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The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum Presents:
Sleepless in Yellowstone by Wesley Aston

The story and images in this article article are Copyright © 2006; Wesley Aston, and may not, in part or in whole, be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. The images in this article are licensed to James Morrissey and the Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum for the purpose of this article.

Editor's Note: Some of the photographs in this story depict intense imagery and wildlife themes and may not be suitable for young or sensitve viewers."

Copyright © Wesley Aston

It is 3:30 A.M... I can’t sleep. It is because I just arrived the day before in Yellowstone, and I am excited to go out looking for some animals. I keep trying to get to sleep, but I just can’t. Figuring that I can take a nap later in the day, I get up and head out the door by 4 A.M.

The night before, there was a carrion in Hayden Valley. There were tons of photographers waiting around for some wildlife to feed on it. I had heard over my 2 way radio that people were coming back in the morning, so that’s what I decided to do. I arrived just after 5 AM. Unfortunately, the sun decided not to - along with no one else...well there was someone else.

It was too early to photograph, but I noticed that there was a wolf now on the carcass. I was excited! It was the first wolf that I have ever seen in the wild. I waited for the light to improve so that I could photograph her. As I waited, a few cars pulled up to watch and wait also. One guy said the Alpha male was on its way over, he saw him cross the road heading our way. Sure enough he showed up a couple minutes later. He ate for a good 20 minutes while the other waited a couple hundred yards away.

The morning was perfect. The sun was coming over the horizon at our backs lighting up the clouds, and the moon was shining bright. The reflection of the wolf, moon, and sky was breathtaking. Now if I only had my wide angle lens on me. After the 2 headed out of site, I was overwhelmed with joy. I knew I had some good shots. I drove back to my hotel and went through my pictures, and loaded up a couple on my website. LOL. I had to show off what others were missing out on. A group of friends were coming to Yellowstone to take pictures too, but not for another day. I hope that my pictures of the wolves were able to get them excited too.

I drove around the park later in the day hoping to find more action like I found in the morning. Bison and Elk were everywhere, but they were not what I was after. I wanted some bears. I saw a few black bears but they didn’t work with the camera very well, and the young cubs were hiding in a tree never for me to see. Still, it was a good way to cap a magnificent day.

Copyright © Wesley Aston

The next morning I was up early again. I headed back out to the same location hoping to see the wolves again. This time I wasn’t as early getting there, and people were already ahead of me waiting. I waited. Nothing. Only ravens.

Wait. I pointed in the distance and said to the fellow next to me “there is one crossing the pond, way out in the fog.” We grabbed our cameras and set up waiting for the wolf to come closer. She never did. She decided to sit next to a tree way in the distance. Others gave up and started taking landscape shots as the sun was coming up. I looked behind me on the other side of the river and noticed a critter. I could see a long tail. “Is it a cougar,” I thought. I really wanted it to be one, but it was another wolf.

I pointed to it and showed the same gentleman that I spoke to earlier. He said “you have a good eye.” It walked the bank line away from us. A few of us chased him up the river taking pictures as he went by. After a few miles he was gone. I packed up my gear and gave up on this spot.

Now I was headed toward Fishing Bridge, and out toward the East entrance. There have been Grizzlies spotted out that road. So I could only hope.

It was just after 7 A.M. and I drove past Fishing Bridge, even past Yellowstone Lake. I came around a corner and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Was that really a Grizzly sleeping only 20 feet off the road? I hurried and turned around, and to my excitement it was! I started snapping away from inside my car. I was less then 30ft from this guy, but he didn’t seem to mind. It got up and walked 10ft and lay back down. Another car pulled up right behind me. I though he was crazy to get out of his car, but I thought he had a good idea for better shots. I too got out, but kept the car between us for safety.

A ranger pulled up and I thought we were going to get scolded for being too close, but all he said was for us to make sure we pulled our vehicles all the way over the white line on the road. I pulled up 20 ft, and it was even a better angle. This Grizzly laid there for a while, scratching his head, and yawning. It was perfect. More cars stopped, I had created a “bear jam.”

The bear walked up the road a ways giving us many great shots. Soon he headed up into the trees and over a hill. Another exciting morning this was. Talking to some of the other people there, I learned that his name was 'Pepper.” A guy reported that he 'chases' this bear all the time. I learned that this is the same bear that I took pictures of 2 years before.

After this great morning, back to my hotel I went to show off more pictures. However my group of 30 people were showing up today, so I decided to wait until they made it and headed back into the park.

Copyright © Wesley Aston

That afternoon the group of people I was waiting for started showing up. There was a Yellowstone Meet and Greet gathering started from the website, http://www.dpreivew.com. With the exception of my relatives, it was a group of people all meeting for the first time to take some pictures and learn some new techniques. I showed the group some of the pictures I had taken prior to their arriving. Everyone was quickly ready to head into the park to find some great shots of their own.

