“For the benefit and enjoyment of the people”. Well said!

Visting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks were on my bucket list. We finally made it to the parks this year. We spent 5 days in Yellowstone and 1 day in Grand Teton. While I enjoyed both parks, for me the highlight was Lamar Valley and the Canyon area. I was advised how large Yellowstone is and that it would take more than a few days to visit all the key areas of the park. I’d have to agree. We stayed in Mammoth Hot Springs area, Canyon Village and Old Faithful Village, spreading our accommodations across the park. On our last day driving home we spent the morning in Grant Teton with a visit to Willow Flats (for the Elk images) , Jenny Lake, Schwabacher Landing and more. If you decide to stay in the park, be prepared to pay. Everything was shockingly expensive.

I took thousands of images but only posting the more “artistic” here. One thing I discovered is that geysers don’t photograph well, so I shifted to video for most of the “ring of fire” in Yellowstone. I may post a few videos here eventually but to save space, it’s images for now.

I love to hike to locations throughout the park. Alltrails is a must. A favorite hike was the Lamar River trail to Cache Creek, recommended by a former park ranger. Not a difficult hike but long and in direct sun and wind made it tiring, we had a private moment with a herd of bison, far enough away to admire but close enough to hear them breathing. Two bulls had a minor confrontation which I’m told is a rare sight to see.

In the Canyon area we had an early morning hike down to Brink of Lower Falls and while it’s listed as a moderate hike, the steep switchbacks say otherwise. We ran into more than one couple who abandoned the hike partway down. The dreamy misty canyon images taken at The Brink were some of my favorite from the trip. Red Rock Point, also listed as moderate was a bit less well paved and heavy switchbacks, but worth it. On the south side of the canyon, The South Rim trail to Artist Point was another pleasant hike, it had some switchbacks and decent elevation change but mostly a flat hike, at least compared to the hikes on the north rim. South Rim trail had nice stops along the way to get different shots of Lower falls. Artist Point is not to be missed, but be warned it gets pretty crowded by late morning.

While we did other minor hikes, our last notable hike was on the western side of the park to Fairy Falls and back. This trail was pretty easy, predominantly flat. We arrived at the falls just before 8am and had it all to ourselves, for about 20 minutes. I snuck in a number of shots including the rock and driftwood shot on the right side of the falls. The trail also offered a short optional hike up to the Grand Prismatic observation area, which was quite busy by midmorning. We had to bypass it in the early morning as the mist was too thick to get a shot of Grand Prismatic. I squeaked in an image I’m pleased with. I also made a new photographer IG friend. The only other “photographer” there, we gravitated to each other. I told him he was bold to bring a tripod, which was my first indication that he had the photobug. Enough rambling, I hope you enjoy the images.