Back to Canyon
We returned to Canyon this morning to shoot from Artist Point. The skies were clear this morning, but it was too early for shadows to define the ridges leading down to the river and too late for golden light in the canyon. We will need to try shooting this again but more like 6:30 a.m.
We also returned to Lookout Point to get earlier light on the canyon. The lighting was better, but an hour earlier would be better here also. We walked back to the Ruby to get our long lenses to shoot the osprey nest we saw yesterday. Halfway down into the canyon is a volcanic ridge that leads down to the river. Atop a pedestal on that ridge was a huge pile of sticks that formed an osprey nest. The mother osprey was sitting on two eggs in the nest. It was interesting watch the osprey, but she was awfully small in the viewfinder.
We returned to camp after a brief stop to photograph some bison next to a reflecting pond.
We've driven every segment of the Great Loop Road around Yellowstone but one. Today, we completed the final segment. We drove north to Canyon Junction, west to Norris Junction, and then north toward Mammoth Hot Springs. As we dropped down from the high plateau through the Golden Gate, we stopped to photograph Rustic Falls. Rustic Falls fans out after it goes though a narrow gap between two volcanic formations and drops over a series of small ledges.
We stopped at the Hoodoos on the way down to Mammoth Hot Springs, but we couldn't find the pikas that are supposed to live in the area. I've seen lots if images with pikas in Yellowstone, but I've never seen any in the park.
Just before we dropped into Mammoth Hot Springs, we stopped at a turnout to photograph Canary Terrace. I found a lake at the base of Canary Terrace when I was here in the 90's. Carol and I hiked up a ridge and then cut across a hillside to reach the lake. The lake was shallow and reflected the colors of the minerals carried by the superheated waters of Canary. Much of the area I photographed last time was now dormant, but the hot springs on the south edge of the terraces continued to flow and deposit bright orange minerals down the slope toward the lake.
We drove through Mammoth Hot Springs and started the only segment of the Great Loop Road we hadn't driven; the segment from Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower Junction. Our first stop was Undine Falls on Lava Creek. Undine drops over a lava cliff in three steps as it flows down narrow gorge carved into the lava flow.
Undine Falls was an expected stop. Our next stop was not. We dropped over a ridge when we saw cars parked along the road in the curve ahead. When we looked down into the meadow beside the road, we saw a bachelor herd of elk. Most of them were young, but one bull had an impressive rack. Because it was spring, the antlers of all the elk were in velvet, giving them a completely different appearance than we have seen on our fall trips. During the rut in September, the bugling of the huge bulls echoes through the mountains. When these guys tried bugling, they had all the right expressions and posture, but no sound came out. They have some practicing to do before fall.
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The final stop of the day was the Petrified Tree just off the Grand Loop Road. It is a massive petrified log that stands alone on a hillside. There were two petrified trees here, but early visitors to Yellowstone removed souvenirs until the second tree was completely removed. A fence guards the surviving petrified tree.
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