Photos

A small selection of pics I took last summer. I thought none of them very good at the time. I think they're kind of good tonight.

He is scratching his chin on the fence post and I thought it was the funniest thing! He was a friendly horse and I wasn't afraid of him.


A cropduster. Photo taken through our windshield. The plane flew right in front of us and was our bit of excitement for the day. I think he was showing off!


You'd never guess this peaceful setting is directly across the street from a bustling KOA Kampground in the great state of New York. Although, we are against turnpikes.


One day a dragonfly sat down beside me.


Taken with my little camera (not my big one I mean), this was the most spectacular sunset of our entire stay at Devils Tower, Wyoming. I had not seen clouds like these before. They were almost like inside out clouds or something. I thought they were rather ominous looking. See the sign next to the road. That's actually a turnout and the whole area is the prairie dog town. I spent many hours right here along this road. I went in the cool of the morning and again in late afternoon. Midday was sweltering, boiling, burning hot.

Hiking up Pilot Butte, Wyoming

Turns out yesterday was our big day for wildlife. Midday is a bad time to go looking for horses etc., so we didn't see much today. I shoulda known better than to go in the middle of the day. Anyways, we went on a hike instead.

Husband asked if I wanted to go to the top of Pilot Butte. I said fer sure. As my favorite pastor says, let's git er done! So we got in the truck, put her four wheel drive and took a side road.


Shazzam! We made it to the top!


I took photos with a braided bun. It's verrry windy at the top. Yesterday I wore a pony tail and it didn't work out very well. Scrunchie kept falling out, hair was in tangles. Windy and dusty.


Looking out into His creation.


The thing is, once you go up you have to come down! My husband is standing there giving tips to our ten year old like always keep three points in contact with the ladder. I went down last. I did not look down, only at the ladder and my husband kept talking to me! I got to the bottom and said, "Aw, I made it. Easy. See, I wasn't scared!" He said, "Sure, I know. You did real good." And he kissed me and hugged me. I think he heard me doing my scary breathing. My breath was shaking from a wee bit o' the fear. Haha! Shoot, he knows me too well. I'm glad I went. Son had no problem at all going up or coming down. He's really growing up.


We only saw horses today and no interaction. Boo hoo. No antelope, or grouse. Was hoping for a coyote maybe. Here is a colt sort of almost galloping.


This was a good sighting though. Just like in the old West. People come for the horses, but I'm surprised none of the reviews I've read even mention the scenery.


We are all going to sleep well tonight. I'm the only one still up. Blogging. It was a memorable day. My face hurts though! I think I got a windburn. It can't be sunburn because I put on sunscreen.

Tomorrow is a driving day. No plans for where we're going other than New Mexico...for the winter.

See Day 1 wildlife photos here.

The wildlife we saw

The area the horses are in is about 392,000 acres. I wanted to check out the lay of the land because I'd read that I would likely see wild horses, but think about it. In such a large area I was worried that my chances would realistically be slim to none.

But look! Four of them. We came upon wild horses three or four times during our drive. I was thrilled. My husband was too. He thanked me for finding this awesome locale. Son asked for some math to do. He was being a pill. Oh, what a spoiled child! lol! Only two other drivers did we see while we were there. We saw up to eight horses at a time which I think you call a pod. The pods get together and make a band.

You can hire a guide, but surely you don't need to. I read there's one single guy who's licensed to go into the back country. But our truck has 4WD and there are a couple small side roads we saw that we're going to take. Shoot, half of the fun is finding the wild horses yourself. It's an adventure! You can do the main gravel road with a car. It was very well maintained. It would be exciting to find a large band of 100 or so but on the other hand, they run when they see you. I'm guessing you'd have to be a fast photographer and maybe you'd need a super telephoto lens. Those only go for about $5,000+.


Look at these two lively colts frolicking! They were so playful and full of it. I broke my own heart because I cut off their feet in this frame. I can't describe what a treat it was watching these two. One of them nipped at their mom too!

I kind of liked these three horses.



We were surprised to see antelope too. Twice. As you can see, the challenge in taking an antelope picture (wild horses too for that matter) is trying to obtain said photograph of something other than the rear end portion. Anybody can photograph the hiney! I'm going to try hard tomorrow. It will be my only day, my only chance.


This is the closest I've ever been to antelope. Before this year, I couldn't have told you the difference between an antelope and a deer.


And I don't want to leave out the little grouse. She had one baby with her. It was a kind of a big baby, not small. I imagine in this country it's hard to survive if you're a grouse. The coyotes must like them a lot.


Lastly, if you wonder how a loop like this ever came to be there's a short explanation about it here. Two guys put their heads together and got five agencies coordinated. Pretty good, huh? I guess it's a new loop. Maybe that's why there were so few people.

It was a great day. The best of the year. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Fawn on the run

I was with the prairie dogs and she came out of nowhere. She was right in front of me but I was too slow, so this is after she started running! I have to work on my peripheral awareness.