We had a parade of cars heading in to the park, equipped with our two way radios and more money in camera gear, than the value of the vehicles holding them. My uncle was in the lead and he told me of a spot where there were leftovers of a Bison carcass. As we stopped there, I noticed a coyote on it. We all got out and watched and took pictures, as the rain started to fall. Good thing some of us came prepared for all types of weather. I borrowed a poncho from my Aunt to cover my camera gear, as I was getting soaked.

The coyote confused many people as they thought it was a wolf because of its body. Others thought it was a coyote because of his face. After a couple of days, most people came to the conclusion that is was indeed a coyote. This guy was spotted feeding here for a couple days, even though there wasn’t much left other then a pile of bones.

Copyright © Wesley Aston

The night was spent getting to know each other and plan the next days outing. Everyone wanted me to lead them out into the field since I had such good luck finding animals, and some great photo opportunities. We headed back out toward Fishing Bridge, as many peoples goal was to see a Grizzly. Unfortunately none were spotted this morning, and I felt like the others were being let down, but that’s the way it goes in Yellowstone.

The group headed toward Mammoth, and on the way a “Bear Jam” was in progress just before the town of Mammoth. It was a black bear. At least the morning wasn’t a waste. We worked our way up to the Tower area, where a mother Black Bear has been with her 2 cubs. Nothing was spotted, only people looking for bears.

We were headed to Cook City for lunch making many stops on the way, finding more carrion and even a Great Horned Owls nest with some chicks in it, but still no bears or wolves. The scenery was wonderful. The closer to Cook City you got, the taller the mountains became around you. This town was small, but they have fuel and food, what more do you need. Lunch was expensive but that’s what you will pay when you're way out in the mountains. It sure was good.

We started our trip back hoping to find anything. Lots of critters were spotted - even a red fox with a ground squirrel. Soon a huge “Bear Jam” was in progress as my Aunt called over the radio, “Come quick! There are two bears in this field, one is cinnamon colored.” There were hundreds of people around watching these 2 black bears walking up a small stream toward the Petrified Tree area. The cinnamon one put on a show scratching his back on a tree. This made it exciting for the group of people that showed up the day before. Now I felt better about not finding anything that morning.

Soon we were on the road again, heading back to West Yellowstone where we were all staying. There was an Elk carrion spotted in the water the night before, it looked like a rock and many people just drove by. We came closer to it as there were many people stopped next to it. There was a Bald Eagle eating on it, so this created more excitement. Soon it was spooked by the amount of people gathering to watch, but what a site it was.

The next day, people went off to do and travel the park as they wanted to, after all it was there vacation too. I spent the day with my Uncle Bill, Aunt Wanda, and Cousins Brandy and Ryan. We went to Old Faithful and had lunch at the Snow Lodge. It was early in the season so the place didn’t have many people around. This was perfect. After lunch, Bill, Wanda and I made it over to the Elk in the river were the Eagle was spotted that morning feeding again. This time we wanted to make sure and get the good spot and be there before anyone else.

Four hours had gone by with very little action. One eagle did fly by, being chased by a raven, and even an Osprey would fly over head once in a while. I left a couple times to see what was happening by their nest. After coming back the 2nd time, I figured I would finally set up next to Bill and wait. But then, one of the eagles landed in a tree across the river, and soon so did the other. I never made it next to Bill! People started pulling over and taking pictures. We waited, and waited, the light was disappearing behind the mountains, and the eagles just sat in the tree.

Finally one flew down to the elk and landed right on it. Some people around just thought it was a rock, and I told them what it was. The excitement grew when this eagle tore into the elk. Soon the other flew down and joined in on the feeding. I bet a few thousand shots were taken within minutes as the crowd of people stopped and watched these 2 eagles not but only 20 yards into the river. Soon one took off, and it flew right toward me. I couldn’t believe the angle I had, I couldn’t have picked a better spot to be in.

I worked my way up closer to the other bird as it finished its dinner and soon followed the other back to the nest. There were 2 chicks waiting for their dinner to be brought back to them. It was well worth waiting around for many hours to see this happen.

Copyright © Wesley Aston

Then next morning was my last day in the park. So at 5 A.M., I was out of bed and into the park for some last early morning pictures. Only a few others were up this early. The early mornings and late nights were getting to the others. I found a coyote trotting along the road, so I followed him for a while. Soon I was back to find an eagle feeding the same place as the night before. This time, I was the only one there watching and taking pictures. This made it hard to head back to the hotel and pack my things.

I thought I would have been bored after 5 days of chasing animals in the park, but all it did was make me want to come back more and real soon too. I will make it back in the fall when the Elk are out bugling, that is another site to see and hear. At least I have the memories from this trip taken in Mid May to keep me wanting to come back. The photos I took on this trip can only show the things I saw, but will never show the feeling I felt while being in the park. You will have to make your own trip to enjoy all of it first hand.

If you would like to see more of Wesley Aston images, you may visit www.wesleyaston.com

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