I hope everyone in the U.S. had a safe and happy Thanksgiving this week and that everyone else had a great week as well. I’m still sharing photos from Glacier National Park from my fall trip with this one showing Yellow Mountain rising over a very colorful hillside of autumn aspen. There’s only about two weeks left for Christmas orders to be placed and have them arrive by Christmas, so please get those orders in if you plan on it. It’s been slow so far, and it’s been a slow year in general, but the last day is still December 10th. That date is for orders in the U.S only as I cannot determine arrival dates for international orders due to customs delays. And I’ll still try to get some of these Glacier National Park photos up on my website this week!

This was one of my favorite moments in Glacier National Park back this past fall. While driving up Going to the Sun Road, the light breaking through the storm clouds onto Citadel Mountain was stunning. Fortunately there was a pullout right near with some colorful underbrush to use in the image. I shot this a couple of ways but preferred this option which kept the sky slightly overexposed which led to the drama of the sky and overall scene. As per a few requests, I hope to get some of these Glacier National Park images up on my website by Thanksgiving so they are available to be ordered as prints for the upcoming holiday season.

While the highlight of a very enjoyable autumn season was a trip up to Glacier National Park, wildlife was hard to come by for me. In fact, from about mid-summer, I found myself almost exclusively photographing scenery and landscapes. I took this as a sign and just went with it as I was coming across some gorgeous scenes anyway. But on one of my hikes in Glacier, I came across this cooperative pika. Pikas are typically found in high elevation habitat and this one was no exception, though I do know of a few places where they can be found below 7,000 feet. They reside in high elevations as they can become heat stressed when temperatures raise too high and, while their homes are often buried by snow in the winter, they don’t hibernate but instead stay awake in their burrows eating grasses that they have dried out during the summer months.

When photographing mountain landscapes I like to be able to identify the peaks I’m including in the image. I do use an app which helps, if I remember to use it at the time I’m photographing, though it’s not always reliable or accurate. And while I’ve photograph this scene many times over the years, I’ve never accurately identified the peaks, until this year. The mountains are a fair distance away and I shot this at 100mm to draw the scene in together and it was the distance that caused me to have trouble in the identification process. I looked at some maps and eventually Google Maps but it was using Google Earth that finally clicked on the light bulb as I was able to see the vertical rise and shapes. From left to right, the long ridge in the foreground is Wynn Mountain while the tallest peak near the middle is Mount Siyeh. At 10,019, it’s the fifth tallest peak in Glacier National Park and one of only six mountains in the park that top out over 10,000 feet. The next peak to the right of Mount Siyeh is Allen Mountain. Between Allen Mountain and Mount Siyeh is a glacial valley where Cracker Lake is located. I hiked there a few years ago and recognize the ridge between the two peaks from many of my photos.

We had the first snow of the season just before Halloween and while most of it has slowly melted off, it is a reminder that winter, along with the holiday season, is near. As such I always mention ordering for Christmas and this year, in order to ensure your orders from my website arrive in time for Christmas, the last day to order and ensure arrive is December 10th. Anything after that may not arrive in time for Christmas day. This fox was the first one I’ve photographed in a while and it was fully decked out in it’s winter coat as is most wildlife by now.

I essentially finished up my autumn photography with a late trip down to Grand Teton National Park. I knew I had missed the peak of autumn color, which was fine because it also meant I missed the peak of the crowds too. Grand Teton posted visitation numbers and September has actually become the third busiest month of the year now, behind July and August and ahead of June. My goal was wildlife which I struck out on badly but I was pleased to find some late colors still holding on in a few places including this location which is one of my favorite autumn spots.

I meant to post on Sunday to continue my autumn photo series but simply forgot. Since yesterday, Tuesday, October 31st, was the last day most of the roads into Yellowstone were open for the summer season, I thought I’d share a photo from this summer in Yellowstone. This is Cliff Geyser backlit by the morning sun in some thick fog. I was doing a book signing at the Old Faithful Inn but stopped here around sunrise to do some photography. Other places the fog was extremely thick but here, there was enough of a break to create the beautiful color. All roads in Yellowstone are now closed for the season with the exception of Gardiner to Mammoth Hot Springs and out to Cooke City through Lamar Valley.