Going to Yellowstone this July

[rickp1]

hey guys,
We're going for 7 days and 6 nights. We're spending 2 at GTNP and the rest in Yellowstone. All our hikes will be day hikes. Distance for the longer trails will be between 4 to 7 miles depending on the trail.

Since I'll have a pack on my, yesterday I picked up a Tamrac belt and a pouch for my 7D and my 17-55 f2.8 lens. Then I have another belt pouch for my 70-200mm plus a utility pouch that will have my filters and a pouch for my 580EX flash in case I need some fill lighting. Since i'm renting a 100-400mm lens I'll have to carry that on a shoulder sling. The tripod will be carried on the side of the pack were I can get to it easily. I also have a 85mm f1.8 prime lens but I'm not taking that one with me. I just don't see a need for it.

[R lake]

Originally Posted by rickp1

R Lake,
let me ask you, my son has never seen snow. Where can we maybe see snow, even if it's not a lot. Remember I'm driving a 30' RV and coming in from GTNP.

R.

There may be several places to see snow at Grand Teton park and Yellowstone, seek out some higher alttitude hikes. I drove there for the day once in June and it snowed on us on the road.

[R lake]

Also, remember, Buffalo may look big and harmless, but they can weigh 2000 pounds and run 30 MPH! And moose are real big and just plain mean(been chased) DON'T GET TOO CLOSE!!!

[RichardTaylor]

On a day walk I would take just the 17-55 for the landscapes and the 100-400 for the longer landscapes & wildlife.
I don't think you would normally need the flash as it is all fairly open country, unless you are shooting fungus etc in the forested areas.

This is on the 5 mile beaver ponds trail in the Mammoth area.


and the Cascade Canyon trail in the Grand Tetons.


On a hike I would only take a tripod for those long exposure river & waterfall shots, unless you are out on the trail very early in the morning or late in the afternoon. If you are driving to Wyoming I would take a tripod with me if you have the room. I normally use just a mono pod and the tripod is used just for macros and low light shooting. I am not afraid of using ISO 1600.

Keep in mind the animals you see on hikes may not be used to people and may be long gone by the time you change lenses and set up your tripod. For the ones near roads and villages you will normally have plenty of time,

Now days on long vacations, that will never be repeated, I travel with 2 bodies (5D & 40D), including hikes, that use the same batteries, and chargers, and lenses that can be used on both cameras. I will normally have a "standard" zoom on one camera and a long zoom on the other. My wife may be carrying the camera with the standard zoom, but not always

What that means is that you don't have to get set up to capture those fleeting animal shots or for the animals "in the landscape" at long range.

Here is another example, on a day walk, of me taken by my wife with her P&S camera (Banff National Park, Canada - 2008 vacation)

I have a 5D + Canon 24-105 F4 L IS in my hand and a 40D + Canon
70-300 F4.5-F56 IS lens over my shoulder. I am using a Lowepro Fastpack 200 which will hold both cameras & lenses when flying, as well as a bit of personal stuff.



Be sure to take plenty of memory cards and backup drives.

[Krusty79]

Hi Rick,

I went to Yellowstone again last year and can't wait to go back again! I only had my 18-55 kit lens, but that's all I needed 95% of the time because the elk and bison are so close to the roads. The only times I wished I had a telephoto is when we saw a black bear, a grizzly and a bald eagle in its nest (only saw each one of them once). We were not lucky enough to see wolves, but that would require a telephoto also. We saw the eagle nest right at the side of the road near the West Yellowstone entrance. Most of the large mammal wildlife can be seen in the Hayden and Lamar valleys. Don't camp at Lewis Lake unless you like donating blood to the mosquitoes.

I agree with Richard that the Cascade Canyon hike in GTNP is awesome! It's behind Jenny Lake. It is one of my 3 favorite hikes of all time along with the Mist Trail in Yosemite and the Narrows in Zion. Some other hikers told us where there was a moose off the trail. We found the moose and were surprised to see two babies hiding in the grass nearby!

One last thing we learned while in Yellowstone - ALWAYS have a camera ready. You never know when you'll get a nice wildlife shot. Once, after we had shot some bison, we were headed down the road and saw an unidentifiable object in the middle of the road. As we got closer, it moved and trotted off the road. It was a wet badger! Neither of us had a camera ready, though, so we didn't get any shots of it. Oh well, lesson learned.

Have fun,
Greg

[rickp1]

Thank for the feedback.
We're flying to Salt Lake then renting an RV from there.
I'm taking 2 tripods one for the camera and another for a telescope sight that I have for my wife and son to look at wildlife.
I got a belt system that I plan on using. One pouch will hold my body and a spare lens, then I have 1 more pouch for another lens. I was bringing my flash in case I needed a fill flash but that decision is still up in the air, I might just use the pop up. I'll also have a back pack with hiking stuff in it and one tripod.

I really can't wait.

R.