road trip – Page 3 – On The Road with Tall Guy & JET

Westward Ho(ly Cow) Episode 2: The Grand Splurge

When we were planning the Grand Teton leg of our 5 ½ month road trip, TG happened upon a most unique accommodation: two cabins located inside the national park boundary and only 1.5 miles from the famous Mormon Row and Moulton Barns.

Welcome to McReynolds Blacktail Cabins!

McReynolds Blacktail Cabins looked like the perfect place, but TG said, “it’s a little out of our budget.” “Wait a minute,” I replied, “isn’t this 2022??? It’s our 40^th wedding anniversary this year!”

Forty years of marriage is certainly worthy of a Grand Splurge celebration, don’t you think?!? TG inquired and the West Cabin was available the last week of October.

If you haven’t already read Episode 1: Walk on the Wild Side, you can click here to open a new tab and read all about our 32 nights in Big Sky, MT and Yellowstone National Park.

https://ontheroadwithtallguyandjet.blog/2022/10/23/westward-holy-cow-episode-1-walk-on-the-wild-side/

We left our Airbnb in Big Sky on Monday, October 24. It had snowed non-stop since early Saturday, and there was somewhere between 18-24 inches on the ground. It was a bit edgy going the nine miles down the mountain, but thanks to TG’s great driving we made it safe & sound.

Any drive through Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Park is a potential photo safari so we always keep our cameras within easy reach. On the Rockefeller Parkway we saw two cars stopped on a bridge up ahead. Did they spot a moose? No! OMG!!! A huge grizzly bear was crossing the river!

We quickly parked the car, and we got some wonderfully close shots of this magnificent animal as he lumbered by. We found out later that the locals have nicknamed this grizzly “Huck,” for the nearby Huckleberry Mountain. He is extremely elusive, so this was a rare and very fortunate spy.

Watch “Huck the Magic Grizzly” slowly walk by!

Thus began our animal count for Grand Teton NP. In addition to Huck, we also saw a coyote in the beautiful afternoon light,

A skunk, a badger, and a lovely herd of pronghorns.

We pulled into the driveway at McReynold’s West Cabin a little after 4 pm.

The cabin was perfect, with everything we could need, and an incredible view of the Teton mountains.

both bedrooms face west towards the mountains

a beautiful kitchen with everything we needed

Oscar and Maddie loved looking at the mountains through the big picture windows

We woke up early Tuesday morning, excited to begin our week inside the park. As predicted, the sky threatened snow, so we headed to the Snake River Overlook to channel our inner Ansel Adams – aka concentrate on black and whites on this cloudy, gray day.

This is approximately where the famous photographer Ansel Adams took his iconic image of the Snake River and the Tetons rising above it – and helped convince Congress to designate this area a national park.

in this spot Ansel Adams helped convince Congress to make this a national park

After a picnic with a view,

a nice place to stop for a picnic lunch!

We drove to the Chapel of the Transfiguration, another iconic park image. This tiny rustic chapel was built in 1925 and provided local ranchers as well as tourists a place to worship close to home.

It is a spiritual place, with beautiful stained-glass windows in the foyer

the two stained-glass windows in the tiny foyer

And a view of the mountains behind the altar.

a view of the Teton range behind the altar

At the back of the chapel is a book for prayer requests. I am not a particularly religious person, but I wrote a special prayer in the book. It seemed the right thing to do in such a sacred space.

Within walking distance of the chapel is the old Menor’s Ferry. This was the only way across the Snake River before they built the steel truss bridge in 1927, making the ferry obsolete.

Wednesday morning started out cold. From the coziness inside our cabin, we could see that the clouds over the mountains were dramatic.

After a quick breakfast, we buddled ourselves up and spent some time photographing the Mormon Row barns.

While TG concentrated on his long-exposure panoramas,

I entertained myself with the adorable little chipmunks that scurried about the old, wooden buildings.

little chipmunks scurry about the old buildings and fences

You can see all of TG’s beautiful Mormon Row Historic District photos here: (click on link to open in new tab)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/werdnanilmot/albums/72177720303195831/with/52457179495/

Thursday morning started clear, and we drove the loop road, stopping to admire the beautiful sunrise along 191,

Oxbow Bend,

And the Willow Flats Overlook.

