01 August 2013

A Post from Big Sky Country


When you bring a camera out to Wyoming and Montana, it is very difficult to be a bad photographer. Still, I am grateful for my commercial photography background when I head out on a trip as spectacular as this one was. In full disclosure, my husband is the photographer of a couple of these images and even without a degree in photography he did an awesome job too!

I have been hanging on to these images for a while, trying to sort out which ones to share with you here at Pull of the Tides.

I settled on a group of images that showcase the spectacular, sweeping landscapes in the Greater Yellowstone region, as well as a sample of the striking moments when my husband and I came face-to-face with a few of the wild creatures who call this Big Sky paradise home.

You are on board "Red Devil" here, called so because his ears remind the cowboys of devil's horns.
In reality, even a total horse novice had no difficulty with riding him -- although it *was* hard to
prevent him from munching on wild grasses and flowers. Red Devil loves lupines.

I keep hearing Howard Shore's soundtrack to The Two Towers here.
Especially the part when they get to the scenes in Rohan.
It's really like this in Montana.

Sunrise at Antelope Flats.
Cascade Canyon.

Red Devil would have loved this glade. More lupines!

Ground squirrel, digging up a cache?

Fledgling woodpecker waiting for breakfast.
It's Mamma came right after this.

River otter pup swimming around Trout Lake.
We saw his mother and sibling all together.

Mr. Bison is not to be trifled with.

Our naturalist guide took us to an amazing place. We spent hours just watching the landscape, and then this lovely young lady came to visit us. She was curious, and not as flighty as I would have imagined a pronghorn being.




Hungry black bear looking for lunch.

Does Montana have rainbows every night, or were we just fortunate?


My watercolor sketch of Mount Moran.



And here's Mount Moran, as it actually looked right before sunset.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures, Maria! I especially love the animal ones ;) I've always wanted to go out west to see things like the Bad Lands, the Grand Canyon, the Redwood Forest, and this just confirmed I should see Montana too!

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  2. Allison, Montana and Wyoming really are *that* beautiful. I always used to think that nature photographers were making it look unbelievably easy to photograph wildlife there, but having been there twice, I can say that there really are so many creatures that call Greater Yellowstone home.

    Yellowstone is a beautiful and sometime mysterious place with all of its geysers and geological oddities in addition to the wide, sweeping Lamar and Hayden Valleys.

    I highly recommend Grand Teton National Park which usually is in the background compared to the glorification of Yellowstone. It has a great deal to recommend it -- and a lodge with as perfect a view of a cobalt blue lake and majestic mountains as you could want.

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  3. Beautiful images from your trip! I think I would've loved Red Devil :)

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