July 15- The grand canyon of the Yellowstone River, near sunset, as seen from Artists' Point. One of my favorite painters, Thomas Moran, has an amazing work of this image.
July 16- The first shot is of a baby elk nursing on his mama, taken near along the Madison River near the west entrance of Yellowstone. When I pulled over, this mama had been on the other side of the road near the river, while the baby was with a bunch of other elk. Then the baby started howling, so the mom came across the road (out of nowhere, right in front of me-I hadn't even known she was there because she was down an embankment) and waded across the river to get to the baby, who ran for his mama and latched on right away. The second shot is of Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin area of the park. The color changes and brilliance are amazing, making this my favorite thermal feature.
July 17-Grand Teton National Park is absolutely beautiful. As gorgeous as the Tetons look in pictures, they are even more impressive in person. I kinda wanted to stay there and stare at them for the rest of my life. This first shot is a reflection of Mt. Moran in an oxbow lake of the Snake River. The second shot is of some wildflowers, taken from near the top of Signal Mountain. It amazes me how, even in such extreme climates, things will stretch out anyway they can to grow towards the sun.
July 18- Rocky Mountain National Park is also pretty high on my favorites list. The first shot is of a Stellar's jay, taken near Bear Lake. There were a ton of these beautifully blue birds and I was able to spend about fifteen minutes observing and photographing them. The second shot is of Bear Lake itself, with some mountains in the background. It had just stormed pretty violently, hail and all, so I was surprised that the lake surface was so calm. Long's Peak is in the background here as well, but obscured by the clouds.
July 19- Driving Trail Ridge Road, the highest paved road in the country with a maximum altitude of over 12,000 feet, is breathtakingly beautiful. I saw tons of elk along the road, including over fifty females and babies in an alpine meadow, but this guy was really neat to watch. There were about ten male elks (not sure if they're called bulls or bucks or what) right near the road. This shot was taken without any zoom, that's how close they were! I kept waiting for him to pick his head up, but he didn't, so I had to be satisfied with this shot.
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