Along the way, we spied the largest herd of elk we had seen yet. There were at least 200 cows, all herded along by three or four large bulls. We could hear the bulls bugling, which sounds like something between a painful scream and a horse neighing and is part of their mating ritual.

some bulls will bugle so long and loud that they will lose their voices!

We stopped at the Jenny Lake Overlook,

And checked out the Taggart Lake trailhead. The clouds had started to move in, obscuring our view of the mountains, so we decided to leave the hike for another day.

By nightfall the clouds were gone, and millions of stars lit up the sky.

The Big Dipper was perfectly positioned above the Teton mountain range, so I set up my tripod for a star stack.

88 30-second images shot over 90 minutes and then run through the Star Stax program

As I broke down my tripod 90 minutes later, I heard a loud rustling in the tall grass and the distinctive sounds of something (big?) crossing the small stream that runs through the property. A moose? A pronghorn? A coyote??? Whatever it was, it wanted nothing to do with me and given the number of mule deer we saw around the cabin, I’m guessing that’s what I most likely heard.

mule deer by entrance to McReynolds property

Friday was another cold but clear day. We found a nice set of black bear prints and TG may or may not have taken off his shoes and socks for a bear feet/bare feet photo op.

bear foot next to TG-I-mean-somebody’s size 14 bare foot!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather for another photo shoot at the Moulton Barns,

Went for a drive around the park,

And captured the last vestiges of autumn before heading home for an afternoon nap.

orange-gold aspen leaves against the bright blue sky

That night the stars once again filled the sky. Around 9 pm, we drove the five minutes back to Mormon Row to capture the Milky Way rising above the famous T.A. Moulton Barn.

Before we arrived in the Greater Yellowstone/Grand Teton area, it was my dream to see a moose and we had already spied 35. After all of our great animal sightings over the past month, we started Saturday with no expectations.

we were incredibly fortunate with all of our animal sightings!

We decided on an early morning drive on the Moose-Wilson Road and no sooner had we turned the corner when we came upon two beautiful bull moose grazing in the meadow very close to the road.

no sooner had we turned the corner and we came upon two bull moose very close to the road!

On our way back, a cow had joined them! Make that 38 moose — so far!

The beautiful Teton mountain range lined the west side of our drive as we made our way north.

A large group was pulled over at Oxbow Bend and as we hopped out of the car, we spied a bald eagle on the ice. TG managed to capture the eagle in flight along with a little beaver sitting nearby, hoping no one would notice him!

The afternoon warmed into the balmy mid-40s with plenty of sunshine. We decided to hike to Taggart Lake – something we had been looking forward to all week. This beautiful glacier lake is a 3.2-mile round trip hike and is rated “easy” on the park website.

The trail crossed through flat, rolling sagebrush and past a little waterfall,

Before beginning a slow, gentle climb through aspen-covered moraine and pine forests.

the trail slowly rises through aspen-covered moraine and a pine forest

The lake is stunning, and we could not have picked a more perfect day. The water was like glass, reflecting the Teton mountains rising above it.

Despite it being so late in the season, there were plenty of hikers on the trail, meaning we did not see much wildlife besides chipmunks, squirrels, and a few snowshoe hare tracks.

It was simply a beautiful day for a lovely hike!

You can see all of TG’s beautiful landscape panoramas here, including Taggart Lake:

john moulton pano 14 — hover on photo and then arrow through the set (to view in full, click to open a new tab in Flickr)

After a fun morning with the muskrats and beavers at Oxbow Bend, we relaxed on Sunday afternoon. We had been going pretty much continuously for the past six weeks and needed to ready ourselves for stop #3 on our road trip: New Mexico.

We did enjoy a lovely last supper at Dornan’s Pizza & Pasta Company.

Dornan’s Pizza & Pasta in Moose, Wyoming

It’s nothing fancy, but it has a million-dollar view and was a relaxing place to enjoy the sunset.

Our road trip thus far had been extraordinary. Between the two parks we had enjoyed 29 photo safari days and already a lifetime of memories!

Grand Teton National Park animal count: 10/24-11/1/2022

You can view all of our wildlife photos from Grand Teton on the Flickr link below:

Grand Teton National Park — hover on photo and then arrow through the set or click on the link to open a new tab in Flickr

Most locals say that fall is a perfect time to visit the Yellowstone-Grand Teton area. There are far fewer people and a 50/50 chance of decent weather year in and out. In our six weeks we only had two days of what we would consider “bad” weather.

