September 15-20 1997 Yellowstone Trip
Like many serious photographers, amateur and professional alike, I've long
wanted to travel to Yellowstone during September. This year everything came
together and I was able to take the trip. I've decided to write this paper as my
way of paying back Bob Atkins and the other helpful contributors to the photo.net
Nature Photography pages. For the past six months I've asked questions, read
responses to other questions and in general obtained quite a bit of useful
information from this forum. Like me, others submitted questions about
Yellowstone in the early fall. I can't comment on other Septembers or even other
dates during this September, but I will discuss my trip on 15-20 September. It
may be typical, it may not be, but either way others planning future trips may be
able to gleam useful information from my experience.
Before I begin let me list the equipment that I took. I'll save comments on
them until later.
Canon EOS Elan IIE
Canon 28-105 USM
Canon 100-300 USM
Canon 300 f/4
Canon 1.4 extender
Canon 2X extender
Bogen 3221 Tripod
Bogen 3055 Ball Head
Tamrac Day Pack (Model 752)
Film:
Kodak Royal Gold 25
Kodak Gold 100
Fuji 400 Super G+
Kodak Gold Max (800)
As a little bit of background I'm a computer engineer by profession and
wildlife painter for fun. I use photography as a means to gather and store
reference material, both animal and habitat, for my painting. That's important to
note because some things that I will discuss will show that an area that was
great for reference photo's of elk would not be useful for artistic photo's, like
the lawn of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. This also explains why you see that I
only used print film.
Monday 15 September 1997. I flew into Salt Lake City and rented a car
at the airport. From the airport I went to my sisters house to pick up some basic
camping gear. This was a great help. As it was my gear and clothing filled two
duffel bags, in addition to the Tamrac day pack with all my camera equipment and
film. For anyone traveling through Salt Lake City this year and next, good luck.
I-15 is under construction and most exits are closed. I left Salt Lake City about
1:30 pm and drove north through a substantial thunderstorm. I continued on I-15
to Idaho Falls, ID and then took the cut off from there to West Yellowstone. I
reached West Yellowstone, after another 25 minute construction delay, at about
7:30 pm. After paying the entrance fee I entered the park to head towards Madison
Campground. The last reasonable shooting light was between 7:30 and 7:45 pm. The
sunset was terrific. Along the 14 mile, 30 minute drive, I saw bison, trumpeter
swans, and then elk crossing the Madison River- all too dark to photograph for my
purposes.
Lodging: Tent site at Madison Campground. I was pleased with this site. By now
the weather was cool enough that there were no bugs, mosquitoes or flies. The one
major draw back is that there are no showers. Price $14.50, reservations through
TW Services. The tree covered tent area is about 100 yards from the flats
surrounding the Madison River. Weather: I don't know the temperature when I got
there but it was definite cool, 48-53 is my guess.
Tuesday, 16 September. I woke to hearing a little patter on my tent. A
very light, dry snow was falling, none sticking, but quite cool perhaps in the
low 30's. Walking light was about 6:30 with sunrise a little after 7:00. It was
overcast. I decided to head north around the Norris area to see what critters I
could find. A lone bull bison was laying about 30 yards off the road just past
the Norris area. But, aside from that I did not see a thing until about half way
to Mammoth Hot Springs from Norris. In one of the higher valleys was a bull elk.
By this time though the snow was wet and heavy with about 20-30 mph winds. Up
there the snow was sticking a little. I continued on into Mammoth before seeing
any other animals. In Mammoth there were three separate groupings of bull elk and
harems. The first was a fine five pointer with a group of about 12 cows that
staked out the grassy area across from and east of the hotel. Even though his
turf included the road, parking lot, hotel and visitor center he was quite
territorial around people. I saw him charge three people who weren't unreasonably
close. The second group included a terrific six pointer who was camped out by the
post office with about 15 cows. The third group was in the hills directly north
of the cabins. I was able to get some fine reference photos here, though the
manicured lawn wouldn't cut it for nature photos. The elk were in full bugle
form. No winter coats yet, except on many of the fawns. By about 10:00 am the sun
was out and the weather had improved quite nicely at Mammoth. From here I
traveled towards the Gardiner entrance to look for Antelope in the flats around
the pay station. I found a nice buck with close to a dozen does. They were ending
their rut and I couldn't get within a 100 yards before they would move off. In
the afternoon I returned to the campground and headed up the Madison towards West
Yellowstone. On this trip I saw a herd of buffalo, about 50, crossing the river
near the Riverside Drive. Over the next couple of days I saw them do this three
times in the same area. Returning towards the campground in the evening I spotted
a lone six point bull elk in the fields by the river about 2-3 miles south of the
campground. This satellite bull was trying to bugle up some action but had to
settle for being alone that evening. After photographing him I moved on eastward
and spotted a large six pointer with about 15 cows just south of the campground.
