A flock of snow geese taking off over Freezeout Lake just before sunrise.

Spring in Montana

Joshua Rutledge April 23, 2025

I thought I better catch up on my blog and my spring adventures so far. I had a pretty quiet winter as far as photography goes, so I am happy spring is finally here! I was hoping to maybe fit in a trip to Yellowstone National Park this winter, but that never materialized. There were a few Northern Lights events and some astronomical alignments that I probably should have made more of an effort to capture this winter, but I think I was in a bit of a slump and just couldn’t find the motivation. I think that happens to most photographers from time to time.

As spring approaches, I tend to have my annual events that I always look forward to. These include the migration of snow geese (and other waterfowl) at Freezout Lake, sharp-tailed grouse on the lek and greater sage-grouse on the lek. If I am lucky I might find some owls or other subjects to include as well. This spring was no different.

A flock of snow geese flying in formation above Freezeout Lake.

The spring migration at Freezout Lake was a little off this year. The snow geese numbers stayed pretty low during the time of their normal build up, which usually peaks around the third week in March. The consensus seems to be that with a mild spring, the geese may have just kept heading north instead of holding over around Freezout Lake. There was a large spike in snow geese numbers for just a day or so, but that was about a week after the normal peak numbers. Unfortunately I had visited Freezout during what is usually the best time, and I did not get to see this surge. The swan numbers were also way down this year. In fact, there never was a large spike in swan numbers at all this season. I only came away with a handful of swan photos this spring. I still had a good time on my trip out there though. If you want to read my blog post from a previous year with more detailed information about visiting Freezeout Lake, you can check it out here.

Sunrise over one of the sloughs at Freezout Lake.

The first week of April I had the chance to visit one of my favorite sharp-tailed grouse leks at Benton Lake NWR which is just north of where I live in Great Falls. This particular morning was not the best for photography, as it was a very overcast sky with a chance of rain. The rain never materialized, but the clouds remained for most of the morning. There were a couple of very short windows when the sun would try to poke through. The lek was a little farther away from the blind this year than normal, so combined with the cloudy conditions, I did not walk away with any great images this year. But it is always a great time just watching and listening to the grouse out on the lek anyway.

A male sharp-tailed grouse displaying on a lek.

Close up of a male sharp-tailed grouse on the lek. You can see some of the color you don’t normally get to see.

This last weekend, April 18th, 2025, I had the chance to visit one of my favorite greater sage-grouse leks in Central Montana. It was a chilly morning, I think the temperatures were only about 25 degrees F and there was a dusting of fresh snow on the ground. Similar to the sharp-tailed grouse, the lek was a little further away from me than past years, but I did get some better light. I left with a few ok images, but again, nothing great. It was still a great morning out though. While in the area, I also spent some time in the Missouri Breaks and I captured a few images of some mountain bluebirds working on their nest, as well as another sharp-tailed grouse lek I was not aware of before. I only had my smaller Canon RF 100-500 with me while I was in the Breaks, so I might have to visit again sometime and bring my big 600 F4.

A male greater sage-grouse displaying on a lek.

As spring gets busier, it gets harder to get out. I would love to get out and try to find some ruffed grouse displaying, but I don’t know if I will or not. I put that on my list every spring as something I need to do, but I never seem to make it happen. Maybe this year!

This mother polar bear and her two cubs on the beach of Hudson Bay were trying to sneak behind this male polar bear that is out of focus on the left of the frame. Female polar bears with cubs try to avoid male bears. There were two additional bears out of frame, so for a couple of minutes there were 6 bears around us.

Churchill - Polar Bear Capital of the World

Joshua Rutledge November 25, 2024

My sister Melissa and I recently returned from an amazing trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada to photograph polar bears. Churchill is located on Hudson Bay, and it is an area where polar bears congregate every fall while they wait for the bay to freeze over so they can go out on the ice to hunt for seals. The reason the bay starts to freeze there first is actually because of the Churchill River that empties into the bay. The fresh water in the river freezes much earlier than the salt water, so the ice from the river collects in the bay and that helps the bay freeze over faster than it would otherwise. Typically the end of October or early November is considered the prime time to view the polar bears, so we scheduled our trip accordingly. Once the bay freezes over, the polar bears disperse and are no longer in the area, so you do need to be there before ice over. The exact timing of the freeze varies from year to year and is trending towards later in the season. You can find polar bears around Churchill earlier in the fall however, but maybe just not in as high of concentrations. Pregnant females will also hibernate in the area, especially in the nearby Wapusk National Park. The local guides we talked to said the bears seem to be showing up earlier and earlier however, and it is not uncommon to see them even in July now. Churchill is also known for its summer concentration of beluga’s whales and the Northern Lights. So if you time it right, in maybe late August or so, they said you might be able to get the trifecta and see polar bears, belugas and the Northern Lights all in one visit! Speaking of the Northern Lights, we had cloudy/snowy conditions most of the time while we were there, so we never did get to see them. We did see them on our trip home while on the train however. They consider their “Northern Lights season” to be later in the winter or even early spring when the skies tend to be less cloudy. You have the chance to see them there almost 300 nights out of the year though. We have been lucky the last couple of years here in Montana that we have had some spectacular Northern Lights shows, so we were not quite as disappointed that we did not get to see them. If you are interested, I do have a couple of blog posts from our events here.

Northern Lights - March 2023

Northern Lights -April 2023

We started planning this trip almost a year ago. I really should say my sister Melissa started planning this trip. She was a rock star and made almost all of the arrangements, so I owe her a big thank you for that. We (my wife, my sister and I) visited Katmai National Park in the fall of 2023, and I think that might have served as an inspiration for this trip. I think having photographed the brown bears in Alaska, the polar bears kind of felt like the next natural step. We were already aware of Churchill at that point, and it seemed like the most accessible option to see the bears. The other popular option is Svalbard in northern Norway. I do have a blog from Katmai National Park as well if you want to check it out.

As soon as we started researching the trip, we discovered that much like Katmai National Park, you cannot drive to Churchill. You have to either fly in or take the train. The most common jumping off point for either option is via Winnipeg, Manitoba. If you decide you want to take the train, there are other options as well, which is what we chose to do. We decided we would drive to Thompson, Manitoba and get on the train there. The drive to Thompson is actually farther than driving to Winnipeg for us, but the train ride would have been a lot longer, so we decided to save time by driving ourselves. Obviously the fastest option would have been by plane out of Winnipeg, but that was a fairly pricey option. We also had concerns about trying to get that much gear on the plane, since besides all of our camera gear, we knew we would have a lot of bulky cold weather gear as well. Plus the train just sounded like a bit of an adventure in itself. Once we checked the train schedule, knowing we wanted to be there around the end of October or early November, that helped us pick our dates and we were able to reserve a hotel room and book some tours in Churchill. I would recommend booking those things as soon as you know you are going, as they fill up fast.

We started our trip from my sister’s house in Lewistown, MT. I drove over the night before from Great Falls, so we could get an early start. According to the mapping app we used, it was going to be a little over 16 hours of driving time to get from her house up to Thompson. We knew with the shorter fall days we would need to break up the drive over a couple of days. We decided to aim for the small town of Nipawin in Saskatchewan as our first stop. We booked a hotel in town so we would be sure to have a room when we got there. By the time we got through the border and made a few stops, it was probably about a 12 hour day. Speaking of the border, we crossed at the Morgan/Monchy Port north of Malta, Montana. It is a very small crossing, so you may want to check ahead to be sure it will be open when you want to make the crossing. We noticed it was only open from 9 to 5 on weekdays, so we were lucky we were going on a Thursday and we got there after 9am. The crossing was very easy, they just asked a few questions and checked our passports, and we were on our way. We then continued north eventually going through Saskatoon and then east over to Nipawin, arriving there shortly after dark. We stayed at the River Inn Hotel and there was a little chicken joint called Chicken Delight downstairs that we decided to have dinner at. It worked out pretty well staying there. It was Halloween, so there were a few people around trick or treating, but it was still pretty quiet.

I love Tim Hortons, I wish we had them down here.

The next morning we got up early and started on the second leg of our journey to Thompson. Of course we had to stop at Tim Hortons to get some coffee and a donut. When in Canada! Not far out of Nipawin the road turned into gravel. This was obviously not ideal and was probably something we should have looked into a little closer. We did not have any issues, and as gravel roads go, it was a pretty well maintained road, but it was still not the best idea. The road traveled through a kind of a conservation area, so there were a lot of trees and wetlands that were interesting to drive through, but not a lot else. Eventually it did turn back into pavement as we got closer to crossing into Manitoba and eventually to The Pas. After a couple of other stops along the way, we arrived in Thompson in the early afternoon. The train was scheduled to leave around 5PM, so we had plenty of time to grab some dinner and get settled in at the train station. We took a chance and decided to leave our car parked at the train station. This is probably not your best option however, as even the train station recommends against it. The train station is a ways out of town and is kind of in an industrial area with no one really monitoring things. We were told there are some options for places where you can park your car in town that are more secure for a small fee or donation. We heard that maybe the fire department would let you park there, maybe the police station, and we also heard from some fellow travelers that one of the hotels in town would let you as well. You can then either take a taxi or a shuttle service out to the train station. We did not have any issues parking there, but as I said, if we did it again we would have probably found some better options just to be safe.

We boarded the train shortly before 5PM. The train station there is small, and the boarding process was fairly informal and in my opinion a little chaotic. I don’t know if that is typical or not, but that was our experience. The train was pretty full, I would say maybe a little over half appeared to be fellow tourists to Churchill and the other half were locals that use the train to get between some of the smaller villages along the way. Since it was going to be an overnight trip, we decided to pay more and we got a sleeper car. I don’t know that this was necessary, but the extra privacy was nice. If you are looking to save some money there are cheaper options (even some that include a bed.) The “room” is pretty small, especially once the beds are pulled out, but it was adequate. This line is very stripped down service wise however, so don’t expect served meals or some of the amenities you would normally get taking the train elsewhere. There were some snacks available and you could buy some “hot food”, but it was just prepackaged items that were microwaved for you. Since we had already eaten an early dinner before we got on the train and had brought some snacks with us, we were fine. The train did include a domed car that was nice for some places where you could stretch out a little bit and see some of the scenery. Of course, the train left late enough in the day, that this time of year it was dark within an hour or so of us leaving the station, so there was not a lot to see. If you were traveling by train in the summer when the days are longer, I could see this being more of a highlight. My sister did get up on our return trip to go into the dome, and she was able to see the Northern Lights!

The front of the Churchill Train Station. It is a fairly historic building and has been restored and updated.

Early the next morning we arrived in Churchill. The train was scheduled to arrive around 9AM, but we arrived before 8AM. They have been making improvements to the line, and they said their goal is to try and start having the times reduced by quite a bit. In fact, they pushed our departure time back by an hour on our way home and left the arrival time the same, assuming we would make up an hour in travel time. But they obviously still have some work to do, as we ended up being almost exactly an hour late coming back. The train to Churchill does have a bit of a history and it can be a difficult route to keep intact because of the muskeg that is always thawing and freezing causing the land (tracks) to heave and sink. The line was actually shut down all together for a few years because the train operators said it wasn’t worth the efforts, but the Province of Manitoba agreed to take over maintenance of the line and VIA contracts to run the trains for them. I think that may play into why the services offered on this line are reduced as well. If you are planning on taking the train, I would make sure you check in regularly to make sure the schedules doesn’t change, as it seems to be a bit of a moving target right now.

A sign inside the train station talking about the history of the station a bit.

Once we departed the train and got our checked baggage, we hung out in the station for a bit of time waiting for our shuttle service to the hotel. There is actually a nice little visitors center inside of the train station, and they have someone from the park service that will provide you with information from right in the train station. They also had some maps of the area that were helpful. We eventually found out that our ride was actually there the whole time, but we didn’t realize it. The hotel we were staying at, the owners actually have a couple of different hotels in town, so the name on the shuttle was not what we were looking for. Churchill is a small place, so we found that almost everyone knew everyone, and oftentimes there was kind of cross pollination between things. For example, as I mentioned, the same people owned multiple hotels, and the son of the owner was actually the shuttle driver for us and he owned a restaurant in town, amongst other duties. And his wife was one of our guides later in our visit, and she also worked for other entities in town as well. The hotel owners also own the car rental service in town. Everyone we met was very nice, but there was a fairly casual and informal way about things.

After we got the shuttle situation figured out, he gave us a quick tour of town to give us the lay of the land and where things were at. He then dropped us off at our hotel. We stayed at the Bear Country Inn. The owner is named John and he was a bit of a character. I actually liked him, but I don’t think my sister cared for him as much. I don’t think she quite got his humor, and that is ok. Check-in time was not until 3PM, but he was very nice and found us a room right away that morning so we could put our stuff away. If not, they do have an area behind the desk where they will let you keep your stuff. We did take advantage of that on our departure day since our train was not leaving until later that evening. The hotel is just a basic hotel, they do offer a basic breakfast, it’s nothing fancy, but it was more than adequate. Obviously we were there to experience things, so we didn’t spend that much time in the hotel anyway.