I changed my settings so I'm using the center focus point only instead of all nine. I'll see how it goes. I ruined a slew of fawn and deer pictures today with wrong aperture and/or shutter speed. I'm doing everything in manual mode now. It's frustrating but I should learn better. That's the theory.

I just drank my daily dose of orange juice. I'm oxidizing at an accelerated rate since I turned 48 and orange juice is an antioxidant. Should help, right? Heh.

A terrible accident

In the middle of nowhere 

A semi-truck and a motorhome collided. My husband talked to an emergency worker who said several people were airlifted to the hospital. We saw the helicopter take off. All traffic was stopped for over an hour and people began to get out of their cars, talk, and wander about.

The RV destroyed

The RV  

The RV was a motorhome type and they were towing a vehicle as well. The impact crushed it like an accordian and threw it across both lanes. On the periphery of this photo their belongings are strewn all about. It was awful. It may have been a young family because most seniors don't tow an van. It was very sobering. The emergency tech didn't really know, but it was thought that the motorhome was passing the semi-truck, clipped the front left side of the semi, and caused the accident. I pray for the victims and we all prayed together for them that night. There was no one in sight when the accident happened, just miles and miles of empty road.

Buffalo hold up traffic 

I used this one in my calendar. Every one liked it!

And everyone waits

We are all stuck in traffic  

Traffic! Gotta expect it in the summer season. Nobody is really grumpy though. See a guy even waved at me. The buffalo walk verrrry sloooowly. We are 45 minutes driving 2-3 mph because they were walking on the road. They have the whole park. Why are they on the road!?

Yellowstone NP - Bacterial beds

Yellowstone NP - Bacterial beds 

I am standing in in the caldera of one of the world's most active volcanoes! (Well, actually, technically, I'm standing on a boardwalk.)

It looks like the surface of Mars, but this is a most extremely fragile environment. This is a bacterial bed. The water is scalding hot. You can see the steam. The colors are as vibrant in real life as they are depicted by this photo. This place, it is called Grand Prismatic Spring. It is aptly named!

At Yellowstone National Park, it's a bit of a challenge to find a picture to take that hasn't already been taken millions of billions of times by every other park visitor with a camera.

Our trip to Grand Teton Nat'l Park, WY

Tippy top of Grand Teton 

This and the following seven photos were taken during our week long stay in the park.

Photo taken August 7, 2005

Short tailed weasel

It's a baby short tailed weasel 

My prized photo. These creatures are very little. They're fairly common yet seldom seen, and this is a young one. They turn all white in winter! but right now he's brown on top and a rich, deep yellow color on his belly. We thought he was a ferret, then we thought he was a marmot, then we figured out he was a short tailed weasel. We city folks are learning a lot about wildlife out here!

In 1805, Sacajawea gave Captain William Clark two dozen pure white ermine tails for Christmas. She must have been very fond of him and he must have been very kind to her for her to give him such a gift. I wish there was more information about their relationship in the journals.

After the expedition, if an Indian had to travel to Washington D.C. to meet with the white man, he would most always ask for William Clark to accompany him. This was because Clark had a genuine respect for the native Indians and he worked on their behalf whenever he could. He had red hair, blue eyes, and was outgoing whereas Meriwether Lewis was much more introspective.

Oxbow bend

Reflections 

I've always been fascinated by oxbows. This one is has been cut off from the Snake River. It looks so peaceful and quiet, doesn't it? My eyes never tired of it.

Jackson Lake

Jackson Lake 

This is the biggest lake in the park. Jackson Lake as well, as the other smaller ones, were gouged out by glaciers.,

Fireweed 

So what's so big about the Grand Tetons?

No foothills for this mountain range 

What makes the Grand Tetons unique? There are no foothills. These big mamas were pushed straight up by massive earthquakes. If that wasn't enough already, while the mountain block went straight up west of the fault line, the valley floor dropped at the same time east of the fault line. The tourist town of Jackson is in the valley (very upscale by the way) and the valley region is generally referred to as Jackson Hole.

Sagebrush community

Sagebrush community 

There are miles of this sagebrush on the valley floor of Grand Teton. As I walk through it there are dozens and dozens of brown grasshoppers jumping about. They look a lot like yellow butterflies when they spread their wings, and they produce a loud clicking sound. It's pretty noisy! I was hoping to spy a sage grouse but no such luck.

Moose in wetlands community

Moose mamma and yearling 

They like to eat the plants that grow in the creeks and rivers. The grass was green, green, super green.

Crowheart Butte, WY

Crowheart Butte, WY 

After winning a vicious battle, a Shoshone Indian chief displayed a Crow Indian's heart on the end of his lance, thus the name Crowheart Butte. Eww.

Here's what the interpretive sign has to say at the road turnout.

Colorful hills

Pigment in the hills 

Now what soil composition causes these colors? I think oxidized iron can cause reddish pigments, but I'd have to check my old geology textbook.

Photo taken August 2, 2005