Yellowstone Day 3

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 200, f5, 1/400

Day three was a long day in the park. It started early so I could make the trek from West Yellowstone to Lamar Valley. As some of you may know, Chad and I had an absolute blast out there last year. I knew it was remote that I would come across a elk carcass that was near the road that wolves were feeding off like last year, but I had to try. 

Not long after entering Lamar Valley I saw my first car jam. I stopped and asked what everyone was looking at. A lady said there are 3-4 wolves laying down out in the field. No way! Could I be this lucky again? No, was the answer. The wolves were over a mile out and could only be seen with a spotting scope. Which the lady was nice enough to let me view the wolves through. As we were talking about the wolves I asked if they had seen any grizzly's yet. She said there was a sow and three cubs that just went into the tree line 5 minutes prior to my arrival! Dang! Missed'em.

After spending a good chunk of time in Lamar with not much going on (other than the wolves laying around) I decided to head to Canyon. That's when I ran into my next car jam. Due to the number of cars it had to be a bear jam, and sure enough it was! I quickly parked my car, grabbed my camera and set off to see my first grizzly. There is was in the middle of a field digging up the ground to eat. I'm not sure how long I watch/photographed the bear, but it was long enough to realize that I forgot my jacket, hat and gloves in the car. Although the bear was a little too far out I was able to make a shot that I'm happy with. I usually shoot fairly tight on my subject, but I wanted to show the setting the bear was in when I made the image.

More to come! I haven't even come close in getting through all of my photos.