Sunday, August 16, 2009
Nice Fish
Ed Campbell organized a fishing expedition at his In-laws place on Spider Lake in Northern Wisconsin. The center of Muskie Country. Muskie, the "fish of a thousand casts". Over the past two years I bet I made a thousand casts on Spider Lake. Tom caught and released this awesome fish at dusk on August 13 on six pound test line. Didn't have a ruler or scale. Based on objects in pictures the Muskie was 42-44 inches. What wonderful luck. For Tom one of the most memorable fish of his life so far. WOW!
Glacier - Waterton National Peace Park
Glacier National Park. None of us has ever been here before. Can't wait to see what's here.
Note, if you want to do this trip in the correct temporal order start with Badlands - Black Hills and work your way back through the blogs. You can click the link in the blog archive on the right at the top of the page to go to Badlands. Next click on Tetons working your way back.
The classic view in Glacier National Park. Looking towards Logan Pass over St Mary Lake.
One of the many glaciers that are the namesake of the park.
Many Glacier Hotel, a historic lodge in an amazing location. We stayed there 2 nights.
Bart and Alex in the lounge at Many Glacier Hotel. A great place to have a beer!
There were little waterfalls everywhere.
Glaciers have carved everything into smooth U-shapes.
Bart enjoys his first ramen soup in a couple weeks. He ate 3 packages and was very happy.
Bart and Alex skipping stones on Swiftcurrent Lake.
Careful Alex, that snow looks a little slippery.
Diane at a recently collapsed snow cave.
Bart and Alex in a snow cave.
Going-to-the-Sun Road is cut into the mountain to allow travel through the center of the park. Every way you look is a beautiful vista.
Bart and Alex receiving their Junior Ranger Badges for Glacier National Park. They earned 3 new badges, Badlands, Wind Cave, and Glacier. Now they have 18 badges and several patches.
At logan Pass Visitor Center Bart spotted a bunch of Mountain Sheep. There were 19, all rams. According to the ranger they were migrating. They gathered and then crossed the road together.
It was very cool because they ran down the mountain side in groups of 2 or 3 to where they gathered to cross the road.
I really like this picture of three big Rams!
Chipmunk above St. Mary Lake.
Mountain Goat near Logan Pass.
Mountain goat kid. Very cute!
Is that Mountain Goat Smiling? Sure looks like it.
Looks like the water in Swiftcurrent Lake may be a bit colder than than the Firehole River. But Alex won't let a little thing like that slow him down.
A bee looking for some lunch. I love my new lenses. The quality of the pictures on this trip has definitely gone up. I am in my happy place.
A rare thunderstorm in Glacier National Park. We sat on the deck at the hotel for a great light show. I ran to get my camera but by the time I got back this was the only lightening bolt we saw. Apparently, such storms are rare in the summer. The workers at the hotel were a bit nervous.
Bart caught a nice brook trout on Swiftcurrent Lake. He looks a little happy about it.
Waterton National Park Canada. Together with Glacier National Park in the US it forms a International Peace Park. It is the last of 7 National Parks and Monuments we visited on our trip. The panoramas were great and the wildlife was abundant.
The Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes. The last historic lodge we stayed at on our trip.
View from our Balcony at the Prince of Wales Hotel. Sweet!
Mountain Sheep lamb near Red Rock Canyon
Grizzly Bear along the road. What an amazing animal.
Black Bear in a tree during a rainstorm. It was only about 10 feet from the car.
Alex is very excited to go on his first horse ride. Something he was hoping to do on this trip. Look at that smile!
Diane and Alex on a ride near Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada. Diane on Silver and Alex on Skeeter. It was the final activity on our trip. Bart and I are very allergic to horses so we tried to go fishing in the muddy waters. They had a great time. Unfortunately they bruised their bottoms a bit. They would feel it on the long ride home.
Behind us the mountains of Glacier National Park. Two weeks of glorious National Parks and Monuments. Moose, Elk, and Bears. Mountains, Rivers, and Geysers. Memories that will last a lifetime. Ahead of us 1500 miles. 11 hours to Dickinson North Dakota. 16 more hours to Chicago. We got home about midnight. Exhausted and content. Can't wait for the next adventure.
.
Note, if you want to do this trip in the correct temporal order start with Badlands - Black Hills and work your way back through the blogs. You can click the link in the blog archive on the right at the top of the page to go to Badlands. Next click on Tetons working your way back.
The classic view in Glacier National Park. Looking towards Logan Pass over St Mary Lake.
One of the many glaciers that are the namesake of the park.
Many Glacier Hotel, a historic lodge in an amazing location. We stayed there 2 nights.
Bart and Alex in the lounge at Many Glacier Hotel. A great place to have a beer!
There were little waterfalls everywhere.
Glaciers have carved everything into smooth U-shapes.
