Yellowstone – Johnson Travel Blog

Dale picked us up at 5:30 AM and we headed over to Mud Volcano where we saw a grizzly munching on grass before it moved over onto the snow. After a few photos we discovered another grizzly in the valley by Mud Volcano, so we stopped and took a few more. Then we heading over to Steamboat Point, when I saw a grizzly crossing the road. Dale pulled over and we got out our tripods set up. This big boar was coming towards us! (It was 7:48 AM.) He was on the shore of Mary Bay, walking through the steam created by underwater thermals. We were safely next to the vehicle, higher up, on the shoulder of the road. He was getting closer and walked right by us, but didn’t seem interested in us. He came so close that our lenses were too big and we could only get closeups of him as he passed by. Once he got past our vehicle he climbed up the shoulder and crossed the road. We were packing up our tripods to move the car farther down the road to see if we could get more photos of him, when we realized that there was another grizzly coming from the same direction, running, as if she was hot on his trail. She looked so happy and eager. She looked at us as she trotted by, as if to ask, “have you seen my boyfriend?” Later, we would discover that this was the grizzly known as Blaze for the lighter colored fur on her sides. We have no idea of the name of her boyfriend, but I’ve decided to call him Beau. We took a bunch of photos of her and after she crossed the road, we packed up quickly and high-tailed in the direction that were heading. We got to the large pull-off area across from Mary Bay and set up our tripods and waited, hoping they would show up. The big boar ambled into view and seemed oblivious to the fact that there was a sow trying to catch up to him. Eventually, Blaze appeared and we saw him turn and look at her and start heading towards her, sniffing. It was now 8:00 AM. He tapped her with his paw and she rolled over into a submissive position. She got up and he mounted her and they mated for 22 minutes, right there in front of us…maybe 50 feet away. Many cars had stopped and joined us in photographing Beau and Blaze. I was surprised at how quiet and tender their mating was. We took hundreds of photos and chatted with the other photographers about what an amazing experience this was. When the mating was over, they stayed together and wandered somewhat close to each other up the hillside to graze on grass. Eventually they parted, and we headed down the road. This had to be a once in a lifetime experience!

The sad news is that on August 7, 2015, Mr. Crosby, a five-year employee of Yellowstone National Park went off-trail on a hike and was killed and partially eaten by Blaze and at least one of the her two cubs. He wasn’t carrying bear spray, despite recommendations to do so. A trap was set and Blaze and her cubs were captured. Blaze was euthanized, and cubs (both female) were sent to the Toledo Zoo, where they have been named Cody and Montana. More than 125,000 people, unsuccessfully, tried to save Blaze from her fate by signing petitions. Another petition, unsuccessfully tried to get the cubs to a rehabilitation center (that was waiting for them) so that they could eventually be released into the wild. We hope the Toledo Zoo takes good care of the cubs, despite a past error when a rare bear was starved in a zoo mistake there in 2000. As I reminisce, I think of how happy Blaze looked, when we saw her chase and mate with her Beau. We discovered, that she bore two cubs in late January or early February of 2015, which we photographed from a distance in May of 2015. We were so happy to have had the opportunity to see the outcome of that chilly day of courtship on May 18th; and then the sorrow of finding out what happened to Mr. Crosby. We were saddened for everyone involved. There were no winners here. Personally, I can’t imagine Mr. Crosby would have wanted Blaze to be killed. I believe he knew the risks. See the articles: Yellowstone Regrettably kills Blaze and Outrage in Yellowstone

We headed back towards Steamboat Point and saw a grizzly at the top of a hill. The lighting was terrible, so we didn’t take photos. We wondered if this was the grizzly known as Raspberry, as this was her territory. We hoped she would come down the hill, but it wasn’t meant to be. We headed back to Hayden Valley and saw a grizzly with red ear-tags, but it was farther away than we would have liked, so we only took a couple of photos before heading back to Rainy Lake where we saw a cinnamon-colored black bear. Then we headed up to the meadow and saw Rosie and her three cubs. They were moving away from the road, so we headed to the Yellowstone Picnic Area where we took photos of a bachelor herd of seven bighorn sheep. They were beautiful!

