Yellow National Park Photo Trip 2010

Part I of II (had to split up the photos).

As some of you may already know, last summer, I had a trip planned to return to Yellowstone National Park - to visit a different section of the park. Slowly as the year progressed my friends and even my husband found reasons not to go.

Hubby was (and still is) having a difficult time, depressed, not wanting to go anywhere - if he did go some where he was unbearable crabby, to the point where when he decided that "We're not going camping anymore this summer - I want to just stay home, save some money and watch movies!" I didn't argue with him. But I did tell him that he was more than welcome to stay home and pout for the rest of the summer but I was not. He had been so unpleasant to be around while camping for the last couple trips I thought that was maybe a good idea for him, because he certainly was getting no enjoyment out of fun in the water, sun, sand, and with the dogs and friends.

The viewing platform at the bottom of Red Rock Point - if you can get down there it will give you one of the best views of Lower Falls.

I also did another shot of this with a slower shutter to blur the water a bit but haven't worked it up yet....I was fighting alot of light that was bouncing off the water and wet canyon walls.

So I prepared to head off to Yellowstone on my own. I wanted to go back, I needed to go back, my creative juices were running low - dangerously low after enduring a summer of fighting over getting the horse shed built (let's just say I will never ask my hubby and his friend to make anything for me again, ever, ever, ever - I will hire a clueless homeless man off the street to do the work - and pay him well, before I ever ask them to build anything for me ever again) and doing "lets get mad over everything" camping trips. I needed to get away, and focus on my photography and writing - I needed some inspiration, bad. 

The Fire Hole River

At the last minute my 12 year-old nephew decided to come along getting permission from his mom - he likes hiking and camping and while he had already been to Yellowstone when he was younger he wanted to go back and see some new things too. This was good news to me because even though I like to pretend I am tough I would've gotten lonely and my nephew is not like other boys his age, he acts likes he's 30. Super grown up, brainy, and a little nerdy, like me. To show you how nerdy we were, even though we were camping in the greatest park in America, we both brought books to read (just incase). So instead of a solo trip it was two person adventure.

The meadow where we camped at dawn.

On night two a Bison decided to visit us for dinner.

We camped in the middle of the park near Norris geyser basin. I can not even begin to describe to you the feeling of sleeping to the sound of the meadow creek flowing and geysers erupting every night, and waking up to the sound of Elks bugling every morning. It awakened my soul. Since last time I was there we did not camp near any geysers it took me a couple of hours to figure out what the rumbling then distant hissing noise was, just about the time I figured it out and smiled to myself knowing I was hearing the geysers at Norris go off, my nephew asks in a sleepy voice, "What is that noise?" "Geysers going off," I replied - "Cool...." he answered falling back to sleep. I smiled again, so happy that I was in Yellowstone again.

Geyser that you could see from our camp.

Let me share a little secrete with you....ssshhhhh, don't tell anyone, but ....."If you sleep in the hotels and RV camps, you don't get to hear the geysers, wolves, or Elk..." Nature is not scary when you get to know it.

Neat huh?

Another view of our meadow at Norris.

We spent the next three days visiting different areas in the west section of the park. We had good meals, long talks and adventures. We met nice people in the campground who could've been friends if we'd had more time. Once my nephew started talking to me about God and church and I was open and honest with him about my faith and how I personal felt. While I think it's important to go to church and worship, for many reasons, I also don't think that it is 100% necessary to be saved. We were talking about this while walking down a trail to the brink of Lower Falls in the Grand canyon of the Yellowstone. When he asked me "why?" we just come down to the viewing deck and saw this.

And I answered, "Because, God is not hiding in churches waiting to be discovered, he is here, in every rock, every tree, everywhere just waiting for you to get to know Him, and this is proof." It worked out so well that at that point he took his first look at the Canyon with the waterfalls thundering below our feet. He was quiet for a long long time as I took pictures taking in the view and hopefully what I had said. Then, eventually, he started asking camera and picture questions. At the end of  the trip he was taking some EXCELLENT photos. He is such a great kid I really think he could be anything he wants to be, he just seems to excel at everything he tries.

After visiting the canyon - we saw this guy in a meadow and stopped for some pictures.

As it turned out he had a friend.

View of Observation Peak.

A skinny looking mule deer I saw near the canyon in a meadow. Way too skinny considering it was fall in Yellowstone. If he were a horse I would say he looks wormy.

Big Horn Sheep - please pardon my smaller camera's digital zoom, I was trying to give the sheep their privacy, but the Ram standing did have a horns you just can't see them.

This chipmunk followed up during on of our hikes (we were walking along a road so it was more like a long walk than a hike) he ran along side of us for a long time. I suspect that such efforts from him usually are rewarded with trail mix from visitors - but that's something I SO do not agree with doing, so after a bit he went in search of someone else to feed him.

I ended up with 400 photos or so, so needless to say this is not all of them, just the ones that jumped out at me and that I have been able to get to. You can purchase prints of most of these through my online store if you are interested.

Have I convinced anyone to go?? These are my favorite books - the hikes I've done have come right out of these books......I know - "Nerd!"