Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier Nat'l Parks

We just returned from a month touring the national parks of Wyoming and Montana.  My last post was from my first week spent in the Tetons searching for moose.  My luck with moose continued to be good with several more sightings in the Tetons and also several in Yellowstone.  After a week,  Karen and friends, Ron & Iris Smith, arrived and we moved to Yellowstone for the next two weeks. This was the Smith's first trip out west so our goal was to see and experience as much as we could in two weeks and we certainly did.  We hiked nearly every day with several hikes that were new to me.  I believe we all agreed the three favorite hikes were Phelps Lake in the Tetons, Mount Washburn and Delacy Creek to Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone.  After two weeks the Smith's returned to Florida and we headed to Glacier Nat'l Park.  The first day was spent driving the Road to the Sun and showing Karen the park.  The next day we joined a ranger lead hike to Upper Two Medicine Lake.  The ranger talked all about the eatable and medicinal plants of the region.  As luck would have it, Huckleberries were ripe and ready for picking so we snacked on Huckleberries all during the hike.  After being gone for almost a month we decided it was time to return to Florida so cut our Glacier time short a few days and headed home.

Even with all the hiking I did find time for photography so would like to share a few of my favorite memories with you.

The first photo is from Schwabachers Landing along the Snake River.  The short drive down a rough dirt road is worth the trip for a wonderful view of the Tetons and their reflection in the still waters of the landing.

Schwabacher Landing, Teton Nat'l Park

I saw this bull moose several times along the Gros Ventre River.  There was also a cow with two calves which I imagine were his offspring.

Bull Moose

In Yellowstone's Hayden Valley things were getting excited with the bull Bison in"rut". During this time the males aggressively court the females and are focused on either intimidating other males or finding love with the bison ladies.  One of their strategies for impressing the females is to wallow in dusty areas know as a bison wallow.  The bull below maybe spent too much time in the wallow. You'll notice he has his selected lady close by.

Bull Bison with his lady close by

We found this juvenile moose just outside the east entrance of the park as we returned from a trip out to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.

Juvenile Moose

We spotted this coyote several times in the Canyon area.

Coyote

The rut season for elk was still a few weeks away.  This healthy bull elk was in the burn area of the Arnica Fire of 2009 near West Thumb.  His antlers were still in velvet but that will soon change.

Bull Elk

It was a great trip and I'm already thinking of returning to Yellowstone in 2013.  You will find more pictures at my website.  The opening slide show on the homepage is all from this trip.

Thanks for following my blog and feel free to pass it along to friends.
David