Yellowstone National Park

Wow! The geysers and hot springs are out of this world. You usually have to go in a cave to find things that wild.

The weather was perfect. Sunny, with just enough of a breeze that the occasional blasts of steam you pass through were welcomed. I had great timing the whole day too. Walked up to Old Faithful about 10 minutes before it blew, and Oblong Geyser started going right when I got to it. I hiked probably 20 miles today with some doubling back on sections to get to all the main geysers and Mammoth Hot Springs.

Chalk up one full day for me.

Old Faithful

Oblong Geyser

Mammoth Hot Springs

Punch Bowl Spring

Morning Glory Pool

Grand Teton, Day two

Chalk up another great day in paradise. I started out with a mama bear leading her cubs across the road in front of my car after which I found a campsite at Jenny Lake and wandered down to the lake itself for a panorama of the mirrored surface and a detail showing just how beautifully clear the water is. Then I took about a 4 mile hike to the far end of the next lake in the chain - String Lake. It too was clear but neither had much in the way of fish at least on the east side where I was. While at string lake I shot another panorama where you can see a bit of downed timber, the lingering remains of a fire. Also of note, a black bear came up the hill from the lake, and was rummaging around in the grass right next to the trail, blocking it. That is really what led me to making a 10 mile jaunt up and down the lakes instead of just up one lake and back.

Jenny Lake in the morning

Beautifully clear water

Remnants of a fire from long ago

Grand Teton National Park

This was quite a drive from the badlands. I reached the outer extents of the park around 6 and zigzagged through the pre-park and watched buffalo for a bit and shot some panoramas. Around 7 I actually made it to the visitor center and entrance gate. The first two campsites I checked out were full but the third time was a charm. I got a nice spot and two days worth of fishing license. I expect a good nights sleep tonight then tomorrow I'll move camp a few lakes down the road where I hear the fishing is good. The catch limits on trout are way more than I'd need to fill my belly too. I love trout. Hopefully I get at least one.

Between the park boundary and the actual entrance gate

My lovely home.

Minutes away from my campsite.

Badlands National Park

I bet your office has walls. Mine doesn't! The views here are fantastic, and so is the trip. I will say though that it started out hot, and I'm not huge fan of the heat. And the only real exercise I'd been getting was from jumping to conclusions. Yet, as soon as I got onto the trail I found myself sprinting to the top and on to the next hill. My batteries are so recharged right now. I haven't felt this alive in years.

As for the sights, this is an overlook from just inside the main entrance to the park.

Deeper into the park, the territory is a bit rougher.

Birds aplenty!

This Westerm Meadowlark kept me company whenever I was at the campsite, and he was rumaging in the grass in front of the tent when I woke up too.

Flies can be cool too

When you think of flies, its normally the boring black houseflies or even worse those nasty biting horse/deer flies that come to mind. But other flies are actually quite beautiful and interesting. Flies are of the order Diptera, which means two wings.

This is a robber fly, in the Asilidae family. This particular one was pretty tiny. In general robber flies will attack other kinds of flies, beetles, dragonflies, and the like. A quick google turns up all kinds of critters that various robber flies have conquered.

Next is a hover fly, the Syrphidae family. They are generally harmless, mostly feeding on pollen and nectar. They have so much great color and detail in their abdomens, which are designed to mimic wasps and bees as a defensive tactic.

Here is a bee fly, family Bombyliidae. This is another harmless nectar eater, superficially looking like a bee, a cute fuzzy little bee.

All of these were shot near Berthoud, Colorado, the last two with a 28-105mm lens (with an ultrasonic focus, so it locks on fast which is a big help for these) and some combination of +2, +4, or +10 close-up filters, the on-camera flash even though it was full daylight, and the tightest aperture available (f/25), from a distance of about 3 inches. The robber fly I somehow lucked out and got it from a couple feet away with a long lens.

Pawnee National Grassland

What do you find in a national grassland? Not a visitor center. Not even a whole lot in the way of roads. And yet, it is a pretty sweet place to visit. I found hawks aplenty for starters. Some of them were in the air above me, once was carrying a snake, and another devoured a mouse for my viewing pleasure - the Swainson's Hawk in the previous post was that very hawk. It has plenty of grasses, obviously, rabbits, rabbitbrush, pronghorns. It lacked people though. No lines of cars. When I was there I think I saw two cars the entire day. What do you expect from 193,000 acres of largely flat ground? 

Swainson's Hawk

I've been asked what got me interested in birdwatching. It was definitely this, a lucky shot of a hawk which at the time I had no idea what it was or even how to narrow it down. In trying to find this out, I got introduced to a good group of birdwatchers in Colorado, and it set me on a path to have some skill at identifying birds, plus quite possibly an addiction to reference books on the subject.

My initial guess on this was that it was a Red-tailed Hawk. At first glance it seems like a reasonable possibility. The overall coloring is similar. The key though are the flight feathers - the big sturdy ones that make up the bulk of the wing's surface area. On a Swainson's Hawk, those feathers are dark and the covert feathers (near the "arm" bones of the wing) are relatively light. That is the biggest distinguishing feature for a hawk in flight. Red-tailed Hawks have dark coverts and light flight feathers. There is room for variation, but a Swainson's Hawk will usually have a dark hood and chest with a light throat patch and a banded tail. The first picture especially is a textbook example. It was taken near Berthoud, Colorado. The second photo is a different bird, found in the Pawnee National Grasslands in northeastern Colorado, and it shows a much darker variation.

Other fun facts about them, their diet consists primarily of grasshoppers though I have seen them carry off a snake. Their wingspan is a bit wider than otherwise similar hawks, making them better adapted for gliding and long flights. In fact, while some hawks only migrate down to Mexico for the winters, these continue all the way to Argentina to escape our winters.