Colorado Columbine in Granite Canyon, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

 This is a photo of a Colorado Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea) in bloom in Granite Canyon in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.  We were on a backpacking trip in the southern part of the park and we were in Granite Canyon on our first day.

Columbine flowers are very distinctive thanks to the spurs off of their petals.  These flowers are in the buttercup family.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, chunks of calcium carbonate sticking out

 Mammoth Hot Springs is sometimes called a mountain turning itself inside out. Hot water deep underground dissolves calcium where it combines with carbon dioxide to make calcium carbonate. Once that solution comes to the surface, the water evaporates and the remaining water cools, resulting in the mineral being deposited into flowing shapes. Calcium carbonate is also the mineral that cave features like stalagmites and stalactites are made of and the white powdery substance you can see in your kitchen sink.

In this photo, you can see some of the flowing shapes have broken off and are lying across the terraces at odd angles. One of the chunks at the upper left appears to be almost completely upside down, with "fingers" of calcium carbonate sticking up. The colors in the white calcium carbonate come from bacteria and algae growing in the warm water. A reddish tinge can also be a sign that iron is mixed in. We were on a boardwalk that leads down from the top of a hill to get in position for this shot. f/8, 1/800 sec, 55 mm, Canon Powershot SX530 HS.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Great Fountain Geyser and forest fire smoke, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

This is a photo of the Great Fountain Geyser along the Firehole Lake Drive in Yellowstone National Park. This was taken on August 15, 2016 while a forest fire was raging on the horizon.  The smoke extends from the setting sun to the upper right corner.

Great Fountain Geyser is one of the geysers that the rangers can predict when it will erupt, but the window of time that it might erupt is plus or minus two hours. When it's building toward an eruption, the vent and surrounding terraces will fill with water to overflowing and the column of water will shoot up out of the pooling water, as opposed to geysers like Old Faithful Geyser that erupt out of a cone.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Grotto Geyser erupting, Yellowstone National Park

Grotto Geyser always makes me think of a sea turtle.  If you imagine the rounded feature in the middle as the turtle's head, then the other two rounded features on either side look like flippers. Grotto Geyser is in the Upper Geyser Basin, which includes Old Faithful Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park.

Grotto may actually be a unique example of natural arch formation.  Scientists believe that the two "flippers" may have been formed by geyser mineral deposits over tree trunks which created two arches, since each flipper is an arc of rock over openings.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

A Setting Moon Over the Tetons

After waiting in line to get into the Jenny Lake Campground early one morning, we got to witness the setting moon over the Tetons the following morning. Grand Teton itself isn't in the picture, however, the moon is over Mount Owen. The taller mountain to the left is Mount Teewinot. It turns out that these two mountains block your view of Grand Teton, so anyone driving into and hiking around the Jenny Lake area can't see Grand Teton. Rick was just walking around the campground area and happened to look toward the highest mountains and noticed the moon there. So he rushed back to the car to get the camera and get some photos before the moon set.

The image was taken at ISO 100, f/16, 1/60 sec, with a zoom of about 4.5 power.

Remember, it's not just a story, it's a story!

Little Gibbon Falls, in Yellowstone NP, along the Gibbon River

We were hiking out from Wolf Lake in Yellowstone and saw a sign for a side trail to Little Gibbon Falls, along the Gibbon River. We figured it would be worth the time to go take a look and we weren't disappointed. This image is the view from the trail, which has a steep dropoff in this area. The water falls over rocks that have a stair-step pattern, which matches the sedimentary rock layers in the cliff face next to them.

We spent quite a bit of time here and were joined by dayhikers. We discovered from the map, that this waterfall is only about two miles from the road. But we were approaching it from the wilderness area, having backpacked in to Wolf Lake the night before. We also realized that we could've hike in to Wolf Lake from the main road on this trail and would've had less distance to cover. Backpacking in from the Ice Lake trailhead was a little bit longer. Something to keep in mind for next time!

