Two coyotes howling in Yellowstone National Park.

I Love Yellowstone in the Winter!

Joshua Rutledge February 25, 2024

Over the weekend of February 17, 2024 I had the chance to spend some time in Yellowstone National Park again. It was on our radar that we wanted to visit the park again this winter, but with an abnormally low snow pack this year, we were not sure if it was worth the trip. Finally the last few weeks we have had some colder temperatures and some snow, so we thought we would give it a try. There was definitely still a lack of snow in the park, but it was better than the reports we had been getting earlier in the winter.

We left early on Saturday morning on our way to Gardiner, Montana. The North entrance to Yellowstone National Park is just outside of Gardiner and is the only entrance open during the winter months. The traditional road from the entrance through the canyon to Mammoth is still washed out, but they have a new winding alternative route up and over the hills into Mammoth. While there is a national park hotel in Mammoth we were able to find a cheaper hotel in Gardiner and that worked out well. The Roosevelt Hotel. If you are interested in doing any tours in Yellowstone during the winter, most of the tours leave from the Mammoth Hotel.

A panorama of the sunrise hitting the Crazy Mountains.

With the recent snows, on our way to Yellowstone we were greeted with some amazing colors on the Crazy Mountains during sunrise. The colors were getting better and better, but with the drifted snow on the sides of the road it took us a while to find a safe place to pull over to get some photographs. While we just missed the peak of the color on the snow covered mountains, they were still pretty spectacular. We made quick stops in Big Timber and Livingston and then it was through Gardiner and into the park. I think we got through the entrance of the park by around 9:30 AM Saturday morning.

Frost on a barbwire fence with the Crazy Mountains out of focus in the background.

It was a very warm day (by February standards in Montana) and there was not a cloud in the sky. While the sunny day made for nice weather, it was not the best for wildlife viewing or photography. With the quickly warming air and the cold snow covered ground there was a lot of a mirage as a result. If you check out the video posted below you can really see the turbulence in the air, and this made it very difficult to clearly photograph subjects.

That first morning we saw elk, tons of bison, many coyotes (more coyotes than I have ever seen before in the park), moose, an American Dipper, ravens, magpies and several other species. We even briefly saw some bighorn sheep way up on the ridge. Eventually we got a tip that there was a pack of wolves hanging in the Slough Creek area. Sure enough by the time we got back there, there was a pretty good crowd forming. We had to hike about a quarter of a mile or so to an overlook. The wolves were still in the area, but they were pretty far away. They had made a kill of a young bison the day before we got there, but they had pretty well consumed most of it by Saturday morning. A fellow photographer said there had been two black wolves on the kill earlier that morning, so I was kind of disappointed we missed that. As it was, there were a couple of coyotes picking over what was left of the kill and the wolves were still up on the hills sleeping off their big meal. The bison herd was still feeding in the creek below, so that was kind of interesting to see with the wolves still so close. Even with my Canon 600mm lens and 1.4X teleconverter the wolves were still pretty small in the frame. In one of the images below I was able to get 7 of the 8 wolves in one frame. They may be difficult to point out if you are viewing this on a small screen.

You can click on the images in the gallery below for a larger view.

While the days are getting longer, they are still pretty short this time of year, so it wasn’t long until it was already late afternoon in the park. We spotted several more coyotes and a nice bull elk on our way out of the park. We got back to Gardiner and checked into our hotel then went and found some dinner at the Cowboy’s Lodge and Grille. It was a nice little spot and the food was good. We then went back to the hotel and got ready for the next morning.

A bull moose browsing on some frost covered willows in Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

Sunday morning was quite a departure from the sunny weather we had on Saturday. There was a heavy frost and some light snow in the air. While this caused its own challenges, it was more conducive to photography. We got back into the park right around sunrise (shortly after 7 AM) and headed back down to Lamar Valley. We did not have quite as much luck finding wildlife this morning. I am not sure if the changing weather had anything to do with that or not. We stopped where the wolves had been the day before, and they were still in the area but still too far away for any photography so we didn’t stay long. We made the decision to go back to where we found the moose the day before. There had been 6 bulls in the willows on the far end of Lamar Valley, but they were too far away for any good pictures on Saturday. I am glad we made the decision to go check again, as this morning the bulls had moved closer to the road and I was able to get some pretty good photos (and some video) of them. There was no place to park near by, so I ended up having to hike about a quarter of a mile to where the moose were. The frosty morning made for some interesting winter scenery surrounding them. With all of the snow and the dark moose, I was having to use at least two stops of exposure compensation to even things out a bit. After the moose moved into the timber and started laying down for the day, we continued towards Cooke City, hoping to maybe find a fox or something. We did not find any fox but we did find another moose, so that made 7 for the day, which is more than I have ever seen in the park before.