Since we were not sure how our first morning would go, if the train would be on time, and etc, we had purposely not booked anything for our first day there. I think that was actually a good choice. That gave us basically a whole day to wander around town and look at things that we might not have got a chance to otherwise. The main area of town is very small, so you can easily walk the whole thing. There are a lot of murals painted on buildings around town that are fun to find. There are a few gift shops in town, as well as a grocery store, a hardware store and a few other things like that. A lot of the gift shops are part of the tour companies and/or hotels/restaurants. There are also a lot of cool little displays in town that make for good photo ops. There are statues, rock formations, informational signs, there is an old boat closer to the bay, and lots of little things to check out.There are also a couple of museums and informational centers in town that are worth checking out, including the Itsanitaq Museum and the Polar Bears International. Farther out of town there is also the Churchill Northern Studies Center. You do need to always be aware of your surroundings when you are exploring in Churchill, even in town. The polar bears do come into town, and obviously this could be a dangerous situation. There are signs pretty much everywhere warning you to be careful and telling you not to go to certain areas.

You can select the individual photographs from the gallery below for a larger view.

Polar bear at the train station.

Polar Bears International Interpretive Center.

Itsanitaq Museum Sign

Walrus in the museum.

Wolf in the museum.

Polar bear in the museum

Ptarmigan in the museum.

Arctice fox in the museum.

Sign for the Itsanitaq museum.

On the subject of restaurants, one thing we did find out after we got there, is that it can be very difficult to get a dinner reservation in town. Unfortunately for us, a lot of the bigger tour groups book the restaurants so they can provide meals for their clients. If you were willing to eat later or share a table with other guests, sometimes you could get a reservation. Finding breakfast or lunch was not difficult however, since most people were out in the field during those times. The food we did have was all very good. And the prices, while higher than other places, were actually not as bad as I thought they might be, especially when figuring in the favorable exchange rate. We ate at the Tundra Pub our first night, and it was good. They did have a couple of large groups in, but luckily we got there early enough that they did have a couple of tables still available. We ate dinner, lunch, and I think even a breakfast at the Seaport Hotel. All of our meals there were good as well. We had hoped to eat at the Ptarmigan, which is one of the newer/nicer restaurants in town, but we were never able to get a reservation. We also never got over to the Dancing Bear, which I think is a little more casual and also offers pizzas. One evening we ended up eating at a food truck that was serving Asian inspired food. Two of our tours had lunch included, and as I mentioned the hotel offered a basic breakfast, so it was really only dinner we had to worry about.

A breakfast scramble from the Seaport Hotel breakfast.

Elk meat loaf and putine from the Tundray Pub.

Seafood pasta and beef and veg soup from Searport Hotel.

Poutine and a steak sandwich from Seaport Hotel.

That is probably enough about Churchill the town for now, as I am sure most of you are here for the polar bears. If you are going to be visiting Churchill, I would encourage you to do a little research about the town however and see what all it has to offer that you might be interested in, and make sure you leave yourself a little bit of time to explore those things. If you have any questions I can help with, feel free to contact me on my contact page.

You can select the individual photographs for a larger view in the gallery below.

Polar bear mural.

Another polar bear mural.

Rock statue right on Hudson Bay.

Quircky weather sign.

Shipwreck of the MV Ithaca.

Wolf mural.

Informational sign about the whales around Churchill.

Another sign about other wildlife around Churchill.

Polar bear and wolf mural.

Signs warning visitors to not enter certain areas.

The Ptarmigan boat display.

Another mural in town.

Bear crossing sign.

Polar bear print in the snow.

This mother polar bear and her two older cubs were resting out in a flat near Hudson Bay.

Our first full morning we had a tour scheduled with Nanuk Operations. We joined a group of 4 that had already been in Churchill for a couple of days and our guide was named Jaime. He picked us up at our hotel and off we went. We were actually awoken early in our hotel room that morning from some poppers going off. These were conservation officers trying to haze a bear out of town. They use loud noises and other methods to try and deter the bears from coming into town. Since our guide knew a bear had been hazed out of town earlier, he first took us out to where he thought it might have been heading. This took us by the old grain port on the outside of town near where the Churchill River meets Hudson Bay. We did not actually find any bears out there, but I am glad we went, as it was the only time during our trip we made it out to that area of town. We then made our way back through town and only made it a short distance and we spotted our first bear. It was near the cemetery and was just walking across this open area between us and the only major road heading out of town. Since it was so close to town, eventually some conservation officers showed up and chased it away from town towards the river. It was still fairly early in the morning at this point, and it was a bit overcast, so from a photography perspective it was not the greatest, but it was still awesome to have our first sighting.

Our first polar bear sighting of the trip.

Polar bear passing in front of us. — Our first polar bear passing in front of us.

We then headed out to “Polar Bear Alley” which is kind of the area down by the beach on Hudson Bay. There are a lot of rocks, brush and other areas where the bears like to hang out, and it forms a kind of natural corridor for them to travel, so that is why they call it Polar Bear Alley. Our first sighting in Polar Bear Alley was a mother with two cubs a ways out in a clearing. It was then I realized that I had forgotten my teleconverter at the hotel that day. I was wishing I would have had it to bring them in a little closer. They were still fun to watch, but a little bit too far away for any great photos. It wasn’t too much later that we spotted a bear walking down the beach. It was low tide, so they like to walk the tidal zone to see if there is anything washed up to eat. Our guide was able to anticipate where he thought the bear was going to go, and got us into a great position for photography. I really appreciated this about Jaime, as he did understand the photography aspect of the tour. Some of our other guides, while great in their own way, did not necessarily understand the photography side of things as much.

You can select the individual photos from the gallery below for a larger view.

Polar bear on the beach enjoying the sun

Closer up of the polar bear on the beach.

Polar bear with Hudson Bay behind it.

Polar bear walking along Hudson Bay.

Portrait of a polar bear.

Wider environmental shot of a polar bear in the low tide.

Eventually we headed out to the Churchill Northern Studies Center (technically it’s “Centre” since it’s Canada) for lunch. The Center is a research facility and hosts a lot of projects and programs there. We made use of their cafeteria for lunch and also made a quick stop in the gift shop there. The Center is quite a ways out of town, and is near where there used to be a rocket testing facility. Some of the old buildings from the rocket testing days are still visible.

After lunch we headed out to the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. This area sits adjacent to the Wapusk National Park and is kind of behind the Study Center. This is also the area where the “tundra buggies” operate. I will get into those more later on. If you have a permit you are allowed to go on the established roads, but only the buggies are allowed to go to areas off road. We saw several bears in the distance coming into the management area, and eventually we found a bear relatively close near a rock formation. We watched it for quite a while and then we eventually saw a mother bear with two cubs coming across the ice in our general direction. We decided to stay in the area to see how close she would get. While we were watching her, we saw a red fox running out on the ice as well. We saw several red fox during our visit, but we never got any great photos of one. And we never saw any silver fox (a blackish color morph of a red fox) or arctic fox, which were on our wish lists of things to see. Our guides said the arctic fox has had a bit of a die off and they don’t see them as often anymore. The red foxes seem to be out-competing them there. Anyway, eventually the polar bear with the two cubs did come all the way across the ice, and after disappearing into the willows for a little while, they emerged pretty close in front of us. We were able to get a few pretty good pictures, before they proceeded to walk in front of us towards the rocks where we had seen the other bear earlier. As we were heading back out of the management area, we had a couple of other encounters with bears. We had one large bear up on the rocks that made for some great pictures. And we had one very curious bear that ended up getting way too close to us, and we had to retreat back into the van. Our guide made a lot of noise and was eventually able to get the bear to move along. It did make for a pretty exciting encounter.

Select the individual photos from the gallery below for a larger view.

Polar bear in front of some dark rocks.

Polar bear approaching us.

Polar bear portrait.

Mother polar bear and two cubs crossing the ice.

Red fox out on the ice.

Mother polar bear and two cubs on the beach behind the willows.

Mother polar bear and two cubs posing for me.

An armed guide making sure everyone was save the mother polar bear and two cubs crossed in front of us.

Large polar bear up on the rocks.

Polar bear resting on the rocks.

All in all we had a great first day out and about. I believe we ended up seeing about a dozen bears total. We both really enjoyed our guide and had kind of wished we had booked more than one day with him. Nanuk Operations were top notch and very professional. Prior to our tour they were great with keeping in touch and making sure everything was good to go. I wish I had a link to Jaime’s social media or something so I could tag him.

We had a full 8 or 9 hour day out on the tour, so it was getting dark by the time we got back to town. I believe this was the night we had dinner at the Seaport Hotel. Our first night we had dinner at the Tundra Pub. Both meals were great. We then settled into the hotel, recharged our camera batteries and got ready for the next day.

Our second day of touring we had a tour scheduled with Great White Bear Tours. This is one of the companies that operate tundra buggies out on the Wildlife Management Area I referenced earlier. I do need to clarify that “Tundra Buggy” is a trademarked name. I believe Frontiers North owns that name. So Great White Bear calls theirs “Polar Rovers.” There is a third company permitted to operate in the Management Area, but I cannot remember what they call theirs now. The term “tundra buggy” is kind of like using Kleenex though, everyone just calls them all tundra buggies regardless of what company is operating them. The buggies are mostly all based off a fire truck chassis they build up for the vehicles.

A plaque on the back of the seats of the Polar Rover.

Great White Bear picked us up at our hotel, and after picking up several other guests around town, we headed out to their facility near the Management Area. They have built a ramp out at their facility that rovers can back up to, so you are able to walk off the shuttle and directly onto the rover without having to climb up and in. The rovers sit high up in the air, so this is a nice setup. I think the other companies have you climb up onto a loading dock to get onto the buggy. The Great White Bear rovers do have a private flushing toilet on board, so that is nice. They said that was a fairly new feature of their rovers, so they are not sure if the other companies have something similar now too or not.

Great White Bear Tours facility. — Looking back at the Great White Bear Tours facility as we are pulling away.

We pulled away from the loading area and headed out into the Management Area. The rovers are built to go over ice, rocks, mud and etc, so they move pretty slow and the ride can be a little rough. Since they sit up so high, they do tend to rock back and forth a lot too. I mention this, because if you are prone to motion sickness, this might be something to be aware of. We did not have anyone get sick on ours, but there was a passenger on ours that had been out previously and they stated someone did get sick on their other tour.

A polar bear walking in front of another Polar Rover.

We had a great day out on the rover. We had several close up interactions with bears that would come right up the rover. Other bears would kind of keep their distance. Every bear kind of has its own personality. They did serve lunch on the rover, which consisted of beef stew, a dinner roll, cookies and a drink. They also had opportunities to get hot chocolate and coffee. The spot we chose for lunch was good, as the temperatures were just warm enough by the afternoon that some of the ice was melting. This created some pools of water on the ice and as the bears would walk out onto the ice you could see the bear’s reflections in the water. None of my pictures turned out all that great, probably because of the temperature differences between the cold ice and the warm air was creating a mirage, but it was still cool to see. Eventually we headed back to the loading area and we saw a few bears on our way out. I believe we saw around a dozen bears or so again this day.

You can select the individual photos from the gallery below for a larger view.

Large polar bear laying in the grass.

Polar bear with two older cubs.

Polar bear with two cubs passing outside the rover windshield.

Polar bear looking over it's shoulder.

Young polar bear right below me next to the rover.

Polar bear under another rover.

Polar bear and reflection on the ice.

Another polar bear ice reflection.

Seal sitting out on an iceberg in Hudson Bay.

From a purely photography perspective, the tundra buggies are probably not the most conducive to getting the best shots. But you do see the bears in a different way then you would otherwise, so I think it’s still worth spending at least one day touring this way. Once we got back to the loading area, we loaded the shuttle and they took us back to our hotel. We ended up grabbing some dinner at a food truck after again not being able to get a table at a restaurant.

Nearing sunset over the Wildlife Management area at the end of our day on the rover.

Our last day in Churchill we had a tour scheduled with Sub-Arctic Tours. Our train was not scheduled to leave until 7PM that night, so we had plenty of time to fit in one more full day tour. Our guide was a Churchill native named Stanley. He was a really interesting guy who had done a lot of different things during his life. He was in the military and had been on some award winning marksmanship teams. He worked at the large grain port in town as a younger man and had retired from working as a maintenance worker at the large community building in town. He took us around to a lot of little spots around Churchill that we had not seen yet. This included the Polar Bear Holding Facility, known as “Bear Jail” and a crash site of a plane that was overloaded back when the military base was there. So that was great. I guess I should have mentioned that it was a cold blizzardy day. It was the only day that really felt cold, we had been pretty lucky up to that point. Sub-Arctic Tours has a couple of different options for tours, but we chose an option where we were just in a pickup, hoping that would ensure it was just the two of us (and the guide), and that was the case.

Two male polar bears sparring with each other. They were not seriously fighting, they were just kind of pushing each other around.

The blizzard conditions were not ideal for photographing wildlife. I don’t think our guide had quite as good of understanding of photography either. He was great at knowing the local areas and finding wildlife, but he didn’t really understand as well getting us into good situations for getting photographs of the wildlife. I guess we could have been a little more vocal about what we wanted some of the times, so some of it is probably on us. We did eventually come across two male polar bears sparring with each other. So that was probably one of my highlights from the trip. The wind was blowing so hard, and there was so much snow swirling around, that it was very difficult to get any good photos. After a while a lot of other people and tour groups found the location, and it got pretty crowded. We eventually left to see what else we could find, but we determined that it was probably the best show in town. But when we went back, the scene had got even busier, so we were not even able to park anywhere near where the bears were. We saw several foxes that day, but we didn’t get any photos and we did find some ptarmigan out feeding in the storm. I did get some photos of them, but between the wind and the blowing snow none of them turned out great.

