Category Archives: National Parks

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Morning Coffee Meditation @ Gros Ventre

This is another moment in time captured this past Fall here in the Yellowstone Basin.  On this morning Peyton and I traveled to Jackson Hole Wyoming to pickup our morning coffee before heading out to this beautiful spot.  Located on the Gros Ventre River east of Kelly Wyoming this drainage is one of my favorite places to spend time and just be still.

Just east of this spot on the river is where the huge landslide happened in the early 1900’s that created the two Slide Lakes that are now part of this amazing landscape.  The Gros Ventre was one of the original trails into the valley that the trappers used to hunt and trap this beautiful place.  The Teton are visible most of the way down this drainage and one can see for miles.

This little bend in the river is a very nice place to sit and sip on some Morning Coffee and reflect on the beauty that is the result of the ultimate artist, God himself.  Enjoy a snapshot in time and share with me the quite serenity of this place knows as the Gros Ventre River.  Enjoy….

Gros Ventre River, Jackson Wyoming

Morning Coffee – A COLD Fall Morning…

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We woke up again this morning to another beautiful fall day here in the Yellowstone basin!  But this morning unlike many of the ones over the past few weeks was really cold.  As we pulled from our driveway this morning on our way to drop Brynn off at school the temp gauge was reading 28 degrees.  By the time we got across the Snake River it was 25 degrees and even colder north of town.

The Snake River looked pretty cool as there was steam coming off of the water and for that to happen the air temp must be colder than the water.  Trust me, the Snake River is not something to wade in this time of year as the water temperatures have dropped quite a bit.  Anyway we dropped Brynn off and headed to the coffee shop and then north of town again.

Now forgive us as our camera was acting up this morning but I think you will enjoy our little adventure.  We were alone this morning and the animals were right next to our truck at every turn.  We took our time and sat and watched the three moose in the pics for quite some time.  They were eating the sage next to the road and for the most part ignored us.  Been then they decided to check us out and we rolled away as they headed to us.  Very cool!

All in all we saw antelope, buffalo, moose, geese and most certainly some spectacular views of the valley.  On this morning we passed through Kelly, Wyoming, past the entrance to the Gros Ventre canyon, over to Antelope flats and Mormon Row and then home again.  Another great way to share a cup of java!

Jackson Hole to Bozeman Montana and Home Again…

Welcome to Jackson Hole, Wyoming

A few years back my son Brock and I took a day trip to Bozeman Montana to meet some very dear friends from the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation located in Montana.  Donovan Sr, is an Assiniboine Elder who trained me how to make traditional Native American Pipes, (but that is for another blog post) and Uncle Loren.  The short version is we met Donovan Sr. and Uncle Loren (we call him “Uncs”) to pick up some sacred pipe stone and a couple of new pipes, just completed by Donovan Sr., to take back to Jackson Hole to be photographed.  We also picked up some pipe stone for ourselves as well as exchange some pipe stems, ideas, and friendship! The day in Bozeman ended in what we call a “Good Trade” day.

mc_04_05_12_05Our trip started early on a Saturday morning, leaving Jackson Hole at around 8:00am.  After getting our coffee and a couple of bagels we hit the road.  When traveling through this part of the country, which is sooo amazing and in a single round trip of about 450 miles one can experience everything the Rockies has to throw at you.  The weather this Fall day was awesome, skies were clear blue and the sun was shining bright, and the temperature was perfect when we left town.   There are a couple of ways you can make your way to Bozeman from Jackson, one through Yellowstone Park’s south entrance or head through Idaho, back into Montana, north through the very northwest corner of the park and finally past Big Sky Montana as you make your way down the Gallatin River into Bozeman.

From Jackson to Bozeman is about 214 miles (one way) over some of the most beautiful roads you can travel.  We chose to head west over Teton Pass and into Idaho, then north along the west side of the Teton Range. You first travel through beautiful rolling hills where much of the russet potatoes are grown in Idaho, not to mention double row barley (which Anheuser Bush buys for their beer) and after you make a turn east in Ashton Idaho you eventually end up in West Yellowstone.

For those who are not familiar with Yellowstone Park, there are 4 entrances to the park.  Jackson Hole to the south, Gardiner at the north, the east entrance which leads to Cody, Wyoming and the west entrance which is West Yellowstone (it’s a town).  Some of you may be familiar with West Yellowstone as some of the premier fly fishing rivers in the world are in the area. The Madison river, the Firehole, Henry’s Fork, the Buffalo, the Gallatin and many more. This is truly Lewis and Clark country.

