Rush

This is our friend Rush, from Albuquerque.  Without him, none of these amazing trips would be possible.  Why?  Because they are all camping trips and Rush loads his pickup with camper top with tents, ground cloths, sleeping pads, and all the cooking supplies that we need to eat!  Stan met him at the Grand Canyon about 6 or 7 years ago and they became friends.  We have done trips to Chaco Canyon, Big Bend National Park, and now Yellowstone.  We all have wonderful conversations, and enjoy telling stories to each other, and there is much laughter when we travel together.  Without Rush, none of these amazing trips would ever happen.

Grand Prismatic Spring Visitors

The ground is fragile at so many of the geothermal features at Yellowstone, that they have built boardwalks for visitors.  The boardwalks are everywhere and make seeing the geysers and steaming pools and other thermal features much easier and safer to see.  Sometimes it gets really busy and there seems to be a person every three feet, during busy times.  I love the silhouettes of the people with the steam behind them.  Notice the very thin terraces formed from minerals in the water coming from the spring, which is on the other side of the boardwalk.  Amazing scene, isn't it?

The Dangers of Wildlife

All over Yellowstone National Park, there are warnings upon warnings about the dangers of wildlife.  When people see wildlife everywhere, like elk, bison, and bears, the animals become too familiar, and people get too close.  In Mammoth Hot Springs, you are likely to see a dozen or more elk lounging on the lawns.  In more public spaces, the park rangers are nearby, cautioning visitors to keep their distance.  As of July 2015, an estimated 4,900 bison lived in Yellowstone National Park, the largest U.S. bison population on public land. During 1983–1985 visitors experienced 33 bison-related injuries, about 12 a year, so the park implemented education campaigns. After years of success, five injuries associated with bison encounters occurred in 2015, because visitors did not maintain the required distance of 75 ft.  from bison while hiking or taking pictures.  I ran into this scene on one of the boardwalks in a geothermal area.  A number of people had stopped on the boardwalk  about 100 feet away from this couple.  This couple could be in danger because bison are unpredictable.  Just because they seem calm, visitors need to keep their distance.  I wondered if I should walk forward and tell the people they were too close.  I wondered if I should shout out to them, to warn them.  I did nothing.  I did ask my friend Rush about this, and he said "never place yourself in danger to try and help someone who is acting foolishly."

Old Faithful

We went over to the cafeteria at Old Faithful for lunch one day, and realized after eating that Old Faithful was close to erupting, so I found the perfect position to see the geyser through the window, and I stood inside to wait.  I was afraid that just as the geyser erupted, someone would walk between me and the window!  Luck was on my side, and no one walked through the scene as I took about 15 photographs.  I just loved that this was a different view of the geyser.  Kind of a pre-framed photo!  Oh, and this isn't the last photo of Old Faithful you will see.

Yellowstone!

Let's see where do I begin?  Yellowstone National Park is known for Old Faithful geyser, and Bison, so I will show you one of each.  But not by any means the last of both of these subjects.  I had such a wonderful time, photographing everything in sight!  I am glad I was not shooting film!  This is a photograph of the Old Faithful Geyser, and it doesn't particularly show the geyser well, because it is late in the eruption cycle, and the stream of hot water shooting straight up has stopped, but it is so dramatic with the steam against the dark sky.  I photographed the Geyser a couple of times and will show you a better photograph later.  Since you were all deprived of my posts last week, I will be posting two blogs a day to make up for my being away.

The Bison of Yellowstone

When most people think of Yellowstone National Park, they think of either Bison or Old Faithful.  So here is my first photograph of Bison.  More to come.  The bison herd in Yellowstone National Park is probably the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. . The Yellowstone Park bison herd was estimated in 2015 to be 4,900 bison.  The American bison,  found only in North America, is commonly known as a buffalo in the United States and Canada, but it is only distantly related to the true buffalo.  The animal nearly became extinct in the late nineteenth century.  The species' dramatic decline was the result of habitat loss due to the expansion of ranching and farming in western North America, industrial-scale hunting practiced by non-indigenous hunters, and even cases of deliberate policy by settler governments to destroy the food source of the native Indian peoples during times of conflict.  Fortunately attempts to revive the American bison have been highly successful; farming has increased their population to nearly 150,000. The American bison is, therefore, no longer considered an endangered species.

Off The Grid

I will be off the grid for a week.  Here is a map of my flight from my flight planning software.  I am leaving tomorrow morning from LaGuardia and Stan and I are flying to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  1639 nautical miles and 4 hours 23 minutes.  Then we drive to Yellowstone National Park where we will be camping for a week with three other friends - Rush from Albuquerque, and Preston and his wife from Manhattan.  I am excited about returning to Yellowstone.  I was there 30 years ago, in the spring of 1989, to photograph the results of the fires of 1988.  I can't wait to spend time in Yellowstone again!  So we are camping, and I will be off the grid for a week.  I will be home by next Saturday.  See you all then.