I made a knew discovery today! I have always had a love for Yellowstone growing up close by with ample opportunity to frequent the area I made my way their often. Five years ago I even had the chance to live on its Northern edge in Gardiner Montana. The last couple years Grand Teton National Park has stolen my heart, well at least I thought it had.
Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is a photographers dream, landscapes, wildlife, geology and it is all packed into a simple 310,000 acres. Spending these last 2 weeks in Yellowstone, learning in the field, looking up close at the intricate details and a broader look at the picture. I have come to realize it is not the photography that draws me here, it is not the Wolf wandering in Lamar, or the water bursting from the ground.
What I have learned the last two weeks more than anything is the atmosphere of discovery the need for knowledge. This is what has drawn me to Yellowstone and continues to tug at my heart, I am not the only one that has or will yet feel this need for discovery.
I went out for what was going to be an hour yesterday to have some time to work on an assignment for class. I left Gardiner Montana around 4pm not really knowing whereI was going to go. I traveled to Mammoth at which time I decided to head North Towards Lamar, on my way there I decided to pull off and stop at Floating Island Lake.
I started to wander around the Lake to the West, two hours and two miles later I was back at my car. If you do the math two hours for two miles does not add up. I was either lost of I was busy making discoveries, and discoveries I made!
American Pika at Floating Island Lake Yellowstone National Park.
Pikas scrambled through the the basalt covered hillside hardly making their presence know. A Mallard duck called form somewhere above the lake leading me to two ponds (puddles) higher up the hill. Elk scrambled away as startled about my presence as I was about theirs.
Aspen scarred by bears.
To the West of the pond a mixed forest of Quacking Aspens and Douglas Fir held scars from bears climbing and birds pounding holes in their trunks. Mysterious songs reveled their musicians as I walked though the woods and around the ponds.
I re-discovered what is is about Yellowstone that I love. Their seems to be an atmosphere of discovery in Yellowstone and I have found it.
