Saturday, June 29, 2013

Photo Shoot

Hi All,

This morning we visited two of the most photogenic spots in Grand Teton National Park.

First stop was Schwabacher's Landing along a quiet side channel of the Snake River. 


The reflections in the nearly still water were beautiful.

Sandy gave her new camera a real workout here. In addition to scenes like this, she got some great wildlife shots soon to be on her Facebook page.

On the way home we stopped on Mormon Row to photograph the barn from a different vantage point.

Right after that we got the scope out to watch a pair of very young antelope calves. There was too much heat distortion for a picture.

As long as the scope was out, Carl took this shot of the very top of Grand Teton at 13,770 feet.
Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Back Country Day

Hi All,

We were originally concerned about the requirement to work four days a week. However, one of those days is a " Back Country" day when we hike the park trails, interacting with visitors and promoting bear awareness. Since that's what we do on some of our days off, it has turned out not to be a problem.

This morning as we drove to the trailhead, the low clouds and high clouds split giving us nice mountain views with bison in the foreground.

We were delayed for a few minutes because some of the bison decided it was a good time to stand in the road.

Our hike took us to the north end of String Lake past views like this.

In the evening, a brief shower gave way to sunshine and this almost double rainbow.
We are still in the mode of wondering why they don't make us pay them to do this!

Love 

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Monday, June 24, 2013

Life in the Wildlife Brigade

Hi All,

The last few days were pretty quiet with no major moose or bear jams.

We did have visitors in our site again. The two sibling one year old moose wandered into our site, checked out the plant on the table and then, we thought, licked the table cloth. In the morning we found this! Guess he took a bite.


More clear skies today. This panorama was taken from the Cathedral Group Turnout

Just when we thought the day would end quietly, we came upon several cars parked blocking the road. After getting traffic flowing, we found the cause. This beautiful bull moose was feeding near the stream.

Finally, the moose wandered off and we headed home an hour late. Good thing we get double time after eight hours ;-).

Not so fast! Two miles from the campground we had to wait for about 50 bison to cross on front of us.
Another wonderful day on the Wildlife Brigade.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Friday, June 21, 2013

Moose & Solstice

Hi All,

Shortly after breakfast we noticed about a dozen photographers behind our coach. It was a photo seminar led by a local Jackson, WY professional and they had found "our" moose. A young male and female, probably siblings from last year were browsing in the willows 50 yards behind our site.

After an otherwise quiet day, we drove to Coulter Bay for a Summer Solstice potluck with the other wildlife brigade volunteers.

Here Carol Schoner tells the story of the WY woman who celebrated the solstice in the 1920's by throwing red dirt in the fire. We did the same. It's a fun group of people.


On the way home we watched the sun set behind the Teton Range. It was after 9PM and the sun still shone through Cascade Canyon. This is, after all, the longest day of the year!
As we pulled into our campsite we found a cow moose and calf feeding next to our motorhome. It was wonderful to see but we think this might be the same cow we previously photographed with two calves :-(.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

"Busy Work Week"

Hi All,

Our four work days went by quickly. Sunday we spent the morning at a "Bear Jam" where a female black bear and two cubs were up in a tree near the road. No pictures but we did get to watch the cubs nursing between keeping the traffic flowing and keeping people from getting too close.

Monday we spent four hours with this beautiful bull moose, feeding right next to the road. After we got the traffic moving, the moose wandered across the meadow within 50 yards of the Visitor Center on the way to the river.


Tuesday was more moose jams and campground patrols looking for items that might attract bears. We had dinner with Jim & Marilyn, enjoying the great onion soup Kim made.

Wednesday was our "Back Country" day when we hike along the trails promoting bear awareness and answering general visitor questions. This week we hiked around Jenny Lake with a stop at Hidden Falls. It was a total of about seven miles but we were sustained by views like this

and this.

This fresh pile of bear scat right in the middle of trail reminded us to stay alert
We knew bears were in the area but we didn't see any.

Life is good, Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Sunday, June 16, 2013

More Scenery than Wildlife

Hi All,

We spent the day touring the park with Jim & Marilyn Rosenthal, friends from NH who are now full time RVers. We found moose, bison and antelope but not too many or too close.

Along Mormons Row we found that some barns have not fared as well but are still photogenic.


From the top of Signal Mountain we had this great view of the Tetons and Jackson Lake.

In the evening we went to the Jackson Hole Rodeo. 
Another fun day.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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Friday, June 14, 2013

Camera Test

Hi All,

Sandy's new camera for photographing wildlife is a Fujifilm HS50 EXR. The big appeal is a 42x zoom lens equivalent to 24-1,000 mm.

We spent today driving around looking for things to photograph (not too hard here). Two miles down the road we stopped at a Gros Ventre River overlook and found five moose. Sandy took 1,000 pictures, one for each mm on her new lens ;-). Check Sandy's Facebook page for her images.

Carl shot this bull moose image with his phone, through binoculars.


From there we drove to Mormon's Row, a former Mormon settlement with several wonderfully photogenic barns.

This is the most famous Moulton barn which will be 100 years old in July.



Next we drove down Antelope Flats Road and found a herd of bison crossing the road, including this mother and calf.

On the evening we drove to the AMK Ranch, a U of Wyoming/Park Service research facility. Along with Walt & Betty, we had a BBQ dinner and an interesting presentation about elk migration and the effects of nutrition and predators.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone
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