Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks 2020

Bucket list #1 checked. What an amazing part of the United States of America

Sept 26 – Oct 10, 2020. Our original plan was to travel directly to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks from Texas, breaking up the 1,200-mile trip with one stop in New Mexico or Colorado, depending on how we felt. A couple of weeks prior to departing, I learned that a dear friend who was working in southern Wyoming in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property after had sent me a photos of wild horses that were close to his work location, way out in the boonies. Literally! The Wild Mustangs peaked my interest. Heck, I’d only seen them in the movies, and I certainly had never considered photographing them. So, plan B was developed by added three additional days to the beginning of the trip and staying in the small town of Baggs, Wyoming, located in the southern part of Wyoming, close to the Colorado border. Those 3 days, out in the middle of nowhere, was fascinating and spectacular. It makes one wonder how anything can survive in this desolate landscape, and to witness it in person was truly amazing thanks to modifying my car with all terrane wheels & tires and a 2-inch lift kit to navigate the rough and isolated roads.

Camera gear for this trip: Cameras; Nikon D850, D610 & D7200. Lenses; Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, 20mm f/1.8, Tamron 150-600mm , and a DX 18-300mm.

Baggs, Wyoming

From Baggs, we drove up to Heart Six Ranch that is located just 6 miles east of Moran Junction on Hwy 26, conveniently located between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. This would be or base camp for the remainder of this amazing 2-week, experience exploring Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. Guided by the GyPSy Guide APP that made navigating both parks far easier and interesting. The APP, guided by GPS and knowing the direction you are driving, provides directions and information of the next attraction that you typically would not know prior to arriving

Heart Six Ranch

Heart Six Ranch, a converted Dude Ranch, was our home base located just 6 miles east from Moran Junction in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park’s south entrance. Conveniently located to explore both National Parks proved to be an ideal base with a fantastic view of the Tetons Mountains. Gail went on a horseback trail ride of the ranch and surrounding area while I explored wildlife opportunities outside the parks.

Grand Teton National Park

We spent several days in GTNP covering large sections of the park from Oxbow Bend in the north to Jackson in the south, and east to west before several of the smaller roads would be closed in the coming weeks due to weather. Most of the attractions we accessed with the car, and others from hiking. The park is beautiful with tons of wildlife.

On that note, we were extremely fortunate to have seen Grizzly Bear 399 with here four cubs while foraging on the river bank, then crossing the river before heading to Oxbow Bend. Talk about a traffic jam, it was crazy! Another exciting, and scary experience I had was an encounter with a Brown Bear early one morning at the Murie Ranch just south of Moose Landing Junction. When I first saw the bear, it was between me and my car as I was looking at the research buildings. Talk about scary! I decided to walk slowly around the back of the building and around the other site, hoping it would wonder off and I could make a dash to the safety of my car. When I came out on the side of the building, I didn’t see the bear so I walked between the trees toward my car. Suddenly, I had this eerie feeling and when I turned around, there was the bear, 30 feet behind me. It had followed me! Needless to say, I snapped a few photos and bolted to my car and jumped in. Wouldn’t you know, the Brown Bear walked back to my car and literally lay down next to my car, 6-feet away, and lay down next to a rock and began scratching around for a morsel to eat. This allowed me to open the car window and capture up close and personal photographs and video, and needless to say, a large crowd had gathered and soon afterward, the park rangers were alerted and immediately close the entire area off.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is an absolutely amazing, and beautiful place to visit. There is so much to see and do with its stunning beauty, natural wonders, volcanic activity, spewing geysers, waterfalls, and of coarse, wildlife.