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This article is Copyright 2005, James Morrissey, 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 the property of James Morrissey.

Wednesday July 20th

My wife and I woke up and left Mammoth at about 6:15 AM. Sunrise had been about 45 minutes earlier and light was coming in from a very pleasing angle. The great thing about getting up early is that there are virtually no other people in the park who are moving. We were surprised, however, at just high the sun was considering the time in the morning. The difference between Yellowstone in the summer and Yellowstone in the Fall (when we normally go) is much more drastic than here in the East. During the summer, it appears to be light all of the time.

There are two products that we brought on the trip that were very helpful that I feel are worth the digression. The first is sunscreen. We were using Alba Botanical's Facial sunscreen SPF 20. Considering that were often well over 7,500 feet up, the stuff works amazingly well. The other product is All Terrain's Herbal Armor. For people who want to avoid using any products like DEET, but still want to avoid becoming a human pincushion, this stuff works great. My wife opened it to scare away a mosquito in the car - and it went down immediately. It passed out, right into the Herbal Armor - not exactly the response we were expecting. We expected it to just fly away. I have never seen anything like it. The one con of it is that you have to except the fact that you will smell like a citronella camdle. It also needs to be applied every 3-4 hours, unlike many deet products that will last 6-8.

As I was saying earlier, the great thing about getting up in the morning is that wildlife is abundant - and you really have the park to yourself. Very soon after leaving Mammoth Hotel, we saw several female elk (less than five miles going towards Tower Junction). There were also 4 very impressive bachelors who were strutting through one of the fields. They had large racks, and we were pleased to see that they had not yet begun to rub the velvet off of their antlers. The light was coming in at an extreme angle and we could not do anything other than silhouettes. Having said this, I love doing silhouettes. As you can see from the image below, many of these guys had 6 points. What great luck!

Elk Silhouette - Mammoth at Early Morning (c) James Morrissey

At roughly 1.8 miles west of the Tower Ranger Station, there was a baby black bear moving through the side of the landscape. He was impressively small to be on his own, and we assumed that momma was not too far behind. While babies are always beautiful to photograph (well, some more so than others), I greatly respect a mother's right to protect her cubs. We did not want to push our luck with the baby bear and let him go with only a few half-hearted attempts at photographs.

We turned left at Tower Junction and began to move towards the East Enterance. We had the opportunity to see a small group of Prong-horn antelope. In 9 years of coming to the parks, I had not had the chance to see so many, so close. We later learned that they were camping not very far from a large wolfpack (the Slough Creek Wolfpack). I was REALLY pleased with the photographs. The light was excellent and they let me get fairly close.

Elk Silhouette - Mammoth at Early Morning (c) James Morrissey

Continuing East towards Montana, we saw a massive heard of buffalo...all before 8 AM. What was interesting about this heard is that I had never seen large groups of buffalo this far East. I later learned from one of the park rangers that there were many in the Parks Dept. that felt that the buffalo heard was much too large - estimated at over 4,500 heads. The winter and spring were very warm for the parks (a link will be at the bottom of the page to our spring trip to Wyoming) and many more of the wildlife survived than normal. The park ranger that we spoke to even intimated that there might be some controlled hunting allowed in order to keep the population down. I am not a fan of hunting and would rather see nature take its course - either through a harsh winter or a more efficient balance of wildlife (i.e. predators). However, I am not sure if that is a real solution or not.

At 10:30 AM, near the Calcite Springs Overlook, we saw two dear and fawns. The conditions were very bright...and the photographic day was starting to wind down until the evening. We spent much of the day scouting areas for the next day and shooting landscapes when possible.

There are several interesting photographic spots in the NE area of the park. Many of them will allow for good photography in direct sun.

(1) The road between Tower Falls and the Chittenden Road has SPECTACULAR wildflowers. Many people are not going down the road either because the Dunraven Pass is closed. This is unfortunate, as the Dunraven Pass is regularly a great place to view and photograph wildlife. Later in the week, we had the opportunity to be introduced to David Brookover, by a friend of outs, at his gallery. He had mentioned that the wildflowers this year were not anywhere as good as they were last year in that the colors and variety were not as broad. However, we really enjoyed the wildflowers as they existed - particularly in this area.

Wild Flowers at Tower Junction (c) Chanthee Keokhaw

(2) Slough Creek has some beautiful spots - both wildlife and scenic. The prong-horn antelope were abundant - with several different groups in the area. The wolves are also reportedly abundant. However, we did not get the chance to see any outside of a spotting scope. They were quite far away as they are skittish of humans.

The Wolf Watchers (c) James Morrissey

We also learned that the Druid Pack that we had been watching for the last couple of years had been pushed out of the Lamaar Valley. They are now called the “Agate” group. They are centered around Cache Creek. We were told by one of the rangers that peek viewing hours are in the mornings between 5 AM and 8:30 AM and after 6 PM.

We went back to Mammoth for a short break. As evening approached, we went back to Slough Creek hoping to glimpse some wolf activity. There was no sign of wolf activity that we saw. However, there WERE plenty of people watching with spotting scopes. We stayed for a couple of hours and left. We were a bit disheartened but agreed to come back in the morning and give it another try. We still wanted to see if we could make sunset at Mammoth. Unfortunately, we were driving behind someone who thought the park speedlimit was 12 miles an hour and there were a line of cars stretching back about 1/2 mile. We were able to get up to park speed (45 mph) on a straight away, and pulled into Mammoth about 2 minutes after sunset. The sky had not really popped to that brilliant red, but it was closer than the night prior.

