Wade's photoblog

Yellowstone - Sept 2010

2010-09-28T23:17:00.000-06:00

Mount Moran on the way to Yellowstone

Crystal Falls near Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls. I had tried to find this waterfall for the last few years and a friend pointed it out to me!

Lonestar Gyser

Sheds and skull at a near by camp

Fall on the firehole river

Hot tubbing!

Buffalo at Lonestar Gyser

Mount Moran on the way home. The leaves were much better!

Fall - Star Valley, Jackson Hole, and Swan Valley

2010-09-28T23:09:00.000-06:00

Wind Rivers - Cook Lakes

2010-08-21T19:47:00.001-06:00

Well, I just got back from my annual backpacking trip into the Wind Rivers! The plan was to head in Sunday morning and come out Saturday. The plan changed.... and that is fine.

PHOTOS:

TRIP REPORT:
Sunday: Day 1 - Elkhart Park to Pole Creek Lake
We left the trail head around 9:30 and started hiking. After about 3 miles of hiking I was getting blisters on the back of my heals from my new boots. I was debating turning around because we were going in 15 miles and I didn't want to have horrible foot problems where I couldn't do anything once we were back in. My friend suggested that I try hiking in my sandals, which I had brought for camp shoes. So I changed shoes, but kept the two layers of socks on, and we continued on. I figured I could make the decision to turn around or not at Photographers Point (2 miles ahead). The sandals worked great despite my pack weighing 55 lbs, although I was a bit slower on the loose rocks than with boots on. I ended up hiking almost 30 miles in those sandals with my pack on with no trouble! I wouldn't recommend it to anyone though! ha. Just before reaching the lake we had to cross Pole Creek. The creek is more a small river and entails taking off your boots and socks, putting on your sandals, crossing, drying your feet, and putting your socks and boots back on. Even though I had sandals on I still had to take them off take off my socks and then put them back on. It slows you down quite a bit. After getting to camp we were all exhausted and layed around for a bit and then setup camp, gathered firewood, and did a little fishing.

Monday: Day 2 - Pole Creek Lake
Monday morning we headed out to fish the stream from Pole Creek Lake down to 1000 Island Lake. The stream is really pretty with nice little water falls along it with one bigger one near the top of 1000 Island Lake. The stream was full of lots of small brookies and was fun fishing! We tried fishing 1000 Island Lake for a few hours, but no one caught anything. We saw a storm brewing and decided to head back to camp. On the way back up the stream to camp I turned and looked down stream toward the storm and could see smoke rising (lots more than a campfire) in front of the dark clouds and figured there was a forest fire near Junction Lake (below 1000 Island Lake). The fire never got close to us though. After getting back to camp (late afternoon) the rain storm came in and we all jumped in our tents and took a much needed nap for an hour or so while the storm passed. After dinner that night we went down and fished the Pole Creek Lake. I caught about 7-8 brookies in 30 minutes.

Tuesday: Day 3 - Pole Creek Lake to Cook Lakes
We packed up in the morning and head out to the Cook Lakes (4 miles). We had to cross Pole Creek three times to get to the lake. The forest service needs to build some foot bridges across these creeks! The climb to the Cook Lakes isn't bad except for one short steep part. After getting camp setup, water pumped/filtered and firewood gathered we headed off to fish the lake. The fishing was great on the lake and we all caught a bunch. They were all brooks and average from 6-10 inches. We kept 8 of the larger ones and took them back for dinner. While we were fishing we heard someone from the campsite near ours shouting. We couldn't make it out as we were about 1/2 mile away and then it ended so we didn't think much of it. Around 8:30 that evening we heard a helicopter coming up the canyon. It flew right over us, out across the lake, making a circle around the lake and coming back towards the campers to the side of us that were about 200 yards away from our camp. We all instantly thought it was life-flight and it was. The helicopter landed in a really small clearing near there camp (we were all impressed with the pilot). About 15-20 minutes later it took off and flew to the North and was gone. After seeing the life-flight helicopter come in we figured that the shouting we had barely heard was for help. The funny thing is, is that we had talked to the people at the camp when we went past them heading back to out camp after fishing and they hadn't said anything or acted liked anything was wrong. What had happened is that some of them were out rock climbing and one of them fell and got hurt. It took them about 2.5 hours to get back to camp, where they shouted to the rest of their party for help. Someone then climbed a ridge and got a cell signal and called for help. The rest of the party was gone before morning and we never knew what had happened until we got out of the wilderness two days later and read about it in the Pinedale newspaper.

