Yellowstone National Park re-opens to start the winter season tomorrow, December 15th providing access via guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches to interior locations such as Old Faithful and Canyon. If you’re heading out this way, be prepared for winter driving conditions. Seen in this image is Highway 287, one of the roads that heads towards West Yellowstone. Expect similar conditions if you’re coming to West Yellowstone. The forecast for the next week or so is drier with some sun, so some of these icy road conditions may improve, but for now, this is what we’re driving on in southwest Montana.

Have you ever been snowshoeing or cross-country skiing? If you’ve chosen the right wax, hopefully snow doesn’t build up on the bottom of your skis though there’s no much you can do about snowshoes. And even snowshoe hares, as well adapted as they are, need to clean the snow out from between their toes. Snowshoe hares are named because they have really large rear feet which help them navigate over snow much like a pair of snowshoes do for us.

Today is my last reminder to order prints so they arrive in time for the Christmas. After Friday, they may or may not arrive before December 25. This pretty fox was photographed in Hayden Valley a few winters ago. It was incredibly windy so the fox bedded down for a while but not before she or he explored a bit in search of food. With the wind howling, the fox chose a ravine where it could curl up out of the wind a bit. Winter is harsh but all wildlife have strategies for surviving it. You can see the raised front paw has a lot of fur growing which not only insulates the foot pads from the cold but help to support the fox as it crosses the snow, acting like mini snowshoes.

So are you ready winter? Here in Montana near Yellowstone National Park we already have several feet of snowpack on the ground and several mornings where the low temperature has hit -20 Farenheit. And that was in November! Compared to last winter when we didn’t get any measurable snowfall until mid December, it’s actual welcome, especially since this ecosystem is dependent on it’s winter snowpack. With the holidays quickly approaching, I’ve had a few orders for different bison photos so I thought I’d share this one from a couple of winters back. It was a cold morning, probably close to -20 and these bison were coming out of a thermal area so were coated in frost from the freezing steam. The last day to place an order and have it arrive in time for Christmas is December 9, so it’s coming up quickly.

Have you ever been to Banff National Park? If so, did you make it here? Moraine Lake is one of the most, if not the most, iconic location in Banff. But it’s not easy to get to as the parking lot is relatively small, especially compared to the parking at nearby Lake Louise which also gets packed. Reportedly, the parking lot at Moraine Lake can fill up as early as 4 am. I did one more morning at 5:30 am but the road was already closed so I opted to use the shuttle. The shuttle arrived too late for sunrise but since there weren’t any clouds in the sky, there wasn’t a chance for a colorful sunrise and I still had to wait just to get this much light on the surrounding peaks. Early summer would provide a much better angle from the sun but I was still pleased to come away with this image though some nice clouds to complement to the light would have been good too.

This one is from last winter as I still haven’t really been out to photograph since Yellowstone closed. I was watching this coyote as it was moving through the snow and then disappeared behind a snow bank. I could still see the top of it’s back as it walked along. It stopped to sniff something in the snow and then peered up over the snow bank. I was able to take a couple of photos before he popped back down and continued on his way. So many of these encounters are brief and I’m fortunate to even capture a handful of photos, but the moments spent watching wildlife are rewarding no matter the duration.

I wish everyone in the U.S has a very safe and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I hope your day is like this otter and you can roll on your back, lick your lips, and pat your full tummy once it’s all done! This is from a few years ago but I thought it might be fitting today, especially since the otter is lying on an ice covered lake and we have more snow falling right now. Again happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US and I hope it’s a great day regardless where you live!

While winter has set in now, I’m still going through autumn photos. As I mentioned previously, Glacier National Park isn’t known for it’s fall color, but there certainly are areas where the color comes through. Many things came together perfectly the morning I photographed this scene. The aspens in the foreground were at peak color, there were nice high clouds that were beautifully colored at sunrise, and the angle of the sun to the mountain was perfect for capturing the morning color on the peak. Honestly, the morning was so incredible, I found myself shooting in several directions, using different lens and focal lengths, working quickly to capture the beautiful light as it changed over an hour or so.

To follow up on my last post with order deadlines for the holidays, I’ve updated my website to include some of your favorite images that I’ve shared over the last year as well as a few of mine that I haven’t shared yet, including this one from the Icefields Parkway in Alberta. I drove by this scene several times but with only one small pullout available where I could photograph from, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to try to capture it. Ultimately I did and shot the scene at 100mm in order to frame it with the pines in the bottom while keeping the distant peaks prominent enough since they were the focus of the image. The light was gorgeous and as I added 30 new images to my website, this one did make the cut. Along with adding the new images, I also removed over 100 older images. You can view the newly added images here.

Snow has covered the area with about 25 inches of snowfall occurring from Saturday through Thursday morning this past week. It’s turned everything into a winter wonderland and is quite a contrast to last year when we didn’t have snow on the ground until after the first week of December. I’ve been determined to find a good subject to convey the feeling of winter’s arrival and ultimately found it in the backyard. My sunflowers didn’t bloom until late this year and barely even opened before the first frost hit. I have five or six that look like this one. I’ve been waiting to see if the right opportunity to photograph them might happen and Wednesday morning, as the snow continued to fall, seemed the right time. On a side note, I posted on my website that December 9th is the last date I can accept orders and have them out to you in time for Christmas.