YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Excited to be in the Tetons during Winter!  So excited that I kept waking up and wondering if it was time to go out and play yet.

In the darkness of morning I slipped into my car and headed into the park, driving slowly for fear of moose, deer or elk crossing the road.  The Elk Refuge has more elk than I have ever seen at one time in my life and there are some big boys out there.

After catching some rainy, cloudy days last Fall, when the Tetons mountains were not visible, I wanted to pay special attention to the mountains and could not help but stop to do a little slow exposure photography that brought the view out of darkness.  I love the blue moments of the morning.

I saw the snowy field (excited by snow since Yellowstone has such a deficit) and the fence with the mountains way off in the distance and wanted that too.

I thought about going to the Oxbow but decided to try a new spot – one that I have test photographed in the past – and not take any chances of the sun rising without me.  Turns out that there wasn’t much of a sunrise so that part didn’t matter.  But, it turned out that there were two bull moose in this spot.

So, is was minus 12 and I had not put on my ski pants but still went running out into the morning, following a trail from the road, along the river bank to this spot.  I waited for morning to arrive, capturing some video and hopefully the sound of the ice tinkling in the river.  And, a little time lapse but maybe not enough.  And, I dreamed of the moose getting up and walking across the river in front of the Grand.

2.5 hours later he did do that journey.

On a funny note – when saving this image I called it moose xing snake, only altogether for mosexingsnake.  In a way, yes, it was a sensual and surreal moment.  My patience really paid off.

When I returned to my car and started to drive north was when I realized how cold my body was.  Before long it began to thaw and I shivered from head to toe for hours.  No amount of hot seat and heat would warm me, this was cold through and through.  My hands had suffered while out there and I had fallen into the snow, up to my butt and gotten quite wet but it was such an incredible morning that I had not really noticed.

The Pine Marten was next.  We had an idea that one might be around but Sam had foxes on the brain and left right before I found this cutie.  Luckily for him he got curious about what I was up to and returned for some of the show.

I am hooked!  This was more fun than I have had in a long time.

And then it was time for the Foxy Lady of Colter Bay.  She is not the most cooperative of foxes and seems to have a disdain for us photographers, although it was evident to me that she knows Sam and his car.

It was one amazing day to be a photographer!

At the moment there is a blizzard out there and visibility is about zero.  Good day to be working on computer backup issues.  All of my cards are full and I couldn’t download images and re-format so no shooting until this is fixed.

Have a great day and hope you enjoyed the story.

Deby