And McReynolds Blacktail Cabins was the perfect “Grand Splurge” for our 40th anniversary! It is a charming cabin and its location inside the park is priceless.

we loved watching the mule deer running through the tall grass from our deck!

the view from the Master Bedroom shower!

You can view all of our Grand Teton landscape photos on the Flickr link below:

As we left the Grand Tetons in our review mirror, our feelings were bittersweet. We were sad to leave this place, with its astounding beauty, but also excited to continue our journey.

Coming next: Westward Ho(ly Cow) Episode 3 “Back to the Bosque”

sandhill cranes and snow geese at the Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Westward Ho(ly Cow)! Episode 1: Walk on the Wild Side

After months of tweaking the itinerary, we were finally ready to head west on our epic, 5 ½ month road trip. We pulled out of our driveway in Okeechobee, FL early Sunday morning with the plan to arrive at our Airbnb in Big Sky, MT on Thursday.

We built in a little extra time for sightseeing, including stops in Tupelo, MS at Elvis’s birthplace, a Graceland drive-by,

And the 27-mile scenic tour of South Dakota’s Badlands.

You can view photos of our quickie trip though the Badlands here:

South Dakota Badlands — hover on the photo and then arrow through the set

It was a long time to be in the car, but there was no traffic and 2,800 miles later we arrived in Big Sky as scheduled.

Domenick’s condo could not have been more perfect for us AND Oscar & Maddie. We had plenty of room to spread out and since it was a corner unit, plenty of privacy.

It was located at the base of Lone Mountain, which offered us gorgeous views every time we stepped outdoors.

view of Lone Mountain from our back door

You can find Domenick’s condo on the Airbnb website here:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/30390273?source_impression_id=p3_1664575694_v44XN83Fv8RFy9N6

Yellowstone is as beautiful as they say – awe-inspiring around every curve of the road and unlike anywhere else on the planet.

But at 2.2 million acres, it is also massive. We spent our first week simply driving around, getting an idea of where everything was located and identifying the places we wanted to explore in depth.

The weather was perfect: the mornings started chilly, but it warmed up nicely with blue skies and plenty of sunshine each afternoon. The fall colors had started to turn,

And the rivers were full of fly-fishermen. They made for such good subjects it was impossible to not snap a photo or two as we drove along.

There is an affordable audio tour app called GyPSy Guide, which I had purchased for Yellowstone & Grand Teton.

https://gypsyguide.com/home/

It proved to be an excellent way to navigate around the park and also hear enriching facts and stories as we drove along.

According to our Gypsy guide, the Madison River sees over 200,000 angler days per year –that’s an average of almost six hundred anglers Every. Single. Day! p.s. We named the narrator “Edward” after our wonderful guide in South Africa.

“200,000 angler days per year on the Madison River”

We also spent one day driving around the west side of the Tetons, over the pass, through Grand Teton NP, and then home via Yellowstone.

Teton Mountains looking east near Driggs, Idaho

Given my absolute terror of heights, it was all I could do to snap the few pics I did while on Teton Pass. I was too busy breathing into a paper bag and eating crybaby pie.

It made for a long, nine-hour day (O & M are SUCH troopers!!)

But we were rewarded with gorgeous views of the mountains from both the west and east sides.

And at the end of the day, we spied a group of male moose grazing in a meadow alongside the road. Just that quick, my life count for moose jumped from zero to three!

Thank You to the kind (and very talented) gentleman who offered to snap this pic!

The first thing most people think about when they hear “Yellowstone” is Old Faithful. But the park is made up of over 10,000 hydrothermal features including geysers, beautifully colored hot springs, steaming fumaroles, and boiling mud pots. The land is truly wild! Instead of racing through the park, trying to see as many features as we possibly could, we chose to visit places we had targeted to thoroughly explore:

Upper Geyser Basin, which has the most concentrated grouping of hydrothermal features in the world, including Old Faithful.

We stayed long enough to see Old Faithful erupt three different times, from three different vantage points.

On our 6-mile hike around the Upper Basin, we also saw Anemone, Spasmodic, and Beehive Geysers erupt.