You can select the individual photos for a larger view from the gallery below.

Male polar bears sparring.

Polar bear biting another on the rear.

Polar bear spun around after getting bit.

Polar bear resting in the rocks.

Ptarmigan in the storm.

Plane crash near town.

Polar Bear Jail.

New vs old polar bear traps.

Old radar base with mural.

Polar bear sleeping in some rocks. — This polar bear was staying out of the storm by sleeping next to some rocks.

We ended the day out in the Wildlife Management area again. We finally found a bear that was riding out the storm by just sleeping in the rocks. It would occasionally raise its head to look around, but that was about it. Our guide then took us back to our hotel and we just kind of hung out until it was time for a ride back to the train station. John, the hotel owner, gave us a ride back personally, so that was nice. We hung out in the train station for a bit, before starting our journey back home. To avoid the gravel road we ended up on going up, we took a more southerly route out of Thompson. This route took us through Regina and Moose Jaw, but eventually coming back through the same port of entry north of Malta. On the way home we stayed in the town of Swan River. We did not have the best hotel experience there, so I am not including that location in this blog.

Going into this trip I struggled with what to bring. From a photography standpoint, of course I wanted to include everything but the kitchen sink. Since we were not taking a plane, I didn’t feel quite as restrained, but I still had to prioritize what I wanted to bring. I settled on bringing my 2 Canon R5 bodies, the Canon 600mm F4 version II, my Canon RF 100-500, Canon RF 24-105 F4, Canon EF 70-200 2.8 Version III and in case we had Northern Lights I included my Canon RF 15-35 2.8 lens. I did not end up ever using the 70-200 or the 15-35. I also brought my GoPro Hero 10 Black for the wider video shots. Other wide angle shots I just used my iPhone. The real struggle I had was whether to bring a tripod and/or a mono-pod. I ended up bringing both. I really only used my mono-pod though. Getting in and out of vehicles, with other people most of the time, the larger tripod was just not very convenient. Since we did not get the Northern Lights I did not need it for that either. There were situation out in the field where I did wish I had brought the tripod instead of the mono-pod though. I probably used my big Canon 600 F4 lens about as much, if not maybe even a bit more, than my Canon RF 100-500 lens. Even though the bears are big, you still want to keep your distance, so a longer lens is nice for that. I really only used the 24-105 around town when I was photographing things. Most the time out in the field the 100-500 was still wide enough for some environmental shots.

My other struggle with packing was deciding what cold weather gear to bring. As it turned out we had unseasonably warm weather most of the time, so we over packed. I brought my big Baffin arctic boots, but only ended up wearing them one day. And I never needed to put on all of my layers or wear my heavier gloves or hat. The possibility of needing them was there however, so I am glad I was over packed instead of potentially being under prepared.

Overall I was pretty happy with the choices we made, and I don’t think there was much I would change about the trip. If we were to ever go again, knowing what we know now, we would probably do things a little different. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think how we did it the first time wasn’t still the way to go. I feel like by trying three different tours, and leaving ourselves some time to ourselves, it gave us the best chance to see all of the possibilities. Of course having another day or two would have been nice, but the cost, train schedules, work, etc are always limiting factors. I think an ideal trip would have been to have maybe one more day where we could have concentrated on finding other wildlife other than just polar bears though. There were sightings of wolverines, silver foxes, arctic foxes and snowy owls around the time we were there, and it would have been nice to have seen some of those things. Of course the polar bears are the stars, but after 3 days I would have felt ok taking a day looking for something else. The idea of going back in the summer or early fall when we could see beluga whales and potentially polar bears as well does intrigue me. I guess only time well tell if I ever make it back there or not…

If you enjoyed this blog, I would encourage you to watch the video posted below on my YouTube channel. I consider my blog and my YouTube channel to be compliments of each other and they work together to help tell the full story more completely.

A panorama of Grinnell Glacier, along with Upper Grinnell Lake, Salamander Glacier and Gem Glacier.

Hiking to Grinnell Glaicer in Glacier National Park

Joshua Rutledge February 20, 2024

Back in August of 2023 I had the chance to hike to Grinnell Glacier with my wife Denise and younger sister Melissa. My sister and I had hiked to Iceberg Lake earlier in the summer and had debated at that time whether we should hike to Iceberg Lake or Grinnell Glacier. Since we had a chance to get back to Glacier National Park before the summer was over, we thought we would hike to Grinnell Glacier since we did not get to during our previous trip. If you want to check out my blog from our hike to Iceberg Lake you can find it here: Blog - Hiking to Iceberg Lake.

We decided to take the boats across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine to cut a few miles off of the hike. We also thought the boat ride just sounded like fun. The boat leaves from out front of the picturesque Many Glacier Hotel. The hotel is designed to look like a Swiss Chalet in the alps. Some of the staff even wear lederhosen to complete the experience. The Many Glacier Hotel is located on the east side of Glacier National Park in the Many Glacier area.

We boarded the boat and were on our way across Swiftcurrent Lake. The early boat we were on is strictly for passengers looking for transportation across the lake. It is a one way trip, you do get a ticket to ride back later, you just can’t stay on the boat that first trip, you have to disembark. They do not do a full tour of the lake since it is just for transportation purposes. They do give some information on the ride over, but if you want an actual tour of the lake with more commentary, you would want to book one of those tours later in the day. You can reserve your tickets online ahead of time and I would highly recommend you do so. You do have the option to buy tickets at the booth the day of, but there is no guarantee they will have any available.

They drop you off at the dock on the far end of Swiftcurrent Lake and then there is a short quarter of a mile or so hike over the ridge to another dock on Lake Josephine. The hike is not too bad, but it can be a little rough, so if you are traveling with someone with mobility issues, this could be a problem. If I am not mistaken, the ridge between Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine is actually a glacier moraine. From there you board another boat and it takes you across to another dock on the far end of Josephine Lake. There is a small covered structure and some pit toilets near the dock. This dock serves as a pickup point for hikers coming back, so they provide the structure so there is somewhere you can sit and get out of the elements waiting for your return boat ride. There are pickups and drop offs scheduled throughout the day depending on how busy the tour boat schedule is. The last boat of the day continues to go back and forth until all of the passengers are picked up, so don’t panic if you don’t get on the first boat going back. If you do return too late and miss the last boat of the day however, you will have to hike the 2 miles or so back to the hotel (or wherever you started from.)

If you don’t want to take the boat rides, you can start your hike at the Many Glacier Hotel or there is also a parking lot between the Many Glacier Hotel and the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn that is also a popular jumping off spot. I believe either of these options adds about 2 miles both ways to your hike. So what is a 6 mile or so hike with the boats becomes over a 10 mile hike without. If you just want a nice easy hike around one or both lakes without hiking to the glacier, that is a great option too. You can also hike to Grinnell Lake instead of the glacier and this is a relatively easy hike as well. The hike to Grinnell Lake also leaves from the end of Josephine Lake.

Injured cow moose in the marshy area of Lake Josephine in Glacier National Park.

When we got dropped off to start our hike there was a wounded cow moose in the swampy area at the end of the lake. We can’t be sure, but my guess would be she may have had a run in with a grizzly bear. Both moose and grizzly bears are common in this area, so you will want to remember to bring your bear spray. The hike starts by crossing this swampy area at the end of the lake. If you keep going straight, you will go to Grinnell Lake. There is a foot bridge that crosses the main channel of the creek and then there are some boardwalks that help navigate you over the swampy areas. There is then a steep climb up the mountain that eventually connects with the main trail along the lake people use if they don’t take the boat. There are some great views of Josephine Lake once you make that initial climb.

First view of Grinnell Lake as you are hiking to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park.

As you continue up the trail you continue to climb and eventually you will get your first glimpse of Grinnell Lake. From there you can also see the Salamander Glacier and the waterfall that comes out of Upper Grinnell Lake. You can’t quite see Grinnel Glacier from this vantage however. The hike continues up the side of the mountain and you work your way higher and higher above Grinnell Lake until you are eventually looking almost straight down on it. This hike, while shorter than Iceberg Lake, is a lot more strenuous as you are continually climbing. There are a couple of stretches that are pretty steep. There are also some stretches that are along cliff faces, so if you are afraid of heights, this might not be the best hike for you.

A view Grinnell Falls, Grinnell Glacier and a field of fireweed and other wildflowers.

At one point along the hike we got stopped by a group of bighorn sheep rams that were licking the salts off the cliffs near a waterfall that the trail runs under. I was honestly not bothered at all by the delay as it was a lot of fun to watch the bighorn sheep. I was happy I brought my 100-500 lens as I was able to get some pretty good shots of the rams. Eventually they did move off the trail and we were able to continue on our hike. You can select each image in the gallery below for a larger view.

Before you reach the last climb up to Grinnell Glacier, there is a flat area with some benches and a couple of primitive pit toilets. We encountered a couple more bighorn sheep in this area. As I mentioned, there is a pretty steep climb from the rest area up to the area of Upper Grinnell Lake and Grinnell Glacier. When you are on top you are greeted with an amazing view of Upper Grinnell Lake below you, the Grinnell Glacier, Salamander Glacier and Gem Glacier. And if you turn around behind you, you can see Grinnell Lake, Lake Josephine and Lake Sherburne in the distance. Being able to see 4 lakes from one location is pretty awesome. Unfortunately you can’t see Swiftcurrent Lake as it is tucked behind the mountain.

A view of Grinnell Lake, Lake Josephine and Lake Sherburne.

There is then a short hike down to Upper Grinnell Lake. The landscape here is very interesting. Since the glacier is still receding, it has left a barren rocky landscape in its wake. You can see where the rock has been ground away by the ice. Since the glacier has become very unstable they don’t recommend you actually go out on it anymore. So we did not. We did see a few brave souls out on it however. As I mentioned, besides Grinnell Glacier, you can also see Salamander Glacier, with an amazing waterfall down into Upper Grinnell Lake and the Gem Glacier as well. The cliffs behind the lake make up part of the famous Garden Wall. If you have gone over Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road, you have seen the other side of the Garden Wall, or maybe you have even hiked in this area before.

A panorama of Grinnell Glacier, Upper Grinnell Lake, Gem Glacier and Salamander Glacier.

The lake itself reminded me a lot of Iceberg Lake. It has chunks of ice floating in it as well as the tall imposing cliffs behind it. The water is a bit more milky from the active glaciers however. And of course the water is freezy cold like Iceberg Lake as well. While we were sitting and enjoying the views, we were visited by a couple of Golden-mantled ground squirrels and some birds. So even though it was a somewhat barren landscape, it was not void of life. I think it is also possible to see mountain goats, but we did not the day we were there. As with all of the photographs in this blog, you can select the individual pictures for a larger view.

After enjoying the views, eating a quick snack and dipping our feet in the cold water, it was time to start the hike back down. On the way back down I spotted a young bull moose wading in the waters of Grinnell Lake below me. It was pretty cool to see. I was hoping to find a pika as well, as they have been on my list for a while to photograph. While I had some quick glances of a few, I was never able to get a great picture. Something for another day I guess. By the time we returned to the boat dock it had started to rain lightly. The weather can be very unpredictable so always go prepared for a variety of conditions. I had packed my lightweight rain jacket, so even though I hadn’t needed it all day I was glad I had it. There was already a fairly large group of folks waiting for the boat, so we actually had to wait a half an hour or so until the next boat came by.

A young bull moose wading in the shores of Grinnell Lake as seen above on the trail to Grinnell Glacier.

While it was a pretty strenuous hike, I think it is probably my favorite I have ever done so far in Glacier National Park. The views are just amazing and there is always a chance for wildlife and lots of wildflowers along the way. I would certainly add it to your list if you have not done it yet. For this hike I had along my Canon R5, the Canon RF 24-105 L lens, my Canon RF 100-500 L lens and my GoPro Hero 11 Black. I was using my small ThinkTank Backstory 13 as my backpack.

We were in Glacier National Park for a couple of days, so we also spent some time looking for wildlife and driving over the famous Going to the Sun Road. Here is a little photo gallery of some of the other photos I captured during this trip.

Youtube video from our hike to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park.

If you are interested in being notified when future blogs come out, please use my Contact page and let me know to add you to the email list.

For other information about Glacier National Park you may want to check out the following pages/posts on my website as well:

Dedicated page for Glacier National Park.

Blog - Hiking to Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park

Blog - Glacier National Park Day 1, June 2022.

Blog - Glacier National Park Day 2, June 2022.

Blog - Glacier National Park Day 3, June 2022.

Blog - New Year - Catching up on Glacier Trips 2021.

A panorama of Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Hiking to Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park

Joshua Rutledge February 11, 2024

This last July, 2023, my sister Melissa and I decided to hike to Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park. It was a hike we had talked about doing many times before, but just never had, so we made it a point last summer to finally do it.

The sign at the Iceberg Ptarmigan Trailhead.

The trailhead for the hike leaves from behind the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn in Many Glacier on the east side of Glacier National Park. This is the same trailhead you would use if you wanted to hike to Ptarmigan Tunnel (Lake) or even locations passed there. There is a small parking area right at the trailhead, but it fills up quickly so you may need to park in the bigger parking lot in front of the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and walk behind the cabins to the trailhead. There is also the option to hike from the Many Glacier Hotel as well, but of course that will add to the distance of your hike. As with all areas in Glacier National Park, I would recommend getting to the trailhead early, as parking anywhere close by might become impossible. Your other option is to wait until later in the afternoon when people have started to leave for the day, but make sure you leave yourself enough time to finish the hike. For the average hiker it is probably a 4 or 5 hour hike. Luckily the summer days in Montana are long. Also check on the reservation/ticketing requirements for the Many Glacier area as it tends to change year to year.