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

An osprey in Yellowstone, along the Gardiner River

As we were driving into Yellowstone National Park from the north entrance, we caught a glimpse of an osprey along the Gardiner River. Rick pulled off quickly at the next turnout, which fortunately was close enough to look back at the bird on the opposite bank. We had some conifer branches to hide us and to frame the osprey. After getting some images of the bird, we tried moving down the road to get an unobstructed view, but our movement startled it. We watched it fly upriver away from us. This is the best image we got of the osprey, while we were still partially hidden from it.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Nearly full moon setting sequence over the Grand Teton summit, Wyoming

On the first morning of our recent Teton/Yellowstone trip we were up in time to catch the moon setting over the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park.  Bob caught the following sequence of the moon setting where it passes behind the summit of the Grand Teton peak itself.  Mount Owen is to the right, which, along with the peak called Teewinot constitutes the group of peaks known as the Cathedral Group.

We were set up at the Mountain View Turnout along the Teton Park Road to photograph the moon's setting.  The mountains are especially red because of the rising sun which was also helped by a forest fire in this region. At the same time we also saw the sun rise over Jackson Hole as you can see in the photo we posted earlier.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Sunrise over Jackson Hole, Wyoming

On the first day of our trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone, we reached Jackson Hole to try to get shots of the nearly full moon setting over the Grand Teton summit.  While following the moon as it approached the summit, we turned around and noticed the rising sun in the east.  This shot was through clouds low to the horizon and was probably enhanced by smoke in the air from a wildfire near Rexburg, Idaho on the west side of the Teton Range.  We took this shot near the Mountain View Turnout along the Teton Park Road in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Yellowstone's Tower Falls with the boulder on the brink, before and after

In Yellowstone, one of the popular places to stop and look at the scenery is at Tower Falls. Until the spring of 1986, this 132-foot waterfall had a precariously perched boulder on the brink. That year, the boulder fell to the bottom. We visited Yellowstone in the 1970's several times and got pictures of this waterfall with the boulder still there, as you can see below. The boulder to the right of the one that fell is still there. During the 1975 trip, we hiked down to the base of the falls and looked up at the boulder and tried imagining what it would be like to be under this waterfall when that boulder finally came down. The sign at the overlook asked the question about when the boulder would fall, but now it's not there, of course. It also looks like the same trees are there to the left of the creek after 40 years. The trees closer to the overlook have obviously gotten taller.
Tower Falls gets its name from the volcanic pinnacles that line the stream course.

   Here are the two pictures side by side for comparison.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Teton Crest Adventure (The "Real" Teton Crest)

We've put our video of the backpacking trip we took to cover the Teton Range in 1999 online. There is a Teton Crest Trail mostly in Grand Teton National Park, but the National Forest on the western side of range also had a Teton Crest Trail, which actually covers a longer stretch of these mountains. We backpacked on the Forest Service's trail but discovered after completing our trip that the Forest Service trail is no longer maintained. We had to do some route finding at the north end, so we had a little bit of a challenge starting out. We backpacked from the Hominy Peak trailhead in the Jed Smith Wilderness, Targhee National Forest to the Rendezvous Mountain tram at Teton Village. The trip was in September so we hardly saw anyone else and the weather was clear until the last day. The high point of the trip was at Table Mountain, where we could look across Cascade Canyon at the Grand Teton peak, only about 2 miles away.

Here's the link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/k3Sj6CJY4_Y

Remember, it's not just a picture (video), it's a story!

Entering Yellowstone National Park...Yay!

So we're happy to enter Yellowstone's western entrance and give that a thumbs-up.

But then when it's time to leave, we give that a thumbs-down and wish we didn't have to go.

We took these twin-selfies, using a Samsung Galaxy S III on a selfie stick, in August 2016 at West Yellowstone at the entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Robinson Twins "twin selfie" in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, with Lower Falls

In our August, 2015 trip, we camped at Canyon Village in Yellowstone National Park. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is famous for the two waterfalls you can view from the rim of the canyon. The Lower Falls in the distance is about 300 feet high. A trail leads to the top of the falls. In this view, farther downstream, you can see much of the canyon walls, the Yellowstone River down below, some thermal features steaming from the walls, ospreys seeking fish, and the falls creating a mist.