Welcome to West Yellowstone

From West Yellowstone you head north toward Bozeman and you travel though the very northwest part of Yellowstone Park and you quickly pass over the Madison River eventually picking up and following the Gallatin river all the way into Bozemen. One important note here is that you pass right through a part of the park that suffered from the big fire in 1988.  It is awesome to see how nature has recovered.  You pass Big Sky Montana Ski Resort and other beautiful scenery.  This is one of the most beautiful stretches of road to drive at any time of the year.

Once in Bozemen we had our little pow wow with friends, stopped at a few stores and headed home.  When we left Bozeman the clouds had started to gather.  The weather from Jackson to Bozeman had been perfect!  Clear skies, very dry roads, an easy drive.   But things were about to change.  We headed back up the Gallatin to West Yellowstone.  This part of the trip is about 90 miles.  As we pulled into West Yellowstone, Brock said “Dad why don’t we go home through the park”. I said sure let’s do it.  It is important to note that this is about 4:45pm MST and it is getting darker.  It is important because this is animal hour in the park.

buffalo1_bozemantripWe entered the park and headed towards the Old Faithful Geyser basin. This part of the trip from West Yellowstone to home in Jackson is about 130 miles. This is when things started to change. We first ran head on into a male buffalo that decided my truck was bigger than he was.  So he mosied off the road and into the pasture that sat along the Madison river.  He was the first of hundreds we were to run into this day of travels through the park. And on top of it, it was starting to rain.  I quickly looked at my temperature gauge and saw that the temp has dropped drastically to 38 degrees.  This was important because at 38 degrees and below it will start to snow if the conditions are right.

fireholebasin1As we got closer to Old Faithful we saw elk, and big herds of buffalo and we drove along the banks of the Madison River, simply awesome.  By the time we got to Old Faithful Geyser Basin the temperature was down to 36 and still raining.  And it was now getting pretty dark.  Clouded skis and looking even darker towards Jackson.  Along this stretch of the road you travel along the banks of the Firehole river for part of the way and it gets it name from all the thermal activity that it passes through.  An amazing sight to see in its own right.

truck1This is an beautiful part of the park and we tried to take some pictures before the light got too low.  Almost everywhere you look you see geysers, fumaroles, steam, hot pools, bubbling mud, trees, animals, – awesome!   We decided to pull over to take a short break and just take in this beautiful valley.  But we did not stay long as the temperature continued to drop and I said to Brock we are about to get snowed on.  But the ferocity of the change was not expected.

The Snow Starts to Fall
The Snow Starts to Fall

We headed south towards home and as we got down the road about 5 miles the temp dropped to around 32 and I said to Brock here it comes.  And come it did!  It did not flurry a bit or start real light – it just started snowing.  Now in this part of the country you will cross the Continental Divide many times.  And we were heading for one of those crossings at an elevation of 8391 feet above sea level.  One other thing to note here – the park was void of people as it was close to closing so we were basically on our own.

The snowflakes started to increase in size and the volume at which they fell was speeding up.  The road quickly disappeared and became totally white.  The snow was accumulating at a rate that I estimated at over an 1-2 inches per hour maybe even more at times.  We put the truck into four-wheel drive as we were not going anywhere without it.  Our speed dropped to about 25 miles per hour and we are crawling our way through Yellowstone park in the middle of a snow storm all alone.  When we left Jackson it was sunny and clear.  In Bozeman it was starting to cloud up but still relatively warm.  West Yellowstone it started to rain and now we were surrounded in white.

Continental Divide 8391 Feet
Continental Divide 8391 Feet

Our final stop before it got real dark and we made the final trek home was the pass where we cross over the Continental Divide.  We stopped and took this last picture here.  We got out of our truck and it was completely quite.  Snow was falling straight down and you could hear it hit the trees, your clothing, the truck.  It was coming down so thick that it would fall right into your mouth.  If you have never experienced the complete quite of the forest and to see snow falling straight down and building up in front of your eyes you have missed one of heaven’s real treats!!

westyellowstonesignThe light faded fast and Brock and I decided that if we did not get moving we may be spending the night here as the snow was already over a foot deep on the road.  We slowly made our way to the south entrance of the park and as the roads started to clear we made our way home to Jackson.  You actually leave Yellowstone Park and then make your way through parts of Teton National Park before you get into the Jackson area.

