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.

First Time Seeing a Wild Black Bear!

Nikon D90, 300mm f2.8 w/TC14 @420mm, ISO 400, f6.3, 1/640

Over the last couple of years I've been camping, hiking, biking, generally out in nature without seeing a black bear. My wife and I camped at Bear Head State Park were black bears are "common," and still nothing.

Again, our trip to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National park would prove to have many firsts for us.

Around lunch time, we were heading out of Lamar Valley and heading back to Mammoth for lunch when we came across this black bear. Surprisingly, there was just one other car pulled off to the side of the road watching and photographing it. However, that didn't last long. A short time later several cars and a park ranger arrived. We spend around 5 minutes with this bear while it was roaming around looking for food.

I was shooting out of the passenger side of the vehicle as the bear came closer and closer. With all of the people watching the bear, the ranger asked everyone to leave the area to allow the bear to cross the road.

Although, we didn't spend hours watching the bear like we did with the wolves it was still a great experience. On our next trip out west hopefully we can come across a grizzly!