Mammoth Hot Springs is so much fun to visit. As soon as we pulled up to check in the at the hotel, we saw female elk resting and grazing on the lawn. The herd has full run of the town, and rangers are posted around the busy intersection to keep people away from the elk. This bull elk was resting with his harem nearby (this is rutting season). I used my 300mm lens and kept my distance from this big guy.
Just to clarify - this is not in a zoo or behind a fence. The elk wander wherever they want throughout the town and there are warning signs posted everywhere to beware of the wildlife.
Males develop branch type antlers which start off as spikes when they are yearlings.The size of an elk's antlers denotes their genetic abilities and strengths, their state of nutrition and level of dominance. They shed them during March/April and new antlers grow just weeks after and progress in the latter part of August when they reach their full size. In fact, the antlers a can grow up to one inch daily.
Tags: Bull Elk 10 prong antlers male rutting season YNP Yellowstone National Park Mammoth Hot Springs Wyoming chewing cud ruminant 6886 10-point 100+views
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We spent many hours in Lamar Valley in Yellowstone, an area known for wildlife. We saw many bison and experienced two "bison jams" (when the bison cross the road and hold up traffic); but the most exciting spotting by far was this eagle resting in a dead tree above the Lamar River, presumably looking for fish that were cast off after the fishermen released them.
When we spotted him there was no pullout & almost no shoulder on the road, so my husband just pulled over as far as he could and I grabbed the camera and jumped out and started shooting. I regret that I didn't have time to grab the tripod, as the focus could be a bit sharper, but I was afraid that the eagle would take off before I could get any shots.
I have a 300mm lens but as soon as we arrived at Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Tetons and saw the view from the hotel lounge, I was craving a longer lens... the marshes and meadows are teeming with wildlife but they are frequently just a bit too far away....
Tags: Bald eagle Lamar Valley Yellowstone National Park Wyoming 6741 npw 100+views
The Morning Glory hot spring at Yellowstone is one of the must-see spots on the geyser trail. This would have been a good place to use a fisheye lens or to stand on top of a really tall ladder. I stitched together 3 images to create this pano.
After walking several miles on the geyser trail, stopping many times for photo ops, the first thing we saw here was a sign that called this "Fading Glory". Although it's still quite colorful, the colors were more brilliant in the past until unwitting (or witless) tourists threw in coins and other debris which has clogged the vents, reducing the temperature and altering the type of thermophiles that thrive here. The colors are gradually fading from the once brilliant sapphire blue.... It's facinating to stare into the center and realize that the vents that feed this spring go down thousands of feet into the core of the earth.
By the way, it's not snow around the edges of the pool; it was sunny and in the mid-60's the day we visited. Snows come soon though.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Glory_Pool
Tags: Morning Glory Pool Yellowstone National Park geothermal 5462 5463 5464 Panorama 100+views
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It seems that many people only visit the geysers and thermal features at Yellowstone and miss the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It is jawdropping beautiful - steep, colorful cliffs rising above the deep canyon carved by the Yellowstone River, and punctuated by several beautiful waterfalls. It also seems to be the area from which Yellowstone earned its name - the canyon walls are lined with yellow stone that glows beautifully in the early morning light as on this day when we there at the upper rim trail.
It's interesting to look at the map view - the canyon is a deep gash easily visible from the satellite
Tags: Yellowstone National Park Wyoming Upper Falls River yellow stone 6538 6539 6540 Photomatix HDR waterfall mist misty 100+views Clear day blue sky
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From high on one of the hot springs terraces you have a panoramic view of the valley below in which Fort Yellowstone is nestled. This is Park Headquarters, near the border of Wyoming and Montana, and is unlike any other place in the park. The topography is more mountainous and the forest gives way to more arid conditions with fewer trees. The town is also fun to visit because several herd of elk wander around freely, stopping traffic, grazing on the flower beds, butting heads, etc. If you look at the very largest size, you can see the female elk resting on the lawn adjacent to the hotel. We even saw a bear climbing a hill across from the town square, but the rangers fired off a warning shot and he lumbered off into the bushes...
This is an HDR of 6 images, stacked in a vertorama; it was more colorful before I uploaded it, but flickr has a tendency to squash the colors sometimes....
Tags: Mammoth Hot Springs Yellowstone National Park 6953 6954 6955 6956 6957 6958 Vertorama HDR Photomatix tonemapped 100+views cloud cloudy day 500+VIEWS 1000+views
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