Yesterday was my first “full” Yellowstone trip with the new Canon 6D and 17-40L lens. This trip started in Big Sky, through the lower loop, and then back. Stops included Firehole Lake Drive, the Midway and Upper Geyser Basins, Old Faithful, Hayden Valley and the Mud Volcano, Artist’s Point on the Yellowstone River, and lastly the Norris Geyser Basin.
Firehole Spring
This hot spring on Firehole Lake Drive was boiling intensely.
Grand Prismatic Spring
Closeup detail on the bacterial mats of Grand Prismatic Spring
Dwarfed trees in the Biscuit Basin have soaked up the surrounding minerals, turning the trunks white around their base.
Mud Volcano Area
Hayden Valley
A lone bison resting on the hills of Hayden Valley
Artist’s Point
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Norris Geyser Basin
The next few photos are from the highly active and unstable Norris Geyser Basin, under a colorful sunset.
After leaving Grand Teton National Park, on the way to Big Sky, I stopped through Yellowstone for most of the day.
At first light, I reached the Mud Volcano area, near Hayden Valley. Explorers in the late 1800s heard sounds here, “resembling the reports of distant artillery”. The “volcano” isn’t quite as loud now, nor is it actually a volcano.
This bull elk was in the valley, with a couple of bison, under a perfect golden morning light.
This bison was also alone in the area, just standing in one of the pull-offs munching away at some grass.
The always impressive Yellowstone Lower Falls under a warm, morning light.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, viewed opposite of the falls from Artist’s Point.
Norris Geyser Basin
Another view of Norris Geyser Basin, and a milky blue colored pool.
Steamboat Geyser
Steamboat, when active, is the world’s tallest geyser
This Yellowstone trip was short, but no less spectacular than the rest. It happened to be snowing this day, so I went to the park for a few hours to see what I could see! This time I visited a new area of the park near the Upper Geyser Basin, called the Black Sand Basin.
Colorful thermal feature runoff, Redbull can not included.
Enjoy some of my favorites from a June 5th trip to Yellowstone National Park!
The first shot is a unique angle of the Firehole River in the Upper Geyser Basin, showing tourist walking across the boardwalk above. Processing this image as black and white really makes this look like some other planet!
A bright blue colored pool in the area of the Midway Geyser Basin.
If you know a little about Yellowstone, there’s no mistaking this as the famous Grand Prismatic Spring. This was photographed from a trail that runs along the mountain behind the spring. You can see the boardwalk where most tourists see the enormous spring from a low angle, doing no justice the the actual size and colors!
Here’s another of Grand Prismatic Spring, this time from the boardwalk, showing the mountain from where the last shot was taken. The saturated colors of the inner and outer areas of the hot spring reflect on to the steam with bright blue and orange, respectively. Look closely and you’ll see the ripples of the water being expelled by the spring, eventually reaching the river. 560 gallons of hot water is put out every minute!
Another perspective of Grand Prismatic, showing the scale of the plumes of steam next the crowds on the boardwalk.
By far the most heart dropping sight I’ve ever seen, this is the view from the “Brink of the Lower Falls” on the Yellowstone River. Besides the thermal features, this view IS Yellowstone National Park. The bright volcanic rock walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the mighty Yellowstone River, the mounds of snow still left over in June, and just the naturally raw quality of all of it together. This is quite the trek down the side of the canyon to a viewing platform above the falls, and this trail has taken lives. People just do not understand the dangers here, and treat it more like an amusement park than a national park. Another visitor was killed earlier this year on the mountain trail above Grand Prismatic Spring shown earlier in this post, from a falling tree.
As many of you know, and some may not, I moved from working in Grand Teton National Park in May and June to Big Sky, Montana. I’m still working at a lodge, but this one is open year round, including a ski resort in the winter. This place has a much more laid back environment.
The best thing about living here is the easy access to Yellowstone, as well as miles and miles of some of the country’s best fishing. It’s only a 30 minute drive or so to the northwest section of the park, and although this road stays open during the winter, there’s not nearly as much to see as the rest of the park. There should still be great trail access in the park this winter, with a good chance to see some migrating wildlife that retreats to the outskirts of the park to escape the harshest winter conditions. The famous Gallatin River runs through Big Sky, originating in the mountains of Yellowstone, and eventually reaching Bozeman.
Winters here will be nothing like Georgia since we’re at an elevation of 7500 feet at the lodge. Snow for the season can range upwards of 300 total inches and temperatures can stay below zero for a dozen days each year. If you can believe it, there’s a chance of snow this Saturday night. Snow in August!
If you’re unfamiliar with the location of Big Sky, it’s in Montana, right next to the northwest corner of Wyoming.
Here are some photos from my Yellowstone trip on May 31, 2014.
The first region I hit on this trip was the Biscuit Basin, just north of the Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful.
This first geyser is Jewel Geyser, which seems to be pretty active, but not huge.