Bart enjoys his first ramen soup in a couple weeks. He ate 3 packages and was very happy.
Bart and Alex skipping stones on Swiftcurrent Lake.
Careful Alex, that snow looks a little slippery.
Diane at a recently collapsed snow cave.
Bart and Alex in a snow cave.
Going-to-the-Sun Road is cut into the mountain to allow travel through the center of the park. Every way you look is a beautiful vista.
Bart and Alex receiving their Junior Ranger Badges for Glacier National Park. They earned 3 new badges, Badlands, Wind Cave, and Glacier. Now they have 18 badges and several patches.
At logan Pass Visitor Center Bart spotted a bunch of Mountain Sheep. There were 19, all rams. According to the ranger they were migrating. They gathered and then crossed the road together.
It was very cool because they ran down the mountain side in groups of 2 or 3 to where they gathered to cross the road.
I really like this picture of three big Rams!
Chipmunk above St. Mary Lake.
Mountain Goat near Logan Pass.
Mountain goat kid. Very cute!
Is that Mountain Goat Smiling? Sure looks like it.
Looks like the water in Swiftcurrent Lake may be a bit colder than than the Firehole River. But Alex won't let a little thing like that slow him down.
A bee looking for some lunch. I love my new lenses. The quality of the pictures on this trip has definitely gone up. I am in my happy place.
A rare thunderstorm in Glacier National Park. We sat on the deck at the hotel for a great light show. I ran to get my camera but by the time I got back this was the only lightening bolt we saw. Apparently, such storms are rare in the summer. The workers at the hotel were a bit nervous.
Bart caught a nice brook trout on Swiftcurrent Lake. He looks a little happy about it.
Waterton National Park Canada. Together with Glacier National Park in the US it forms a International Peace Park. It is the last of 7 National Parks and Monuments we visited on our trip. The panoramas were great and the wildlife was abundant.
The Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes. The last historic lodge we stayed at on our trip.
View from our Balcony at the Prince of Wales Hotel. Sweet!
Mountain Sheep lamb near Red Rock Canyon
Grizzly Bear along the road. What an amazing animal.
Black Bear in a tree during a rainstorm. It was only about 10 feet from the car.
Alex is very excited to go on his first horse ride. Something he was hoping to do on this trip. Look at that smile!
Diane and Alex on a ride near Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada. Diane on Silver and Alex on Skeeter. It was the final activity on our trip. Bart and I are very allergic to horses so we tried to go fishing in the muddy waters. They had a great time. Unfortunately they bruised their bottoms a bit. They would feel it on the long ride home.
Behind us the mountains of Glacier National Park. Two weeks of glorious National Parks and Monuments. Moose, Elk, and Bears. Mountains, Rivers, and Geysers. Memories that will last a lifetime. Ahead of us 1500 miles. 11 hours to Dickinson North Dakota. 16 more hours to Chicago. We got home about midnight. Exhausted and content. Can't wait for the next adventure.
.
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park. The oldest National Park. The best National Park. Truly an extraordinary place. Why is it the best? It has just so many things in one place. Great mountains and lakes. Want a canyon. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River is an amazing place. Comparable to the beauty of the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley. Plus it has the geothermal features. Hot springs and pools, plus the geysers. Oh, the geysers! Finally, the animals, Elk, Buffalo, and bears. All of these things to see make for a series of wonderful short hikes. Wander and see amazing things. Things that seem like they are from other worlds. Simply an amazing place.
This is one of many hot springs, painted with microflora. The different bacteria grow in different temperature water. Green in the hottest areas. Then Yellow and Orange as the water cools. Blue where the water is too hot for anything to live.
We stayed 5 nights in the Old Faithful Inn. A grand lodge made of logs that is over a hundred years old. It sits right on the upper geyser basin allowing wonderful short walks to Old Faithful, Riverside, and Grand Geysers and many Hot springs. Thats Old Faithful on the left.
I love the geothermal features. There is steam everywhere!
One of my favorites is Grand Prismatic Spring. The colors are remarkable!
When the wind blows the rising steam over the bands of color surrounding the spring it reflects the colors. WOW!
It's like a steamy rainbow.
Its a natural wonder of color and light.
The biggest isn't always the best. This time it is!
Other geothermal features are filled with soils forming mudpots. This is the fountain paint pots. A pond of bubbling mud. Too cool!
We took a swim in the Firehole River. The cold mountain water is warmed by the geothermal features that constantly dump near boiling water into the river. We had a wonderful swim.
Alex really likes swimming in rivers and lakes!
Grotto Geyser. One of the many small geyser in the upper geyser basin. More than half of the geysers in the world are in Yellowstone.
