Day 3 in Yellowstone NP

On June 4 we moved our camp from Madison to Bridge Bay Campground. On our way there, we stopped at the Artist Paint Pots area to walk the boardwalk. From a viewpoint above:

Once we got to Bridge Bay we discovered that our site was under a couple feet of snow, so we had to find one they could give us with a dry spot for our tent. Fortunately we found one:

By this time it was well past lunch time and we chose to drive out toward Yellowstone lake to eat something. Another set of PB&Js... But the lake, also covered in snow, was quite a place to view. The waves of snow were particularly curious, as were the melted spots (from thermal features under the lake).

Sadly, because of all the snow and runoff, the only hiking we realized we'd get to do would be on the boardwalks. So, to more thermal features we went.

At the mud volcano boardwalk we managed to meet up with a ranger talk just after it had started. It was a really engaging ranger talk about change and how this park is constantly changing. The features change, and even a feature that seemed to never change at some point went from a lake that trappers used as a bathtub to a highly acidic "sour" lake. We were also fascinated to learn about the buffalo; and he impressed upon us all that we should not take them to be stupid and slow. They are quite the contrary, able to run at speeds up to 35 mph, to clear a fence in a bound from standing, and people have been killed by them.

After the guided walk, we headed off to see the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. Starting at the Upper Falls viewpoint, we'd hoped to take the trail to the Lower falls, but it was covered totally in snow along the cliff, and it was getting dark. So we took pictures, then drove to another lookout of the Lower Falls.

(this is my first attempt at creating a high dynamic range - HDR - puzzle image)

We had thought maybe we'd be able to return during the day and hike if we decided to stay two more days in the park, but we changed our plans and headed to Grand Teton a day early. Next up...our final day at Yellowstone with the most famous geyser.

All images copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Up next: Day 4 in Yellowstone NP

This is a series of posts following our vacation. Easy access to previous posts:

• Day 2 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 1 in Yellowstone NP
• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

Day 2 in Yellowstone NP

Day two in Yellowstone was a beautiful day: much less windy though still on the cool side. With a good part of the park still covered with snow (it was the first week of June), we headed North to the Tower-Roosevelt part of the park, where rangers had pointed out a few hikes not under snow or water. One of those hikes was the Hellroaring Trail and on our way to the Hellroaring parking lot, we stopped at Gibbon, Rustic, Undine and Wraith falls.

 Gibbon Falls, Yellowstone National Park

 Rustic Falls, Yellowstone National Park

 Yellowstone National Park

 Undine Falls, Yellowstone National Park

 Wraith Falls, Yellowstone National Park

The Hellroaring trail, used also for backpacking, drops for the first section down to the suspension bridge over the Yellowstone River, then through a wooded area followed by a sagebrush plateau. The 4 mi (round trip)  day hike is intended to end at the Hellroaring Creek, but we turned around early as the signs were not giving us directions to the Creek. We suspect that at the final junction (based on the map) we should head to the left, but a group of bison were in that direction, and with other groups of bison further up from where we came down the plateau, we opted to head back. It felt for the most part like we had the trail to ourselves. We passed a few backpackers and started off behind a group of day hikers, but otherwise it was just the two of us. Since Yellowstone is bear country, we did a lot of talking and fortunately if any animals were around, they were warned off by our voices. The ascent at the end of the hike was a workout for our legs and warm in the sun, but certainly not unbearable.

 View from Yellowstone River Suspension Bridge, Yellowstone National Park

After the hike, we drove to Tower Falls. Unfortunately, the trail to the bottom of the falls was closed, so we were only able to see it from the lookout above. The last time I was in Yellowstone, ten years ago, the hike to the bottom of Tower Falls was one of the few non-boardwalk trails we actually did, but it was later in the summer and the falls were not as full.

Tower Falls, Yellowstone National Park

On our way back, and just a few miles from Mammoth, there were a slew of cars parked along the road, which usually means one thing: bear. So we had to join the crowd, and after much careful searching, we spotted what everyone else was seeing: a bear and an elk acting strange. Several onlookers were certain the elk had a calf hidden in the brush somewhere and she was trying to lure the bear away. As the bear got farther and farther away, I decided I really didn't want to see it catch the calf and we headed the rest of the way back to our campsite.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Next up: Day 3 in Yellowstone NP

This is a series on our 2011 vacation. Here are the previous posts:

• Day 1 in Yellowstone NP
• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

Day 1 in Yellowstone NP

Our first day in Yellowstone it snowed as we drove through the park to Madison campground, which was fortunately not covered in snow. Watching the bison running in the snow was quite interesting:

After setting up our campsite, we headed out to see some of the park. It seemed to be shaping up to be a beautiful day, then I got out of the car and was nearly blown over. I took some panoramas as I tempted the fate of the forceful wind and made a little planet of Gibbon Meadows:

Though the wind was very forceful and the air temperature cold enough to push through our 3-4 layers of clothing, we walked the boardwalk around the fountain paint pots, where we watched Clepsydra Geyser erupt and the wind carried the fog quickly into the distance. I attempted several puzzles and a panorama into little planet of Clepsydra.

We then headed to the Midway Geyser basin, where the boardwalk took us around the Excelsior Geyser Crater and the Grand Prismatic Spring. Unfortunately the wind made it difficult to see much more than fog, but it was still impressive.

Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone NP

The advice of a ranger led us to a walk of more geysers and pools. We took her suggestion, starting our walk on the boardwalk around Biscuit basin, where the sapphire pool was the most beautiful thing we saw (and later found out it's one of the hotter features which accounts for the stunning blue color).