We finished our morning with a few more sightings of coyotes and elk, but that was about it. We had originally planned to stop in Mammoth on our way out to photograph the hot springs, but it was starting to snow pretty good at that point, so we figured we better get on the road before things got worse. We were able to make it back home without incident.

For this trip I felt like I had packed everything but the kitchen sink. Since I knew we would primarily be working out of a vehicle I was not too concerned about the weight or how much gear I was taking. Most of the time I ended up using my Canon 600 F4 version 2 lens, with and without the Canon 1.4x version 3 teleconverter and my Canon RF 100-500 L lens on my Canon R5 camera body. I also brought along my Canon R6 and my older EF Canon 100-400 version 2 lens and my Sigma 150-600 lens for my sister to use. I did shoot some video on my GoPro Hero 11 black as well.

I have really come to love visiting Yellowstone in the winter. I have just reached a point where the summer crowds make it hard to really enjoy the park anymore. Of course the park is beautiful in the summer and there are opportunities to see things in the summer that you can’t in the winter (bears for example), but I think I am willing to take that trade off for the relative quiet of the winter.

If you are interested in more about Yellowstone National Park, I do have a page dedicated to Yellowstone on my website (it needs some updating) as well as a previous blog post from a trip last year. Also, be sure to check out my video on YouTube posted below from our trip.

Video digest from my trip to Yellowstone.

Dedicated Yellowstone webpage.

Previous Blog Post - Winter in Yellowstone National Park

If you are interested in being notified when a new blog comes out, please use my Contact Page to let me know. Or feel free to leave any comments or questions below.

The Northern Lights above a local farm north of Great Falls in Central Montana, April 23, 2023. Shot with the Canon R5 with the Canon RF 50mm 1.2 lens.

Second Night of Northern Lights

Joshua Rutledge May 7, 2023

On the evening of April 23, 2023 into the early morning of the 24th, I was able to experience the best viewing of the Northern Lights I have ever seen. I was blown away by the event we experienced in March of 2023 and almost exactly one month later we had a second, even more extraordinary showing.

Much like that last event, the weather forecast was not in my favor. The forecast included a lot of clouds and when I looked out the windows of my house, I was pretty much surrounded by cloudy skies. I decided I would still take a chance and headed north out of town. This time I was better prepared as compared to the event in March, but I did still have a couple of minor issues I will get to later. This time I also made more of an effort to find a better foreground in case the aurora borealis did kick off.

I sat parked for about an hour waiting for the last of the setting sun light to disappear, and I could start to see some clearing to the west in the sky. I could tell the clouds were clearing as I had clearing views of the moon and Venus in the sky. Although there were still occasionally some wispy clouds passing in front of the moon. Eventually I could start to see some clearing to the north and I could start to see some light pillars starting to appear in the test shots I took out of the windows. With that, I felt like it was worth taking a chance and setting up a couple of cameras to see what I could capture. I setup my old Canon 5D IV and my Canon R6 on tripods for time lapses. I still had my Canon R5 to try and do some other shots.

On the old Canon 5D I had my Canon EF 16-35 lens and I used a farm that was somewhat north east of my position to add some visual interest. And on my Canon R6 I had my RF 15-35 lens and I faced that camera looking sort of north west using a nearby power pole as some foreground interest. With my Canon R5 I experimented with different compositions and different lenses. I used my Rokinon 14mm, Canon EF 70-200 2.8 version 3 and RF 50 1.2 lens with the R5.

A single frame from the Canon 5D IV time lapse of the Northern Lights above the farm.

A single frame from the Canon R6 time lapse of the Northern Lights with a power pole, the Moon and Venus.

Not long after I got the two time lapse cameras setup, the sky just blew up and it became so bright it was like someone had turned on a light switch. The storm built until I was surrounded by the lights. I could see lights from east to west, overhead and even some into the south behind me. I really was not able to capture the scene adequately, even with three cameras. It was one of those experiences where the only answer is “You really had to be there” to describe it to someone.

A tighter image of the Northern Lights above a grain elevator using the Canon 70-200 2.8 lens on the Canon R5.

The Northern Lights over the farm using a Rokinon 14mm lens on the Canon R5. The small size of the farm helps give some scale to the lights in the sky.

After a couple of hours viewing the northern lights, it was after midnight and I had to get up to go to work the next morning. There was eventually a little bit of a lull in the activity and I took that as my sign it was time to leave. Overall I was pretty happy with how my time lapses turned out. I was also able to get a few shots with my third camera. The issue I was having with that camera is that I was using a cheap ball head that came with an old tripod. The problem was that the tightening lever on the ball head was not designed to work on the larger base of the tripod I put it on, so I was not able to clamp down the ball head like I wanted to. I either had to leave the ball head slightly loose or I had to actually unscrew the head, tighten it and then screw it back on to the tripod.