This was an amazing day for Brock and I – we spent it together as father and son, we shared lunch with friends and they we got to see God’s hand on our Mother Earth.  We were kissed by her this day and left with a memory I shall never forget!  WE WERE TRULY BLESSED THIS DAY!

Morning Coffee…

One of the most iconic images from Jackson Hole is the Teton Range.  Although I do not know the percentage – I would guess that most of the photos taken of the Tetons is a frontal shot that is taken from the general vicinity of Antelope Flats.  What is so cool about the Tetons is the many faces it has when taken from different locations throughout the valley.  Here is the picture of the day taken from a more northern approach.  Enjoy and may it bring peace to your day! (click image to enlarge)

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Morning Coffee…

Another beautiful day here in Jackson Hole Wyoming and a perfect cup of coffee to go with it.  This picture seemed a bit unusual this time of the year with no snow on the ground and the warm sun shinning.  Taken behind Miller Butte on the Elf Refuge…  He looks chill.  I hope this brings a smile to your face this morning…

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Morning Coffee September 30th…

Another hot cup of coffee and a short road trip north of town.  Fall is quickly starting to pass and winter is not far away.  The weather was not the best for all these pictures but we found a few that we liked.  Waiting for the first snow to get some shots of whats to come.  Enjoy the slide show.

Morning Coffee September 16th…

These are some pics from today and a few from a couple of days ago.  A cup of nice hot coffee and a camera.  Check them out…

Fall Has Arrived – Winter Soon…

morningcoffee2_10_11_ning

There simply are not words as to how fast this summer has gone.  In the Rocky Mountain Region such as the Yellowstone Basin our summers are fairly short.  Fall comes quickly and it is just about here.  The leaves are starting to change and in just a week or two we will be in full blown Fall colors.  A great time for pictures and I do not plan to miss this Fall like last.  The picture above was one of my favorite from the Fall of 2012.  This was taken at Black Tail Ponds and I am traveling up there every couple of days to make sure I get some good pics this year.

Just after Fall comes our long heavy winters and with winter comes some of the animals we see only for a few months each year.  Below is a shot I took during the winter of 2012 – 2013.  The big horn sheep are amazing to watch and this guy was one of my favorite.  They will be arriving very soon and this winter I plan to take advantage of the opportunities to bring you some really cool shots.  Enjoy…

Jackson_Sheep_001

Cool New Jackson Hole Hat Now Available…

Teton_BrushStroke_idea4Many of you know Teton Marketing because of the Native American Flutes they handcraft right here in Jackson Hole.  Teton Marketing is growing and adding new products all the time.  Recently they released their first hat that was primarily a hat to help spread the word about the company. Now they add a new hat that should appeal to everyone who lives or visits Jackson Hole.

tmt_cap_JH_Front__ebay_05High Altitude Designs from Teton Marketing is a new line of active wear clothing that people can use every day living here in Jackson Hole and beyond. Watch for the introduction of clothing, hats and more as they introduce them throughout the summer.  Each clothing item will be branded with the Teton Marketing logo and appropriate taglines.  All logos and taglines will be embroidered for a clean tasteful look.  Teton Marketing hopes that you will enjoy each addition as they come available.

tmt_cap_foreverwest_back_ebay_05The current Teton Marketing hats come from the Otto Collection and they are adjustable to fit any head. There are now offer three versions of the hats, all three versions feature variations of the Teton Marketing Logo, the website address, the Wyoming Bucking horse,  the state name “Wyoming”, “Forever West” and of coarse “Jackson Hole”on the back of the cap.  All of the current caps are jet black in color. These are very nice hats and all logos are embroidered, not silk screened. Each hat is $23.99 plus shipping. They are planning to add several more hat designs for those of you who love Jackson Hole Wyoming as much as they do. You can Get your Teton Marketing hat today at www.tetonmarketing.com.

About Their Logo

Teton_BrushStrokeOnly_70x127wymadeInspired by the place they live. The Teton Range is truly one of the most inspiring mountain range in the world. Most people equate the Grand Tetons with Jackson Hole. Their Logo for Teton Marketing is their vision of what they see everyday. Like many of their flute fetishes that tend to be more whimsical, their logo falls comfortably in line with them. They tried to find a balance between a literal view of the range and their whimsical view. We think they accomplished this.  Visit their website to see other products offered from Teton Marketing…