West River in October

The sun sets behind the Slim Buttes in Northwest South Dakota.

On my way back from vacationing in Montana and Wyoming, I made some time to drive through some of the old stomping grounds. Here are a few offerings from that time. Thanks to my dad for chauffeuring me on Saturday through the Grand River country. Pretty time of year, even though I missed the peak of autumn in the river and creek bottoms by about a week.

Late light on the Slim Buttes.

Fall color in one of the draws of the Slim Buttes:

This is from Corn Crick within a mile of where I grew up near the Moreau River.

A coyote (in the center of the photo... click on the image for a bigger file to view) on our old river breaks land.

A beautiful 6 point mule buck and an admirer from across a deep draw near the Moreau River.

Moreau River scenes.

The area had some recent early fall rains. Even so, I was surprised with the amount of flowers in bloom on the hills this late in the year.

An abandoned shack near the river breaks.

Dad and I went to Shadehill reservoir to see the Hugh Glass monument. His story is an amazing tale of a bear mauling and cross country crawl to a distant fort in the early 1800s. Google it. It's worth the read.

By the light the quivering Aspen made

Looking inside an Aspen grove on an early autumn morning in Grand Teton National Park.

Sir Walter Scott was describing a woman in his epic poem "Marmion" when he came up with the line that is the title of this post (near as I can tell anyway). I'm borrowing the phrase to try to help describe the amazing Aspen groves in full fall color I was able to walk in this fall. I hope the old boy wouldn't mind my borrowing of his line. Either way, I thought I'd invite you to step inside the Aspen grove with me and enjoy the scenery. Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for looking.

Looking up... Many of the groves had very tall and majestic trees in the them.

This is along the Snake River. I liked the serenity of the lone fly fisherman with the aspen and pine in the background.

I believe this was Jackson Lake near a picnic area.

Pine and Aspen reflected in Jackson Lake.

A superb grove in a small meadow bathed in the early morning light. Something about the scene really drew me in. Simple beauty, I guess. That is the best thing I can come up with.

Autumn in the Tetons

The Grand Teton from Willow Flat viewpoint in Grand Tetons National Park.

Words don't do them justice so I won't write any... well... other than telling you where and what you are looking at. These selections are from two different days in late September with blue skies and absolutely beautiful fall weather in one of the more stunning mountain ranges in the lower 48 states! Click on an image for a larger file to view and enjoy!

A wooden fence near the Historic Cunningham Cabin provides foreground to the Teton Range.

The cabin with the Grand Teton in the distance.

Through one of the open windows... nice view for a ramshackle cabin!

Another window view.

Through two windows for an interesting illusion of art on the living room wall. I submitted this to National Geographic's "Your Shot" and it made the daily dozen for October 6th. So now it has an outside chance of making November's issue. Link for the daily dozen is here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/your-shot

Grand Teton and her sister peaks with the Snake River valley in the foreground.

Mount Moran reflecting in Jackson Lake.

Mount Moran from the Oxbow bend viewpoint. This is also the Snake River in the foreground.

I like the panoramic version better.

Mount Moran a little further down the trail with a stunning grove of Aspen in the foreground.

YNP - Wildlife

An American Bison (Buffalo) moves through the tall grass of Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley.

Besides great scenery I also enjoy National Parks for the opportunity to see wildlife. Zoos are fine, but seeing the beast of the field actually on the field doing what they've done for thousands of years is pretty cool in my book. Below are my best efforts to capture the wildlife I saw in YNP and the surrounding area. Click on the image for a larger file to view and thanks for stopping by.

Near the original entrance at Gardiner, Montana we saw a small herd of Bighorn Sheep almost immediately. This old boy was kicking up the dust in this photo. He ended up laying down on this spot... so maybe he was just kicking the rocks out of his bed?!?

After stopping to photograph a colorful valley, I was able to capture this coyote as he popped out of some nearby trees with his supper. He crossed the highway and quickly was lost in the lodge pole pine forest on the slopes beyond.

A Redtail Hawk perched on a dead pine tree.

Mother moose and calf in Grand Teton's national park, near the village of Moose. Funny how that works.

A small elk herd near the West entrance (Madison Valley). It was fun to watch the old bull move amongst his harem. All were unwilling for the 15 minutes we watched and he bugled a few times because of it. Very cool to witness in person.

Aspen in the foreground, Bison in distance. Taken in the Lamar Valley of YNP. The day was hazy due to the nearby Antelope forest fire.

A lone coyote hunting in the Lamar Valley bottom.

I'm not sure what kind of rodent this guy is, but someone had left sunflower seeds at a scenic lookout on the Beartooth Mountain highway (on the way out of YNP's Northeast entrance) and he didn't mind getting his photo taken.

A lone buffalo in Hayden Valley of YNP.

My first bear in the wild. This was taken east of Tower Falls in YNP. I saw two black bears but no Grizzleys.

2nd Black Bear a few miles further up the road in the hillside forest.

Buffalo and Aspen in the Lamar Valley of YNP.

This buffalo was ahead of the herd and walked right up to my vehicle... well he would have if I didn't jump in and move out of the way before he got there. Made for some interesting photos though.