This area is home to many grizzly bears so I would be sure to bring along bear spray on your hike. We saw a grizzly bear within the first mile or so of the hike. It was a rather quick encounter so I was not able to capture any photographs or video of the bear. And we heard reports from other hikers that some others were spotted that morning as well. There are also a lot of moose in the area. As is always the case in Glacier National Park, the weather can be very unpredictable so be sure that you are prepared for a variety of conditions. It can be difficult to predict when the trail will be open year to year, but typically it is from late June/early July into early October. If you arrive too early in the season the trail might be closed all together, or there may be snow/ice fields you have to cross to get to the lake. Check with the rangers if you have any concerns about the hiking conditions or if the trail is open. Besides the weather, sometimes the trails are closed because of bear activity. The benefit of going earlier in the season is that there tends to be more “icebergs” in the lake than there are later in the season. But, if you wait and go in the fall you may be able to experience some fall colors and the crowds will be less. If you wait too late however, there may already be too much snow up high to get to the lake.

It is about a 10 mile hike round trip (assuming you leave from the trailhead at the Swiftcurrent Inn) with over 1,200 feet of elevation gain. I have seen different quotes between about 1,200 and 1,500 feet, so I am not sure what the correct elevation gain is. It is not a particularly challenging hike, some of the worst of it is actually the first quarter mile or so from the trailhead as it is a rather steep ascent up to where it meets the Ptarmigan Trail coming from the Many Glacier Hotel. Eventually it does even out some and from there it is a more continuous gradual elevation gain up to the lake.

Wildflowers and the Ptarmigan Wall near Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Some paintbrush flowers along the trail.

Some small white flowers on the trail to Iceberg Lake.

A Dusky Grouse we observed on the trail to Iceberg Lake.

As you hike, you will see some awesome vistas of the mountains and the valley below. Unfortunately the day we were hiking there was a lot of smoke from wildfires up in Canada, so some of our view was obstructed and it also added weird lighting to some of my photographs. Depending on the time of year, you will see a variety of wildflowers and animal species along the way. As I mentioned earlier, keep your eyes open for bears and moose especially. It is a very popular trail, so if you are uncomfortable hiking in bear country, ask if you can join some other hikers for safety in numbers.

Melissa crossing over the bridge that is just above Ptarmigan Falls.

About halfway through your hike you will find yourself at Ptarmigan Falls. Unfortunately you never get a great view of the falls due to the terrain. But you can see a pretty good portion of it through the trees. As you arrive above the falls, there is a nice rocky area that is a popular spot to rest and maybe have a snack. There is also a primitive pit toilet in the area as well. As you leave the falls, you will cross a wooden bridge and you will have a very good picturesque view up the valley and the creek running at your feet below into the falls. This is also the area where the trail splits to either continue on to Iceberg Lake or go up to Ptarmigan Lake/Tunnel. Stay to the left to go to Iceberg Lake.

The creek crossing just before you get to Iceberg Lake, with the Ptarmigan Wall in the background.

From there you will continue to climb for another couple of miles as you start to close in on the base of the Ptarmigan Wall and a small lake that is kind of an offshoot of Iceberg lake, I do not know if it has a name. While we were there, there was an amazing field of wildflowers surrounding the small lake. As you continue up the last little climb you will cross the creek again and you will start to get your first glimpses of where the lake will appear. After you step out of the last grove of trees, Iceberg Lake and the surrounding cliffs will be right in front of you. It is very difficult to capture just how imposing the cliffs are in front of you. You really have to see it to believe it.

Ice floating in Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Of course we stayed at the lake for some time. We dipped our tired feet in, and it was VERY cold. For a second the cold water felt good, but it quickly became too cold for me. I have seen pictures of people swimming in the lake, but no one was brave enough the morning we were there, but lots of people did wade out into the frigid waters. We ate a snack, rested for a little bit, enjoyed the views and then started the hike back down. Since we had got a pretty early start, we passed a lot of people coming up the trail as we were going down. I was glad we got there early to avoid the crowds.

Another panorama of Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park.

Despite the smoky conditions, the hike was awesome. Next time I may have to try the Ptarmigan Tunnel trail, as I have heard there are some spectacular views from there as well. I know some people have completed both sections of the trail in a single day, but I am not in good enough shape to do that. Later in the summer of 2023, we also did a hike to Grinnell Glacier which was also amazing. Both hikes are awesome, but I think the Grinnell hike might edge out Iceberg Lake, but only by a little bit, as my favorite. I will write a blog about our hike to Grinnell later on, so please check back.

We were actually in the park for a couple of days on this trip, so here are some pictures from the rest of our time in the park. For our hike I had my Canon R5, Canon RF 24-105, Canon RF 100-500 and my GoPro Hero 11 Black. I also had my Canon 600 F4 version 2 lens along for this trip for wildlife when not on our hike. As with all of the pictures in the blog, you can select the image for a larger pop out view.

If you are interested in being notified when future blogs come out, please use my Contact page and let me know to add you to the email list.

For other information about Glacier National Park you may want to check out the following pages/posts on my website as well:

Dedicated page for Glacier National Park.

Blog - Glacier National Park Day 1, June 2022.

Blog - Glacier National Park Day 2, June 2022.

Blog - Glacier National Park Day 3, June 2022.

Blog - New Year - Catching up on Glacier Trips 2021.

Elk through the rain for kind of a moody shot.

Elk Rut October 2022

Joshua Rutledge October 25, 2022

I had a chance to visit the Slippery Ann elk viewing area on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge area again earlier this October. It is always a good time along the Missouri River in Central Montana. Typically I try to make the trip a little earlier in the season, but this was an unusually hot and dry fall so I did not figure the elk would be all that active anyway. From visiting with others, and from personal observation, it does appear the elk rut was a little later this year and maybe not quite as intense. The day that I finally decided to visit it was actually a cool rainy day. I decided to switch things up a bit and I first visited the area in the morning. This was nice as there were less people around and the elk were fairly active. Unfortunately it started to rain pretty good not long after we got there. I still had the chance to get a few photos and some video before it got too bad. We spent the rest of the morning mostly just observing the elk from inside of the car.

Not the biggest bull elk, but he had interesting antlers and was able to maintain a pretty good group of cows.

The same bull, but a wider full body view.

Since the weather was so wet, the roads in the area were not very good, so rather than risking getting stuck anywhere, we decided to just head back home. If it had been a nicer day we probably would have spent some time looking around for some other photographic opportunities.

A big bull elk with his cows later in the afternoon.

More of an environmental shot as I wanted to include some of the fall foliage and set the scene.

By the afternoon the weather had improved in town, so we decided to head back out for the evening show hoping the weather was better out there too. Being the afternoon, the crowds were much bigger than they were in the morning, but with it still being a little wet and later in the season the crowds were slightly smaller than they probably would have been otherwise. The evening weather was similar to the morning. There were periods when the rain would let up a bit and things would improve, but then it would start raining pretty hard again. I did not come away with any particularly interesting photographs, but it was still a good time. With the bad weather I was not really able to set up my tripod or microphones how I would have liked, so my video ended up being a little less professional then I would have liked, but I still posted it for viewing if you want to take a look below.

If you want more information about the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge I have a page linked here on my website. You may also be interested in checking out my previous blogs from last year.

https://www.joshrutledgephotography.com/blog/last-trip-of-the-season

https://www.joshrutledgephotography.com/blog/labor-day-weekend-elk

Stonehenge, unfortunately it was a bright, blue sky day so there was not a lot of drama in the scene. I was able to get a shot with no fellow tourists in it though.

The British Isles

Joshua Rutledge August 30, 2022

I recently returned from a two week trip around the British Isles. It was an amazing trip. We saw areas around London, Guernsey, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands and many other locations in between. We had so many stops it would be almost impossible to list them all. I would love to write blogs about all of the locations, but with things being so busy at my day job, I don’t really have time for that right now. Maybe later this fall/winter when I have more time in doors I can sit down and do some longer posts from the various locations. Leave a comment below if there is something you are most interested in hearing about. Hopefully my memory will not have faded by then. I think this post is going to be more of a gear overview and some insight into the photography aspects of the trip. I don’t usually write a lot of posts about gear, but this time it seems appropriate. While this was not actually a photography trip (it was a family vacation) I still did my best to get as much photography in as I could. Of course compromises were made since it was a vacation for everyone; I was not always able to optimize the photographic opportunities, but I did my best.

Kitchener Memorial above the cliffs on the Orkney Islands, Scotland.

While planning for the trip I REALLY struggled with what equipment to bring (or maybe harder yet, what NOT to bring.) With so much travel involved, small planes, large planes, ships, small boats, trains, cars, buses and etc, I knew I had to keep my kit as light and portable as possible. That immediately eliminated any thoughts of bringing things like tripods or larger lenses such as my 600mm F4. Knowing I was also going to be carrying whatever I brought around on my back most of the time, meant I also needed a good backpack and needed to keep the weight to a minimum.

In the end I settled on only bringing just two lenses and two camera bodies. I also purchased a new smaller backpack for the trip as well. Besides being smaller, the backpack was also built with security in mind, since I was concerned about the safety of my gear while traveling. In my kit I ended up with my Canon RF 24-105 L F4 lens, the Canon RF 100-500 L lens, my Canon R5 as my main camera body and a Canon R6 as my backup body. I also brought along 2 sets of spare batteries and multiple memory cards, both CF-Express and SD. I also had my Peak Designs Capture Clip attached to my backpack strap and plates on both cameras. Typically I like to shoot with a battery grip on my cameras, but I left them at home to save weight and space. This did mean I felt like I was having to change out batteries a lot faster than I am used to. The backpack I chose for the trip was a ThinkTank Backstory 13. I also had my GoPro Hero 8 Black with me, but I found I did not use it very often. I did do a test run of basically this exact kit when we did our Our Lake hike I talked about in my previous blog. So I did have some idea how everything was going to work.

An idea of the layout of my camera bag, with my two lenses, two bodies and accessories. I used the rain cover (blue pouch) as kind of a buffer between things.

My Peak Designs Capture clip attached the strap on my camera bag.

The idea of only having two lenses along did concern me. I was not sure if I would be able to do everything I wanted. My biggest concerns were being able to go wider than 24mm (I would have liked to have had my 16-35mm a few times) and I was also concerned about only having an F4 lens and not having something a little faster like most of my F2.8 lenses. This ended up being less of an issue for me, although there were a few times another stop of light would have been nice. I knew the Canon 24-105 was going to be a compromise, but when considering my options it also seemed like the most versatile choice. In the end, I was very happy with the lens. I had only purchased the lens this spring, so I had not had a lot of time to try it out. The 24-105 is a lens I like to use for video. I have the older EF version and have used that for many years on my DSLRs, but I wanted the RF version so I did not need to bring any extra adapters. I have not done a side by side comparison, but it seems to me the RF version is better than the old EF version so I think it was a good investment. I really only used my old EF 24-105 as a video lens as I mentioned, since I would normally choose a different lens for photography. I also picked up the Canon RF 100-500 this spring which I have mentioned in other posts. That lens was also purchased to try and have something that was the native RF mount and I also like the idea of having the extra 100mm’s over my old Canon 100-400mm version 2. I am still not sure I like the 100-500 as much as my old 100-400. I did occasionally have some focusing issues with the 100-500 lens. I am guessing most of that is just because of the slower aperture on it. I was still able to get some good shots, but I have not been blown away by the lens so far. But as I said, it does give me some extra reach and does not require any extra adapters, so I think it was still the right choice for this trip.

A puffin getting ready to take flight from the cliffs in the Shetland Islands, Scotland.

Overall I was happy with my backpack. It is on the smaller side, but that was intentional. I like that the main zipper compartment is on the inside (against your back) so I was less worried about security when we were in crowds. It is also nice when you need to take your pack off, you can lay it down in the dirt or wet and when you put your pack back on, the dirty side is not against your back. The pack comes with a rain cover, but we had unseasonably hot/dry weather most of the time, so I never needed to use it. The one day we did have significant rain, I still did not have any issues and I did not bother putting on the cover. I also enjoyed having my Peak Design Capture clip on it as well. It was very handy to sometimes be able to clip my camera on and have my hands free. I was a little self-conscious about having my camera so visible when we were in busier areas, so sometimes I did stop and put it back into my pack just to not draw attention. But when we were in more remote areas, I used it a lot. I did notice that if I wore my camera on my pack strap for extended periods of time, it did start to get kind of sore on that shoulder. I was able to adjust my straps and make sure I kept the weight balanced in my pack as much as possible and that did help.

I used my Canon R5 more than 90% of the time. I really only used my Canon R6 when I was actively going back and forth between a wider shot and a longer telephoto composition. I left my 24-105 on my camera 90% of the time too. I only got out the 100-500 when I had some wildlife shots or if there was a subject like a lighthouse or something farther out I wanted to bring in closer. I was having some issues with my R6 that further reduced me wanting to use it. I was getting some memory card read issues and I kept having to reboot the camera until the error went away. This never happened while using the camera at home. And since being back I have not had it either (although I have not used it a lot since being home yet.) But it was consistently happening over there. I don’t know if it was a memory card or the camera itself. The camera has dual memory card slots and I was using cards in both slots, so that makes it a little harder to troubleshoot. My pictures/videos were all fine on the memory cards though, so that was good. I will have to do some more experimenting if I am able to recreate the problem. I am hoping maybe it was just a bad memory card, that would be easier to resolve than an issue with the camera itself.