We walked as far as Morning Glory Pool, which is sadly fading due to all the coins and other items people keep throwing into the center.

Midway Geyser Basin, home to the Grand Prismatic Spring, third largest hot spring in the world, and Excelsior Geyser.

We even managed the one-mile hike up to the Grand Prismatic Overlook.

A beautiful afternoon at the Fountain Paint Pots in the Lower Geyser Basin, with views of all four of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features: geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.

a fumarole at Fountain Paint Pots – turn up the volume to hear the steam hissing out of the ground!

And a full day at Mammoth Hot Springs, with its amazing travertine terraces.

Mammoth Hot Springs from the upper boardwalk

You can view all of our hydrothermal photos here:

Yellowstone National Park — hover on photo and then arrow through the set

Of course, Yellowstone is also all about the wildlife! I kept a count of all the animals and birds we spied and for “too many to count” I put an “X.”

By noon on our first day, bison were already an “X.” They are everywhere!

One afternoon we received intel that Yellowstone’s celebrity grizzly bears, “Raspberry” and her cub, “Jam” had been spotted in the eastern section of the park. Raspberry is a 15-year-old sow with a history of keeping her cubs longer than usual. Typically, around two years bear cubs are on their own so that the mother can mate again, but in the spring of 2022, Raspberry and 2 1/2-year-old Jam were still seen together.

After a bit of detective work, we determined the general area. As we rounded a curve, we knew we were in the right place: a crowd of 150+ armed with big-lens cameras and binocs were all pointed in the same direction.

Sure enough, Raspberry and Jam were there – a good 200 yards away and in harsh mid-day light but a thrill, nonetheless.

And as if that were not enough, on our drive home we spotted a mountain goat, grazing high up on the side of a hill. What a magical, mystical end to our day!

TG had been battling a cough and a friend suggested it might be allergies. So, one Sunday afternoon we drove down the mountain for some local honey – a good home remedy. And on the way, we came upon a moose family grazing right by the side of the road!

Wow!

Besides beautifully terraced hot springs, Mammoth is also home to dozens of elk who like to hang out around the buildings and nicely manicured lawns. But that doesn’t mean they are in any way tame. Rangers are posted everywhere, reminding you to keep your distance.

the elk at Mammoth like to hang around the buildings

On our way home that day we spied three more moose: a bull who was doing his best to hit on two cows, neither of which wanted anything to do with him. But Oscar and Maddie had been in the kennel since early morning, so we had to hurry home before the grand finale — if there even was one.

You can view all of our wildlife photos here:

Between all the rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and deep canyons that make up Yellowstone National Park, there are wildly beautiful landscapes everywhere you turn.

Golden Gate on the way to Mammoth Hot Springs

Artist’s Point is an iconic “must-photograph” image. It is a glorious waterfall that drops 308ft into the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Hayden and Lamar Valleys have sweeping open plains with huge herds of bison and other animals,

Firehole River was named by early trappers for the rising steam which makes it look like it’s on fire.

And is one of only two places inside the park where you can actually swim!

And Yellowstone Lake, the largest lake above 7,000 feet in North America. Research has found that if one could empty all the water out of Yellowstone Lake, the bottom is similar to what is found on the land: geysers, hot springs, and deep canyons.

panoramic view of Yellowstone Lake from Lake Butte Overlook

Indian Pond with Yellowstone Lake in the background

We also spent a day driving to Upper Mesa Falls, located about an hour west of Yellowstone. A wooden boardwalk lets you get so close you can feel the mist from the spray!

And another delightful afternoon hiking to Ousel Falls, located in Big Sky.

You can view all of our landscape photos here:

“Animal Jams” are a quintessential part of Yellowstone. The animals in the park roam free, and that means they sometimes use the same roads we drive on.

On any given day, at any given time, in any given place you are likely to encounter stopped traffic. But it’s all part of the park’s experience so you just enjoy it — and try not to get frustrated!

we waited in this line for 90 minutes while a herd of bison lumbered along at 2mph

We had been in the Yellowstone area for a month and thus far blessed with unseasonably mild weather: warm days with plenty of blue skies and bright sunshine. But the forecast for the weekend of Oct 22 and into the following week did not look good. We decided to take advantage of what might be our last warm, sunny day and drive down to Grand Teton for some landscape shots.

