Yellowstone and National Geographic

Visiting Yellowstone with National Geographic’s Your Shot Team

Celebrating the National Park System’s 100th Anniversary in our first National Park.

Yellowstone, just the very name evokes a sense of wonder and mystery.  Established as the first national park in 1872, Yellowstone covers 2,219,791 acres and has been home to humans for 1000s of years.  Its hot springs, fumaroles and mud pots are a welcome respite for animals seeking refuge from the snow. In February of 2015, I submitted a photo to an assignment on National Geographic’s Online Magazine, YourShot which was “favored” by the editors.  I have had a profile on YourShot since 2008.

There are Over 800,057+ photographers from 195 Countries submitting 8 million+ photos on this site.  They might publish one a day.  Because of that photo and my profile on National Geographic’s YourShot, I was invited by them along with 12 other photographers from Wyoming & Montana to two Photo Walks to help celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service this past May.

Short notice or not, WE WENT! We drove up to West Yellowstone staying the night at the Wagon Wheel RV and Campgrounds.  It was quite comfy and reasonable being one of the last rooms in town. The first day we drove around Lake Yellowstone and by the Prismatic Springs . They are quite spectacular to see. The next morning, we were to meet the group at Mammoth Hot Springs for our first photo walk. This first morning was met with introductions, laughs, and giveaways.

The Photographers

We met with a nice group of photographers and National Geographic Editors the first morning.  They even invited Steve to come on the walks, too.  I felt this most appropriate since we both share a passion for animals and the great outdoors. 

With nothing else to do but tag along and talk, Steve offered to carry the heavy, wooden Yellow Border which was quickly agreed to by Monica who had been carrying it. National Geographic sent one of their staff photographers.

Below is Charlie Hamilton James, a photographer, television cameraman and presenter, from England who specializes in wildlife subjects, especially Otters.  He is quite engaging and has many tales of travels, his love of otters and experiences with bacteria-eating flesh in the Amazon. Charlie spent a month this past winter in Yellowstone, mostly in the Lake, and has many photos featured in the May Issue entitled “Yellowstone.”  He recently took 150,000 photos on assignment for National Geographic of otters near England.  Not one was chosen for the paper magazine he pointed out, laughing, looking at Matt Adams who is one of the editors that chooses the photos for the print magazine. He was also available to give photography advice.

The steam rising in the background from vents or fumaroles whose temperatures can be as high as 280F.  The Yellowstone Caldera or Yellowstone Super volcano it is sometimes referred to lies in the northwest corner of Wyoming.  Calderas form over hot spots in the earth’s crust. Yellowstone is one big hot spot. Travertine Terraces are formed from Limestone and the pretty colorful stripes from Thermophiles which are heat loving microscopic organisms.

These are the same Dead Trees we saw in 2010 on our first trip to Yellowstone. They are embedded in the Calcium Carbonate. It is one HOT Place! After our 1st Photo Walk, we drove next door to the Albright Visitor Center.  I wanted to postmark a letter to my 91-year-old Aunt Margaret in NC.  She loves to follow our travels and we have to keep her happy.

The Wildlife

At the Post Office in Mammoth Hot Springs, we were greeted by the following herd of at least 60 females and their calves.  The cows hang out together with their calves.  They usually only have one calf in the spring.  I was on the stairs watching this herd.  Much to the chagrin of the moms, the Park Rangers rounded them up and away from the lush grass (and tourists).

I love how you can always see wildlife in Yellowstone, even at the tourists’ sites. We were turning around in the parking lot when the big fellow startled us by bugling loudly his interest to the nearby females. Good Grief, he was LOUD!  To me, the bugling male elks sound like ring wraiths from the Lord of the Rings for you Tolkien fans.

From Mammoth Hot Springs we drove south. In my world, the job of map reading/directions falls to Steve. He keeps me OTOT. It isn’t that I get distracted easily. No, I just find so many things of interest on the road as you can see from these videos. The male bison can weigh as much as a ton and spend their time by themselves or together with other males.

As we continued our drive, we spotted this energetic calf and gave it the nickname “Taz”. It was a blast to watch, but its antics were sadly unappreciated by the other calves and moms who were a bit more docile.

Wednesday morning we headed back for the second day with National Geographic. It was pretty cloudy with rain and fog and much colder than the previous day. At 8am, we met at the Old Faithful General Store where Charlie gave us our “assignment” for the morning’s walk. It was to find pops of color or the unusual in the dreary morning that met us. “Don’t carry a tripod, he said many times, or use a lens you would typically use,” he said as well. Charlie had an aversion to tripods. Think outside your norm. People are in the parks, he said. You cannot escape or edit out all of the human element. So why not add them, he asked. Steve went in for coffee at the Inn and I headed around the trail.