adventures in the west: the wildlife

While driving, walking, biking, hiking through the park and enjoying the scenery is wonderful, I'm pretty sure that most people would be lying if they were to say that they aren't anxiously awaiting their first encounter with the animals of the national parks. Christina and I were lucky and had the chance to see a few different kinds of creatures in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons!

The first animal that we encountered was a BULL MOOSE! Very exciting, as not many people who go through the area get to see them! It was to the side of the road as we neared the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and the presence of the moose was made obvious by the cluster of cars and camera-carrying visitors that had gathered to document their witnessing a moose mulling about in a creek.

Then, we had our first of many bison sightings to come. The first sighting not as exciting, as they were far away, but as our trip went on, we came across bison right next to the cars on the side of the road, and some even walking through traffic! I have picked this iconic shot of a bison on top of a hill out West to share with you.

Last, but certainly not least, THE MARMOT!!! We saw three or four marmots, and they were ADORABLE. Our first marmot-sighting was on our hike up to the top of Mount Washburn. We saw this lil' guy close up at the end of our Cascade Canyon hike in the Grand Tetons! This marmot and another one were quite curious to see what we were eating and doing and came very close to us. Take a look!

There are all sorts of other kinds of wildlife that I wish we could have seen, including an elk or a pika. Especially a pika. However, I am quite content with the fact that our bear count stayed at a happy zero throughout the course of the trip.

adventures in the west: the beautiful views

I'm back from my WONDERFUL nine-day adventure in Wyoming and Colorado with Christina!

As it would be quite difficult to condense all of what I saw and did into one blog post, this will be a multi-post account of my trip, complete with pictures!
Enjoy!
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While I was a major fan of the hikes that we did, I am truly amazed by the number of other ways in which different kinds of people can enjoy the same space. There were people who backpacked and hitchhiked their way through Yellowstone, carrying with them the bare minimum to get through each day, while there were others who stayed in expensive lodges with A/C and explored the beauty of the landscape from the comfort of their vehicles. No matter the approach in which did so, all of these people were able to enjoy the same views.

I wish there were a better way to share with you all of the details and images from this nine-day exploration of two of the national parks in Wyoming, but there just isn't space or time, and I also want to avoid boring you.

So, in this first post, I'd like to share with you top ten favorite landscape pictures from my vacation, in no particular order:

1. View from the North Rim looking down into the colorful Canyon of Yellowstone

2. Bleached, dead trees and snow against a blue sky at the top of Mount Washburn in Yellowstone

3. Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, complete with a rainbow

4. Sunset in Wyoming, early evening

5. Sunset in Wyoming, later in the evening

6. Rushing water in the Cascade Canyon of the Grand Tetons

7. Soft evening light passing through Cascade Canyon in the Grand Tetons

8. String Lake in the early evening, Grand Tetons

9. Midday view of the Grand Tetons and Teton Lake from the top of Signal Mountain

10. Geysers and hot springs in Norris in Yellowstone National Park