After a midday break, we head out in the evening to complete our tour of geysers and stop at the Lower Geyser Basin. While arguably not as attractive and charismatic as the Midway and Upper Geyser Basins, the Lower Geyser Basin is constantly active with thermal pools, bubbling mud pots, and the Clepsydra Geyser that erupts nearly continuously.
Our group stretches out around the area to capture their interpretation of the Lower Geyser Basin at sunset and by the time the sun goes down, we are treated with eruptions of not only the Clepsydra Geyser, but Morning, Fountain, and Jet Geysers also erupted simultaneously.
Day Four
Rising early from our hotel in West Yellowstone, we head back into the park as the sun begins to rise. Elk and bison still blanket the river bottoms and the cool air has the animals on the move. We’re on the move as well. A grizzly sighting has us headed to the Hayden Valley to investigate. Once there, we learn the grizzly has moved on. However, we find three coyotes feeding on rodents in the oxbow of a meandering creek. Mere yards from the turnout, the coyotes put on a show in the beautiful morning light as the trip participants take their position to witness the encounter.
Soon the coyotes move on and we’re headed downstream along the valley in search of more wildlife. We see some swans and a pelican far in the distance but nothing worth stopping for. Therefore, we turn our attention back to landscape photography and make a stop at the Lower Falls on the Yellowstone. This is an iconic spot.
From Artist’s Point, we take slow shutter speed images of the waterfall and marvel at the scenic beauty that rocks and the elemental forces of wind and water create. From this vantage point, it is no wonder that this spot has inspired writers and poets for generations.
Following a picnic lunch, we are back on the road this time to Jackson, Wyoming. The drive offers a bit of downtime to talk about photography and discuss upcoming plans. Mostly, however, it’s a time to reflect on how remarkable it is here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
A couple of hours after we departed the Falls of the Yellowstone River we arrive in Jackson, Wyoming. Along the way, we travel the Rockefeller Parkway – a scenic byway that connects Yellowstone National Park to Grand Teton National Park. As we travel south, the scenery transitions from conifer forests then lakes and rivers to open aspen groves with the immense Teton Range towering over the valley. The views are simply spectacular.
That evening we travel out to shoot an evening scenic as the sun dropped over the mountains. However, a herd of pronghorns caught our attention and we spend some time shooting pictures of them as they interacted with each other in a broad sagebrush meadow. As the sun dipped behind the mountains, we did spend some time shooting pictures of the colorful sky.
Day Five
An hour and a half before sunrise we depart Jackson for the Tetons. Our spot for the morning is a favorite of ours: Schwabacher Landing. Here a beaver pond impounds a creek and creates a mirror-like sheen that reflects the various phases of sunrise on the mountains and trees pristinely on the water’s surface. The whole scene unfolds slowly but is worth the wait.
After some spectacular landscape shots, we head over to the Mormon Barns. The Mormon Barns are part of an area called Mormon Row. According to the National Park Service, “…Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, sent parties from the Salt Lake Valley to establish new communities and support their expanding population. Mormon homesteaders, who settled east of Blacktail Butte near the turn of the 19-century, clustered their farms to share labor and community, a stark contrast with the isolation typical of many western homesteads. These settlers first arrived in the 1890s from Idaho establishing a community (named Grovont by the U.S. Post Office) known today as “Mormon Row…”