Temperature: 199° F
Height: 10-30 feet
Duration: 60-90 seconds
This colorful feature is the Sapphire Pool, also in Biscuit Basin. The “layers” of different depths showed a deeper shade of blue the farther down you look. The orange surrounding the edges of the pool created a great contrast for the photo below! Sapphire pool was once quiet, but the 1959 Hebgen Earthquake caused the feature to turn in to a 150 foot geyser for about a decade, until it doubled the size of its crater, returning it to this boiling pool today.
Temperature: 200-202° F
Size: 18×30 feet
This brightly colored pool is actually named the Black Opal Pool, also in the Biscuit Basin.
There’s no mistaking this photo as the world famous Old Faithful, in the Upper Geyser Basin! The black storm clouds contrasted well with the white spray and steam of the geyser, making for an awesome black and white finished piece.
The photo below of the Firehole River in the Upper Geyser Basin area does a great job of showing not only the bright colors of the thermal features, but also the scale compared to the visitors!
Jenny Lake is a smaller, glacial lake, south of the much larger Jackson Lake. It can be accessed by the Teton Park Road that runs near the base of the Teton Range.
This hike included taking the shuttle boat across Jenny Lake, hiking south and west to Hidden Falls, the back north along the western shore of Jenny Lake.
Huge amounts of snow melt caused these little creeks to become raging and swollen.
Hiking on this side of Jenny Lake brings you right to the base of the Teton mountain range.
Wildflowers mixed in with leftover snow banks at the end of May.
Hidden Falls just barely visible behind thick trees.
Hiking up a steep rocky trail to great views all around.
The crystal clear water of the snow melt runs down this tiny creek in to the lake.
The marmots are shy but still friendly!
A little creek running straight out of a steep, rocky valley of the Tetons.
A much larger creek looks like prime fly fishing territory.
Getting back to what may be the best national park in the country just couldn’t wait very long. Here are a few photos from my second trip to Yellowstone National Park. This is just a tiny collection of the 10,000+ geothermal features in the area.
Upper Geyser Basin – Old Faithful Area
This first photo is of Shield Spring. Notice how thin the crust is right around the edges of the water. This is why it’s important to stay on the boardwalks, because you can and will fall through if you get too close!
Castle Geyser is a larger geyser, erupting up to 90 feet every 10-12 hours.
Crested Pool is one of the more colorful features, with the sudden change from orange to blue. This is one of my favorite features in the Upper Geyser Basin.
Depth: 42 feet
Temperature: 199 F +
Belgian Pool was once named Oyster Spring, but was renamed when someone from Belgium fell in and died in 1929.
Depth: ?
Temperature: 151-180 F
The size and color of Morning Glory Pool, on the north end of the Upper Geyser Basin make it well worth the walk to get there.
Depth: 23 feet
Temperature: 157-162 F
Midway Geyser Basin
North of the Upper Geyser Basin is the Midway Geyser Basin. The grounds surrounding Grand Prismatic Spring are painted with more unusual colors than one could possibly imagine.
Depth: 160 feet
Temperature 160 F
Discharge: 550 gallons/minute
The Firehole River is the final stop for water from many of the parks thermal features.
Directly adjacent to Jackson Lake Lodge is a short loop trail called Lunch Tree Hill. There are almost always people hiking here, and it would be considered a relatively safe trail, even to hike alone. One evening around 6, a group of people were watching this mother grizzly bear and her two cubs walk around the Willow Flats that is probably 100 feet below the patio at the lodge. When the three bears started walking away from the lodge, the group walked up the hill to stay in front of them for a better view. Eventually the three bears went out of sight below the steep hill. To everyone’s surprise, the bears appeared halfway up the hill, coming straight towards the group of onlookers. The large group split in to two groups, giving the bears enough space to calmly walk by. Being less than 30 yards from these huge grizzlies, this situation could have been much worse, but the momma bear is smart enough to know she is safe from male bears when she’s around the lodge and people.
Now that the road to Two Ocean Lake is open for the season, I drove up to check out the fishing. It was freezing cold and windy, but it looked like some fish were eating off the surface when the wind calmed down. I’ll definitely be going back when it’s warmer!
After a 28 hour drive and traveling through Yellowstone, I arrived in Grand Teton National Park, where I’ll be living and working through at least October. These are photos through the month of May, and I will have several more posts to catch up to the current date!
Almost every moment of the day reveals a spectacular scene. From dawn to dusk, the light plays with the mountains in a colorful and powerful way.
While working here, I’m living in a dorm village with hundreds of other employees. We have little frequent visitors roaming all around, everything from this red fox, to whistle pigs (ground squirrels), and even a grizzly with two cubs that wondered down dorm street early one morning.
Jackson Lake Lodge sits up on a plateau, overlooking a large expanse around Jackson Lake, called the Willow Flats. Looking out over the grasslands and shrubbery, one can see plenty of animal activity out here, including bears, elk, moose, and bison.
As an employee inside the park, I’m privileged to have access to many free activities. On this ten mile scenic float trip down the Snake River, we saw elk, many different birds, and this bald eagle.