He was having a hard time controlling all of his cows on both sides of the river.
He gave multiple river crossing photos. He also bugled, chased cows, and tore up
the grass with his antlers. He was obviously in his prime. I was with this group
until the end of light.
Lodging: Stayed in Madison Campground again.
Weather: As discussed, from wet cold snow to sunshine and maybe 60.
Wednesday, 17 September. This morning I decided to walk behind the
campground to the river. As I did I walked right into the same six pointer and
his cows. He continued his antics as well as cow chasing on both sides of the
river. He was nice enough to give a full bugle in the river, covered with mist,
at sunrise. That was worth the admission. He stayed in the area for several hours
and eventually bedded in the woods on the other of the road from the campground.
Moving towards West Yellowstone I found my buffalo herd again at the riverside
drive area. Great river crossing pictures with brilliant blue river and sky. I
met my brother in West Yellowstone in the afternoon and we headed to Jackson Hole
from there. Unfortunately, the road between Madison and Old Faithful was closed
for repairs between 10 am and 6 pm. This meant I had to go to Norris, then across
to Canyon, down to Grant and then to Jackson Hole. The Jackson Wildlife Art
Festival was in full swing during this week and I wanted to check it out. On the
way we saw a large herd of bison in the Hayden Valley area. Just north of Bridge
Bay a large group of cars were stopped so we pulled over. Apparently a Grizzly
had been visiting the area in the evening for the last several days. He didn't
show up this night though.
Lodging: Stayed at Lone Eagle Lodge and Campgrounds south of Jackson. Had a
nice tent cabin for $27.00. Showers were in the community center of the camp.
Note: while I was in West Yellowstone I noticed that most of the hotels had their
vacancy signs lit during the day and early afternoon. I don't know if they fill
up at night, but they sure had a lot of rooms available during the day.
Weather: Dawned clear and cold (high 20's I would guess). Overcast during mid
day and evening.
Thursday, 18 September. We bummed around Jackson Hole and the Jackson
Lodge till about 1:00 pm and then headed back to Yellowstone. It drizzled all
afternoon. We set up camp at Bridge Bay and then headed back up to Hayden Valley.
Unfortunately there wasn't a single animal visible in Hayden Valley. So we
continued to Canyon and then cut across towards Norris. Not a single animal. The
weather provided some great close up and deep forest photographs though. From
Norris we headed towards Mammoth. About half way to Mammoth a large Bull Moose
and two cows were feeding on the west side of the road. We stayed with them until
darkness.
Lodging: Tent site at Bridge Bay. Not as nice as Madison, most of the sites
are sloped. No shower facilities here. $14.50 again and controlled by TW
Services.
Weather: Overcast morning, drizzle all afternoon till about 5:00 pm.
Temperatures fairly mild, 50's.
Friday, 19 September. We had planned on getting up early and heading
past Canyon to Tower and then out to the Lamar Valley. Well we got up early and
headed out, only to find the road north of Canyon closed. We later learned that
the snow in Dunraven pass was enough to close the road in the morning. So it was
back to Norris and Mammoth. We spotted a few elk along the way. All these elk
were very nervous, nothing like the Mammoth or Madison elk. Along the way we
stopped for a few hikes for landscape photos. There were two groups of elk on the
road down the hills just before mammoth. We hit Mammoth about 1:00 pm. There were
no elk in the area. The hotel clerk said that they had left earlier the previous
day before the weather came in. We checked into a cabin and then headed back
towards the north entrance to scout for Antelope. We spotted a lone bedded doe in
one of the canyons and stalked up close to her. After a few photos she got up and
and walked over the ridge to the west. About 400 yards in that direction we came
across a single doe and a young buck. Using the ambling method of stalking (not
eyeballing the antelope but moving indirectly towards them) I got within 30 yards
and walked with them feeding for about 30 minutes. They were never nervous or
alarmed. Eventually they just walked off. After that we headed to Lamar Valley.
On the way we spotted a group of antelope early in the valley. About 10 miles in,
past Slough Creek, we waited with a group who had spotted one of the wolf packs
across the valley. We stayed for about an hour but the wolves did not reappear.
No chance for a photo from those distances anyway. Fortunately the sky was clear
and I was able to get some good evening landscape photos.
Lodging: Cabins at Mammoth Hot Springs. $41.00, reservations through TW
Services. Showers were in community bathrooms in the cabin area. Great Deal.
Weather: Overcast in the morning, but clear afternoon and evening. 50's -
60's.
Saturday, 20 September. Partial clouds in the morning, 22 degrees, by
thermometer. The five pointer and his harem was back in the grassy area. Another
elk was working his way off the mountain behind the cabins. It took about an hour
but this elk finally worked his way to the small ridge just east of the hotel.
