July 11th - Dailey Creek Photography Hike

Colin and I have been planning this hike for a while now. I had scoped out an easy and scenic hike in Yellowstone that might yield some wildlife sightings. Dailey Creek Trailhead is the first one you come to as you enter the far NW corner of the park (about 20 miles south of Big Sky).

We prepared our Camelbaks and photography equipment the night before and hit the hay early. At 5 am, I woke up to the sounds of Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders blaring in my ear. I know you are shocked that I could possibly wake up at this ridiculous hour but after yesterday's 4am wake up time, this seemed like a breeze (no, not really). Also, I knew that we wanted to be on the trail by 6am or so to catch the beautiful dawn and hopefully see some wildlife.

Colin bounced out of bed without any trouble, we slammed a quick bowl of cereal, loaded the car, and headed to the trail. When we got out of the car, we immediately put on our sweatshirts because it was quite chilly, probably 45 degrees or so. I knew it would warm up quickly when the sun came over the horizon but that did not happen until just after 7am.

It did not take long for Colin to spot the first wildlife, six bull elk on a nearby hillside. The light was still dim so these photographs did not come out very well (at least mine didn't).

The Aspiring Photographer Trying to get the Perfect Composition (without his shadow)

After we hiked up and over a small hill the Dailey Creek drainage opened up into a beautiful wide meadow area with hills on both sides. Here we took photos of the dew on the flowers and grasses, and even a nice spider's web backlit by the sun.

Then, as we continued to head further up the creek Colin spotted more bull elk at the horizon with their antlers silhouetted against the blue sky. I tell you, this kid has an unbelievable ability to spot wildlife. These elk must have been at least a quarter of a mile away!!! At first we counted five or six bulls on the hillside in the trees but then they just kept coming out of the woodwork, so to speak. We saw 12 large bull elk, one by one, come running down one hillside of the drainage and up the other side. It's incredible how fast these beasts can move when they want to.

Dailey Creek Bull Elk

After all this excitement and way too many photos later, we came upon this photogenic tree and an elk carcass that reminded me of the difficult wilds these beautiful animals live in.

Colin Poses with the Roots

Here is one of my better photos of the day (out of 120+ shots). As on many other hikes, the butterflies were everywhere enjoying the omnipresent wildflowers.

We hiked up Dailey Creek trail to within a mile or so of Dailey Pass. After 3.5 miles, it was time to head back. There were a few new wildflowers for me on this hike and Colin had a good laugh at how much I was into wildflowers now. He could not stop laughing. So I gave him a quick lesson about the flowers I knew and, well, the lesson was over quickly because I really don't know much yet.

See the next blog entry for the new wildflower of the day...