One of the most interesting things I’ve seen is a grouping of cabins and barns on “Mormon Row”. These buildings include the most photographed barn in the world, the John Moulton Barn.
Here’s another spectacular light show just before sunset.
I was able to do a little bit of fishing before all the snow began to melt, causing rivers and streams to flood. Here’s one of my biggest, and definitely not my last cutthroat trout from the Snake River tailwater.
Jackson Lake offers a place for visitors to take their boat out with a view like none other. I got to take out a kayak on the lake for a couple hours from the marina at Colter Bay.
The Chapel of the Transfiguration is another unique building inside the park. A sign near the chapel tells the story of Jesus climbing the mountain with the apostles, and becoming radiant with light, a pivotal moment when Heaven meets Earth.
When the first direct sunlight of the day reveals itself, a beautiful warm color is cast upon the mountain tops.
These photos are through May 27, so I still have plenty more to share from both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks!
I’ve now been living and working in Grand Teton National Park for a full month, so I thought I’d share some of my experiences so far. After this post, I’d like to post something every few days. Now that the weather is warming up, and the rivers are clearing up, I’ll be able to get out and do a lot more! Sometimes, however, words just aren’t enough, so make sure you’re following Trent Sizemore Photography on Facebook to see all my best photos.
The drive to get here from North Carolina took three full days, and was pretty uneventful. It was cool to see other parts of the country, but it just didn’t compare to arriving in Yellowstone National Park. The views are like nothing else and almost immediately upon getting over the first mountain pass, I got to see my first grizzly bear, bison, and thermal features all in the same spot.
Yellowstone Day 1 – May 13
I saw these between Cody, Wyoming and the entrance to Yellowstone. I’m thinking they may be female bighorn sheep, but they may just be mountain goats.
Back in May, everything was still covered in feet of snow. This was one of my first sights inside the park.
Driving through Yellowstone was something else, because the snow was piled up higher than the car in most spots around the mountains.
This huge grizzly was eating on something between the road and part of the lake. On the other side of the road was a bison munching grass on the hillside.
Before driving down to Grand Teton National Park, where I’m living now, I camped one night in Yellowstone. I didn’t even scrape the surface of seeing the entire park, but I was able to see quite a lot before and after the night of camping in Madison campground.
The smell of sulfur gases from this boiling mud pit below was nearly overwhelming.
The two photos below are the view of the lower falls of the Yellowstone River from Artist Point. This is an excellent spot to get a perspective of the size of the entire Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
The walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone are covered in these bright yellowish rocks, called Rhyolite, a type of volcanic rock.
This is looking up close at a little stream that carries water from thermal feature down to the river. The colors come from bacteria that is able to grow in these extreme conditions. Different colors represent different temperatures, with blues being the hottest. This particular one was probably between 125-150 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also extremely acidic, and you definitely shouldn’t be touching it. Many tourists get serious injured because of their curiosity.
This “waterfall” of boiling water is coming out of Excelsior Geyser crater and in to the Firehole River. This once active geyser still expels 4,000-4,500 gallons of 199 degree water every minute.
This is the huge crater left by the last violent eruption of Excelsior Geyser.
Here, the still snow covered mountains reflect in the many colors of the edge of Grand Prismatic Spring.
An up close view of the outside of the hot spring called Grand Prismatic Spring.
Here’s another look at the outflow from Excelsior Geyser Crater with a dramatic sunset.
The steam, the smells, the colors, and the sounds all add together to create an out of this world experience in each of the many geyser basin areas.
This small, but very active feature is Shell Spring, which would boil up every few minutes, then all the water would sink back down in to the unknown before rising up once again.
A single geyser steaming up with a great sunset.
Last photo of the day, showing a large field of geysers all steaming up in to the cold air.
Yellowstone Day 2 -May 14
After waking up VERY early to the freezing cold, howling wolves, and elk grazing outside my tent, I went out to the see the park in a way most people will never see it, completely alone. For hours, I never saw more than one or two other visitors, even in the most popular areas.
These two bison were munching some grass with a steaming thermal feature behind them. They seek refuge from the cold in these warmer areas.
Only the Gibbon River separated me from this frost covered bison. These animals are very large, and much more dangerous than most people assume.
The early morning cold makes the steam from the hot springs much thicker and travel much farther, creating an awesome landscape. During the summer, the warm temperatures don’t allow for as much steam because the temperature is closer to that of the hot features.
Another photographer exploring the area by himself. It’s scary to walk through that steam, not being able to see what’s beyond, and the screaming geysers beside you throwing up boiling water.
A far off view of Excelsior Geyser Crater shows just how big it really is.
This deep blue pool seemed to go on forever.
Up close and personal with another bison. (No, I wasn’t too close)
After exploring Yellowstone, I drove south to Grand Teton National Park to get settled in my dorm and get orientated with the area and the lodge that I’m working at. I’ll have a separate blog post with some pictures from this park.