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My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:05 am
by RikWriter
I don't think Y-Net was up for a report of my Spring trip this year.
It was a very rewarding trip in some ways, and very frustrating in others. The Dunraven wasn't open yet and there was construction on Mammoth-Norris, which I expected. Then, a couple days in, a water pipe burst and collapsed the road from Canyon to Lake and it did not reopen the whole time I was there. That meant that a trip to Fishing Bridge or Lake or the Hayden Valley required a drive all the way around Old Faithful so, needless to say, I didn't spend much time on that end of the park. Which meant I was not there when the Wapitis brought down an elk at Alum Creek or when a grizzly came by the next morning, and the only shots I got were of a couple coyotes and a bald eagle on the picked clean carcass.
At one point, when a friend and I were trying to go up Old Faithful way to get to the East side, a huge snowstorm hit and closed the roads and we were forced to drive out West Yellowstone back to Bozeman in order to get back to Gardiner.
Also, the concentration of people in one end of the park meant that for static events like the black bear COYs at Yellowstone Picnic Area, the crowds were so big I couldn't get a spot to get a clear shot.
So, yeah, frustrating.
But we were there for the black boar swimming out into Floating Island Lake to retrieve a carcass that had been there for months.
We saw a few different grizzlies, a couple with yearling cubs. I saw Quad Mom twice, once about ten feet from the road on the driver's side of my car. I saw one wolf, a Molly yearling that had been beat up by the Junction Buttes for straying too far into their territory.
And I got a pika in the snow, as well as some nice bison in the snowstorm shots.
I also saw my first weasel, though my shots of her aren't that great, up near Calcite Springs. I also hiked up and got some shots of the GHO nest there.
Oh and one final bonus. My friend and I were over at Yellowstone Picnic Area and the rams were around. There were buttloads of people there photographing them and the Rangers were directing parking and trying to keep people back. We walked to the picnic area side and got up the hill a little to try to get a shot of the rams across the road...and then we saw a fox just lying in the sage about 15 yards away. We ducked down and it stayed there for a good half hour just stretching and yawning, and no one noticed us or it until it finally got up and went hunting again, so that was cool.

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:11 am
by BeartoothTucker
Sounds like a successful trip. We went early June and saw 15 total bears over 3 days. Didn't see any wolves but we did see a moose the morning we left which made my daughter happy. We were charged while hiking by a nice bull elk. It was closer than I was comfortable with, at 15 yards I was about to spray him if he passed a tree that in my mind I had decided was my imaginary line. Once he stopped at 15 yards I screamed "no!" to him and he trotted off. Definitely surprised me, but at the end of the day no harm, no foul. Looking forward to getting back out in September.

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:11 am
by MGoBlue
Nice report, Rik. Definitely some frustrations but there's never a bad day to be in the Park, and it sounds like you made the most of it!

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 7:34 am
by Bruce
Nice spring trip report. I especially like the fox story.

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:07 am
by RikWriter
Here are some pics from the trip:

First the fox-

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Here's the black bear in the lake-

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Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 8:11 am
by RikWriter
Here's that stupid, very very fast weasel:

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Here's the pika:

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And the GHOs:

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And Quad Mom:

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Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 12:23 pm
by Mike
Great photos Rick,love the yawning fox and the look on the face of the bear in the water.

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:11 pm
by MGoBlue
Outstanding photos, Rik! Mind if I ask what camera and lens you're using these days?

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:18 pm
by BeartoothTucker
Thanks for sharing.

Re: My Spring trip

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:34 pm
by RikWriter
MGoBlue wrote:
Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:11 pm
Outstanding photos, Rik! Mind if I ask what camera and lens you're using these days?
This trip I was using a Canon 7DII, 1DIV, Canon 600mm f4 V1 and 100-400 V1 and a 1.4X TC VII.