You can view the results of the time lapses via this video on my YouTube channel.

The Northern Lights starting to appear north of Great Falls, March 23, 2023 before it was even dark.

Amazing Northern Lights

Joshua Rutledge March 25, 2023

On the evening of March 23, 2023 I had the chance to view the best showing of the Northern Lights I have ever seen. It is not uncommon to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights on the horizon here in Montana, but this was the first time I had seen them so spectacularly that they were actually overhead and even on occasion extending into the sky to the south behind me.

I have a couple of apps I use to track the Northern Lights, also referred to as the Aurora Borealis, so I knew there was a pretty good chance of a good showing that night, but the clouds were starting to close in so I wasn’t optimistic that I would be able to view them. After thinking about it for a while, and with a little prompting from my wife, I decided to grab some gear and head out anyway (Great Falls, Mt.) I headed out of town to the north and found a spot to park to wait and see what happened. As I was sitting and waiting for dark, there were clouds in almost every direction except for a clearing to the West, so my fears were starting to become true. There was a good view of the crescent moon and Venus in the cloud break, so at least there was something to look at.

A test shot through the windshield of my truck, just to see if anything was happening. When it is still light out, the northern lights are not always visible to the naked eye, but a camera can pick them up. I didn’t even bother trying to focus through the glass, but as you can see, I could still tell there were pillars of light already in the sky, even though it wasn’t dark yet.

As twilight started to fall, I took a quick test shot through the windshield of my truck, and sure enough, I could already start to see some pillars forming in the sky. Since it was not quite dark yet, they were not really visible to the naked eye. I thought at the very least maybe I would be able to get a couple of shots before the clouds completely obscured my view.

Still from my truck, but looking more north and I could see some pillars forming above the clouds.

Last shot I took from the highway (you can see some headlights in the distance) and this is what convinced me it was worth trying to move.

Once darkness started to set in, I was starting to see some activity in the sky to the North East of me. I was parked alongside the highway to start, as I was just kind of waiting to see what would happen, but the cars driving by were very distracting, and it also feels a little bit dangerous with speeding cars so near. So I drove down a little side road just to get off the highway. Unfortunately, I did not put a lot of thought into where I was going. I was just kind of frantic wanting to find a spot to setup. Between the clouds and the fickleness of the aurora, I wasn’t sure how much time I had, so I didn’t want to spend my time finding the best spot and potentially missing the show entirely. So I ended up in a spot where I had power lines overhead that were kind of distracting and not a lot of interest in the foreground. I did my best to try and use one of the power poles to add a little bit of interest to the shots. The photograph at the top of this post was my first test shot from the location so it wasn’t even dark yet.

As I was fumbling around in the dark I quickly realized that in my half-hearted attempt leaving the house, I had forgotten a lot of equipment I would have liked to have with me. I had recently cleaned a bunch of things out of my camera bag as well, since I was helping with a project at work I didn’t want to be hauling a lot of extra stuff back and forth. I found that I only had one Arca-Swiss plate for mounting my cameras on a tripod. I knew I wanted to have at least two cameras going (and ideally a third, which I also forgot was not in my bag anymore) so that was a problem. I eventually remembered I keep an old cheap tripod in my truck for photographic emergencies such as this. Of course, when I got it out I found that it was actually broken. Since it bounces around in my truck, who knows when that might have happened. And also of course, with it being a cheap tripod, it had its own style of mounting plate that was not Arca-Swiss compatible. Luckily I found that if I loosened the jaws on my ball head as far as they would go I could cram the cheap plate (since it was plastic) into the metal jaws of the Arca-Swiss mount and make it work. So then I was able to have two cameras going, since I knew I wanted to have at least one dedicated to a time lapse. With northern lights photography, you are usually working with shutter speeds too slow to hand hold, so a tripod is a must. I believe for most of the shots I was working between about 2 seconds and 5 seconds of shutter speed. I think my ISO was between about 1600 and 3200 and I kept both lenses wide open at an aperture of 2.8.

Another shot of the Northern Lights. Even with a 14mm lens, I could still not capture the whole scene as the lights were going so high into the sky and all along the horizon.

I was shooting with my Canon R5 with the Canon RF 15-35 2.8 lens and then I had my Canon R6 with a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 all manual lens setup as my dedicated time lapse rig. I had my Canon RF 50mm 1.2 lens along and I was hoping to try and get some shots with it, but I just didn’t have anything interesting enough to really use that lens for. I needed a subject of some kind to do a more tight in shot with that lens. So I elected to just stay wide and take in as much of the scene as I could. Even with the wide 14mm lens, I still could not take in the whole scene. This may be one of the few times when I wish I had something even wider than 14mm. Typically when this happens I would just create a panorama, but with a moving subject such as the Northern Lights, that’s not really possible.