We got to see eruptions of most of the major geysers in the park. This one is Castle Geyser. Never saw a major eruption of Castle Geyser before. Quite spectacular! It went off as we were watching an eruption of Grand Geyser. The eruption kept going long enough for us to wait for Grand Geyser to finish and walk to Castle Geyser. I love the way the steam seems to melt into the clouds in this image.
This image shows a close up of the water and steam. You can really feel the power of this major eruption.
Grand Geyser in full glory. I think it is the best show in the park. Grand Geyser is the largest predictable geyser on earth. Its actually a series of three geysers known as the Grand Geyser Group. You can see Vent Geyser to the left.
Grand Geyser is a fountain type geyser. Here you see a nice release of water.
Here is Grand Geyser from a distance. The highest eruptions come at the end of the show when the eruption seems to end. Compared to the people in the picture you can see that the eruption is well over a 100 feet.
Watch Grand Geyser Erupt. The eruption lasts about 8 minutes. Here are the first 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Riverside Geyser. This was the first time we were able to see an eruption of this one. The water goes out at an angle over the Firehole River.
Riverside Geyser erupted for about 20 minutes. Quite a site!
Tom and Diane at Riverside Geyser.
This is Great Fountain Geyser. Its located in the lower Geyser Basin. We saw it erupt between a couple of storms as you can see from the cloudy skies.
Watch an eruption of of Great Fountain Geyser. Sorry about the raindrops in the lens.
This is Clepsydra Geyser at sunset. I stood between Clepsydra and Fountain Geysers at sunset snapping away with my camera. Photography heaven.
This is Fountain Geyser looking the other way from Clepsydra. I love the way the glow of the sunset is cast on the geyser.
Last but not least, Old Faithful. It erupts about every 90 minutes. We saw it erupt about 10 times during our stay at the Old Faithful Inn.
Old Faithful from the Geyser Hill. Its always quite a site.
Mammoth Hot Springs. A mountainous travertine terrace formed by the continuous flow of the hot springs.
One of the many small geysers constantly erupting in the park.
This is a close view of one of the bacterial mats that grow in the hot waters of Yellowstone. Its living art.
The structures and patterns formed by the bacterial mats are highly diverse in color and structure. Fascinating and beautiful
Diane didn't adopt a new religion. She just hates the mosquitos. Actually, they weren't so bad overall. But they were picking on her during our walk at West Thumb Basin.
This is a look up at Steam Boat Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin. It's the largest active geyser in the world. Eruptions are 300 feet. Unfortunately the last eruption was 2005. It must be a wonder to see. Maybe some day.
This is the storm that chased us out of the Norris Geyser Basin. We had a great hike!
We went fishing on a charter boat on Yellowstone lake. Bart and Alex caught these nice lake trout. They made for a very tasty dinner!
This is Morning Glory Pool. Very beautiful end to a wonderful walk.
The Green to yellow to orange bacterial mat formation as the water cools is very evident.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River from Lookout Point. The colors take my breath away.
The Lower Falls looking the other way up the canyon at Lookout Point.
The upper falls from the View Point.
Brink of the Upper Falls. Feel the power!
The Lower Falls and Canyon from Artist Point.
The most colorful part of the canyon. You can see the colors bleeding down the side of the Canyon. I can never get enough.
Yellowstone is full of Buffalo (Bison if you want to be correct) Here is a close look at a full grown bull.
Bart and a Buffalo hear Mud Volcano.
Definitely a violation of the 100 foot buffer rule for staying away from the animals. More like 5 feet away. But it doesn't look like he is going anywhere soon.
A baby Buffalo at sunset in the Hayden Valley.
Somebody check and see if that Buffalo has a driver's license! Another Buffalo jam in Yellowstone. This is the end of about six minutes where we were stuck behind these two beasts. Sorry about the bugs on the windshield. It was a big problem the whole trip.
A Black Bear crossing a river in the Lamar Valley. We saw two Black Bears during the evening we visited the valley.
A group of Pronghorn Antelope in the Lamar Valley
A young Elk on the grass near the Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs. There are always Elk on the lawn there.
A bull Elk in velvet on the road between Norris and the Canyon. Nice Rack!
We got a intense rainbow behind us as we headed to Glacier National Park.
.
This is one of many hot springs, painted with microflora. The different bacteria grow in different temperature water. Green in the hottest areas. Then Yellow and Orange as the water cools. Blue where the water is too hot for anything to live.
We stayed 5 nights in the Old Faithful Inn. A grand lodge made of logs that is over a hundred years old. It sits right on the upper geyser basin allowing wonderful short walks to Old Faithful, Riverside, and Grand Geysers and many Hot springs. Thats Old Faithful on the left.
I love the geothermal features. There is steam everywhere!
One of my favorites is Grand Prismatic Spring. The colors are remarkable!
When the wind blows the rising steam over the bands of color surrounding the spring it reflects the colors. WOW!