Today was our last day with our photo tour with Dale Franz. The cost of this tour was $2,635. I had hoped that he would work with me a little more to teach me how to improve my technique to get better photos, but it wasn’t that type of class. He had taken us to the best places and gotten us in position to get some great photos. But he had also used those same opportunities to take photos with his expensive camera and bigger lenses instead of watching and teaching us. He didn’t know our Nikon cameras very well, so it was hard for him to help us with our settings. Yesterday, he had figured out what he thought our problem was with focusing, and had turned off the “high ISO noise reduction” setting on our cameras. We think we are doing better with it. My right thumb has also been hurting from taking so many photos and Dale thinks it’s because of the ergonomics of my Nikon with my small hands. I have a longer reach to “back-button focus” than he has does on his Canon. This could be an ongoing problem, so we’ll have to think it through. I’ll be taking a lot of ibuprofen for the rest of our trip. All in all, I’m certain, that if we hadn’t taken this class with Dale, we wouldn’t have seen half of the animals that we saw, including the beautiful wolf and the mating grizzlies, so it was worth the price we paid. Now that the tour is over, we know where to drive in order to see more wildlife. We’ll have fun practicing and hope to see more bears…and other critters! ~ Mary & Mark

Places we have seen Bears and More

Siting List – 6 grizzlies, 5 black bear, herd of bighorn sheep

Click on Photo Below for Easier Viewing

Bison are King of the Road

Grizzly at Mud Volcano

Grizzly near Mud Volcano

Beau Grizzly Bear at Mary Bay

Beau Grizzly Bear at Mary Bay – He looks like he’s been in a fight!

Beau Grizzly Bear at Mary Bay

Beau Grizzly Bear at Mary Bay – Wow he’s close and he looks like he’s been in a fight!

Beau Grizzly Bear at Mary Bay – See the scars?

Here comes Blaze – at Mary Bay – “Where’s my boyfriend?”

Here comes Blaze – at Mary Bay

Here comes Blaze – at Mary Bay – “Which way did he go?”

Here comes Blaze – at Mary Bay

Blaze – “Have you seen my boyfriend?”

Here comes Blaze – at Mary Bay – “Is he over there?”

Here comes Blaze – at Mary Bay – Wow! She’s close!

There goes Blaze – at Mary Bay

Here comes Beau Grizzly Bear – He’s Mr. Oblivious

Here comes Beau Grizzly Bear – See the robin in the background?

Here comes Beau Grizzly Bear

Here comes Beau Grizzly Bear – Still, Mr. Oblivious!

“Hey Blaze! Are you following me?”

“Hey Blaze! Wanna dance?”

Blaze being submissive.

“Wanna wrestle?”

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau (the raven isn’t gonna watch.)

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau – “I love youuuu!”

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau – “Whatchu lookin’ at?”

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau – What song is she singin?

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau – Whispering sweet nuthin’s in Blaze’s ear.

Ooh la la! Blaze and her Beau

“That was fun!” Blaze and her Beau – 22 minutes later!

Blaze and her Beau – “What should we do now?”

Blaze after the lovin’ – “Let’s go eat!”

“Hey Beau, you coming this way?”

“Hey Blaze! Wait up!”

Cinnamon-colored bear at Rainy Lake

White Patch aka Rosie at her meadow.

Bighorn Sheep at Yellowstone Picnic Area

Bachelor herd of Bighorn Sheep at Yellowstone Picnic Area

Mark and I spent nine days in Yellowstone National Park Our goal was to learn how to take good photos of wildlife in preparation for our trip to Africa. We started our Yellowstone adventure with a three-day photography class and then stayed to practice our new skills.

May 15, 2014

We had a wonderful day today. Enroute to Yellowstone, we had our first chance to take a photo of an owl on top of a power pole, outside of Dubois, Wyoming. Mark turned the car around and got us in position. He grabbed a camera, got out, and took a couple of photos. He got back in the car and handed the camera over to me. I magnified his photos and discovered that the owl had a loop on top of its head. It was plastic! No wonder it sat so still. Ha! We’re obviously rookies. We got a good laugh from it.