I tried incorporating a nearby power pole into the shot, just to add at least a little bit of foreground interest.

Eventually the clouds did start to encroach more, and it was also getting late and I had to get up for work the next day, so I had to head home. If it had been a weekend I probably would have stayed out a bit longer just because it was so amazing. Despite my lack of gear and other mishaps, I still had a great time. And of course, lessons were learned about being prepared, and I also need to do some pre-scouting so if I get into this situation again, I will have a designated spot picked out to be setup at. I think the time lapse I took turned out pretty good and I have a link to my YouTube channel for that below.

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

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.

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.

Benton Lake NWF in June

Joshua Rutledge June 19, 2021

I had a chance to run out to Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge last night after work. There was a bit of a breeze when I left the house so I was hoping maybe that would help keep the bugs down a bit. Well, by the time I got out there things had calmed down, so the bugs were just as bad as ever. I try not to let them take away from the experience, but they are very annoying.

Things have started to dry up a bit out there now, so I did not see a lot of wildlife on my way in like I was seeing earlier this spring. By the time I got to the main ponds there were plenty of birds around, but I would say not in the numbers I was seeing before. There were still a lot of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds. There were also many species of ducks spread around the ponds, a few Arctic Terns, a lot of Black-headed Gulls, some White-faced Ibis and eventually I saw a Black-crowned Night-Heron. I had been seeing the Heron’s but never when I had a good opportunity to photograph them. That finally changed last night. I am still trying to get some better pictures of the White-faced Ibis, but they are proving difficult. With the grass and cattails growing taller, they are becoming even more difficult to find.

Here are a few of the pictures I was able to capture last night.

I did see this Tree Swallow on my way in. Well actually I saw a lot of them, but I stopped to take a picture of this one. I just like the way the blue really shines on them.

A Yellow-headed Blackbird perched on some cattails. I saw quite a few of them last night, but not as many as I had been earlier this spring.

Cinnamon Teal Duck. Not technically speaking a great photograph, but I just really like the colors.

This Raven was getting harassed by a Red-winged Blackbird. It is perched on the handrail of the boardwalk that goes out into the marsh. I walked down the boardwalk a ways, but I decided with all the bugs it just wasn’t worth it.

Black-crowned Night-Heron. I stopped and photographed this heron for quite a while, as it was my favorite subject of the evening.

More of a portrait style of the Black-crowned Night-Heron.

And one more of the Black-crowned Night-Heron just for good measure.

Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area, March 20, 2021

Joshua Rutledge March 20, 2021

On the morning of March 20th I decided to head out to the Feezout Lake Wildlife Management Area near Fairfield, Montana. It is about an hour drive from my home in Great Falls to the WMA. I had been monitoring the numbers of snow geese, as well as the swans, online and decided I would take my chances and go a week or two earlier than I normally would. Typically the best time for viewing is about the last week of March. That actually turned out to be the case again this year, but prior to that, the numbers had been well below average. The swan numbers the weekend I went were well above average however. I have heard speculation that the warmer than average spring was the cause of the unusual patterns this year. You can monitor the migration by going to FWP’s Story map for the Freezout Lake WMA. Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area (arcgis.com)

The morning I went there were reported to be about 4,000 swans and only about 15,000 snow geese. The swan numbers were more than double the average, but the snow geese numbers were only about half the average for that time of year. Typically the snow geese fly off the water right before sunrise, but the day I went I helplessly watched as the biggest flock I saw took off as I was pulling off the highway. I heard that they were leaving earlier in the mornings this spring than usual. Since I had missed the snow geese, I decided to concentrate on the swans.

I found a pond that had a large number of swans on it and I walked down the levy to try and get in front of them. And by “get in front of them” I am referring to in front of them in the direction I predicted they would take off. Swans (like all birds) will take off into the wind, so you have a pretty good idea where they will go. The levy I was on did not run perfectly perpendicular to their take off direction, but it was close enough I could get some quartering head on shots which was much more desirable than getting a rear shot of a bird taking off which would have been the case from the road nearest the pond.

I spent about equal time taking still photographs and video. I knew I wanted to get some slow motion shots of them taking off, as they kind of run on water to get up to speed for take off and I just find that really interesting. So I was shooting in 4k and 60 frames per second on my R5. With the white birds on a cloudy featureless sky, I was having some trouble maintaining focus with the low contrast scene, but I still managed to get some ok stills and video. The wind was rather high however, so I did not get much for audio.