Abandoned

Abandoned 

Along the way on many of our adventures we find things and places that are abandoned.  Abandoned cars, house, buildings, whole towns and peoples  
things.  They all have a story.  Sometimes we don't know what those stories are, but it's fun to look into the surrounding history and try to figure it out.

A lot of broken glasses, bottles, china dishes and other pieces of glass that have been abandoned as people moved from a dying town to a new home.

An abandoned school bus, filled with miscellaneous things that were once someone's dreams.

An old rusted out car that was found by the side of the railroad tracks. Hidden car that was used in a robbery?  Stolen car that quit running so it was time to ditch it and find something new?  Or perhaps a car that lived out it's life happily in the country until finally finding a nice resting place. 

An abandoned trestle.  A once very important piece of the transcontinental railroad, this abandoned section has not been in use for decades.  

A truck, left for years along side an old dirt road. 

A couple of very old houses abandoned a hundred years or more ago,

Kelton, this entire town was abandoned.

Time has taken it's toll on this abandoned house.  A another winter and it probably won't be there anymore.  

Yellowstone 2014

Early this spring we decided to head up to Yellowstone and beat the heat and the tourists. It was a pretty good trip. It only rained at night and we saw a good variety of animals. I would like to note that we do not yet have a super telephoto lens, So all of these pictures were taken from a pretty close range. Some times to close.

This wolf was carefully watching a few elk and deer across the road.  He must have been hungry and watching them was not enough anymore so he took action and started to follow them.  Needless to say, the Elk and Deer quickly got on the move. 

A wolf came out of the woods as everyone was watching the deer and elk on the other side of the road.  Of course all attention changed to the wolf once it was realized i was standing there.  I don't think I have ever heard so many people be so quiet.  It was like everyone was holding their breath to see what was going to happen next.

As classic Yellowstone goes, this guy was wandering down the road.  It truly is amazing to come face to face with a 2,000 lbs animal.

Add caption

This grizzly was digging holes, looking for ground squirrels to eat.
This grizzly had spent about half an hour eating little bugs and flowers in a field and decided to move on for a bigger meal.  That is when he started digging holes, like in the picture above.

Violet green swallow.It was a little amazing to me when I looked into this bird.  Even though I have never seen one before they live all over the place.  Strange to think there are so many of them, so close and yet, I have never before seen one. It's amazing we were able to get this picture.  It seemed like these little birds never stopped moving.

This black bear was not too far off the road.  We went to Yellowstone at such a great time of year it was easy to some of the greater wildlife.  With just a few people stopped off the side of the road to look it was a great experience to watch a beautiful black bear just enjoying his day.

When he got tired of gathering up and eating all of the little things on the ground he decided to move on to a different place.  As he did so, he moved out of our viewing range.

The black bear eating.  He was content for a while just picking up and eating what little things he could find on the ground.  

A small colorful hot spot.  It was really amazing to see the water actually boiling.  The different temperatures create different climate for the different colors/kinds of algae to live.

This buffalo was sneaking around in the sage.  Well, sneaking as much as a buffalo can sneak.

This guy was using the tree as a scratching post.  You can see the bark all wore away.  He must have been there for a while.

And then he clearly spotted us.  He stared at us for a while, and then figured out we were not a threat and he went back to his scratching post.

It was raining and this little guy did not look too happy about it.  We watched him shake off all the water he could, but it really didn't make a difference because it just kept raining.

There was a small pond where this buffalo was grazing, it made for a pretty good reflection.

These three buffalo were just part of a larger roaming herd.  It was raining but as you can see, it didn't make a difference to them.

A chipmunk at Gibbon Falls.  He was a pretty curious little one.

This chipmunk was found up at Hebgen Lake.  He was taking advantage of the nice day.  When we walked up on him he was laying flat out on the rocks soaking up the sun. 

As you can see, he was not afraid of us at all.  Even though he is a little one, I don't think I would like his little claws on me.  

This picture looks like classic Yellowstone.  The only difference is, usually there isn't snow in the pictures.

We caught this pronghorn while we were driving by.  It's amazing how a little overcast sky can make the colors really stand out.

The little hot spot didn't stop erupting the entire time we were there.  It's strange to think in a year it might not be there at all.  Yellowstone moves more quickly than you would realize.

Its amazing the places you find the geological survey markers.  This one is located at Gibbon Falls.

A grizzly and her cub.  We saw these two when we went through Teton National Park.  It's just outside Yellowstone and it's just as beautiful, but with less people.  

Another grizzly and her cub.  This pair was located just outside Old Faithful.

If you look closely, on the other side of the tree in the middle, you can see the little ears of the bear cub.

This grizzly was just getting closer and closer.  It was pretty amazing.

A pretty good looking buffalo grazing off the side of the road.

A marmot that must have been down in some thorny bushes not too long ago.  You can see what he gathered with his tail.

Mesa Falls.  This is a small waterfall just outside of Island Park.

Mesa Falls.  There is a pretty nice walkway so you can look from the top and the middle of the falls.

A bunch of buffalo grazing in a field.   When you go to Yellowstone in the spring, you get to see a lot of babies.

You can see on the back of the buffalo they have some small hitchhikers.  The birds really seemed to like this mode of transportation.

We found this moose next to a small stream.  We think he was just soaking up the sun before nightfall.

Yellowstone is great for seeing animals.  You might see them on the road or you might see them just off the road.  Sometimes, if you have a nice telephoto lens, binoculars or a spotting scope you can see some amazing things happen.  Just across this road, on the other side of a field, we watched as a grizzly tried to sneak up on a heard of buffalo.  He got caught, most of the heard quickly moved away and three very large bulls moved up to block the bear.  It was amazing.

A raven hung around for a while to see if we were going to leave something behind for him to snatch up.  Ravens are so smart, here in Yellowstone they have actually figured out how to unzip backpacks so they can sneak into them and find treasure.

This was the beginning of a little stream.  The water was so clear and clean you can see all the rocks on the bottom.  Large fish grow here, but alas... no fishing is allowed.  Very clean water.  It is fed out of a spring that comes out of the ground nearby.

This is the beginning of the stream.  The water just comes out of the ground here.  It's very clean and clear.  As you can imagine a lot of animals are seen here.  You can see the watercress all over, this is a favorite food of moose.

A storm was rolling in as we were watching the bear and buffalo.  Made for a pretty cool picture.

The colors in Yellowstone are amazing.  With very little air pollution the colors are amazing.

The Tetons.  There was a storm on the top of the mountains so you can't see the classic peaks but that just makes this picture a unique one.

A small pond a little ways behind the cabin we stayed in.  The lighting was perfect for the reflections.

Yellowstone Falls.  There is a nice bench to sit on while you look at the awesomeness of the fall.