Wednesday: Day 4 - Hike to Wall Lake
We hiked up to Wall Lake on Wednesday. It was really pretty up there, unfortunately the fishing was lousy. We fished and fished and caught nothing. We tried all different lures, trying each and different depths and different locations, nothing... So we decided to try the stream above the lake. The stream above Wall Lake is very pretty with lots of little water falls. We hiked about 2 miles above the lake before heading back and didn't see any fish in the stream. The scenery up there was beautiful, but the fishing was a big let down.

Thursday: Day 5 - 15 mile hike out
One of the guys we went with wanted to head out a day early, so Thursday morning we packed up was going to head out half way and stay at Mary's Lake. Just as we got to Mary's Lake he said that he was going all the way out. Rob and I were going to stay and the other two were going to head out; but we got looking at the sky and it looked like rain was coming. Since we both love packing up wet tents and everything else; and with the trail being muddy if it rained, I'd have to put on my boots and go much much slower we decided to head out too. So we ended up hiking out 15 miles. We made it in 7 hours, which was pretty good for having to cross Pole Creek twice and stopping to rest, eat, and pump water. We stayed the night in Pinedale and headed home the next morning.

Over all it was a good trip. I wished my boots wouldn't have given me so much trouble. I only used them on the day hikes and when it was too cold outside for socks and sandals.

Cache Valley Sunset

2010-08-01T21:48:00.002-06:00

Yellowstone Backpacking Trip

2010-08-01T11:57:00.005-06:00

WARNING: DO NOT go backpacking in Yellowstone in July, the mosquitoes are HORRIBLE!

Yellowstone river - Hayden Valley

Buffalo with their calves - Hayden Valley

Yellowstone Lake sunset

Shoshone Lake sunset

Shoshone Lake sunset

Shoshone Gyser Basin

Shoshone Gyser Basin

Shoshone Gyser Basin

Photos from the last few weeks

2010-06-17T22:30:00.003-06:00

Providence Canyon Waterfalls

2010-06-07T19:48:00.001-06:00

Logan Canyon Ridge Hike - May

2010-06-01T22:15:00.001-06:00

Crimson Trail - May 23 and 25

2010-06-01T22:10:00.001-06:00

Newton Res. Sunset

2010-05-19T21:46:00.002-06:00

I rode the bike around for a bit this evening and ended up going out to Newton Reservoir to take some pics of the sunset. It didn't turn out as nice as I was hoping. Oh well.... As soon as the sunset the temperature really dropped and it made for a not so nice ride back into Logan..... Brrrrrrr.

Quick St George Trip

2010-05-16T20:08:00.001-06:00

Waterfall Canyon

2010-04-21T19:15:00.000-06:00

Northern AZ

2010-03-11T22:08:00.001-07:00

Just got back from my annual, cabin fever/can't stand the snow, trip down south. This year we went to Northern AZ. The weather was good, for the most part, although we did get caught out in the blizzard one day and then it rained/snowed over night the last night we were there making the roads a muddy slippery mess to get leave. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics!

This is what we awoke to the day we were leaving

AZ Snow near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (almost 8000' elev.)

Snowshoeing and Frost pics

2010-01-18T20:01:00.004-07:00

I went snowshoeing Saturday to get out of the inversion in the valley. It was wonderful to get out in the sun for a few hours! It felt so warm up there.!

Everything has been covered in FROST and looks very cool!

More Fall Colors!!!!

2009-10-18T20:22:00.006-06:00

Cherry Peak

My Favorite fall pic this year!

FALL!!!!!

2009-09-29T23:21:00.006-06:00

Yellowstone!

2009-09-17T20:04:00.008-06:00

(pics are below my novel)

Last Friday some guys from work and I took off for Yellowstone for 5 days of camping and fishing!! I was excited because I think it had been around 15 years since I been to Yellowstone and I had never fished there. We camped up by Mammoth.

The 2nd day (1st full day) we fished a small stream near camp. It took a while before we learned what they were hitting, once we did though we caught a bunch. They were all pretty small brookies, but still fun!

On the 3rd day we played tourist and drove around the park site seeing. We also went and took some showers (best $3.25 I ever spent!!!)!