Hopefully that gives you a little overview of my setup and my thoughts about things. I certainly do not consider myself a “travel photographer,” but I was traveling and doing photography so I guess take my suggestions for what they are. This blog is already getting kind of long, so I guess I will end it here. If you have any questions about the gear I used or particular places we visited, feel free to reach out. And hopefully I will be posting more detailed blogs about the trip as I get more time. Check back to see those posts and hopefully some others now that we are getting into the fall months.

Forest Service sign out on the fence going into the cabin.

Our Lake (Hidden Lake) July, 2022

Joshua Rutledge July 25, 2022

I recently went on a quick trip with my wife and my sister up to a Forest Service cabin west of Choteau, Montana on the border of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We went to the cabin with the intention of hiking to Our Lake, also known as Hidden Lake, as well as just spending some time in the mountains. We had a great time. Since I knew we were going to be doing a lot of hiking, I really paired down my camera gear and only brought with me my Canon RF 100-500 and my Canon RF 24-105 in my camera bag along with my Canon R5 and R6 bodies. I was also using it as an opportunity to test out a new, small, Think Tank BackStory 13 camera bag I bought for another upcoming trip. I did throw a couple of wide angle lenses into my regular bag in case I got the chance to do some astrophotography. I also threw in one tripod and my ball head.

We arrived at the cabin a little after 1 PM. Official check in time was 2PM, but since we didn’t see anyone around and the gate was locked, we assumed they had already left so we went ahead and got our stuff moved in. My sister and I had stayed at the cabin previously a few years ago, when we were also planning on doing the hike, so we already knew what to expect. It is a fairly rustic cabin, but it was still nice.

Looking up the valley from the cabin into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. My sister is sitting around the campfire.

We did some dutch oven cooking and had a good time just hanging around that afternoon. After dinner we decided we would try to do a little fishing. That was a total bust. We never even saw a single fish. I have to assume there are some fish in the river there, but we never saw anything. We also did a little driving around, including the Cave Mountain area, and around the Teton Pass Ski area. You could not actually go to the ski area as the gate was locked. We did see a lot of wild flowers, deer, squirrels, snowshoe hares and even two black bears. Of course I didn't get pictures of either of them. Once we got back to the cabin we had a campfire and relaxed until dark. I stayed up a little while as I wanted to set up a time lapse of the Milky Way. I knew the moon would eventually be rising, but I was hoping maybe I could still get enough frames in for a time lapse before that happened. As it turns out, that did not work out. I got a late start as I was having issues trying to get my lens to talk to my Canon R6. I had my 14mm 2.8 Rokinon lens, which is one of my favorite astro lenses (and it’s cheap) but it is a completely manual lens. This was the first time trying it on my Canon R6 however, and it just didn’t want to work. I knew there had to be a setting, and I even kind of knew what it probably was, but I couldn’t find it in the menu system… So finally I gave up and put on my old Canon EF 16-35 2.8 version 3 lens with the EF to RF adapter. Once I got home I did solve the issue. It was in the menu under an area that didn’t make sense to me, so I missed it while I was looking in the field. Oh well, I have it fixed now. I was still able to get a series of frames before the moon came up, but not enough for a proper time lapse.

I kept hearing the sound of an owl while we were sitting around the cabin. My hunch was it was a screech owl but I was not 100% sure. I kept looking around in the trees and I could just never find it. Finally I looked up into the eaves on the back of the cabin and there it was. It was a Western Screech-Owl. With my paired down camera kit, I did not have my 70-200 2.8 with me, which would have been my best choice. The owl was perch where it was very dark under the eaves so the 2.8 aperture would have been nice. My other lenses were too short, as I did not want to scare it. I settled on my Canon 100-500, but with the slow aperture of that lens, even at 1/50th of a second I was still at ISO 12800. I went ahead and took the picture, but the quality is not great.

The next morning we got up early, broke camp and headed for the trailhead. I think after everything we got there about 8 AM. Which honestly was already a little late in the morning. As it turns out, we picked the hottest day of the year for our hike. It was 102 back in town, I don’t know what it was in the mountains, certainly cooler than that, but still very hot for a hike. This time we made it all the way to the lake. Our previous attempt a couple of years ago was in June and we made it probably ¾ of the way to the lake and then hit heavy snow and we were not able to get through and had to turn around. So it was nice to finally make it there. The hike is about 3 and a half miles in. So a little over 7 miles round trip. It is pretty much uphill the whole way going in. The trail consists of a lot of switchbacks however, so the trail was never super steep, except for the last little bit up to the lake itself. We were still pretty hot and tired by the time we got back to the vehicle though.

A view of the waterfall that comes out of Our Lake from the trail on the way up.

A panorama of Our Lake. My sister is wading in the water if you look on the left-hand side.

We were hoping to see mountain goats around the lake. We finally spotted these, but they were way up on the side of the mountain trying to keep cool.

The Many Glacier Hotel with Swiftcurrent Lake and the mountains in the background.

Glacier National Park - June 2022 - Day 3

Joshua Rutledge July 8, 2022

On the morning of day three it was time to pack up and move ourselves over to the east side of the park, specifically to Many Glacier. We had a room in the Many Glacier Hotel reserved. Originally we were supposed to stay at the Swift Current Motor Inn & Cabins (we had a cabin reserved) but due to staffing shortages they moved us over to the Many Glacier Hotel for the night. We actually enjoy staying at the Swift Current Inn as it’s a little less busy and it’s closer to Fishercap Lake which we like to visit in the mornings and evenings. It also has more casual dining options including pizza and breakfast served all day. The Many Glacier Hotel is more historic and worth a stay however if you are in the area. You can’t beat the view from the deck overlooking Swiftcurrent Lake. The Swiss inspired stylings of the motel is fun to experience as well.

While traveling to the east side, we decided we better pull into the Goat Lick Overlook again after our amazing experience the night before. We were hoping with the rain having passed that the conditions might be better for viewing. There were goats there again, but fewer than before and the group that was closest the night before was no longer there, so the photographic opportunities I was hoping for did not happen. But it was still fun to watch the mountain goats some more. Since there were no goats close by, I got out my tripod with my 600mm lens and the 1.4x teleconverter to bring them in as close as possible. I was pretty popular with other people at the overlook when they saw me with so much gear out. I even let a couple fellow Canon shooters borrow my long lens on their cameras to get a couple shots.

A mountain goat nanny and her kid at Goat Lick Overlook. As always, depending your device, you can click on any of the pictures in my blogs for a full screen view.

Another nanny and kid from the overlook.

On our way into Many Glacier we spotted two black bears and a grizzly bear. So it was a pretty good start to our stay over there. As was the case on day one, we knew we had some time before we could check into our hotel, so we decided to take a hike up to Apikuni Falls. We had driven by the trailhead many times over the years (it is often closed due to bear activity though) but had never actually done the hike. It is not a long hike, less than 2 miles round trip, but it is pretty much straight up the whole way and our legs were not fresh after all of the hiking the day before. With the higher than normal water levels this spring, I am guessing it was a good time to visit the falls. I am assuming on a normal year or later in the season it would not be as impressive.

Grizzly bear near Lake Sherburne in Many Glacier - Glacier National Park.

Another shot of the grizzly bear as we were coming into Many Glacier.

A little wider shot of the grizzly bear. It appeared to be flipping over rocks and digging up roots.

One of the black bears we observed coming into the park. This one was not far from the Apikuni Falls trailhead, but on the other side of the road. Typically we see more grizzly bears in that area and not black bears.

A head on shot of the black bear in Many Glacier. You can really tell how large of a black bear it was from this perspective.

Apikuni Falls as seen from the trail leading up to the falls. Since I wanted to travel light, I just grabbed my Canon R6 and my 24-70 lens.

After finishing our hike and looking around a little bit we were able to check into our hotel room. We spent a little bit of time relaxing before it was time to go out and do some wildlife viewing. We started our evening at Fischercap Lake, hoping to find some moose that frequent the area. The lake, as was the case everywhere, was higher than normal so there was not a lot of shoreline to set up on. We were visited by a couple of white-tail deer while we waited for moose. They were obviously very habituated to people as they were getting uncomfortably close. Eventually a young cow moose did appear along the willows at the end of the lake. She was nursing a pretty sizable wound on her back leg. I am guessing it was probably from a bear attack. She eventually wandered off, and nothing else was showing up, so we decided to load up and see if we could find some bears. It didn’t take us long and we did find two grizzly bears. We talked to the rangers and they told us it was a mating pair. They knew the female as it had been previously collared and the male had appeared the day before. The rangers were very patient and interactive and were very accommodating to people trying to get pictures. Maybe because it was early in the season or because the crowds were still low, they were way more chill than usual when it comes to managing the crowds and the grizzly bears. For the most part everyone that was there viewing the bears were well behaved, so that might have contributed to the positive experience with the park rangers as well. After a while we decided to head down the road and see if we could find anything else and let someone else have our spot along the road. We did not see anything else that evening and went back to the hotel for some rest. We enjoyed some time out on the deck watching the sunset behind the mountains at Swiftcurrent Lake.

A young cow moose nursing an injury at Fishercap Lake - Many Glacier.

The young moose again in the willows along the edge of Fishercap Lake. Willow is one of the moose’s favorite foods, especially when it’s new growth. They also enjoy eating the aquatic vegetation that grows in the lake.

A male and female grizzly bear with some of the surrounding environment along Lake Sherburne in Many Glacier.

A little tighter shot on the male grizzly bear. Please make sure you follow park rules and keep your distance from the wildlife. All of these images were shot on long lenses so I could maintain a safe distance.

The next morning, day 4, we got up and decided to see what we could find before we had to head for home. We couldn’t decide if we wanted to try Fishercap Lake one more time, or see what else was out there. We decided to pass on Fishercap due to not seeing a lot the night before. We were able to find the two grizzly bears again from the night before, as they had not gone far. We watched them for a while and then continued down the road towards the main entrance and found a black bear right alongside the road. I got a few pictures on my cell phone, but that was all. Since we didn’t see anything else and a crowd was starting to form back at the pair of grizzly bears, we decided to drive down towards Fishercap just to see if anything was down there. We didn’t even get as far as the lake and we saw a big bull moose out in one of the openings. So we watched him for a while and decided we probably couldn't do much better than that anyway, and called it good for the morning without going to Fishercap Lake. We went back to the motel to pack up and then headed home. I had to be home to pick up our dogs from the kennel so we knew we couldn't stay too long.

A bull moose in Many Glacier - Glacier National Park. This was also with my Canon R6 and the Canon 100-500 as my memory card was full in my R5 and I didn’t have time to switch.

More of an environmental shot with the bull moose to include the mountains in the background.

One more shot of the bull moose in velvet grazing on the underbrush.

All in all, despite all of the closures, it was still a great trip. In total we saw 5 grizzly bears (some more than once, but 5 individual bears) 3 black bears, a whole bunch of mountain goats, 2 moose, a lot of waterfalls, tons of wild flowers, and all of the scenery you could take in. I am very blessed to live where I do, so close to so much natural beauty. For the landscape pictures I was primarily using an adapted Canon EF 24-70 2.8 II lens. I did break out my Canon EF 16-35 2.8 III lens a couple of times for some of the larger vista shots. I don’t like how that lens behaves with the stabilization in video mode with my Canon R5 though, so I don’t tend to use it a lot when I know I am going to be going back and forth between stills and video. I sometimes prefer to just make a panorama using my 24-70 if it’s not wide enough. For the wildlife I was mostly using my new Canon RF 100-500 lens. It was a lot of run and gun photo/video so I didn’t have a lot of time to get out a tripod and setup my Canon 600mm F4 II lens. I was able to use it a couple of times this trip, but not as much as I would have liked. I may need to think of a different strategy for how to use my 600 F4 in the future in those situations. Maybe a monopod? Or maybe I need to look into a tripod that’s a little quicker/easier to deploy. The Canon 100-500 worked well and for the most part I was happy with it… But it will never give me the quality (or the reach) of my 600mm F4.

Glacier National Park - June 2022 - Day 2

Joshua Rutledge July 7, 2022

We started day two of our June 2022 Glacier National Park trip heading north along Camas Road with plans to go to Polebridge and then on to Bowman Lake and eventually as far as Kintla Lake. It had been many years since I had been to Bowman Lake and even longer since I had been to Kintla. Unfortunately, we discovered that the road to Kintla Lake was closed due to flooding. So that will have to wait a little longer. We still made a stop at the Polebridge Mercantile and acquired some baked goods. You have to try the huckleberry bear claws if you ever get the chance. This year we also discovered they had a few savory items as well, we really enjoyed the baked pizza roll.

With our bellies filled, we got back on the dirt road and headed towards Bowman Lake. The road is dirt, but most of the time it is passable in a passenger car, although I would prefer something with a little more ground clearance. Once we got to the lake we spent a little time around the boat launch area and then took a short hike around the eastern shore over the bridge at the outlet of Bowman Creek and continued for another half a mile or so along the shore. We saw a lot of wildflowers, some deer and even a spruce grouse in the area.