Lost Sunset (c) Chanthee Keokhaw

When we got to Mammoth, we stopped at the Mammoth Restaurant and had the Yellowstone Caldera - a mousse cake that was surprisingly good, and a Fat Tire (my favorite of the local beers out in Yellowstone). We proceeded to make it to our hotel, dump our files onto the harddrive and attempted to find an internet connection. Unfortunately, the hotels in Yellowstone really do not allow for residents to have any sort of online experience. It is an area that I would personally like to see change. However, there are many reasons, I think to keep the accomodations spartan. Particularly to keep people such as myself away from the computer while on vacation.

Thursday July 21st, 2005

We left Mammoth, after two nights, at 6 AM in the morning. on the 20th. The Mammoth Hotel was more than adequate in its accomodations - though as I said above, they are a bit spartan. The beds were comfortable enough, though, the lighting is quite dim in the hotel room. I like the fact that there is no television. Our goal was to wind up at Old Faithful Ski Lodge late in the evening, where we were staying.

Again, we saw lots of wildlife straight away. Upon leaving Mammoth (again towards the East Enterance as we were trying to see wolves at Slough Creek), we saw a beautiful coyote with a collar on its neck. The light was absolutely perfect and he was an impressive speciman. While I understand the importance of tagging a percentage of the wildlife, as a photographer, it somehow takes something away from the naturalness of the park environment.

Coyotee (in Early Morning) (c) James Morrissey

Shortly thereafter, we also saw our first Marmot by the Hell Roaring Trail towards Tower Junction. Apparently, they are all over the place. I am more observant about some things, I guess. :)

The Slough Creek effort was in vain. We spent more than a couple of hours watching the area. We DID see a wolf, but it was so far away that it was not photographable. Before leaving to go to the West Enterance, we stopped at Tower-Roosevelt Lodge in order to have a bite to eat. I really liked Tower-Roosevelt. The dining hall was quite rustic and the breakfast food was very good. I had an omellette with cheddar that was quite fluffy. My wife had the pancakes. They were tasty (though perhaps not as good as Grant Village's later on) and there were plenty of them.

We headed towards West Yellowstone as it became very clear that sunblock alone does not cut it for protection at these altitudes. I was starting to turn a nice shade of lobster and wanted to get some additional protection. I picked up a Filson fisherman's hat at The Trout Shop in West Yellowstone. I had debated getting something with a wider brim, but I just cannot picture myself, a city boy, in a cowboy hat (regardless of how practical it is).

After we returned to the Park, about 1.5 miles before the Madison Junction, we spotted a large bull elk. He was a healthy size with 6 points. Not the largest we have seen, but handsome none the less. :)

We then did Hayden Valley. Hayden Valley is well known for the buffalo that tend to inhabit the area. This time was no disappointment. There were tons of buffalo scattered throughout. We were lucky enough to capture some of the herd crossing the river. I enjoy watching the buffalo ford as they appear so determined when they are swimming. I would never expect them to be such strong swimmers, but they seem to manage just fine. This was my second time seeing them ford the river. We saw them do this in September 2004 in roughly the same place.

Bison Water Music (c) James Morrissey

We also stopped at the Mud Pots. This was the second time I had used the 500 F8 mirror lens while on the trip. I had used it earlier on the pronghorns. I have had very inconsistent results with this lens. At first I thought it was me - however, after having used it for a few days, I am still not sure. I find that when I can get the focus right, the shots are sharp (though no sharper than my 200 F2.8 with a 2x extender at f8).

Antelope Play - 500mm F8 Mirror Lens (c) James Morrissey

We next made our way towards the Sylvan Pass from Hayden Valley. The Sylvan Pass heads out towards the East Enterance that leads to Cody Wyoming. It is one of my goals to photograph the rock formations that lead from Cody to Yellowstone. However, it is difficult to get there at the times I am interested in photogrpahing due to the fact that The Sylvan Pass area is under construction. It is twice the pity because some of the best wildlife in the park is reputed to be there. It is one of the few places to have even a small chance to see wild cats - though sightings are very rare and should be reported to the rangers if one should happen. We were able to take the time to photograph some more wildflowers.

One other digression of value! If you like the Park's ice cream - and I sure do - you need to see Pavel (I think that was his name) at the general store near the Lake Village (the one on the main road, not at Lake Hotel). The guy packs a mean ice cream cone. He does not always look happy about it, but I learned quickly that he is the BEST ice cream packer in the whole park. It must be quite a burden to be so excellent at something you do not seem quite so happy about. I am quite serious. The man packs the best ice cream cone I have ever had. Period.

The last opportunity to photograph wildlife in the evening was in the Lake area. There were two mule deer there. I had thought that I had gotten some beautiful shots though they turned out to have some motion blur in them. It was a bit disappointing because the composition was quite nice. The monopod, while very helpful, just does not replace a tripod. In this case, kicking up the ISO and pushing a faster shutter speed would also have been helpful. Even though the 20d is virtually noiseless at ISO 800, I still prefer to shoot at ISO 400 and lower.

Lake Mule Deer (c) James Morrissey

We finally arrived at Old Faithful Snow Lodge in time for sunset. We had hoped to get photogaphs of Old Faithful blowing, but unfortunately, the sky did not cooperate. There was a large cloudbank and rain coming. Sadly, we went and filled our guts with a fat tire and another Yellowstone Caldera Mousse. The place was packed. To make an already disappointing end to the day, the desserts were not properly warmed through and the beer was luke warm. However, ultimately, it was fine.

I was not in love with the accomodations at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. At first, the cabin appeared to be quite nice. However there was a problem. A pack of squirrels (or something) that had made the roof of our cabin into their home. It was as if they were having a convention - special speakers and all. We finally hit the sheets at around 10:30 PM. We were so exhausted that we crashed to the sweet sound of pitter patter without any serious problems. I suppose that it is to be expected in a natural environment and not worth complaining about. Everybody's got to have someplace he calls home...