On the 4th day we had to move camp to another campsite as the one we were at closed for the season (found that out the day we checked in). We got up early and packed everything up and headed over to another campsite to get there before they filled up. It was a good thing we did, because withing a half hour of us getting there it was full! After setting up camp we took off for the Yellowstone River to fish it!! The fishing here was much better (bigger fish, much bigger)!! My first fish was a HUGE cut-bow hybrid! I estimate it was somewhere between 2-3 lbs!! Because it had cutthroat marking I had to throw it back. All the fish we caught on the Yellowstone ended up being "cuts".

Right after I took the last picture I dropped my camera in the river trying to unhook a fish I caught. It went under about 6". Luckily it was in one of the few shallow calm areas next to the shore. I pulled it out, yanked the battery out, dried it off, wrapped it in a fleece jacket, and put it in my backpack. When I got back home I took it the shell of off it and saw there was water inside, so I setup a fan and left it blowing on it all the next day. After I got home from work the next day I decided to see the damage. So I popped in a battery and hit the power button. To my relief the camera powered on. I put the case back on it and put in the memory card and powered it on and gave it a test and everything seemed to be working!!! Boy, am I lucky!!!

After fishing we did another hike down to the river so Rob could show us how sulfer burns (it also STINKS when it burns! BAD!). I breathed in some of the fumes and ended up coughing for about 10 mins after. When we got back to camp we were sitting around resting before dinner and all of a sudden it sounded like a raging river was coming down the canyon by camp. It was the wind! Luckily we had a nice ridge about 30' high that blocked us from the wind. Further down the canyon the campsites weren't as fortunate and they really got the wind. Trees where swaying back and forth and dirt flying everywhere. One tent started to roll away and we had to run over and save it! Then all of a sudden we heard a noise and turned to see a tree falling over (a big tree). We ran down to the end of the campground to find a tree on top of the camp hosts camp trailer with the side/top smashed in. Luckily they were outside and could tell it was going to fall and they had just gotten everyone and their cars out of the area when it fell. The wind soon died down and after about 30-40 mins it was dead calm. We figured a micro-burst had hit just south of us and caused all the wind. All I know, was that I was sure glad the wind let up because I didn't trust a tree that was right in line to nail my tent!

SO ME AND MY CAMERA SURVIVED YELLOWSTONE!!!!

Some unknown mountains north of Jackson.... Notice the moon?

Rustic Falls - near Mammoth

Upper Yellowstone Falls

Lower Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail. This trail will kick your butt! You hike down 500' and 320 steps that you "get" to climb back up!
Yellowstone Canyon below the falls from Artist Point
Lower Falls from Artist Point
Can you believe that we went to Old Faithful and walked all around the Old Faithful area and we never went and watched Old Faithful? I guess I'm not that impressed with it.

Some pool around Old Faithful
Another

Cool colors

Foreign Geese

Grotto Geyser

Morning Glory Pool - My Fav!

Another cool pool!

Kepler Cascades
This buck was only about 20' from me!

Fishing the Yellowstone River

Rob catching the first fish on the Yellowstone

Fishing the Yellowstone River

Fishing the Yellowstone River

Unitas - Labor Day

2009-09-08T22:13:00.005-06:00

I decided to drive to the Unitas and take some pics on Labor Day. I must be crazy because I got up at 3:30am to leave so I could be there for the sunrise. Unfortunately the sunrise wasn't as good as I had hoped. Anyway, here's the pics!

Spencer Creek?

Spencer Falls. I estimated the falls to be 100' tall (or higher). If you look close in this picture you can see a Golden Retriever on the ledge to the right of the falls just over half way up.

Spencer Falls

Top Section of Spencer Falls

Provo River Falls. When I was in the Unitas over the 24th of July you couldn't find a parking spot at the falls. This time I had them all to myself the entire time I was there!

Prove River Falls

Prove River Falls. This is the "Main Falls"

I stopped to take a picture of the steam rising off of this lake and after snapping a few pictures I saw the Moose out there eating! The moose was much more interesting than the steam.

Sunrise

Hayden Peak at sunrise

Sunrise at Mirror Lake

Sunrise at Pass Lake

Windrivers 09!!

2009-08-26T22:12:00.006-06:00

Well, we made it back from our annual Windrivers trip! Here are some of the pics I took!

Wildflowers next to Haystack Mountain. I have no idea what this flower is. Anyone?

Fireweed, also known as Great Willow Herb.

Parry's Townsendia

Not sure on this one either.

Arrowhead Lake

Cirque of the Towers

Parry's Townsendia

Clear Lake

Clear Lake Sunset

Black Joes

Deep Lake and East Temple Peak

Deep Lake looking into the Cirque

Big Sandy Lake and Haystack Mountain

Brookies!!

