Yellowstone trip -- Part III

Alrighty, here are the last of the photos I'll post from the trip.

First up, another buffalo shot. I mentioned earlier about how their faces look dark when it's so bright outside, and here's an example of this. Also notice his winter fur is shedding for the summer.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 280mm, 1/2800 sec @ f/4, ISO 400.




The elk twins. Cindy thinks this one is cute.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 300mm, 1/200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 500.




Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 270mm, 1/1000 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 500.




Another one of Old Faithful. It was kind of losing steam by this point.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 100mm, 1/1600 sec @ f/8, ISO 200.





The Yellowstone canyon. Or as they grandly call it, the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". Again, you can see where it got its name.
Nikon D70s, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, set at 50mm, 1/3200 sec @ f/9, ISO 500.




Closeup of the "lower falls". This photo was taken from far away with the big Sigma, plus it's cropped and englarged a bit.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 280mm, 1/1250 sec @ f/8, ISO 250.




Another view of the Beartooth mountains. Although it doesn't look like it, we're well over 10,000 ft at this location. I can't decide if the awkwardly posed guy at the right is a distraction or not.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 10-20mm, set at 20mm, 1/400 sec @ f/8, ISO 200.




And finally, another one of Cindy, as we were hiking along a little stream. In the background you can see steam rising from one of the many little hot springs you find everywhere at the park. The big geysers and springs are well known, but it's really surprising just how many of these small springs you see as you walk along.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 100mm, 1/800 sec @ f/9, ISO 400.

I have a question about Yellowstone we were just discussing yesterday. Can you drive all over in the park there or are there restrictions? Our Denali National Park (Mt. McKinley) has just one road that goes back 60 or 70 miles into the park and private vehicles are only allowed in a little ways to the campgrounds. From there you have to ride a bus back into the park. The bus drivers make frequent stops for wildlife viewing, photo ops, etc., but the fact remains that visitors are kind of at their mercy. Every year in July you can pay $10 and submit your name for a lottery drawing - they allow a limited number of private vehicles to drive back into the park the middle of September (weather permitting) after tourist season is over. We are hoping to make that trip this fall.

I definitely understand the reason for the restrictions here because of the delicacy of the tundra, but I was just wondering how they handle the situation at the national parks in the Lower 48. Even with the restrictions, Denali is still the most accessible of Alaska's national parks. Most of them you have to pay a fortune to fly in or get to by boat, and you have to make all kinds of prearrangements with the national park service.

There's a 2-lane road that's kind of a figure-8 that serves as the main road in the park. And then there are 5 other entrances into the park that connect to the main loop. The road can get very crowded in the summer. Especially if someone spots a bear (which is somewhat rare to see from the road) and a whole pile of cars stop to take a look. Fortunately we went on weekdays this time and the traffic wasn't bad at all.

There are 3 hotels inside the park. A few more groups of cabins. There are various campgrounds there, some of which are first come-first serve, others require reservations. Some allow RV's and generators and others do not. And there are other campsites dedicated to backpackers and "real" camping, with a tent and stuff. I think there's something like 1100 miles of hiking trails.

So, to answer your question, the park is very accessible. And pretty inexpensive -- $25 to get in the gate (good for 5 days), camping permits are $15, etc. The only restrictions are for weather or rock slides or if grizzly bears are out and about. Stay away from the grizzlies!!!

around here this year. There are always issues on the Russian and Kenai Rivers down on the Kenai Peninsula, but this year there are apparently six of them hanging around Bird Creek, which is about 20 miles south of Anchorage and a very popular salmon fishing spot for the locals. Apparently what has been happening is that people are so enthralled with the bears that they've been hanging around until the situation gets dangerous and then they end up throwing their catch to the bears -- which, of course, encourages the bears to come back for more. The fish and wildlife guys are pleading with people to leave with their fish before the bears get too close and under no circumstances to feed them, unless they want to be responsible for having them euthanized ultimately. People are really kind of stupid sometimes.

Certain parts of Anchorage have had problems with the bears getting into their garbage cans, too. People have been getting hefty fines for leaving their garbage cans out at the street overnight before pickup day. Luckily we only get moose on this end of town.

You may need a subscription to read this link. It's pretty interesting.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/bears/story/8016311p-7909204c.html

Don't feed the bears.

This is state biologist Rick Sinnott's answer to escalating grizzly presence on Bird Creek, a popular salmon fishing stream 25 miles south of Anchorage. The 160-space parking lot there fills up daily with eager anglers casting for pink and silver salmon. Fishermen line the banks, at times wedged nearly shoulder to shoulder.

That's how it's been for years. But grizzlies have crashed the party.
State troopers have been called to the scene almost daily for two weeks now by people worried or frightened by the brazen brown bears. And when the bears are after anglers' fish, humans tend to toss and dash. That's the wrong thing to do, Sinnott said. Fishermen should walk away long before it comes to that.

"The bears are quickly learning what you do is just walk up to people and they're going to throw you your fish," Sinnott said. "Why fish when someone will throw you a fish? It's a dangerous situation because the bears are kind of bullies anyway, so they're learning if they put on a show of force, someone will give them a fish. "Don't let the bear have your fish," he said. "Pick up your fish and walk away."

<snip>

Fishermen this past week have described scary close encounters. One man fired a gun in the air when grizzlies drew too near -- a move that prompted protests from others and a visit from the troopers. Other fishermen reported grizzlies nabbed a backpack and snatched trash bags full of fish or fish guts. Anglers have kept fishing when bears appeared on nearby banks, only to drop their hauls and take off when the grizzlies drew too close.

<snip>