Mountains – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

I love it when I find myself in the mountains and usually have more photos of where I am in the mountains than of the mountains themselves. This week’s photo challenge at LetsBeWild.com has “Mountains” as the subject! Wandering through the archives I wanted to share these lovely mountain photos with you! Are you ready to explore some amazing views?

Our first stop is Yosemite National Park. I loved the grandeur of the mountains rising up above Yosemite Valley. Here is El Capitan with Half Dome in the background.

Yosemite

In contrast to the green beauty of Yosemite, outside of the painted desert, we came upon these mountains with some amazing ribbons of color.

Mountains rising up as we head into the Painted Desert

In my own backyard is the Sierra Nevada range. On a road trip in winter, my friend and I stopped along the side of the road admiring the vast expanse of the mountain range.

A view of the Sierra Nevada Range

Heading way far north in the little town of Leavenworth in Washington State, I could not help but admire the lovely peaks surrounding us. Here is one view that I really loved!

A mountain view from Leavenworth, WA

A post on mountains definitely needs to include the Grand Tetons! And grand they are! Here is a shot looking across Jackson Lake at these beauties!

The Grand Tetons from across Jackson Lake

Yellowstone was mostly flat, but there are mountains rising above the Grand Prismatic Pool that still held the remains of winter.

The mountain behind the Grand Prismatic Pool in Yellowstone

Please take some time to check out some of the other entries at the Let’s Be Wild site and please do leave me a comment on their site! You can get there by clicking here!

I hope that you have a wonderful Thursday! The weekend is almost here! Enjoy and thank you for visiting!

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The Bald Eagle’s Nest

When we visited Yellowstone and were heading to the southern end of the park, we came around a bend in the road and there were a bunch of cars pulled off the side of the road. Everyone standing there was looking up. We just had to pull over to see what everyone was looking at. This park does not fall short of sights to see and we were not disappointed for stopping.

At the top of a craggy looking tree, was a huge knot of branches and twigs and this is when we saw her! There was a mother bald eagle tending to her babies! We were not allowed to get too close, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to get the shots that I did! Shall we go and check her out?

If you click on a photo once, it will isolate the single photo, then click a second time so that you will get to see a larger view of this lovely bird! Clicking a third time allows you to zoom in! Ready?

Our first sighting!

I wish I had a bigger lens to get closer up. I trimmed the image and it is not as sharp as I would like, but at least I get to share with you this beautiful display of nature’s beauty!

Tending to the babies

All seems to be OK

She looks my way

Isn’t she just glorious? How about one final view?

One final shot!

I hope that you have enjoyed these photos! Have you seen a bald eagle? Feel like sharing? I would love to hear your story!

Enjoy the day today, and thank you for visiting today!

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Wild Weekly Photo Challenge #5 – Wildlife in Yellowstone

Honorable mention – Challenge #5: Wildlife!

This week’s challenge from the folks at Wild Weekly Photo Challenge is Wildlife! We experienced some amazing wildlife while on a vacation to Yellowstone, so I thought that I would submit photos of the wildlife we saw at the park. I hope you enjoy my entries this week, and that you take the time to click on the link at the bottom of this post and kindly leave your comments to me on their site! So, ready? Here we go with my photos of wildlife found at Yellowstone!

A lone wolf

A buffalo rolling in the dirt!

Elk at Fort Yellowstone

This buffalo has something to say!

Where is the Marmot?

A white wolf

Such a lovely bear!

Now make sure to click on this next photo! It is a rare catch of an eagle in her nest!

In the Eagle’s Nest

Again, I am participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge This week’s Challenge again is: Wildlife Please be sure to check out the other photos submitted for this challenge! There are some really talented folks out there!

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Memories of Yellowstone – Part VI

At the southern end of Yellowstone are the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Who could pass up the opportunity to see these mountains when so close? We got in the car and headed out.

We entered Yellowstone through the west entrance and got down the road a piece when all of a sudden the traffic was bumper to bumper. Now its a two lane road, one lane each direction, and we could see at the bend about two miles away that traffic was at a full stop. We were stuck. The cause? About 300 buffalo got out of the park, and the rangers rounded them up to bring them back in. We were behind them. When traffic finally started to move, the rangers had them off the road in this field. They were spread out everywhere. We had just gotten out of the car to take photos when the ranger came around and said we should get a move on otherwise we would be behind them again!