The view of Bowman Lake from the bridge over the Bowman Creek outlet. My sister Melissa is admiring the view.

We were probably just a little early for the peak of wildflower season, but we still found a lot, including these Purple Clematis.

Another shot of the male Spruce Grouse, he was not being a very cooperative subject.

Since we could not make it to Kintla Lake, we had to shift gears and come up with a plan B for the rest of the day. So after our curiosity was satisfied at Bowman, we decided to drive all the way around to the east side of the park and do some hiking. I had been wanting to see Saint Mary Falls and Virginia Falls, so we made a plan to do that. Since we were so late in the day at that point, we were not able to find parking where we wanted for the Saint Mary Falls hike. We ended up parking just down the road from Sunrift Gorge. This meant we could do a little longer hike and also see Baring Falls, so that is what we did. We hiked down Siyeh Pass to Baring Falls and then got on the Piegan Pass trail along Saint Mary Lake until we hit the Saint Mary Falls trail and then continued past the falls up to Virginia Falls, with some lesser falls along the way. If you enjoy waterfalls, I would really recommend this hike. I believe it’s a little over 5 miles round trip. There is a little bit of elevation coming and going, but it’s not too bad. On our way back we decided to hike up to the road and walk it back to where we parked since it was a more direct route then going around to Baring Falls again.

A view from the trail between Baring Falls and Saint Marry Falls with Saint Mary Lake and the mountains in the background. There is also evidence of the fires that went through this area several years go.

A cascade along the trail between Saint Mary Falls and Virginia Falls.

Virginia Falls. Even from this far away you could still feel the mist on you. If you hike a little further there is an overlook closer to the falls.

On our way back of course we had to stop for some Wild Goose Island and Jackson Glacier pictures. With so much snow still left on the mountains, you could not really discern Jackson Glacier from the surrounding snow still on the mountains. We were hoping to maybe spot a bear on our way out too, as they often frequent the shores along Saint Mary Lake, but we did not see any this time. Even though it was getting late and it was a little rainy, we decided to pull into the Goat Lick Overlook. I am sure glad we did. We saw at least 15 mountain goats there that evening. They were primarily hanging out in three different areas visible from the overlook area. The rain and fog would kind of come and go, so it wasn’t great for photography, or at least not for what I was trying to do, but it was still awesome to see so many mountain goats in one spot. As the name implies, the goats were in the area licking the salts that leach out of the rocks/soil in the area. We stayed there until it was pretty much dark and then we finished the drive back to our hotel at Lake McDonald and called it a night.

Wild Goose Island on Saint Mary Lake with an incoming storm.

Three mountain goats in the Goat Lick Overlook area.

Near dark, a nanny mountain goat with her kid tucked in behind her on the cliffs at Goat Lick Overlook.

A cloudy sunset overlooking Lake McDonald from the Village Inn.

Glacier National Park - June 2022 - Day 1

Joshua Rutledge July 6, 2022

I had the chance to visit Glacier National Park again this June. It was a little earlier in the season than we would normally go, since we knew the Going to the Sun Road would not be open yet. But it did mean for fewer crowds and a little different vibe to the experience. We have had an abnormally cool spring, so there was still more snow than usual left on the mountains and despite drought conditions elsewhere in parts of Montana, the streams and rivers were still very high. In fact, several areas of the park were closed due to flooding, further limiting our options where we could go. If you have not followed my blog or looked around my page yet, I do have a page dedicated to Glacier National Park on my website and I also did a post on my blog this winter catching up on my Glacier trips from last year that you might be interested in.

We had two nights booked on the west side of the park in Apgar and one night on the east side at Many Glacier. Since the Going to the Sun Road was not open yet, we had to drive around outside of the park to get back and forth.

We drove up to Glacier taking the route through Choteau, Montana and up to Browning and over. We prefer this way as it is a little more scenic than going on the interstate and over. We drove through the Freezout Lake WMA near Fairfield on our way, but we did not spot anything too interesting. We stopped at Bylers Bakery in Choteau on the way through town to pick up some treats. I highly recommend it if you get the chance. We then continued north through Bynum and Dupuyer and up to Browning. Then we swung east to East Glacier and around the south end of the park to get to the West Entrance of Glacier National Park. While the Going to the Sun Road was not opened, you are still required to have passes for that side of the park. Since we had accommodations inside of the park we did not need one. We did however have to have passes to go up the North Fork which was new this year. I would recommend keeping tabs on the current conditions and requirements on the GNP website.

Avalanche Gorge - Trail of the Cedars at Glacier National Park.

Upon arriving at the park, we knew we had a few hours to kill until we could get into our hotel room. So we drove up to the Avalanche area, which was as far as you could go on the road anyway. Luckily the campground was not open yet, so it was available for parking, which was nice since it’s usually a very congested area and parking is at a premium. We did find out when we got there that the trail to Avalanche Lake was closed due to flooding and we had planned on doing that hike. So instead we just hiked around the Trail of the Cedars and then pretty much stopped at every pull out and side road along McDonald Creek to take in as much as we could on that side of the park. I was hoping to find some Harlequin Ducks as they are known to frequent the area, but I think maybe due to the high water flows I was not able to find any.

A little different angle of Avalanche Gorge. The water was still very high and a little murky.

Looking down McDonald Creek from the bridge on the Trail of the Cedars.

A water feature along the Trail of the Cedars. There was so much water that there will little water features all along the trail. I liked how the light was coming through the trees kind of highlighting this one.

Lots of flora and fauna along the trail to observe, including this little snail.

McDonald Creek was still very high and fast.

Foot bridge over McDonald Creek with a view of the mountains in the background.

A picture from the bridge looking down to where McDonald Creek meets Lake McDonald.

We then went back to the Apgar area and visited the Visitor Center, did a little shopping and looked around Lake McDonald until it was time to check in at the hotel. We stayed at the Village Inn which is a fun little hotel as every room has a view of Lake McDonald. The lake was very high, as high as I had ever seen it, so the water was right up to the hotel. Normally there is a little bit of a beach to enjoy.

Bear Grass we found up the North Fork. It was just a little early yet, so not all of the bear grass was fully bloomed yet.

After we got checked into the hotel and dropped a few things off, we decided to head north and see what we could see. We first went up Camas Road as far as the bridge heading out of the park. It was a little bit early to see a lot of wildlife, but there were some nice vistas to take in overlooking Lake McDonald and some of the meadows along the way. We then returned to the Fish Creek area and decided to take the Inside North Fork Road. It had been many years since I had been on that road. I am really glad we did as we saw a lot of wildflowers, some interesting birds (I did not get any pictures) and on our way out we saw two grizzly bears. I had not seen grizzly bears on that side of the park in a long time, so it was a nice surprise. By the time we got back to our hotel it was getting pretty late, so we enjoyed a little time on our balcony looking at the lake before calling it a day. I was hoping maybe we would get a clear night and I would try to do some astrophotography, but it was not to be. By the time it was starting to get dark the sky had filled up with clouds. I fell asleep to the sounds of waves lapping right outside our door.

McGee Meadows off of Camas Road in Glacier National Park.

Over looking Lake McDonald from Camas Road going up the North Fork at Glacier National Park. You can still see evidence of wild fires that have gone though this area.

Camas Flowers up the Inside North Fork Road.

Two grizzly bears, presumably a male and a female as it is mating season, along the Inside North Fork Road in Glacier National Park.

I believe this is the male grizzly bear up on a log.

I think this is the female grizzly bear just from watching their behavior.

Ekalaka Montana

Joshua Rutledge July 5, 2022

During the last week of May, 2022, I had the chance to head south and east to Ekalaka, Montana. I was actually born in Ekalaka, so it was a bit of a homecoming for me. Well, technically I was born in Miles City, Montana which is over 100 miles away, because Eklaka did not have a hospital at the time, but Ekalaka was still my first home. Ironically, when I visited, I found out the house we lived in is no more. There was just a vacant lot with some remenits of a foundation and some debris laying around, but I guess I am getting a little ahead of myself. My family left Ekalaka when I was still very young, so the memories I had of the area were a bit murky and fragmented. So it was kind of interesting to see how those memories lined up to reality almost 40 years later.

One of the great looking signs coming into Ekalaka.

We had a good trip down, heading through Winnet, Jordan, Miles City, over to Baker and then down to Ekalaka. Despite the drought conditions closer to home, they have been having an abnormally wet spring down there, so we found it to be surprisingly green and lush, which was a contrast to the dry prairie of my memories. I had been as far as Miles City in my adult life, but I had not been any farther south or east than that since leaving Ekalaka as a young child.

In my memories, the only places I had any recollection of (besides our house, the swimming pool and the school) were Medicine Rocks and the forested hills outside of town. And even those memories were vague at best. Our dad was a teacher and coach for the school there and he worked at the pool in the summer. So that is why I think I still have memories of those. The pool was a lot smaller than I remembered though. The school had changed a lot too, I think portions of it might even be new since I was there. I could remember where our house was based on a few landmarks, most notably a tower that was practically in our backyard with a siren on it that was used to warn of approaching storms. The tower still stands, but as I already mentioned, the house was gone. I don’t know if it was torn down, or lost to a fire perhaps? Whatever the case, the house and its ugly shag carpet of my memories are gone.

A panorama of some formations at Medicine Rocks State Park.

On our way to Ekalaka we stopped at Medicine Rocks State Park. It was actually closer to town then I realized and there was more to the park than I remembered. There was a storm approaching, so we did not linger there too long, but we took a few minutes and walked around some of the formations. They were pretty cool to see again. If I ever get back to that area (hopefully it’s not another 40 years) I will make a point to take a little more time and look around. I think from a photography perspective it might have some real potential in either sunrise or sunset. I was there in the middle of the day, so except for a few storm clouds, there was not a lot to add any drama to the scene. I played around with some black and white photos, just to see if maybe that would make things a little more interesting. It would also be an interesting location for some astrophotography, as it is recognized as an International Darky Sky Sanctuary.

An information display at the entrance of Medicine Rocks State Park.

One of the rock formations with some small formations in the background.

There were some trees and various plant species mixed in amongst the formations.

A tall rock formation at Medicine Rocks. It is difficult to capture the scale, but many of the formations are very large.

It was amazing the shapes and holes that erosion has formed into the rocks.

As I mentioned, I tried playing around with some black and white due to the middle of the day conditions. I tried to work with the approaching thunderstorm to give a little drama.

I liked how the shape of the thunderstorm clouds kind of mimicked the shape of this rock formation. If you have a preference for the color vs. the black and white, leave a comment.

By the time we got into Ekalaka the storm had caught us. We decided to take refuge and visit the local museum while we waited for the storm to pass. The Carter County Museum was a fun little stop. Its focus was on the dinosaur discoveries in the area, but it also had a lot of Native American history and artifacts and items from the first settlers on the plains. The museum was free, but I still made a donation and we purchased a few items at the gift shop. The staff, just like everyone we met in Ekalaka, were very nice and happy to chat. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I feel like Ekalaka still has that old, small town Montana charm and friendly atmosphere that I am afraid we are losing in most places. It’s been a long time since I have been somewhere as a complete stranger and had so many people strike up a conversation and greet you with a genuine hello.

A Trex fossil at the Carter County Museum.

A panorama of Capital Rock Natural Landmark.

While in the area I had the chance to also visit the Ekalaka Hills and nearby Capital Rock Natural Landmark. I am not sure if we ever visited Capital Rock while we lived in Ekalaka or not. My hunch is that we probably did, but I just didn’t have any memory of it. It was very cool to see, and I highly recommend it if you are in the area. I don’t know if it was because it was the spring time or just the low population in general, but we were at the landmark for over an hour and never saw another person. It is not very often that you get that experience anymore. If you do plan to visit the landmark, I would recommend you approach it from the east side on Highway 323. We drove through the Forest Service land coming from the west and the road was very treacherous. We were in a high clearance 4x4 and looking for some adventure, but you would not make it in anything else. While in the Ekalaka Hills we also visited MacNab Pond, which is where I first fished as a child. Like the swimming pool back in town, in my memories the pond was a lot larger than it actually is. I kind of wished I had my fishing pole with me though, just for old time’s sake...

A view of the backside of Capital Rock as we were coming over the old Forest Service road.

For some sense of scale, my sister is sitting on a hill between myself and Capital Rock. There is whole low lying area between the hill she is on and the rock, so this still does not really do it justice.

A plaque at the site proclaiming it as a Registered Natural Landmark.

One the way to Capital Rock we found a pond with these painted turtles sunning themselves.

Some of the wild flowers with the “dome” of Capital Rock in the background. I was going to try and do some focus stacking to get a clear picture of both the rock and the flowers, but the wind was blowing hard enough that was impossible. So I settled for letting the rock fall into the background.

There were also a lot of frogs in the pond, including this one my sister was holding for the camera.

Spring 2022 Catch Up

Joshua Rutledge June 20, 2022

I am starting to run behind on my blog posts again. I have a post I am still working on from a recent trip to extreme South East Montana and I also just returned from an awesome early summer trip to Glacier National Park. Please check back in the near future to view those posts. Since I am still working on those, I thought I would make a real quick post to share a few of my pictures from a little closer to home I have taken this spring (in some cases, so close to home they were in my backyard.)