This set off the five pointer. He immediately headed that way and put on the full
show, bugling, posturing and ripping at bushes. The two bulls were about 30 yards
apart. The show lasted about 15 minutes before the bull on the ridge submitted
and walked back over the ridge line, without his cows. No clash of antlers but it
was close. After this show I packed up and headed back to Salt Lake City to catch
a flight home.
Weather: Partially cloudy and cold.
Equipment Critique.
Elan IIe. Mostly worked quite well. Twice it gave me unexpected LCD
activity, could be the cold, and both times it cleared up fairly quickly. If I
could design the eye control layout I would add sensors above and below the left
and right points, making a figure H pattern. But hey, that's just dreaming. AF
lock doesn't always work well in unpredictable animal photography. I did
sometimes find myself wishing for a second body to attach the 28-105 to. For
example during the bull elk show at Madison I had my 300 and 1.4 attached to the
Elan IIe. I would have liked to have been able to quickly catch a scene with both
animals posturing in it. But for fear of missing the beginning of an actual clash
I did not change lenses. A second body, EOS Rebel?, with the 28- 105 on it would
have solved that.
Canon 300 f/4. Terrific. Nothing bad to say about this. I want to thank
Bob Atkins for pushing me in this direction, rather than the Image Stabilization
version. He was right, get this lens and then use the price difference to get a
good tripod and ball head.
1.4 and 2X extenders. Both worked very well. You lose autofocus with
the 2X but the manual focus is still quite bright and easy. The 300, with and
without the 1.4X, was the lens I primarily used. The 2X was useful for shots of
the elk across the river and approaching the antelope. But other than that
everything was too close. I saw several Canon 600 f/4s being used along side of
my "small" outfit. As I switched between the 300 and 420 (teleconverted) and even
the 600 (teleconverted) occasionally I was thankful for my flexibility. My 420
and 600 shots will not be as technically perfect as their 600 shots but I think I
was better able to dynamically frame the photograph with my three choices.
Canon 28-105 USM. Good lens for scenics. I used it a little for the elk
in the Mammoth area as well.
Canon 100-300 USM. Least used. The 300 f/4 is a far superior lens and
so I just kept my distance when I might have had the chance to move up. The
28-105 is better for scenics and closeups. While it's nice to have the
flexibility of this range I just found myself using it just a couple of
times.
Bogen 3221 Tripod and 3055 ball head. Very Good setup. I'm 6'2" and the
tripod and head were just about perfect height. Very sturdy for my setup. Thanks
for the recommendations. After getting used to a ball head I found it to be
nearly as quick as free holding the camera because when I was ready to take a
photograph I could take it without having to concentrate on holding it still. I
would opt for the 300 f/4 and a good tripod and ball head again over the IS. My
only negative comment on the ball head is that when you tilt the camera to
vertical and then pan clockwise the base of the head will run up against the pan
locking lever and lock it tight.
Tamrac Bag. I was able to fit all my gear in it (minus tripod). The
camera with attached 300 and 1.4 fit across it, with the smaller lenses beneath
this setup. Good set up, but I did find that I used my jacket pockets for
carrying film, teleconverters and the 28-105 lens when I moved out and was
actively shooting. I had a photo vest, but my down jacket pockets worked just
fine.
Film. The Fuji 400 and the Kodak Max gave outstanding results. However,
every roll of Kodak 100 came back with a distinct yellow green tint. And this was
from a Kodak lab. I would like to think that the lab was at fault but when I see
the Fuji 400 and Kodak Max from the same lab with great color rendition it makes
me wonder. I haven't had the Royal Gold 25 processed yet. FYI, I shot 39 rolls of
film.
No one's naive enough to think that the animals will be where I described them
when they go. But for the first timer this should help them get a better feeling
for the park and maybe help them decide what to do and where to go. I don't think
I would do anything much different on a future trip. I might go a week later just
to catch the trees a little further along in the fall and see if the animal
behavior is different.
I think it's a tie between the 300 f/4 and the tripod/ballhead for the most
useful piece of equipment. I know that I'll never leave home without my tripod
again. My most valuable item aside from photo equipment was my down jacket. It
was chilly most of the time, but not teeth chattering cold.
A note on lodging. I made reservations about a month in advance and was able
to get where I wanted. I checked on making a change while I was at the park and
was told that the entire park was booked for that night. Plan early. Also be
aware that the park starts shutting down cabins and campsites in early September.
Where you stayed in the summer may not be open in September. Both West
Yellowstone and Jackson Hole had many hotels with "welcome" signs on them when we
were in those areas. I didn't notice the status of the Gardiner Hotels.
I wish everyone luck on their trip to Yellowstone at whatever time of year.
With luck this paper may help you plan for your trip.