Grand Teton National Park family portrait

Oscar and Maddie enjoying the view from Schwabacher Landing

It’s a long 4-hour drive in good weather so we also booked an overnight at the Cowboy Village in Jackson.

our adorable little cabin at Cowboy Village, Jackson

We spent all day Friday in the park, shooting landscapes

And all the wildlife we happened upon. In that one day of driving around, we saw a big male grizzly bear, a very dark gray wolf, a bald eagle, nine different moose (yes!!), a coyote, a ruffed grouse, and a little black bear.

a black bear enjoying some huckleberries

Old Man Winter showed up with a vengeance on Saturday morning.

Just like that we went from Indian Summer to Winter!

It took us 7 1/2 hours to get home. Part of that was driving below the speed limit on snowy, mountain roads. But we also sat for an hour in a “snow jam.” Someone had slid off the road and the rangers stopped traffic in both directions while we all waited for the tow truck. When the guilty car finally came by (his “drive of shame”) we saw it was a Range Rover of all things! I guess the guy got overly confident.

In spite of the wild drive home, it was well worth the trip!

“Home Sweet Home” looking a lot different than 32 hours ago!

Before we left Florida, I had already penciled this episode as “Walk on the Wild Side” for the “Wild West” and “wildlife” connotations. But between the wildly fantastic hydrothermal features of the park,

All the wildly beautiful landscapes,

All the wildlife we saw, and the wild weather our last time driving through the park, our 32 nights in Yellowstone were indeed a Walk on the Wild Side!

If you haven’t gotten enough photos, you can also check out our entire Flickr albums, which include pics not in any of the above categories as well as all of TG’s beautiful panoramas.

TG: https://www.flickr.com/photos/werdnanilmot/albums/72177720302405041

JET: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jetomlin/albums/72177720302490368

Coming next: Westward Ho(ly Cow) Episode 2 “The Grand Splurge”

Westward Ho (ly Cow)!

Prologue

In June of 2022, we found ourselves in a bit of a predicament. We had a confirmed reservation at an Air BNB outside of Gardiner, MT for a month-long visit to Yellowstone National Park in September. As wildlife photographers, visiting the park was high on both our bucket lists: TG had never been and I was too young to remember much of my family’s visit in the early 1960s.

*I’m wearing the sweatshirt but I don’t remember the trip!*

But unprecedented flooding caused the park to close, with not a lot of hope that the north (Gardiner) entrance would be open any time this season.

To salvage the Yellowstone portion of our trip we had a lot of boxes to check: the dates had to work as we were due at our next stop the third week of October. It had to be within an hour’s drive of one of the park’s entrances, it had to be dog friendly, and the price needed to be within our budget.

As luck would have it, we found a condominium in Big Sky, MT that fit the bill. It was located about 50 miles from the west entrance and was dog friendly.

Something about the host’s Air BNB profile rang a bell. Could it be the same Domenick that owned and operated the Quito Inn & Suites in Tababela?!?

Sure enough, it was! After the new international airport opened outside of Quito in 2013, it was the only place to stay those first few years and we met him on several of our trips to Ecuador.

*Quito Inn & Suites, Tababela Ecuador (2013)*

After catching up on old times, Domenick offered us the Big Sky condo at a considerable discount. Yellowstone, followed by eight nights in Grand Teton, was back on track.

Our original plan was to head to New Mexico the first week of November for the sandhill crane migration at the Bosque del Apache before heading home in early December. But we thought as long as we’re this far, why not just keep going?? So we added … and added … and added …

After the Bosque we drive north to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to spend the holidays photographing the aurora borealis, then back south to Fargo, North Dakota for a chance to spy saw-whet owls, and finish with another month in the Sax-Zim Bog with the great gray owls.

*a brand new set of Michelin Crossclimate 2 tires for the road!*

By the time we’re back home in Okeechobee, Oscar and Maddie will have added six more states to their already impressive count (23 total), plus 3 Canadian provinces.

Blogging a trip this long must be broken up into several parts (“Episodes”) which I will post as we go. Travel along with us – or wait until we’re back home and binge-read them all at once. Either way, it should be quite the ride! So fasten your seatbelts and hang on as we hit the road – again.

*So fasten your seatbelts and hang on as we hit the road – again!*

Coming next: Westward Ho Episode 1 “Walk on the Wild Side”