Yellowstone

Am going up to Yellowstone next week. Anyone have any reports on foliage, water levels, waterfalls, animal/bird activity??

thanks,

Bill Meikle
Fort Collins, Colorado

This may be helpful:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planvisit/orientation/travel/roadopen.htm

Guy

Hey Bill,

Check this out: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=18594642

If by foliage you mean wildlfowers, its probably a little early still. Try the north end of the park (Mammoth to Tower to Lamar Valley) as that area is lower and warmer than the rest of the park. If you mean trees, well 90% of the trees in Yellowstone are lodgepole pine. What aspens their are in the park are in the area of the Mammoth to Tower road and Lamar Valley. They should be leafing out now. Water levels and waterfalls should be running high and full now. The park is forecasted to get a good snow this weekend so nect weekend should be good for waterflow. The bison calves have already dropped, Elk calves should start dropping when you are their. This should give the grizz and wolves plenty of opportunities for kills. Again check Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley for critters. The area around Tower Falls to Roosevelt to the Petrified Tree is almost a guarantee for black bears this time of year. Look for Opsrey in the canyon of the Yellowstone, Bald eagle along the Madison River. There is reported to be a Great Horned Owl nest in the Lamar Canyon. Don't know if its photographable or not. Have fun.

Old news, but I spent the first week of May there. Lots of bears in Hayden, Lamar and at the lake. Wolves at Soda Butte and Hayden, but Slough Creek was totally disrupted (as were the Wolfites). An unknown pack trapped a couple of females with cubs in the den, then laid siege. Shortly there were none and all the wolves scattered.

We also saw coyotes in several places in Lamar, usually on south-facing slopes in the morning. Loads of buffalo calves, but no elk calves while we were there.

There is a herd of rams hanging out around the Yellowstone River bridge heading out toward Lamar. Very tame and great photography, even with the 200mm I happened to be packing.

Watch for beavers working just above the road in the Elk Horn river. Excellent photo ops from a few feet.

We had a late snow one night for dramatic scenics the next AM, but veggies weren't up yet.

Not a lot of folks weekdays, but reserved parking required on weekends.

Wow, you guys are wonderful, thanks a lot for all the great info.

best wishes,

Bill Meikle
Fort Collins, Colorado

Details on the GH owl. We spent quite a bit of time watching it. It's on the right high up in a larger conifer just as you are about to break out of the canyon on your way into Lamar. My guesss is that it's a former redtail hawk nest. Pretty open and easy to spot.

HOWEVER! We were looking through 10X binocs, and it was still really small. Either bring a truck-mounted lens or count on composing a larger scenic with the owl placed carefully (and small) to accent the scene. Morning light would probably be best for that. Move closer and I bet the folks in green pants and flat hats will beat you about the ears, even as moving closer also drops you far below the nest and makes shooting much more problematic.

See my reply in the Colorless Sunrise thread for more info.