This picture was taken with the Canon PowerShot SX530 HS at the end of a selfie stick. Rick, on the left, tried to angle the lens so that you couldn't tell that he was holding the selfie stick that easily. The previous evening, we showered at the Canyon Village's facilities and Rick bought new Yellowstone t-shirts for himself and Bob, which we were both wearing this day. Taken at ISO 100, f/8, 1/200 sec. at the widest lens angle.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs with hot water spilling over the edge of the terrace

View of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park from the trail with hot water flowing from underground and spilling over the edge of a terrace that's constantly building up from the minerals, calcium carbonate, the water deposits. Steam rises from the water as it emerges from underground. The minerals form where the stream of water drips down, leaving an "icicle" of minerals. A couple of the chunks of mineral having broken off in the past and you can see the "icicles" point upward near the left-center of the screen. Another chunk is lying on its side with orange bacterial growth at the center.

This feature is in a state constant, gradual change and can engulf trees, and even parts of the terrace that are older, or the flow can shift and leave a section of the terrace dry and subject to erosion. This picture was taken with an ISO of 100, f/8, and 1/800 sec. The shutter speed helped to capture the drops of water spilling over the edge of the upper terrace.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Grand Teton cloud eruption!

On the horizon is the towering peak of Grand Teton, as viewed from the west looking east while still in Idaho. This caught Rick's attention because of the way the clouds appeared to be coming out of the peak, as though it was a volcano spewing ash. It reminded him of pictures of volcanic eruptions, so he pulled over to the shoulder of the road to get pictures of the peak and the clouds. There is another string of cloud reaching toward the ground to the right in this image, as well. This also helps to show that the west slope of the Teton Range is gradual and leads up to the peaks, unlike the eastern, more famous side of the range that is known for not having foothills at all.

The camera is a Canon Rebel EOS xSi at f/8, 1/180 sec, ISO 200, focal length 55mm (about 86mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Female Elk Walking Into the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park

This female elk had just crossed onto the opposite bank, and after a while looking around, decided to come back to the near bank. There were a couple of young elk and another female in the area hanging out while a huge crowd stood by the side of the road photographing them. Later on they decided to lie down in the tall grass and almost disappeared from view.

Taken at ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/8, and 118 mm focal length. roughly about 660 mm (35 mm equivalent).

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Moose in the Gros Ventre River in Grand Teton National Park

A portrait of a bull moose in the Gros Ventre River in Grand Teton National Park.  This guy was actually part of a foursome of bull moose who were feasting on willow leaves along the river's edge.  Moose are the largest member of the deer family and unlike most other species of deer, they tend to be solitary and don't form herds.

Like the males of the mule deer and the elk in the park, the male moose grow antlers every spring and shed them by winter.  This is what distinguishes them from horns, since horns are permanent structures.  The antlers of the moose are different from the other members of the deer family Cervidae since they have palmate antlers meaning there are broad flattened areas of antler between the pointy tines.

Other distinguishing features of the moose is the tuft of fur at the top of the throat that hangs down called a dewlap and a pendulous snout.

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Rays of Light From the Setting Sun Create a Silver Lining in the Clouds Over the Teton Range, Wyoming

On August 10, 2016, we were in Grand Teton National Park. After spending some time photographing 4 bull moose along the Gros Ventre River, we drove north along the range and noticed that the sun was setting and creating a fringed look to the clouds. In this image, you can see the silhouette of the Teton range, parts of which still have snow. In the clouds, the lobes of the clouds were creating a light and dark pattern to the sunlight. The clouds themselves appeared to have a silver lining.

The image was taken with a Canon PowerShot SX530 HS, ISO 100, f8, 1/640 sec. zoomed at 65.4mm. Taken on August 10th, at 7:50PM from the Teton Park Road.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Undine Falls in northern Yellowstone National Park

Undine Falls in the north of Yellowstone National Park about four miles east of Mammoth Village.  In three separate plunges Lava Creek falls about 60 feet over a cliff of basalt lava flows.  These falls can be viewed by a short hike from the park road to an overlook.  If you look closely, you'll see a trail passing by the falls on the other side of the canyon.  During his college years, Bob hiked on that trail past Undine Falls on a backpack trip from Mammoth to the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River east and north of these falls.

This image was shot at 1/4th of a second to create the silky appearance of the water.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Mormon barn and the Tetons

This image is from along the Antelope Flats Road in Grand Teton National Park.  It shows the historic Moulton barn of the Mormon settler era with the highest peaks of the Tetons on the horizon.

The Mormon settlers dug many ditches to supply their fields with water from the nearby Gros Ventre River, and many of these ditches still have water flowing through them.  Bob was standing right next to one of them when he took these photos.

We created this panoramic image by merging three images together.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.