Sapphire Pool, Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone NP

The ranger suggested we walk along the Continental Divide trail to the Upper Geyser Basin, which we did. It was a nice, peaceful walk, not including the momentary panic where we had to pass by buffalo around 10-15 ft from the trail! Yikes. We walked quickly!

By the time we got to Riverside Geyser, it was predicted to erupt within the next hour, so we thought we'd stick around even in the chilled air. But rather than simply sit and wait, we walked to Morning Glory Pool and over to the Grotto Geyser, which was erupting as we were there. Finally, after an hour of waiting and only within the estimate by about a minute, Riverside erupted.

 Grotto Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone NP

Riverside Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone NP

Since it was cold, and the sun was setting, it was time to head back to our campsite, where we had a great dinner and climbed into the tent as the snow started falling.

Stay tuned for 3 more days of Yellowstone, Grand Teton, then a twist in our original plans. To see more on the beginning of our trip, visit my previous two posts: Devils Tower and the Black Hills

All images copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Next up: Day 2 in Yellowstone NP

This is a series on our 2011 vacation. Here are the previous posts:

• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

Devil's Tower and Little Planets

...a continuation from my last post on hiking in the Black Hills.

Before downloading the Photosynth app on my phone, I was still taking panoramas with my regular camera, which Photoshop was kind enough to stitch together for me. And then I turned them into fun little planets of the Black Hills:

As the Black Hills were only a logical stopping point for us on our way to Yellowstone, we did not stay long. Another "logical" stop was Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Though we did not intend to spend more than a couple hours there, we did go a little out of our way to get there. It was an interesting little drive as the most direct route was closed and we found our way via dirt roads and through hunting grounds. A mooing roadblock gave us about 10 minute's pause:

We walked the 1.3 mi Tower Trail loop, watched some climbers scale the tower and then got back into the car to drive to Gardiner, MT.

Here is my little planet of Devils Tower:

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles.

Next installment: Day 1 in Yellowstone NP

Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park

This year, on our way to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, we did a two-day stop-over in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Our first day we did some driving and some relaxing, as it was our two-year anniversary. We enjoyed a visit to the Needles and a stint on the 1880 steam train.

During our planning of this trip, I attempted to look into the best hikes for each of the places we were to visit. It was strangely difficult to find information online for the best hikes in the Black Hills. And so we did only one major hike in Custer State Park. According to my research, trail #9 from Sylvan Lake to Harney Peak is the most popular trail in the park. The USDA Forest Service considers it a moderate 3.5 mi trail with elevations of 6100-7200 ft. So you can imagine my surprise that we only saw about five groups of people on that trail. It felt like we had the Black Elk Wilderness to ourselves. Granted, we were visiting a bit pre-season (May 31), and started out in the late morning. Compared to other hikes we have done with similar elevation changes, this was aptly named a "moderate" hike.

For most of the trail we were hiking through pine forests, but a couple of times we came to overlooks of the hills in all their black-ness.

The last ascension is a climb of over 100 steps on a rock stairway, but the view from the former fire lookout is well worth the extra stops to catch your breath.

Rather than return by the same route, we took the left fork when the path splits on trail #3, which connects to trail #4. From trail #4 we had some beautiful views of the Cathedral Spires.

There is a turn-off to Little Devil's Tower, which is another mile from the main trail we traveled, and since our full hike was already going to be about 7.5 miles, we decided not to veer. Most of these folks were headed to Little Devil's Tower, but if just our one experience of these two hikes would tell us the most popular hike in the park, I would guess it to be trail #4 rather than #9. We did meet with some people who'd ventured trail #9 just a few days before. They said they experienced snowfall at the peak. So we were grateful for the beautiful skies and lack of precipitation in our experience of Harney Peak. I would recommend to anyone venturing this hike to be prepared with raingear and warm clothing. Though no clouds decided to open up upon us, we did endure quite a lot of gusty wind. I would also say that the route we took - up to the peak on #9 and down on #4, was the best option as the ascent on #9 felt more gradual than the descent on #4, plus if one were traveling the other way, you'd have to turn round to see the spires and could therefore miss them by chance.

And by the way, I did take a few "normal" pictures, but what fun are those! Stay tuned...more on vacation, hiking, and crazy images: little planets, panoramas, and puzzles!

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles.

Next up: Devils Tower and Little Planets

The CAFNR Edge Opening

For many months at work, I've been working on establishing a working idea and creating an opening for a promotional video for one of the college's on the MU campus. The first time I blogged about this project was December 2010 and the last time I blogged on this project was in March 2011, when I finally started to get knee-deep into creating my opening graphic. These are the final illustrations that I drew in Photoshop and animated in AfterEffects:

And the opening (before the title was changed to "The CAFNR Edge: Find Your Connection") can be viewed on Vimeo:

MU CAFNR Edge title graphics from Katrina Kouba on Vimeo.

All images copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

My first 3D animation re-rendered

Since I decided to put some of my work on my vimeo account for the world to see, I realized I should probably go back to that first 3D animation I did for Saturday Morning Science (the clients decided they didn't want to use it but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep it) so that it is in HD and has audio. Unfortunately I couldn't find the original audio I had, so I found something else that works just as well. It's amazing I'm still proud of this thing...it's been about 3 years since I created it.

Saturday Morning Science Opening Titles from Katrina Boles on Vimeo.