Yellowstone National Park - August 2009 (Part III)

Now for the third and final segment of Yellowstone pictures, starting with Upper Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail. We did all 328 steps down. Well, down wasn't the hard part!



A close-up of that rainbow...



Tower Falls...



The Yellowstone River snakes around...



This sign didn't lie...



My guess is this is a young elk...



Two views of Lower Falls from Artist Point at dawn




And, finally, the Teton Range again, this time from Snake River Overlook on the way back south...

Yellowstone National Park - August 2009 (Part II)

Most of the Teton and Yellowstone pictures were taken with a recently acquired Canon Rebel T1i, a 15 MP camera bought to succeed my aging 8 MP Digital Rebel XT. It's a nice camera but one major complaint is its mode dial is far too easily moved, which has led to me sometimes taking pictures using inappropriate settings. Oh, well. Now, if only the damned cereus plants would bloom! :-)

Here are some more Yellowstone pictures, starting with Clepsydra Geyser...



That's not marble, it's the damp surface of Grand Prismatic Spring...



Another, better show from Old Faithful...



Deer near Grant Village...



Yellowstone Lake at dawn, from near Gull Point..




Ironically, fishing isn't allowed from the Fishing Bridge, perhaps owing to the otters...



Family portrait...

Yellowstone National Park - August 2009 (Part I)

From Grand Teton, we went north to Yellowstone, a much more crowded park. Just inside the South Entrance, we encountered Lewis Falls, just off the west side of the road...




The Kepler Cascades, near Old Faithful...



Speaking of Old Faithful...



Boil, bubble, toil and trouble... at Firehole Lake...



Not the surf reaching the shore... it's boiling water...



A cascade of steaming, hot water...



Firehole Falls... nice, cool water...



At Firehole Cascade...

Grand Teton National Park - August 2009

After the most exhausting summer of my life, it's time for an exhausting vacation :-) Yesterday, we arrived in Grand Teton NP, having left from Salt Lake City where the Mesoscale Conference was held. These pictures were taken today, from near Jenny Lake. The first is Grand Teton mountain itself from the trail to Hidden Falls.




And this is downstream of Hidden Falls...




The sun, low in the sky over the Snake River at Oxbow Bend...




Bison are everywhere in the park, and are completely unafraid of people. Indeed, they like to stand in the road and stare at all the shiny cars with their strange, two-legged occupants. With time, bison encounters went from a scary novelty to a tedious event...




Here are bison walking in front of an old barn on Mormon Row...




On to Yellowstone...