We stopped to take a photo of Mt. Moran from the Oxbow on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park. It was a beautiful sight. We also saw some American white Pelicans and a couple of bald eagles! We headed on and entered Yellowstone National Park at the south entrance, where we proudly produced our Annual Park Pass. It cost $80, but if we didn’t have it we would be paying $30 per day. We were going to get our money’s worth from it. It was a beautiful day; sunny and 39 degrees when we started out, and eventually warmed up to 55 degrees. The snow was ten feet deep in places, but there was none in others. We stopped and took a photo of Lewis Falls. Next, we headed to West Thumb Geyser basin, and saw some Barrow’s goldeneye ducks near the fishing cone (In 1870, men would stand on it, catch a fish and cook it before they took it off the hook) We headed over to Hayden Valley and the crowd was excited as they said they were looking at a wolf! It was wandering around the Yellowstone River, ignoring the great blue herons. Perhaps, they weren’t bothered because of being able to fly at a moment’s notice? Or maybe the wolf, just wasn’t hungry (Later, our photographer guide, Dale, looked at our photos, and told us that we had seen a coyote, not a wolf! Ha! Never underestimate the ability of the crowd to influence the rest. It was a good lesson. Then, he told us that once he had overheard some tourists talking about baby grizzlies. When he looked where they were looking, he realized that they were actually looking at yellow-bellied marmots!) We saw a rookery of great blue herons in some trees across the Yellowstone River. Every few minutes, a heron took flight and would do a loop before settling down in the trees filled with nests. It gave us a chance to practice taking photos of the takeoffs and landings. Then we saw our first herd of bison. They were so majestic. We headed over to Swan Lake Flats, between Norris and Mammoth Hot Springs around 5 pm and were lucky enough to see a grizzly sow with three cubs. They were far away but were getting closer and walking towards the crowd of spectators that had started showing up. The grizzly family crossed over the road and kept walking the hillside. We took a lot of photos. What an amazing opportunity. We headed onto Mammoth Hot Springs before we headed over to Gardiner, MT, where we saw a lot of elk and bison. We checked into the Super 8 Hotel and went to dinner at The Raven. I had a bison pappardelle with garlic bread and Mark had a rib eye…delicious. Our guide, Dale Franz, met us and we discussed our camera skills. He was familiar with the grizzly we had seen and said she was known as Quad Mom, as she had been known to have four cubs before. This year, she only has three, but the name Quad Mom still sticks. Later in the year, we were told that there was more news about Quad Mom that happened during the summer of 2014. To preface the story, it helps to know that male bears (called boars) will kill cubs, not to eat, but so that the mama bears (called sows) will come back into estrus so that they can mate with her to produce their own offspring. The story I was told was that a photographer had witnessed an attack on Quad Mom’s cubs. One was killed, but Quad Mom was able to grab one cub and throw it on her back and escape with the other by her side. I’m so glad we were lucky enough to get photos of the three cubs on this trip. ~ Mary & Mark

Places where we have seen Bears and More

Siting list: 4 Grizzlies, coyote, Barrow’s Goldeneye Ducks, Bald Eagles, pelican

Click on photo below for easier viewing

Plastic Owl on electric pole outside of Dubois, WY

Sublette Peak in the Absaroka Mountain Range outside Dubois Wyoming

Mt. Moran from the Oxbow Bend of the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park

Lewis Falls near the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park

View from West Thumb Geyser Basin

Fishing Cone at West Thumb Geyser Basin

View from West Thumb Geyser Basin

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Barrow’s Goldeneye Ducks at West Thumb Geyser Basin

Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck at West Thumb Geyser Basin

Great Blue Heron Rookery in Hayden Valley

Coyote in the Hayden Valley

Coyote with Great Blue Heron in the Hayden Valley

Coyote with Great Blue Herons in the Hayden Valley

Coyote and Great Blue Herons in the Hayden Valley

Quad Mom and her 3 Cubs at Swan Lake Flats

Mammoth Hot Springs

Continue reading YELLOWSTONE TRIP – May, 2014

Category: Yellowstone

May 18, 2014

YELLOWSTONE TRIP – May, 2014

Mark and I spent nine days in Yellowstone National Park Our goal was to learn how to take good photos of wildlife in preparation for our trip to Africa. We started our Yellowstone adventure with a three-day photography class and then stayed to practice our new skills.

May 15, 2014