Due to the length of this post, I'll sum it up quickly at the beginning for those of you who don't want to or have the time to read; go, go, go.
At the end of June, my wife and I drove from Madison, WI., to Wyoming to visit Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Both of us love road trips, and the chance of seeing wildlife that isn't near Wisconsin was an added bonus. I bought a few things specifically for this trip. Those things were a Nikon 300mm f/4 (the older version) for wildlife, a Rode video mic for better quality audio for any videos I might take, and the Lowepro Flipside 15L because of the better support and design compared to my old photo backpack.
The first day was mostly driving, and we didn't see anything too exciting. We drove through the southern part of Minnesota and then through part of South Dakota until we got to Rapid City, which is where we stayed.
On day two, we stayed in South Dakota and went to Badlands National Park. I had been there once before, but had only seen a fraction of what Devan and I saw this time. We also saw two mountain goats. While Devan and I were photographing the mountain goats, two deer came out of no where and started running around, which was kind of weird to see. For the rest of the day, Devan and I drove and hiked around the park until about 4 pm. On our way out, we stopped and watched some prairie dogs.
We then went and saw Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. I've also been to Mount Rushmore before, but didn't remember the drive being nearly that epic. I love driving through the mountains, and didn't really expect to see any until the second day of driving.
The next day, we drove from Rapid City to Moran, WY. On the way, we stopped at Devils Tower National Monument as well as every pull-off to take photos that we saw. We hiked around Devils Tower, which took an hour or two, and then continued on our way to Grand Teton National Park.
While driving through Bighorn National Forest, we were fortunate enough to spot a moose. We had driven past a car that was parked along the side of the road, and Devan quickly discovered it was because of the moose. Luckily, there was a place to pull off pretty close to where the moose was, so we stopped and photographed it for a few minutes. We also saw quite a few deer along the way.
After driving through a surprising deserty-type section, we arrived at our cabin in Colter Bay Village in Grand Teton National Park around 11 pm local time. The cabin was very "rustic" and had no TV or internet, which we didn't mind. The cabin did have a shower and a toilet, which is more than we have when backpacking, so we were happy. I somehow managed to suppress my excitement long enough to fall asleep.
The next day, we woke up bright and early. Our plan was to go to Yellowstone for two days and Grand Teton for three. The first day in Yellowstone, we saw Old Faithful, which was pretty cool. After Old Faithful, we drove through the park and saw our first bison. I pulled off on the side of the road and took photos like this might be the only one I'd see.
We continued to drive through Yellowstone, and saw many more bison, a black bear, a fox, mountains, and snow. We also drove to a couple of waterfalls. The best waterfall we saw was definitely at the "Grand Canyon" in Yellowstone. (http://www.danpomykalski.com/honeymoon/h150a8ee8#h150a8ee8)
The highlight of that day was definitely while we were leaving the park. On our way out, we were driving past some geysers and saw a heard of bison walking through them. The photo I captured was probably my favorite of the entire trip. (http://www.danpomykalski.com/honeymoon/hb8f5861#hb8f5861)
On our way back, we got stuck in a bit of a snow storm. I've never been so afraid in my life while driving. Last year, Devan and I went to Moab, UT with some friends and drove through winter storm Virgil. Driving through this was much worse. We were in the mountains, alone on the road, with the possibility of animals emerging at anytime, in almost absolute darkness. This was the last time we drove home from Yellowstone at night.
The next day, we went back to Yellowstone to walk around and see some of the geysers. This day was by far the coldest, and it snowed off and on for most of the day. The cold weather didn't stop us though, and we saw the majority of the geysers around Old Faithful.
The next three days were spent in Grand Teton National Park. These days all kind of blend together, but I'll do my best to mention everything.
On the first day that we spent at Grand Teton National Park, Devan and I woke up around 5 am to see the sunrise. The sun hit the mountains as it rose, which made being tired well worth it. After the sunrise, we hiked to a waterfall near Jenny Lake. We didn't see much wildlife on the hike except for a pair or marmots, but the waterfall was worth the very hilly two mile hike. We took a boat back to the parking lot and had a lunch consisting of snacks and a hot dog bought from the gift shop/convenience store. (http://www.danpomykalski.com/honeymoon/h8c379ef#h8c379ef)
The next day, Devan and I went on a wagon ride. The wagon was pulled by horses, and left from our cabin and went to a secluded spot, where we had steak, potatoes, corn, and s'mores. The dinner was pretty good, but seeing a grizzly and her two cubs on the way was definitely the highlight.
On our way to the spot where we were eating, a ranger pulled up behind us, which everyone though was a little weird. Then another ranger pulled up in front of us, which is when people started wondering what was going on. I jokingly suggested to Devan that they might be tracking an animal. Next thing I knew, we were stopped because of a grizzly and her two cubs that were searching for grubs about 25 yards from us. We were probably only stopped for about 15 minutes, but it felt like hours. We all sat quietly as the bears got closer and closer. Eventually, the driver (I don't know if that's the right term or not...) of the wagon told us that the horses "might jerk" and run off into the woods. She told us that it probably wasn't likely, but to hold on and not to panic if it happened. Eventually, the excitement of seeing a grizzly so close wore off, and I slowly began to realize that the bear didn't seem very scared of us, and that it probably wasn't going to turn around any time soon. The driver asked the rangers how much longer we should wait, and the ranger said it was probably okay to start going now. The second the wagon moved, the grizzly immediately stopped and stood on its hind legs. Time almost slowed to a stop as I prepared myself to run into the ranger's vehicle if it came to that. Luckily, the grizzlies ran away from us instead of towards us.
After riding in the wagon for 30 more minutes, we arrived to the spot where dinner was served. While eating, two foxes were walking around the area. We were told that the foxes liked to show off what they catch and also liked to try to get food from people, so they would get pretty close. Unfortunately, we were also told that one of the foxes was beginning to get aggressive and had been nipping at people. As far as I know, when wild animals begin to do this they're either relocated or killed. (http://www.danpomykalski.com/honeymoon/h3b5f3d76#h3b5f3d76)
Other than the hike and wagon ride, we spent our days driving around the park looking for animals all day. Some of the animals we saw in Grand Teton National Park was a moose, one grizzly twice, the grizzly and her cubs, elk (which we didn't realize were elk until we left), deer, a coyote, pronghorns, bison, pelicans, a bald eagle, an otter, huge ravens, cormorants, ducks, and two marmots. I was expecting to see bison, but all of the other animals besides the ducks, pelicans, and ravens were a surprise. The only animal we didn't see that I wish we would have was a wolf.
I bought a Nikon 300mm f/4 specifically for this trip, and I'm really glad I did. A lot of the photos I took wouldn't have been possible without it. Next time, I'll probably buy a teleconverter as well. There were a few times where a little extra reach would have been helpful.
Every day except for one, we went to the restaurant that was right next to our cabin for breakfast. We also went to the same restaurant for dinner a few times, as well as a pizza place that was in a marina, which we went to multiple times a day sometimes.
I'm going through a bit of a wildlife photography phase, which made this trip even more amazing. I also love the mountains, and would drive the 4,000 mile round trip just to stare at those for a few hours. The only downside is now I'm not as enthusiastic about going out and trying to find animals to shoot around here because I know I probably won't run into a moose, bison, or grizzlies. I don't know when we'll be going back, but I'm going to try to make it a semi-regular thing. If you haven't been out there yet, do yourself a favor and go.
www.danpomykalski.com
See all of the photos from the trip here: http://www.danpomykalski.com/honeymoon
No comments:
Post a Comment