West Thumb. What a morning...

When I got to West Thumb it was still snowing heavily. I took a walk around the Geyser Basin and along the boardwalk near the shore of Yellowstone Lake.

I stopped at Black Pool and made images of the turquoise water and the snow falling.

A few other visitors were enjoying the weather.

It was like a winter wonderland with snow covered trees and steam from the thermal features.

It was a lot of fun standing in the snow making images, wiping the lens off and looking for more.

About an hour later there was a hint of sunlight through the clouds and I couldn't wait to see what the light would bring.

A woman from Spain told me it seemed like a different world.

It was easy to agree as the clouds started to part and the light made it through.

I didn't want to get to far from Black Pool as the water and steam made for great images, but I did walk over to Big cone Geyser as the sky cleared.

I liked how the clouds and Yellowstone Lake looked with the new snow.

This was the view as I walked back towards Black Pool.

I was smiling the whole time and glad I hadn't made it to the Tetons.

The clouds were beautiful over the lake.

It just kept getting better and better.

As the sun hit the water the colors seemed almost tropical to me.

I kept shooting as tourists walked through the steam giving the scene scale and perspective.

Nearby, Abyss Pool looked beautiful as well. 

What an excellent way to spend a morning in Yellowstone National Park.

It's was only two days...

In August I made a short trip out to Yellowstone. Here are a few images taken through the windshield with my phone.



 

I left home in the evening and made it out of Wisconsin across the Mississippi River and into Minnesota as the sun set.

 

 

 

So far so good. I spent the next nine hours driving through the night and Minnesota and South Dakota.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise found me just west of the Black Hills and at the Wyoming visitor center on I90.

 

 

 

Always good to be back in Wyoming. But just a quick nap and it was time to keep moving.

 

 

 

The highway runs past Gillette and Buffalo Wyoming, where almost 30 years ago I had some of the most delicious blueberry pancakes at a small diner at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the wide open spaces.

 

 

 

 

 

After Sheridan the road swings north into Montana.

 

 

 

Billings to Livingston and then highway 89 to Gardiner Montana and the north entrance of Yellowstone Park.

 

 





 

The Crazy Mountains in the distance mean it's only about an hour and a half to Yellowstone Park.

 

Once in the park I got a camping spot at Mammoth and spent some time exploring the hot springs before going to sleep. I got up the next morning and was walking the Electric Peak trail by 7am and back to the car by 5 in the afternoon. I took a shower, had something to eat, and was on my way home by 10pm.

 

 

 

I made it east of Billings before stopping to sleep and took I94 through North Dakota the next day.

 

 

 

The clouds and sky really does seem different out there.

 

 

 

 

By 3:30 in the afternoon I was back in Minnesota and only six hours from home. Three days, all good..



 

 



Making do....

I was hoping to do sunrise at West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone Park, but got there a little late.

The sun was already cresting the horizon.

Things were moving fast and I felt lucky to find this lodgepole pine tree to use as a focal point for the images.

By changing my location and staying low I was able to take advantage of the beautiful color and light.

All and all I was pretty happy with what I did silhouetting the pine tree.

Just down the road I found some more trees, but the sun was getting pretty high by then.

Lucky for me, the steam from the thermal features really helped to make interesting images.

Finally, I worked my way further along the lake to one of my favorite views. I keep going back to these lodgepole pines year after year and they're always good.











Electric Peak ......

I last walked up Electric Peak in northwest Yellowstone in 2001. I meant to go back and finally did. Here are some photos of the walk up.

 

The trail starts from the park road across from the Bunsen Peak trail and crosses sage brush flats heading towards Sepulcher Mountain. I saw very large grizzly tracks on the trail within a half mile of the road. The bear had been going the opposite direction and I never actually saw it.

 

You can see Electric Peak ten miles away on the top right of the frame

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After about three miles the trail went along the base of Sepulcher Mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

It rained the night before, and the grass and sage was wet in the morning. I stopped after about four miles in one of the beautiful meadows along the trail to change into dry socks.

 

 

 

The trail only went through a bit of woods near the Cache Lake spur trail.

 

 



 

Just before getting to the Gardner River I turned right and headed towards Electric Peak.

 

 

 

The trail had been fairly level until I finally got onto the mountain itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I chose a comfortable pace and kept moving along a spine of rock towards the summit.

 

 

 

It was near 90 degrees and hot on the way up,

 

 

 

but I was glad to be there and the views just kept getting better.

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually I found a little shade behind some rocks where I hid as I took off my socks and boots and put them in the sun to dry. It was all good. I had plenty of water and my body was feeling great.

 

 

 

While I was drying my stuff a couple of young guys came up the trail and passed me. They were the only other people I saw on the mountain that day.

 

 

 

I had plenty of time, the weather was good, and everything was going great.

 

 

 

 

 

About 300 yards and 100 vertical feet from the summit I came to a fairly vertical rock face with natural steps going up.

 

 

 

I stopped there and drank some water. One of the guys who had passed me was on the summit, so I waited until they came down and visited with them.

 

 

 

There was a trail down and to the left of the rock face, but they said they went up and across. " It's only 300 yards and the first 100 are the toughest, then just look around and there will always be a decent choice." they told me.

 

 

 

With that, they headed down and I headed up. 

 

Half way across a rock catwalk of sorts, nothing was feeling right so I sat down where I was to consider things.

 

After 45 minutes I decided against the summit and went down the rock stairs to the spine of the mountain.

 

 

 

I just sat there awhile.

 

I didn't think I'd have another chance to do this again and wasn't feeling good about giving up.

 

 

 

 

 

So I started back up the stairs, and again nothing felt right..

 

I decided to head down.

 

 

 

It was a hard decision to make, and I was disappointed in myself, but the walk was easy, and I saw three bighorn sheep in the distance.

 

 

 

I was surprised how good I felt physically. Everything was so much easier than the last time I was there.

 

 

 

 

 

I found a patch of snow lingering between rocks and put some on my neck to cool off. I made a couple of snowballs and threw them over the cliff on the other side.

 

 

 

Sepulcher Mountain looked small in the distance.

 

 

 

The walk out was easy and I spent the afternoon at Yellowstone lake swimming and then making some photos at sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two days later I visited with a ranger at Old Faithful who offered more information about the actual summit. So I hope I get the chance to try again, and if I do I'll let you know how it goes.