Today, Jared and I spent from 5:30am -2:00pm in the Grand Tetons then moved on to West Yellowstone to meet with the rest of the MPEG GS attendees for our 7:00 pm dinner.
It was raining when we left our hotel at 5:30 am (3 hrs of sleep). By the time we got to Oxbow Bend for sunrise light, it was beautiful! We didn't make it for the beginning of sunrise but was told by a few other photogs there we didn't miss much in the way of color. The best light was 6:30am to 7:00am then a cloud bank ruined it.....
I got some different compositions of Oxbow this time around. There were some western grebes in the water close by but my long lens was in the car at the time.
We proceeded to explore the Jenny Lake and Signal Mountain areas.We drove up to the tip top of Signal Mountain overlook, took a few pics and watched a young black bear forage for food. We discovered Jackson Point overlook and was WOWed by the view there! Just one picturesque scene after another at all the turnouts.
We had some breakfast at Signal Mountain Lodge then explored the Jackson Lake Dam area. As we drove into the Dam(n) parking area, I spotted an adult bald eagle flying in the tree line. This area is known for eagles and osprey.
We explored Cattlemen's Bridge and discovered another amazing vista plus a beautiful mountain blue bird posed for us, a couple of colorful flickers posed as well and of course (the long lens is in the car 1/4 mile away!!) PLUS I witnessed an osprey circle overhead, dive in the water for a fish, struggle with the fish in the water then an american white pelican rushes over to the osprey to try and snatch the fish away from the osprey... as I watched in stunned silence.
Jared, did said to me, as we parked the car and started walking to this area (about a 1/4 mile): "Dad, you sure you don't want to take your long lens?", I said, nay.... "we are just going to check this place out, what can happen? " LOL.....Thats the beauty of these parks.......the unpredictability and when we will I ever learn????
We then visited Cunningham's cabin (some unique images there), Schwabacher's Landing, Mormon Row, went to lunch at Dairy Queen..... then revisited the Moran Junction Osprey nest. One chick is in the nest but we didn't see any adults on the nest. I told Jared look nearby as they usually perched close to the nest and BINGO, there she was .... perched in a nearby tree (See posted pic above). I was on the wrong side of the light but it was a fun find anyway.
We then headed to Yellowstone. Still tons of snow on the ground in south Yellowstone. In fact, so much snow, you could take some "winter 'scape" pics in June and people would swear they were taken in December.
Lewis Lake is still frozen solid.
We had a very nice dinner with all the MPEGers tonight. We discussed our plans for the week. We head out into Yellowstone at 5:30 am MST for the first official day of the MPEG Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park Groupshoot.....
Stay Tuned for my Day 3. The word is there is a carcass in the Canyon area and we plan to check it out first thing in the morning....
Mark
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