Parry's Townsendia

Columbine and Indian Paintbrush

Columbine

Wildflowers on Mt Naomi!!

2009-08-18T21:45:00.006-06:00

Wildflowers at nearly 10,000 feet!

Hummingbird at almost 10,000'

Mt. Magog

Cherry Peak

Crimson Trail

2009-08-11T22:28:00.004-06:00

I learned how to take these cool pics from my friend Sarah, check out her blog! http://saranddan.blogspot.com/
Lots of purple flowers for my friend Vicki!

Cherry Creek

2009-08-11T22:26:00.001-06:00

Preston Valley Trail

2009-07-28T23:10:00.004-06:00

Buzzards waiting for me to kill over!
Logan Peak

Uintas - July 24th weekend

2009-07-28T23:07:00.002-06:00

Star Valley - July

2009-07-28T22:33:00.007-06:00

Fireworks!!!!!!! Logan - July 3rd

2009-07-05T21:07:00.003-06:00

This one is my fav!!!

Bike Ride - July 3rd

2009-07-05T21:03:00.002-06:00

Old Ephraim's Grave

Mt Naomi - June 28

2009-07-05T20:53:00.006-06:00

Alan and I hiked to Mt Naomi and then on to the ridge looking down into High Creek Lake. We hit snow about half way to Mt Naomi and had to scramble up the bare ridges and traverse a lot of snow. On the way down we did a lot of skiing!!!!!

From Mt Naomi looking South

Mt Magog from Naomi

High Creek Lake

Looking North from Mt Naomi

Mt Naomi Wilderness sign

If you look close you can seen the Unitas!

Stream from runoff

Sunset June 27

2009-07-05T20:52:00.002-06:00

Idaho Hike June 26

2009-07-05T20:35:00.003-06:00

ColumbineFalls

Neat Clouds

Doing some catching up

2009-06-24T22:51:00.006-06:00

June 8th Pics

2009-06-13T12:37:00.003-06:00

Wood Camp/Jardine Juniper June 4th

2009-06-13T12:34:00.004-06:00

Took these pics up Wood Camp. Wildflowers are just getting going!

Cherry Creek June 3rd

2009-06-13T12:32:00.003-06:00

Alan and I hiked up Cherry Creek. The creek was really high and we only made it to the 2nd crossing before being stopped (didn't want to get wet crossing).

Tony Grove - May 31

2009-06-13T12:28:00.003-06:00

I went up to Tony Grove to see how far I could hike into White Pine Lake and found lots of snow!

Panoramic of Tony Grove Lake

Update on all my hikes...

2009-05-30T20:52:00.004-06:00

Reflectors Hike

2009-05-07T22:30:00.006-06:00

So I decided to hike up the the reflectors/boosters (whatever they are) above Logan, between Logan Canyon and Green Canyon. The trail goes straight up the mountain and is quite steep and I have sore legs to prove it. ha ha! Anyway, here are some pics from the hike.

Storm Clouds

Sun reflecting off of Benson Marina

Wellsville Mtns

Everything is green!!!

Deer!

A small elk

Green Cache Valley!! (USU Campus on right)

Cool clouds

Some Indian Paintbrush is already out!

Crimson Trail / Spring Hollow

2009-04-21T22:47:00.001-06:00

Moab Trip!

2009-03-18T16:46:00.004-06:00

We changed our plans to Moab due to the weather forcast for where we were going. With only about 4 hours to plan and pack it turned out to be lots of fun! We found a few places that looked good to explore, but the funniest places where places we just stumbled upon! Anyway, here's some of my pics from the trip! Enjoy.

Mary Jane Canyon - Preacher Creek

Mary Jane Canyon - Preacher Creek Falls
This was a 8.6 mile round trip hike through sand, mud, rocks, and jumping the creek a hundred times to keep dry; and we still failed at keeping dry.This is a series of caves we found in a butte that were carved by water. This was one of the things we stumbled upon and very cool to explore!

Same cave butte

Near Canyonlands N.P.

Sunset over Canyonlands N.P.

Newspaper Rock

Newpaper Rock

Mill Creek

Castle Valley

Lizzy

Nessy!

Castle Butte

Overlooking Mary Jane Canyon

Moon lite bluff at twilight (15 sec exposure)

Some Winter Pics

2009-03-08T16:53:00.003-06:00

Wind Caves in January

2009-02-01T11:16:00.007-07:00

I hiked to the Wind Caves yesterday (Saturday)! There's not much snow and where there is the trail is packed from other people. I stayed on top with just my snow boots. Here are the pics from the hike.