The herd returns - see the ranger?

I was able to catch a cute photo before we continued on.

Baby bison

The drive took quite a while, but once the Tetons were in sight, you understand why they are called “grand.”

Can you say Grand?

Tetons

Breathtaking is one word that comes to mind as you gaze at these majestic mountains.

An awesome sight

But to get the true flavor, click on this panoramic photo!

Panoramic of the Grand Tetons

We easily spent hours there, and then had to head back. We were to return home the following day. We took one last look…

Leaving the Grand Tetons

If you have not been to Yellowstone, or to the Grand Tetons, it is well worth a trip. We went in May and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Later in the season you might see the moose and bear. If you go, tell them Barb sent you!

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Memories of Yellowstone – Part V

Every day we discovered amazing new things while we traveled on the inside of the super volcano. We were heading towards Fort Yellowstone and I was able to catch some incredible photos. Should you find yourself with the opportunity to visit this park of geological significance: Go!

Here are some of the sites we saw in Part V of our trip. Each day that we headed into the park we were greeted by views of the bison.

Bison with two calves

The geologic formations all around the park are incredible, as is the smell.

A geologic area before entering Fort Yellowstone

There are holes in the ground everywhere, and we just happened to be looking out on an area when all of a sudden…

Unexpectedly a geyser goes off

This was one hot area!

A Yellowstone hot spot

The colors were what was so spectacular!

The beauty found in the park

The colored areas are loaded with microorganisms, and the lighter white parts do not. In the area of Fort Yellowstone, we saw shelves, as it were, everywhere.

Shelves like these are all over the area

A close up of the shelves

What an array of colors

The Fort is the home not only to people, but to a number of Elk.

Elk at Fort Yellowstone

When we left the Fort we pulled off the road and headed to a campground. We came upon an unexpected delight of a basalt formation. It reminded me of “Devil’s Post Pile” in Mammoth, CA.

An amazing formation

The sun was starting to lower in the west and we headed back to the gates of the west entrance. We saw a number of cars pulled to the side of the road, and of course had to find out why. Here is the answer to why they had:

A bald eagle on her nest

Stay tuned for my favorite moments in Yellowstone!

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Yellowstone Memories – Part IV

I just wanted to share with you some of the many panoramic views of Yellowstone. There is more to come, but these photos range over a number of days there! Please feel free to click on the photos so that you can see the detail of what we saw! One photo, if you look close enough, you will see bear paw prints!

Grand Prismatic Spring

Yellowstone Lake

Inside the caldera of Yellowstone

Another view from inside the caldera

Sulphur Caldron

I hope that you enjoyed these panoramic views!

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Memories of Yellowstone – Part III – Old Faithful

This post took me quite a while to put together. It was a lot of trial and error. First trying a PowerPoint slide show that I could not get to work. Then putting together my photos in movie form, which took me hours to do as I have not done this before. This makes me realize that maybe I should start looking into obtaining for myself a video camera!

I must say that Old Faithful was truly amazing! The geyser erupts every 91 minutes and can shoot off up to 8,400 gallons of water. The average height of each eruption is about 145 feet, and each eruption lasts about 2 1/2 minutes.

Here is my clip:

There is more to come of my memories of Yellowstone! Today is to be a warm day, so I am heading off to the greenhouse and the garden!

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Memories of Yellowstone – Part II

We heard about the buffalo in Yellowstone, but there is nothing like seeing them close up and personal. Take a look…Feel free to click on the photos for an even closer look at the detail we were seeing…and enjoy!

Are you lookin’ at me?

A bull and a calf

What a pair – huh? These creatures were so amazing, and, they can turn on you in an instant. So, be warned if you go and visit.

A Field of Bison

Chowing down

Hey now…

We decided to head back to our room, and found ourselves in a traffic jam…the jam was due to…

What is holding up the traffic?

And, the line went on for quite a while.

It’s just us!

But what really held us up was the baby we dubbed “Norman” from the baby in the Billie Crystal movie, “City Slickers.”

Norman heading the wrong way

There is a lot more to follow on Yellowstone. So, stay tuned!

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