’t wait to go back.

Pictured is Lake Moraine and Lake Louise.

My collection from a few national parks over the last 6 years: Death Valley, Acadia, Yellowstone, Mt Rainier, Great Sand Dunes, Great Smoky, Grand Teton, Bryce, Zion, Arches,Rocky, Canyonland, and the Petrified Forest

Hiked 24 miles Saturday around Lamar Valley and camped at Buffalo Plateau campground (above the state line on the far north of the park), and took a quick look at the Grand canyon on the way out on Sunday. Saw and hiked next to many dozens of bison and numerous antelope, and we watched the coyote in pic 1 hunting marmots in the morning light heading towards agate creek trail. What an incredible park!

Really interesting place with a live steam train that runs 3 times a day with a Ranger talk. Completely changed American history by connecting both coasts.

They worked to some extend but after 40 years the light had to be moved to protect it! I had never seen the tide so low that you could walk out to the end. I did and when I looked back could see the lighthouse so I took a few pictures