Spring has sprung in Yellowstone

Here are a few images of springtime in Yellowstone. If you like to see baby animals, spring is the best time to visit the park. If you can't visit, these photos are the next best thing. Enjoy! =]:)

#wyoming #yellowstone #wildlife #video

I wondered where they all went!

After a 93 year hiatus, the elusive Jackalope has returned to the greater Yellowstone ecosystem! These beautiful, yet frightening, creatures were once widely collected by tourists, but better management practices have allowed a re-introduced pack to thrive again. These guys have been sporadically spotted all around the west, including Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. Idaho allowed a “shoot on sight” policy for Jackalopes, so they have not been seen there in quite a while...

Read the rest by clicking the photo!

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A very happy and content grizzly

If you need a smile, this video will do it. It's a happy and content grizzly, just enjoying himself after waking from a long nap in Yellowstone. Enjoy! =]:)

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Rescue Creek Trail

A hiker heads up Rescue Creek Trail near Yellowstone National Park's North Entrance. I love the shapes and contrasts in this photo. It almost looks like a maze.

How do you find Rescue Creek Trail? Well, I'll tell you! Start at the town of Gardiner and enter Yellowstone, then drive about 1.3 miles south on route 89 towards Mammoth Hot Springs. The trailhead is 0.6 miles from the entrance station on the left.

Have a nice weekend. =]:)

#wyoming #yellowstone

Happy birthday, Yellowstone National Park!

On this day, March 1st in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was born. Well, okay, not really born because it was already there, but the area was designated as a park and forever protected. In honor of Yellowstone's 145th birthday, I have included a few photos from the past. I hope you enjoy them!

The park was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone, widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. The region was bypassed during the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 19th century. Aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. The U.S. Army was commissioned to oversee the park just after its establishment. In 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than 1,000 archaeological sites.

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. http://goo.gl/1OQFVj

And so, my hats off to you Yellowstone and happy birthday! Thank you for all the wonderful years I've spent with you and for all the memories. Here's to many, many more. Cheers! =]:)

#wyoming #yellowstone #birthday

Artist Grafton Tyler Brown

Grafton Tyler Brown was an American painter, lithographer and cartographer. He was the first African American artist to create artwork of the Pacific Northwest, California and also, Yellowstone.

He was born in 1841 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His father, a freedman, was involved in the abolitionist movement. Grafton Tyler Brown worked for a printer in Philadelphia when he was just fourteen years old and learned the skill of lithography. Brown moved to San Francisco in the 1860s and he worked as a lithographer before becoming known as a painter in the 1880s.

He worked at Kuchel & Dressel in San Francisco from 1861–1867. In 1867 he opened his own firm and in 1878 he created The Illustrated History of San Francisco, which consisted of 72 topographical images of the city. He sold his company the following year.

He left the Bay Area in 1882 and moved to Victoria, British Columbia where he participated in the Amos Bowman Geological Survey. While in the survey, he served as a draftsman and documented the Cascade Mountains. In 1884 he moved back to the United States and traveled throughout the northwest and west, painting sites he visited like Mt. Rainier. He lived in Portland, Oregon, painting landscapes and also traveling to Yosemite to paint.

He visited Yellowstone in 1885 painting many of the areas beautiful landmarks and scenery. He made 28 of his park views available through a promotional brochure. You can see his View of the Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone at the following link. It hangs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It's my favorite: https://goo.gl/QeL68X

In 1893, Brown moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota. In St. Paul he worked again as a draftsman, this time for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and for the city of St. Paul's engineering department. He died in St. Peter, Minnesota in 1918.

#wyoming #yellowstone #blackhistorymonth

Happy birthday, Ansel Adams

He is famous for his photographs of Yosemite, but he also visited Yellowstone and took some beautiful photos.

It was 1941 when the National Park Service asked Ansel Adams to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior building in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, the project was never completed because of World War II. The US National Archives has 226 photographs from that project which were taken between 1941-1942, and 27 are of Yellowstone.

You can see all of them, as well as the Grand Teton park photos he took at this link: https://www.archives.gov/research/ansel-adams

You'll also find photos from other national parks there and it's worth the look. If you click the picture below, it will take you to a wonderful article about Ansel Adams in Yellowstone. Enjoy! =]:)

#wyoming #yellowstone #anseladams

There goes Beehive Geyser again

Beehive Geyser is located in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. The 4-foot tall cone looks like a beehive, which is where it gets its name of course.

The eruptions of Beehive Geyser last around 5 minutes and are about 200 feet high. The fountain of water stays at its full height for the duration of the eruption, dropping just slightly near the end.

Roaring steam at the end of the eruption can be heard a quarter-mile away. The time between eruptions ranges from 16-18 hours to one day during the summer. Winter eruptions are very erratic. Enjoy this video at my site of Beehive erupting this winter, just a few days ago in fact. =]:)

#wyoming #yellowstone #video

Bobcat looks out from its hunting blind from Madison River

The Yellowstone Bobcat (Lynx rufus) is one of the more elusive animals to spot in the park. They like to hang out in rocky areas, conifer forests and you can occasionally see one near a river or lake as they hunt. Winter is a great time to spot one.

I wrote more about the Yellowstone Bobcats here: https://goo.gl/JGTZZN

#wyoming #yellowstone #wildlife