It's like a steamy rainbow.
Its a natural wonder of color and light.
The biggest isn't always the best. This time it is!
Other geothermal features are filled with soils forming mudpots. This is the fountain paint pots. A pond of bubbling mud. Too cool!
We took a swim in the Firehole River. The cold mountain water is warmed by the geothermal features that constantly dump near boiling water into the river. We had a wonderful swim.
Alex really likes swimming in rivers and lakes!
Grotto Geyser. One of the many small geyser in the upper geyser basin. More than half of the geysers in the world are in Yellowstone.
We got to see eruptions of most of the major geysers in the park. This one is Castle Geyser. Never saw a major eruption of Castle Geyser before. Quite spectacular! It went off as we were watching an eruption of Grand Geyser. The eruption kept going long enough for us to wait for Grand Geyser to finish and walk to Castle Geyser. I love the way the steam seems to melt into the clouds in this image.
This image shows a close up of the water and steam. You can really feel the power of this major eruption.
Grand Geyser in full glory. I think it is the best show in the park. Grand Geyser is the largest predictable geyser on earth. Its actually a series of three geysers known as the Grand Geyser Group. You can see Vent Geyser to the left.
Grand Geyser is a fountain type geyser. Here you see a nice release of water.
Here is Grand Geyser from a distance. The highest eruptions come at the end of the show when the eruption seems to end. Compared to the people in the picture you can see that the eruption is well over a 100 feet.
Watch Grand Geyser Erupt. The eruption lasts about 8 minutes. Here are the first 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Riverside Geyser. This was the first time we were able to see an eruption of this one. The water goes out at an angle over the Firehole River.
Riverside Geyser erupted for about 20 minutes. Quite a site!
Tom and Diane at Riverside Geyser.
This is Great Fountain Geyser. Its located in the lower Geyser Basin. We saw it erupt between a couple of storms as you can see from the cloudy skies.
Watch an eruption of of Great Fountain Geyser. Sorry about the raindrops in the lens.
This is Clepsydra Geyser at sunset. I stood between Clepsydra and Fountain Geysers at sunset snapping away with my camera. Photography heaven.
This is Fountain Geyser looking the other way from Clepsydra. I love the way the glow of the sunset is cast on the geyser.
Last but not least, Old Faithful. It erupts about every 90 minutes. We saw it erupt about 10 times during our stay at the Old Faithful Inn.
Old Faithful from the Geyser Hill. Its always quite a site.
Mammoth Hot Springs. A mountainous travertine terrace formed by the continuous flow of the hot springs.
One of the many small geysers constantly erupting in the park.
This is a close view of one of the bacterial mats that grow in the hot waters of Yellowstone. Its living art.
The structures and patterns formed by the bacterial mats are highly diverse in color and structure. Fascinating and beautiful
Diane didn't adopt a new religion. She just hates the mosquitos. Actually, they weren't so bad overall. But they were picking on her during our walk at West Thumb Basin.
This is a look up at Steam Boat Geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin. It's the largest active geyser in the world. Eruptions are 300 feet. Unfortunately the last eruption was 2005. It must be a wonder to see. Maybe some day.
This is the storm that chased us out of the Norris Geyser Basin. We had a great hike!
We went fishing on a charter boat on Yellowstone lake. Bart and Alex caught these nice lake trout. They made for a very tasty dinner!
This is Morning Glory Pool. Very beautiful end to a wonderful walk.
The Green to yellow to orange bacterial mat formation as the water cools is very evident.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River from Lookout Point. The colors take my breath away.
The Lower Falls looking the other way up the canyon at Lookout Point.
The upper falls from the View Point.
Brink of the Upper Falls. Feel the power!
The Lower Falls and Canyon from Artist Point.
The most colorful part of the canyon. You can see the colors bleeding down the side of the Canyon. I can never get enough.
Yellowstone is full of Buffalo (Bison if you want to be correct) Here is a close look at a full grown bull.
Bart and a Buffalo hear Mud Volcano.
Definitely a violation of the 100 foot buffer rule for staying away from the animals. More like 5 feet away. But it doesn't look like he is going anywhere soon.
A baby Buffalo at sunset in the Hayden Valley.
Somebody check and see if that Buffalo has a driver's license! Another Buffalo jam in Yellowstone. This is the end of about six minutes where we were stuck behind these two beasts. Sorry about the bugs on the windshield. It was a big problem the whole trip.
A Black Bear crossing a river in the Lamar Valley. We saw two Black Bears during the evening we visited the valley.
A group of Pronghorn Antelope in the Lamar Valley
A young Elk on the grass near the Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs. There are always Elk on the lawn there.
A bull Elk in velvet on the road between Norris and the Canyon. Nice Rack!
We got a intense rainbow behind us as we headed to Glacier National Park.
.
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