Fall Photography in the National Parks - Day 6
September 17th, 2025
Yesterday was a slow day.
I drove out of the campground to head to Yellowstone National Park and had the chance to admire the Grand Tetons mountains once more.
They surely are magnificent.
There was a thick layer of low-hanging clouds cutting through them, and it was really beautiful.
The Grand Tetons mountains with low-hanging clouds in the early morning
I did not see any wildlife while driving, and I decided to head directly north.
Once I got to the South entrance of Yellowstone NP, I went looking for campgrounds in the area. The plan was to go to the east entrance to look for bears, but I wanted to have a look at the forest road where the dispersed camping is.
By looking at the map, I saw that the forest road would go pretty far. There was a lake-dam on the route and it wasn’t too far, so I decided to make that my arrival point.
Once I got there there was a group of guys camping in one of the sites. Super friendly, we had some laughs and a short chat.
They wanted me to take a picture of them in front of my rig, which they loved.
It is always fun to meet new people on the road, I hope they will follow me on Instagram and send me that picture.
The lake-dam on the forest road from Yellowstone south
There are dispersed campsites all the way through the forest road. Most of them were occupied when I was driving up, but empty when I was driving down. Probably most people camp there at night and then leave for the day to go explore the park.
Good to notice how busy it still is, though. Even in late September.
On the road, I found some Sandhill Cranes hanging down low in the bushes and spent some time with them. They were pretty tame.
I managed to get closer slowly and got some decent shots. It was a couple with a chick who could not fly just yet, so they were very protective of him.
They flew away once when I got too close too quickly, but surely they came back after a couple of minutes, while I was waiting there ready to shoot.
I proceeded to drive north-east and cut through the park.
I had read there was a bear with a carcass that was putting up a show (a common thing in Yellowstone NP), and while I was driving, I found the point from where they were looking at him.
It is pretty high and far away (I measured at about 100m line of sight, but it is more considering the elevation difference).
It is always lovely to see animals doing their thing, but that is not my kind of picture. Images taken at those distances and angles tend to be flat, and it’s not my cup of tea.
As you can see from my galleries, I prefer a more “intimate” approach, though I am not sure how intimate one should get with a Grizzly Bear of that size.
But that is why I go hiking and take the risks, because the rewards are also much bigger when it comes to good-looking pictures.
I kept driving out of the park, onto the adjacent forest, until I reached the campground, which, to my surprise, was pretty much empty.
And it also stayed empty overnight, which was an even bigger surprise. I thought people would come over later in the evening after taking pictures, but instead, nobody really came.
I have to say, so far, I prefer the Grand Teton landscape much more than the Yellowstone one. I don’t know this park well, though, and I will have to explore more to make a valid opinion, but to me, Glacier National Park is still the best one.
Yellowstone has always had a very touristy feel to me, though it is impressive for its own ecosystem, but the parks above seem to have a more “remote” or “wild” feeling to them.
I got to the campground in the afternoon, I think around 4 PM. I was pretty tired.
The days add up when you are constantly on the field doing things, and even if people think that it is the greatest thing in the world, one gets tired and needs a break every so often.
So I decided to take it easy, do my weekly cleanup in the RV, and get everything nice and tidy, which is really important in small spaces.
Driving and camping inevitably bring some dust inside. Add to that dirty shoes from the trails and maybe rain, etc., and you can see how things can get messy quickly.
I also cleaned up my cameras and lenses and downloaded my images to make everything ready for the next day.
Later in the evening, I had to teach my online class for the University for 3 hours, after which I went straight to bed.