I recently had a flock of Cedar Waxwings hanging out in our apple tree in the backyard. I had seen a few in the neighborhood a couple of years ago, but I was not able to get any good pictures at the time. I have since been hoping that someday I would see them again. Luckily this spring was my chance. Since the apple tree was still full of blossoms (which the birds were eating) it made for some great pictures. It was an overcast day and the wind was blowing pretty hard, so it wasn’t the best day for photography, but it was still fun. We have also had a pair of Mourning Doves build a nest in the same apple tree. The nest is not very substantial, but it has survived several storms now, so I guess it was sufficient. We also had robins nesting in both of our neighbors' yards that have been fun to watch. I did not take pictures of either of these however, as I didn’t feel comfortable pointing a large lens and camera into my neighbors’ yards.

A Cedar Waxwing getting ready to pull off and eat another pedal off a apple blossom.

A Cedar Waxwing posing with some apple blossoms.

Another Cedar Waxwing eating an apple blossom.

A Mourning Dove sitting on her nest keep an eye on me.

I also took a trip out to Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge the other day. If you follow my blogs you know that is one of my favorite spots to visit. With the drought conditions this year, the water levels are fairly low in the area, but I was still able to view several bird species. As I am typing this, we are luckily finally getting some much needed rain. I was out there when it was a little windy and a bit cool, but on the upside that meant the bugs were not too much of a problem which can be the case during our warmer months. This trip was also my first chance to try out my new Canon 100-500 RF lens. Since I primarily shoot with the Canon R5 now, I am starting to get tired of always having to use EF to RF adapters with my old lenses. It just complicates things and makes packing/planning what gear to bring more difficult. I cannot afford to replace all of my old lenses, but the 100-500 is something that I will leave on my camera most of the time so it seemed like a good investment. This will replace the Canon 100-400 II that has kind of been my workhorse from my DSLR days. That is a great lens so the 100-500 has some big shoes to fill. So far I have been pretty satisfied with the 100-500. It does have a minimum aperture of F7.1 at 500mm which is kind of a bummer (the 100-400 was F5.6 at 400mm), but for the most part I can work around that. It is a little bit lighter and you do get an extra 100mm focal length over the 100-400, so I think it’s a fair trade. It will still never be a replacement for my 600mm F4, but that is not always practical to pack around.

A White-Faced Ibis wading in the water at Benton Lake NWR.

A Black-crowned Night-Heron along the shore at Benton Lake NWR.

I am not 100% sure on the ID of this bird. Please leave a comment if you know.

A Northern Shoveler just coming in for a landing.

Spring Burrowing Owls

Joshua Rutledge May 8, 2022

On the evening of May 7th my sister and I were able to observe some burrowing owls in Central Montana. We visited the site earlier in the day when we were coming back from a different outing, but it was storming and I did not have all of my camera gear with me. We only saw two owls during our initial visit, but with the wind and rain coming in, we did not stay very long to look more closely. After it looked like the storms had passed for the day, we decided to take a chance and make the hour long drive back to the site to see if we could get a better look at the owls. Upon arriving at the site, it was still windy as the last of the storms were just leaving the area and we did not see any owls. But not long after, as the weather cleared, we started seeing several owls moving about the area. They were so active in fact, it was difficult to keep track of how many owls were present. Our best guess is there were somewhere between about 6 and 10 owls.

Burrowing owls are small birds and we were only able to get so close to them, as to not disturb them. I had my longest lens on (Canon 600mm F4 version 2) and I also attached my 1.4x Canon teleconverter (version 3) to try and bring them in as close as possible. Even with all of that glass, they were still very small in the frame of my Canon R5. With that in mind, I actually ended up concentrating more on trying to get some video footage. The Canon R5 has a crop mode in video, so I enabled that to try and make the owls as large as possible. I also attached my external Rhode VideoMic Pro+ microphone to try and capture the sounds of the owls. Please check out the video link at the end of this post so you can see and hear the owls around their burrows. I did try to take some still photos and I am including a few here, even though the quality is not the best. These photographs are heavily cropped, so the quality is severely degraded, but I still wanted to share them for illustrative purposes.

Burrowing Owl taking a walk. It looks like he was on a mission.

Burrowing owl looking into the camera. He did not seem very happy about having his picture taken.

Burrowing owl, giving me a bit of a side eye look.

A pair of burrowing owls in the entrance of their burrow.

We only had about an hour with the owls by the time the weather moved out, so there was not a lot of daylight to work with. It was still worth the trip though, as it was one of my goals this year to try to locate and photograph some burrowing owls. I plan to revisit the site to try and get some better photographs. I am hoping if I had more time on the site, I might have the opportunity to get the owls a little closer for some better pictures. I am also hoping later on this spring, that perhaps I can observe some chicks as well, which would be a first for me.

A burrowing owl perched on a sage brush plant against the settings sky.

Greater Sage-Grouse Lek, April 2022

Joshua Rutledge April 4, 2022

Over the weekend of April 2-3, 2022 I was able to visit one of my favorite Greater Sage-Grouse Leks in Central Montana. It is always one of my favorite trips to make in the spring. The first morning I went out was not as productive as the second. As always, I still had a great time, but there were clouds in the sky and I was also not setup quite in the right spot for the best viewing of the grouse on the lek. The second morning I had some amazing sunlight right at sunrise and I was also in a better position for some closer pictures of the grouse.

Male Greater Sage-Grouse displaying on the lek, with the first morning sun rays shining through his feathers.

A close up portrait of a male Greater Sage-Grouse with his tail feathers glowing in the morning sun.

A profile picture of a male Greater Sage-Grouse displaying at sunrise on the lek.

The only downside to these trips are the early mornings. I have about an hour and a half drive from my sister’s house in Lewistown to the lek. Sunrise this time of year is before 7 AM, and you need to be out there about an hour before sunrise. All I can say is 4AM comes all too early. Luckily I have time to consume a lot of coffee on the drive over. I have considered staying the night closer to the lek, but in early spring the nights are still pretty cold and there is not a lot of protection on the open prairie if the weather comes in.

This year there were about 70 grouse on the lek and that was encouraging to see. Those numbers are slightly higher than the last couple of years. With the Greater Sage-Grouse being a species of concern, I am always happy to see when they are having a good year. Hopefully we have a good spring so chick recruitment will be as high as possible.

Most of my photography and videography were done with my Canon R5, Canon 600 mm F4 ii and I had some help at times with my Canon 1.4x iii teleconverter. I was also using a Manfroto fluid video head instead of my gimble head. I was also using my Rode Video Mic Pro+ for capturing the audio. I had recently upgraded the firmware and that seemed to be causing me some issue on my R5. If they do not put out a new firmware soon, I may have to consider reverting to an older firmware. I was able to work around if for the most part, but it was causing my camera to occasionally lock up.

A close up picture of all of the details in the tail feathers.

I am not sure if I will get another trip out for Greater Sage-Grouse or not. I still want to get out to a Sharp-Tailed Grouse lek and maybe try something new this year and find some mountain grouse during their spring rituals.

Two male Greater Sage-Grouse fighting over their position on the lek.

Two male Greater Sage-Grouse on the lek. You get to see the front and the back of the grouse.

A male Greater Sage-Grouse with his large yellow air sacks full of air on full display.

A relaxed (non displaying) male Greater Sage-Grouse.

Freezout Lake WMA, March 2022

Joshua Rutledge March 20, 2022

On March 19, 2022 I decided to take a quick trip out to the Freezout Lake WMA North of Fairfield, MT. I knew it was going to be a little bit early to hit the peak of migration, but with some upcoming commitments, I wasn’t sure if I would get out there later on or not. Most of the lake(s) was still frozen. There were some geese and ducks in the area, as well as some swans, but well below average for this time of year. There were a lot of Bald Eagles though, which was awesome to see. I was told the eagles were feeding on frozen fish in the ice. I also observed a coyote out on the ice looking for a meal as well. After driving around the WMA for a while I eventually found a Great Horned Owl sitting in a tree. I would guess if the weather remains mild, by next week the water should be opening up and I would guess the numbers of migrating waterfowl will increase significantly. Typically the last week of March is around the peak of migration, so that may turn out to be true again this year. If you want to monitor the status of the migration, Montana FWP does have a website with migration updates. You can find that site at: Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area (arcgis.com). You can also check out my page about the Freezout Lake WMA here: Freezout WMA — Josh Rutledge Photography you may also find a blog I posted last year helpful as well. Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area, March 20, 2021 — Josh Rutledge Photography. As always, please select the pictures for a larger view.

A flock of snow geese before sunrise at Freezout WMA.

Another shot of migrating snow geese against the color of the predawn sky.

Tundra Swans flying in formation against an early morning sky.

A mature Bald Eagle flying over the frozen water of Freesout Lake. You can see a glimpse of the mountains of the Rocky Mountain Front in the background.

A tree with several Bald Eagles perched in it just off Freezout Lake.

Snow Geese flying against the hills at Freezout WMA.

A flock of Snow Geese taking off from the lake, with a view of Fairfield, MT in the background.

Great Horned Owl perched in a tree at Freezout WMA.

Another photograph of the Great Horned Owl I found at the Freezout WMA.

Snowy Owls

Joshua Rutledge February 7, 2022

On the morning of February 6, 2022, I drove about an hour east of my home to meet my sister to look for Snowy Owls. Finding Snowy Owls was on my list of goals for this winter. I had also wanted to try and photograph Great Gray Owls this winter, but I have not been successful yet. The conditions in town were warm and dry when I left, but by the time I got about 30 miles out of town the roads turned very icy. I am not sure if it was new snowfall overnight that froze or if it was blowing snow that had recovered the roads. I had to slow down, but I still made it to our designated meeting location on time without issue.

We were probably looking for about a half an hour when my sister spotted our first snowy owl. It was on the edge of a stubble field not far off the road we were traveling on. I would guess we were probably still about 100 yards away when she spotted it. With it being so close to the road, we did not want to scare it, so we stopped and I took a few stills and some video from the car. It was too far away to realistically get any good photos, but we were not sure how long it would stick around, so I figured I better at least get a few pictures for documentation if nothing else. I was shooting with my Canon R5 and my Canon 600mm F4 II. I forgot my extender, or I might have considered putting it on. After we watched it for a while we decided to see if we could get any closer. The owl was along the road we needed to travel along anyway, so we figured it was worth taking a chance by getting a little closer. We were able to get a little bit closer, but it ended up flying away while we were still pretty far away. It did not fly real far, but it was still too far away for good photography. We continued down the road a little farther and we stopped to look around a little bit and I spotted a 2nd snowy owl sitting on the railroad tracks. This owl was even farther away than the first. So we just observed it with our binoculars for a while.

Slightly different pose of the first Snowy Owl we saw along the road.

I had already been out unsuccessfully a couple of times this winter looking for Snowy Owls, so to see two owls in less than an hour was really awesome. I was a little disappointed we had not been able to find one closer though. We continued to look around the countryside and after a little while we stumbled upon a third owl that was sitting out in the middle of a field. This owl was also too far away for any good photographs. When we first saw it, we were not 100% sure if it was one of the first owls we saw that had moved, or if it was a third. After we watched this owl for a while, we decided to go back and check where we saw the first two. Sure enough, those two owls were still where we left them, so we could confirm we had seen 3 Snowy owls.

Eventually we decided that the owls were not going to cooperate and give us any closer views so we decided to call it a day. We did not want to harass the birds by trying to get too close. Seeing three Snowy Owls in one morning was still an awesome experience and I was able to cross off one of my winter goals. Hopefully the owls will stick around a little bit longer so I can get a chance to try again for some better pictures. All of the photographs and video were cropped to try and showcase the birds. As a result they are not very high resolution. As the morning went on (it was abnormally warm for February) I was starting to get some heat distortion in my pictures as well, which further degraded the image quality. Since the owls were white, there were white patches of snow in many of the scenes and the sky was relatively bright I was shooting with between 2/3 and a full stop of positive exposure compensation to correct my exposures.

Slightly different pose of the Snowy Owl perched on the fence.

Besides the owls, we saw many pronghorn antelope, white-tail deer and I briefly saw what I think was a coyote. All in all it was an awesome morning.

White-tail deer amongst some old farm equipment.

A young buck pronghorn antelope on the run.

As I mentioned, I was hoping to photograph Great Gray Owls this winter too. I found this one (along with a couple of others) in the fall, but I only had my cheap camera with me at the time, so this blurry picture was the best I could do. I was hoping to get back into that area with my better equipment, but I got snowed out. I had not previously posted this picture, so I thought I would include it on this post.

Last Trip of the Season

Joshua Rutledge October 13, 2021

I decided to take one last trip to the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Range on October 2, 2021. I had not planned on making another trip this fall (my third) but I had a free afternoon so I decided to make the trip. I thought the fall colors in the trees might be at their prime so I should be able to get a few good shots. The afternoon was unseasonably warm (in the mid 80’s) so the elk were a little quite when we first got there. Most of the elk were just lying in the shade of the cottonwood trees. After about an hour the elk started getting up on their feet and started to get active. There were still a lot of elk in the area and there was plenty of bugling to be heard. The bulls seemed to have their harems pretty well established so most of the fighting was just lite tussles between younger bulls. I pretty much used my Canon R5 and my Canon 600mm F4 Version 2 lens for most of the pictures, but I did have my Canon 70-200mm 2.8 Version 3 on my old Canon 5D IV I used to take some wider shots. For it being a Saturday the crowds were actually not too bad. I can only attribute that to it being later in the season and maybe the hot weather.