Looking East
Mt Logan from Wind Caves
Not much snow

"Doh!" "A deer." "A female deer." - Simpsons

Herd of 76 Elk. Yep, I counted them!Deer

Bear Lake Covered in Fog

2009-01-19T14:55:00.001-07:00

January Sunsets

2009-01-11T15:42:00.002-07:00

Mantua Sunset

Willard Bay Sunset

Christmas 08

2008-12-27T22:34:00.004-07:00

View looking towards Star Valley/Mt Wagner
Same spot looking northwest

Snow drift on my dirty car

Snow drift on deck rail

Cache Valley Sunset 12-26

November storm

2008-11-07T14:07:00.002-07:00

Halloween Sunrise

2008-11-07T14:06:00.001-07:00

Star Valley 10-25-08

2008-10-26T22:02:00.006-06:00

I decided to go to Star Valley this weekend as I hadn't been there since the 1st of June. While home, we hiked up to the Intermittent Spring. Here are some pics.

Star Valley Sunset

Another SV Sunset

Newton Dam Sunset 10-20-08

2008-10-26T21:57:00.003-06:00

Craters of the Moon 10-18-08

2008-10-26T21:37:00.004-06:00

Last weekend Alan and I went on one last camping trip for the year! We didn't want to freeze, but we didn't want to drive forever to get somewhere where it would be warm at night neither. So we ended up going to craters of the moon in Idaho. It did get cold at night, but I had plenty of covers and clothes to keep me warm! Anyway, here are some pics from the trip.

This crack is about 3' wide

Lava folded over

Inside lava tube

Lava tube

Beginning of the Saw Tooth Mtn range from Craters of the Moon.

On the way home we went through Twin Falls and stopped at Shoshone Falls. Unfortunately, it was just a small stream.

Snake River Canyon - looking west of the falls

Benson Marina Sunset 10-09-08

2008-10-26T21:28:00.002-06:00

Fall - Cotton Wood Canyon

2008-10-09T22:14:00.004-06:00

3rd dam sunset

Fall Storm 10-4-08

2008-10-09T17:29:00.003-06:00

Here are some pics of a fall storm I took. These are taken west of Logan near Benson.

Fall Pictures - Logan Canyon

2008-10-03T20:30:00.001-06:00

Fall Pictures - Green Canyon

2008-10-03T20:25:00.003-06:00

Fall Pictures - Pineview area

2008-10-03T20:07:00.001-06:00

Mt Naomi - Logan Dry Canyon

2008-09-22T20:16:00.000-06:00

Fall leaves near Naomi

Leaves are turning!

Looking south from Naomi

Looking west from Naomi

Cherry peak from Naomi

Maples up Dry Canyon

Water droplets

Strongs Canyon - Ogden - 9/14/08

2008-09-15T13:57:00.000-06:00

I was actually trying to find a water fall up Waterfall canyon. I went past the stream coming out of Waterfall canyon (it was just a trickle) and went up Strongs canyon thinking it was Waterfall canyon. Strongs canyon has about 3 times the water coming out of it as Waterfall canyon so I thought this was it. Well, I ended up hiking and hiking trying to find the waterfall. I finally figured I should have come to it by now and I must be in the wrong canyon. Anyway, it was a pretty little canyon, plus I don't think the waterfall would have been much with just a trickle coming down it.

Blind Hollow - Logan Canyon - 9/12/08

2008-09-15T13:24:00.000-06:00

Rob and I took off last friday and hiked up blind hollow. It's just over 4 miles to the ridge from the road. Here are the pics I took.

Leaves are starting to change color!

Some redneck defaced this tree

View to the south from on top

Moon rising

Windrivers - Big Sandy

2008-08-20T22:07:00.000-06:00

East Temple Peak
Alan at Black Joe Lake

Ladd with a big Cutt on

Yep, that's snow.

Fresh trout for lunch!
Wild Columbine flower
Lake above Black Joe
Black Joe
Haystack Mtn - Black Joe
Ladd and Kory fishing
Wild flowers at sunset at Big Sandy Lake
Sunset

Haystack Mtn and Temple Peak
Wild flowers
More wild flowers
Again
....
Rapid Lake and War Bonnet Peak
Indian paint brush
Wild Flowers

East Temple Peak
Black Joe Lake and Bunion Mtn