Grand Teton National Park Sept 2024

The Teton mountain range is so beautiful and we're glad this wasn't our first trip because a storm moved in on our second day and you couldn't see the mountains at all for two days. We felt so sorry for the people who came to see the mountains and never got the chance.

We got up early on the first day to photograph the sunrise on the mountains. As we were driving out to an overlook we passed a female moose in a field, barely visible in the pre-dawn darkness. It started to rain while we were waiting for sunrise, but we just put on our raincoats and covered the camera and lens with its own little raincoat. The photos were not quite the great sunrise I was hoping for, but we did get a full rainbow so that was nice. We drove over to Gros Ventre campground area where we have seen moose in the past, but didn't find any. We couldn't spot any wildlife at Schwabacher's Landing either and Moose-Wilson Road was also a bust for wildlife until our last day. We saw a bull and cow moose at the ponds area on Moose Wilson on our last day in the park. We did see six moose total though half of those were from a distance and fairly brief sightings. 

This was our third trip to the park but we had never stopped at Menor's Ferry or the Chapel of the Transfiguration so we pulled in to have a look. Menor's Ferry was actually very interesting to us, we love history and learning about early settlers. The Chapel has a beautiful view of the Tetons on a clear day and is still a functioning church. I found myself wondering how much attention I would give the sermon if I could stare at the Tetons the whole time. 

We considered walking out to Moose Pond by Jenny Lake but it started to thunder, lightning and hail so we decided to skip that. We did stop at a boat landing along the Snake River and saw fisherman and rafters(!) putting in. This was absolutely crazy to me with the lightning strikes coming all the way down to the ground! We also saw two outfits going out on horseback rides in this weather, one group had the long duster coats on but the others just had their puffy jackets which would be completely soaked in a couple of minutes. I imagine they were questioning their decision to ride in that weather, I would be for sure. 

The weather was so changeable on this trip. We had sun, wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning, and snow! We usually have good weather in September so this was just due to a random storm coming through for a couple of days. Its okay, we just continue on and still have fun regardless of the weather.

Chapel of the Transfiguration 

Rainbow sunrise 

Moose pair

Yellowstone National Park Sept 2024

We love going to Yellowstone! This was our third trip and our main focus was to find wildlife, specifically bears and wolves. We also think the bison are cool and the moose, elk, pronghorn antelopes, bald eagles - it's quite an extensive list really. 

We hired a wolf guide for our first full day in the park with Yellowstone Wolf Trackers. Our guide Quinn was so knowledgeable and we had great conversations about wolves and wildlife management in general. We spent an hour or two watching a young wolf and other animals feeding on a bison carcass. Quinn identified the wolf as a one year old female from the Junction Butte pack. Even though she was the only wolf we saw that day, we still were quite happy because it was the closest we had ever been able to observe one. Everyone is supposed to stay 100 yards away from bears and wolves and everyone at this site was respectful of that limit while we were there. The first time we saw wolves in the park in 2020, they were a couple of miles away and very difficult to see even with a spotting scope so this viewing was definite closer. 

Once the wolf left the carcass some coyotes moved in to feed as well.  The coyotes in Yellowstone are so big and healthy that lots of people mistake them for wolves and these coyotes were big and fluffy. There were also adult and juvenile bald eagles that came in to feed. 

We like to go out to the B Bar Ranch in Tom Miner Basin to watch for grizzly bears. We have never been there without seeing some, sometimes we see quite a few. Viewing is better in the evening and this evening we saw 8 grizzlies -  a mom with 2 cubs at the ranch and then a pair of adult or subadult bears in a meadow near Grizzly Creek Ranch and a mother and 2 cubs not far from those other two bears. You need binoculars or a spotting scope if you want to see them very well. We rented a scope on our first trip to the park but then bought one of our own for the next trip. We have an adapter that allows you to attach your iPhone to the scope so you can take photos and video and zoom in even more. 

We also saw the grizzly known as the Lake Butte sow, nicknamed Raspberry by local photographers. We have seen her on each trip as she likes to hang out close to the road by the Lake Butte Overlook, She was a little farther east this time than we've seen her in the past but the weather had been very warm so a lot of the wildlife had moved to higher elevations to escape the heat. It had just started getting cooler when we were there, so the bears were starting to make their way back down to their usual areas. Raspberry has a new cub this year. It's an independent little thing, always wandering off and exploring.

We were driving east from the lake toward the park's east entrance when we saw a black bear, the only black bear of the trip in fact. It was in some bushes on a hill above the road and then came down the hill and crossed the road to go down the other side. It came relatively close to us and we were not super close to the car so Mike had the bear spray ready but we were happy not to need it. It would definitely be a measure of last resort but you should always be prepared. 

We saw lots of bison of course. We love the way they walk out into the road and just stop there. It's not like you're going to get out and shoo them or anything, they just don't care and you could end up getting hurt. We just sit and wait until they're ready to move on. They're so huge and make the funniest noises, it cracks me up but I have huge respect for how powerful they are and make sure I don't get close to any when we're out waking around.  

Black Wolf

Black Bear

Raspberry and cub

Coyotes