A mature bull with this cows with the fall colors of the cotton wood trees on full display in the background.

An intimate moment between a bull and a cow while they were still laying down in the heat of the day.

A mature bull strolling around the cows.

This bull was caked in mud that gave him kind of a grey, ghost like appearance.

A mature bull making his way through the sage brush.

A large bull amongst the colorful under brush.

A colorful sunset with the elk and fall leaves of the Missouri River.

Labor Day Weekend Elk

Joshua Rutledge September 5, 2021

I am still working on trying to post a blog(s) about our trips to Glacier National Park earlier this summer, but I have not had the time to gather everything for that. But I did want to put out something updated, so I thought I would create a post about my quick trip to check out the forthcoming elk rut in the Missouri Breaks in North Central Montana over Labor Day Weekend.

A large herd of elk with a large bull in the center.

Typically I don’t visit the site on the C. M. Russel National Wildlife Refuge until later in September, but I thought I would try going early this year to avoid the crowds. While the crowds were less than they are typically later in the month, it was already pretty busy for my liking. I was hoping if I could avoid the crowds maybe I could get some video with clean audio for once. To me half of the fun of watching the elk is listening to all of the various sounds they make. When the crowds are large and there is so much traffic on the roads, trying to hear the elk clearly is almost impossible. Even with the lesser crowds, it was still impossible to get any clean audio without crowd noise or vehicles driving in the background. I will post a video with unedited audio at the end of this blog. It was still worth the visit however. I would guess there were probably about 100 elk or so. There were two mature bulls and a lot of smaller bulls, spikes, cows and calves. There was a third large bull elk that came out right at dark and he was probably the biggest of the bunch. There was also a large flock of wild turkey’s this year which were a nice bonus. All of these pictures were produced with my Canon R5 and my adapted Canon 600mm F4 II. If you click on an image you will get a full screen version of the images.

The mature bull we saw with the large herd of elk.

The 2nd mature bull elk we saw late in the evening.

With smoke and clouds in the sky, we were treated to a very colorful sunset. The downside is that it did get darker a little sooner than normal with so much of the sunlight being blocked. I may get back to the viewing area again later this fall, but at least if I don’t get the chance, I was able to get this trip in. For more information about the elk on the C.M. Russell NWR please check out my page here: https://www.joshrutledgephotography.com/c-m-russell

The smoke and clouds made for a colorful sunset.

I put together this little video digest from the evening. I decided to leave the audio as is, as there was just not much I could do to save it. You can hear a few bugles and some other vocalization, but there is also a lot of wind, crowd and vehicle noise as well. You will also see the wild turkeys we were enjoying watching along side the elk.

Yosemite National Park - Part 3

Joshua Rutledge July 9, 2021

In part 3 of my Yosemite blog I am going to try and wrap up the rest of our trip to California. On July 6th we woke up early and hit the road to visit Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. We headed west and then south as we traveled through Fresno and then headed east to Kings Canyon National Park. We stopped at some fruit stands along the way and took in the California country side. We entered through the Big Stump entrance and our first stop was Grant Grove. This grove of giant sequoias is home to the General Grant Tree which is also known as the National Christmas Tree. We spent some time walking the trails around the grove and checking out some of the exhibits. We also made sandwiches from the food we brought along. From Grant Grove we continued north and west to travel up the canyon. The canyon was interesting but it was very dry and desolate compared to the mountains I am used to in Montana. I am sure to some it has its own beauty but I couldn’t help but feel like it needed some trees and green grass. We drove to the end of the road and then came back through Grant Grove and then headed south to Sequoia National Park on the Generals Highway. Since we had already had a pretty long day driving by this point, we decided to kind of do a really fast overview of the park. Of course we stopped to see the General Sherman Tree which is the largest tree in the world by volume. There was about a mile long round trip trail leading down to the tree. The trail was paved and included several sets of stairs. It was midafternoon by the time we got to it, so it was getting pretty hot and there was a pretty good crowd. If there are shuttle buses running, I believe there is a stop closer to the tree along the main road, but it was only for buses and handicap parking. After we saw General Sherman we headed down the road deeper into the park to check out large sequoias that are along the road. Since we did not have a lot of time we were not able to get out and do any hiking or explore things too far off the main road. I found the photography to actually be fairly difficult. It was technically a little difficult just because you had the shadows at the base of the trees and then the bright midday sun behind the tops of the trees. So it was really difficult trying to balance those two things. I also found it very difficult to really capture just how large the trees are. Most of the trees are fenced off so you can’t get right up to them, so you couldn’t put a person directly in front of them for scale. And even if you could, I still don’t think you can REALLY portray the real size of the trees in a single frame. We still had a good time and I am glad we took a day to check things out. After we drove a few hours back to our hotel we decided to relax for the rest of the evening with plans of getting up the next morning for sunrise. You can click on any of the images for a larger view.

The entrance sign for Kings Canyon National Park.

Another large sequoia at Grants Grove. I like the base of this one and the bark I thought was interesting.

The General Grant Tree also known as the National Christmas Tree.

Another giant sequoia at Grants Grove. You can see an old burn scar at the base and I also like the starburst up in the branches.

A view of the landscape along the road into Kings Canyon National Park.

A view of Kings Canyon from the end of the road looking into the wilderness.

Entrance sign for Sequoia National Park.

The General Sherman Tree. If you look at the base you can see people standing at the base for some perspective. This is the largest tree by volume in the world.

We did get up early the next morning (July 7th) to shoot the sunrise of the Yosemite Valley again. This time I chose to setup from the Tunnel View area, which is a popular spot for sunrises. This time I was not as fortunate and the parking lot was already pretty full with people. I did manage to find a pretty good spot to setup though. My setup was the same from the morning at the Valley View area. I had my canon 16-35mm with my Canon R5 setup on my tripod. I was having a little sense of dejavu from my first morning in the park, the sky was hazy and pretty boring to look at. The advantage of the Tunnel View area over the Valley View area is that you are high enough up on the valley that you can see Half Dome in your composition. The downside, besides being more popular, is that you don’t really have anything of interest in the foreground. Luckily the sun came in and cast a lot of color on the valley floor so that made for some interest. I also hung around long enough to get some sunrays as they appeared from behind El Capitan.

Sunrise over Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. I like the sun lighting up the valley floor and also the streak of light shooting up from El Cap.

Another shot of sunrise at Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. I waited for the sun rays to appear from behind El Capitan to add a little interest.

Upper Yosemite Falls as seen from the creek near the boardwalks in Yosemite Valley.

A large color phase black bear we saw in Yosemite Valley. Not a great picture but I wanted to share anyway.

A young black bear we saw later in the morning in Yosemite Valley. This bear has been tagged.

A nice buck in velvet we saw in Yosemite Valley.

Entrance sign for Yosemite National Park. We finally stopped and took a picture on our last day in the park.

After we were finished with the sunrise, we poked around the valley a little more and managed to see two different black bears and some deer. We went down and hiked around the boardwalks and some of the trails along the river. After that we packed up and drove back through the park over the top and started heading back west to Montana. We stopped the first night in Idaho Falls and then got up early the next morning and came home through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. It is always fun to drive through the Tetons and Yellowstone, but with the large crowds and being a little late in the day for wildlife it was a bit of a letdown. I was happy when we finally got home. As much fun as it is to be on the road having adventures, it is always nice to be home in the comfort of your own home. If you have any questions about Yosemite or the surrounding area, feel free to reach out to me on my contact page.

A panorama from Mormon Row in Grand Tetons National Park.

An ewe bighorn sheep with her lamb near the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Yosemite National Park - Part 2

Joshua Rutledge July 6, 2021

On the morning of July 5th we got up early and decided to head to Yosemite Valley. I knew I wanted to get some sunrise shots and we decided the view from the Yosemite Valley View was a good place to start. We circled around the valley (due to the one way streets and certain areas being blocked off, you had to drive all the way around the valley to get heading West again) and eventually found the spot we wanted to stop. When we first got to the pullout we were the only ones there. It did not take too long for others to join us however. I setup my tripod and picked out a composition I wanted to shoot. I was using my Canon 16-35mm 2.8 version III lens adapted to my Canon R5. I wished I had brought a second tripod so I could have setup a time lapse with a second camera, but I was trying to travel light on this trip. Once I got my initial composition I wanted, I hurried and moved over just a little bit to get a couple of variations while the sun was still just peaking over the valley. I was a little disappointed when I saw the sky that morning, as the smoky haze and lack of clouds was leaving the scene a little flat. So I decided I would wait for the sun to rise so I could capture some sun rays to add a little visible interest. I was already shooting a small aperture to keep everything in focus, so I did not need to adjust anything to create the effect. For those of you that don’t know, to create the sunrays or some people call it a starburst, you need a really high (small) aperture. And the number of rays you get is dependent on the number of aperture blades your lens has. I was also intentionally using a fairly slow shutter speed so I could create the milky effect in the water. Once the sun was actually up I no longer had that option however, as the slow shutter speed with direct sunlight would have been too bright and would have overexposed the image.

Sunrise photo of Yosemite Valley as seen from the Yosemite Valley Viewing area with the Merced River in the foreground.

Another sunrise view of Yosemite Valley just downstream a little bit for a different composition.

Once the sun was completely up and we felt like we had experienced everything we wanted to see at the Yosemite Valley View we decided to make the drive up to Glacier Point to see what that view was like. Looking back that was actually a bit of a mistake. By the time we drove up there (I think it takes almost an hour as it’s a very steep and winding road) the sun was getting higher in the sky and there was so much smoke that morning the view was just not worth the drive. I tried to take some pictures and even tried using a polarizing filter to cut through the haze, but I just did not end up with anything worth sharing. And maybe the bigger issue was by the time we drove back down to the valley it was starting to get warm and we still had some hikes we wanted to do. We should have done the hikes first while it was still a little cooler out and then maybe did the drive to Glacier Point later in the day. But hindsight is always 20/20. While we were on top at Glacier Point we did see some lizards, ground squirrels, a grouse and we saw several deer on the way up, so I guess it wasn’t a total waste.

A grouse hanging out on top of Glacier Point.

A lizard on top of Glacier Point, which was strange to see as someone coming from Montana.

A ground squirrel perched on a rock soaking up the sun at Glacier Point.

Another lizard on a tree at Glacier Point.

Once we got back down to the valley we decided to do the quick hike up to the Lower Yosemite Falls. Saying it’s a hike is an exaggeration, it is actually a pretty easy walk up to the lower falls. I think it’s maybe about a mile round trip or so. With it being such a dry year and later in the season, the falls was not spectacular, but there was actually more water coming down then I thought might be the case, as I had read it sometimes dries up completely. I only took pictures from the viewing area as they had the rocky area below the falls roped off, but that didn’t stop some people from going in there anyway. I was actually kind of surprised by how few Park Rangers we saw during our visit there. I don’t know if that was due to COVID or not.

Lower Yosemite Falls from the viewing area.

A wider shot of Lower Yosemite Falls as seen from the viewing area. If you look closely you can see people on the rocks below the falls.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls as seen on the trail to the lower falls.

Another shot of the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls as seen from the start of the trail to the lower falls.

After we finished at the lower falls we decided we wanted to do the hike to Vernal Falls. By this point it was starting to get kind of hot and I did not leave that morning super prepared for a hike in almost 100 degree weather. We also got off on the wrong trail initially and ended up walking well over a mile extra before we realized our error. I was also surprised by how poor the signage was in the park. Having been to other national parks that usually had things well marked, I felt like Yosemite was really lacking in that department. Anyway, we did eventually get on the right trail and made the climb up to the falls. I would consider this a hike as it was pretty strenuous. Had we not already done a couple of miles that morning and waited until the heat of the day, it probably wouldn’t have been as bad as it ended up being. The trail itself is a good trail and paved for much of it. It is a pretty steep climb the whole way though and not a lot of shade that time of day. You eventually cross a bridge and you get a pretty good view of the falls. If you are in a hurry or don’t want to continue on to the more strenuous part of the hike, that is a good place to turn around. I decided to keep going to the falls and you go up the Misty Trail steps. The “steps” are 600 stairs kind of carved into the rock as you go up next to the falls. They are steep and a little bit treacherous. Once you get closer to the falls you do get hit with mist from the falls, so they are true to their name. I think the whole hike to the falls and back is only about 2.5 miles, but in the heat and I did not bring a lot of extra water, I did struggle a little bit. I had also meant to pack some extra socks as my feet tend to get sweaty, and I forgot those as well.

A wider shot of Vernal Falls. I left the people in the foreground to show a little scale.

Once we got back to our vehicle (we had to walk about another mile back to our vehicle to the parking lot, typically there are shuttle buses to the trailhead, but with COVID they were not running) we decided we were ready for some downtime and we went back to the hotel for a nap. That evening we decided to drive back up to Glacier Point to catch the sunset. When we got up there the smoke had cleared quite a bit and we were treated to some spectacular views. By sunset it had got very busy up there, so I had to work a little bit to find a spot away from the crowds. I was again wishing I had a second tripod along to capture a time lapse of the setting sun. With the large vista I was once again using my 16-35 wide angle lens and I was still having to do some panoramas to take in the entire scene. I usually do not like shooting that wide, but with so many sweeping vistas in Yosemite I found myself leaving that lens on my camera most of the time. After sunset we drove back down the mountain for some much needed R and R at the hotel.