Wyoming & Idaho Photos

[quasigeostrophy]

In late August/early September 2001, soaring_phoenix and I took a long road trip from Indy to Portland, Oregon and back. We took in a lot of sights along the way. Earlier today, I was digging through photos from that trip and thought I'd share some of them:

- In Southeastern Wyoming, there is a large field of rocky formations known as the Vedauwoo (pronounced "VEE-dah-voo"). This is a shot of just one of several formations.
- Between Boulder and Pinedale, Wyoming on US 191, there are several osprey nests on top of the utility poles.
- We pulled over and I tried to get some shots of one of the occupied nests. This osprey didn't seem to mind.
- In Grand Teton National Park, we were impressed at how low the water was in Jackson Lake that year. This shot is of the dock at Colter Bay
- On the road from the south entrance to West Thumb in Yellowstone National Park, we got stuck behind a small family herd of bison.
- They really didn't want to get out of our way, and we didn't want to rush them, as they had some calves with them. We led a parade of traffic.
- This is the definition of irony. Heading east of Boise, Idaho on US 20, we passed from the Boise National Forest into the Sawtooth National Forest. Didn't see any trees.
- Looking behind at the same national forest border, still no trees in sight.
- Here's a closeup of pahoehoe (rope-like lava) at Idaho's Craters of the Moon National Monument.
- This is along the Devil's Orchard Nature Trail at Craters of the Moon.
- Another shot along the Devil's Orchard Nature Trail.
- A hearty limber pine at Craters of the Moon.
- Wildflower (can anyone identify the species?) growing in the cinders at Craters of the Moon.

I took lots of other shots on that trip. A few are already on my business web site. I may share more of them later.

(Crossposted to american_west & behind_the_lens.)

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

rfrench took me to Craters of the Moon last year. Your pictures brought back memories. :-)

I can't remember what they called that blue tint on the lava (or maybe what they called the blue-tinted lava). Brain like a sieve.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Craters of the Moon had been on my Must See Before I Die list for so long. It was fabulous. So desolate, so remote, so beautiful. When I'm watching or reading near the end of The Lord of the Rings, I imagine Frodo and Sam are walking on something similar to the aa (the sharp, rough lava) there - in their bare hobbit feet!

Not sure what the blue is - I'll have to dig around on the web or in the guidebook I got.

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Don't know what the flower is, but that foliage is wonderful!
Let us know if someone elsewhere gives it an Ident?

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Will do. :-)

[triplemare.livejournal.com]

*rawr* Piccies!

Those are gorgeous. Worth the nine million year wait to download. (no worries, its cause I have dialup service)

Danke!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-)

[firecat]

Great! I love the Vedauwoo and the bison.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I have another shot of a more interesting Vedauwoo formation, but it's on a 4x5 color transparency which I haven't scanned in yet. I'll post as soon as I do get it scanned. It looks to me like a giant lying on his back. I've heard the Vedauwoo described as "giant, 3-D Rorshach tests". :-)

[firecat]

Heheh. I can see that.

I like it because it looks like someone built it out of big prehistoric Legos.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

These are lovely! Thank you for posting!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

Bison in the road! It seems like such a surreal scene.

I was going to tell you that down in Florida, they put platforms on the telephone lines so the osprey can nest, but it looks like they do the same in Oregon.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Actually that was Wyoming. :-)

He/she was so cool - just sitting there pruning for the whole time we had stopped the car. I have other shots with an APS camera that I'll have to find - I can't remember how they came out.

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

my bad...

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

And the Bison sure let you know they own the park. :-) The funny thing was, we didn't come up on them already there. They marched out into the road from the trees off to the side just as we got to them, almost as if they got in front of us out of spite. ;-)

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

Brats!