Road Trip - 2016

[klb1122]

Three weeks after Trippin' Connies 8 my wife and I took a 7 day road trip. We rented a car, actually an Equinox, and hit the road. The trip totaled right at 4,000 miles. We had a blast and shared some great memories together. I took her to a few of my favorite spots and we also experienced some new ones. I took my "big" gear with me for this one and thought I would share some of what I came back with.

First sign of wildlife in Custer State Park:

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Same place, but a bit smaller this time...

2016.07.23_6 by Kory, on Flickr

 

[klb1122]

The next day we started with the Needles Highway. Right after going through the Needle's Eye there was a group of goats that we watched for a bit.

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Here's the view from there:

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[klb1122]

We continued through the park and ran across a large herd of bison. They are absolutely huge beasts. All shots from the Equinox, I'm not dumb enough to approach them.

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[M38A1]

Those are some GREAT shots, Kory.

 

[Devientartist]

Excellent pictures!

 

[klb1122]

Those are some GREAT shots, Kory.

Excellent pictures!

Thank you both! More to come in the next couple days.

 

[klb1122]

Next up was a trip through the Badlands National Park.

2016.07.24-98 by Kory, on Flickr

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The yellow mounds area was my wife's favorite.

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[klb1122]

These are from the last overlook we stopped at, which is the first stop from the west entrance.

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We looped through Sturgis and Deadwood, stopped at a winery somewhere along the way and then headed back down to Custer. We stopped for a look at Crazy Horse, but didn't go in.

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[garfey]

Good stuff - Thanks!

 

[klb1122]

I was hoping to get a decent sunset picture of something, so we headed to a Stockdale Lake, just east of town. As soon as we pulled up, a lady was leaving and said we just missed the show. A eagle had just been flying around and grabbed dinner. She did say that she had seen some Osprey as well.

2016.07.24_73 by Kory, on Flickr

The sun was going away quickly, so we observed the wildlife while we could.

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And basically when all usable light was gone, for taking pictures at least, an Osprey came out and snagged dinner. This was the best I could do as it was a good distance away.

2016.07.24_82 by Kory, on Flickr

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[klb1122]

Good stuff - Thanks!

Happy to share.

 

[klb1122]

The next morning we got up early in hopes of seeing Mt. Rushmore first thing on a Monday morning and beating the crowd. As we passed by the lake in the morning, I saw an osprey circling. I got excited and my wife let me pull over.

The osprey wasn't too cooperative, its head was cranked around away from my camera looking for breakfast for most of my shots.

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A few other animals were out and about in the morning as well.

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[SpiritAtBay]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[klb1122]

At Rushmore, I took a couple wide angle shots, then got some detail shots with my 200-500. We did beat any crowds and went right in when it opened. As we were leaving it was starting to fill up.

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[klb1122]

Next up was Devil's Tower. This was a new sight for both of us as well. It was mid-day and the entrance to get in was backed up. We decided to just go hit up the store by the entrance, and view it from the road. Maybe another time we'll go and in and view it closer.

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[klb1122]

We headed to Ten Sleep, WY via US 16. I've been over the Bighorn Mountains on US 14 on a bike and now US 16 in a car. Both are fantastic roads! We stopped for a stretch in the canyon on US 16.

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[klb1122]

I really wanted to work Ten Sleep Brewing Company into the trip, and luckily it worked out! I'd never met Justin before that day, but he's a fellow Two Wheeled Texan, so he had to be pretty cool, right? I really enjoyed talking to him and his beer was one of the highlights of the trip. My wife and I split a flight to give several a try. I wanted more, but we still had several hours left to drive. Each beer we tried was top notch though.

Justin hard at work, where all the magic happens.

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[cdc]

Absolutely fantastic shots.
The best one, the four glasses of beer!

 

[klb1122]

Absolutely fantastic shots.
The best one, the four glasses of beer!

 

[klb1122]

From Ten Sleep we made it to Cody, WY for the night. The next morning, I chased around a bunny for a while after spotting it going to get ice.

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We hit the road and headed to Yellowstone. We saw some mule deer, but there were several people stopped and stalking them so we moved on. Next up we spotted a herd of bison and then a loaner.

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Then we observed some pelicans in the Yellowstone River. I wish I could have been closer to them.

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[klb1122]

We headed towards the falls and somehow I missed the stops for them, so we passed them up and made our first stop at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

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We looped back and then stopped at the at the Lower Falls. At Justin's recommendation, we did the hike down to the brink of the falls. What a cool spot, being so close to something so powerful.

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As we hiked back up, I took some random shots along with a couple of the Upper Falls in the distance.

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[klb1122]

Next up was a stop at the Grand View. As I was walking down, I spotted a fellow photographer that appeared to be locked in on something. She happened to be watching an osprey next. She had been shooting them here and there for the last 7 weeks, watching them grow. That day, there was just the one 7 week old in the next, and a view of the mom flying around every once in a while.

And I made a HUGE mistake by looking through her setup. She had a Nikon 400mm F/2.8 paired with a 2x teleconverter, mounted to a D7200, combining for a total of 1200mm! Her view was right on the nest! My 500mm suddenly felt pathetic. I wish I would have asked for her site or where she posts her pics, but I forgot.

The nest was in an epic location, on top of a rock formation shooting up in the middle of the canyon.

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I got a few of mom flying around and landing, but nothing spectacular from the distance I was at.

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Here is mom on the lower left and "baby" in the next on the upper right.

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[klb1122]

After bird watching, I finally made it to the end for the Grand View. This gives you an idea of the difference between a wide angle and a telephoto view.

This is the view of the Lower Falls, where we had been just a bit earlier, at 16mm:

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19mm:

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28mm:

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200mm:

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500mm... and you can see where we were standing and where I got the other pics from earlier:

2016.07.26_59 by Kory, on Flickr

 

[klb1122]

We headed over towards the geyser basins but every single parking lot was PACKED and backed up onto the road. I just wasn't in the mood to fight everyone. We ended up stopping at a small geyser and no one was there.

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Here you can see one of the basins in the distance. Way too many people.

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Next up was Old Faithful. What a tourist trap! I was 2 seconds away from saying the heck with it and leaving... and that was just trying to find a parking spot. I ended up finding a small spot right behind an RV, then we made the trek over to the geyser, luckily, right before it went off. Right after it was done we got the heck out of there.

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I couldn't have asked for better clouds to make what was not all that interesting, much cooler looking. Starting to brew here:

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A little more...

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And the crowd went crazy.

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And that was about it.

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[FCBH]

Kory,

I have to say after looking at your multiple ride reports, you are the most talented photographer on TWTEX. Your subjects are jaw dropping, the color ambiance is brilliant and the superb cropping contribute to your excellent presentation.

Keep it up!

RB