my travels in pixels

In Australia our wild horses are called Brumbies, in America they are called Mustangs, and can be found in a number of states including Utah, Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming. They are wild feral horses that don't belong to anyone. This is the second time we have had the opportunity to photograph these magnificent animals. Near Cody, they roam on the BLM land about 30 miles from town, but like most wildlife, it's not always easy to find them.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Yellowstone would have to be the most famous national park in the world. We have returned for the fourth year in a row because it is so unique. We have stayed in seven of their campgrounds and they are all different, the park is huge, so it makes sense that you find one in the right location. Then there are the opening times to consider and whether we will fit or not. We decided to try Madison this year which is near the west entrance. It's a really nice campground run by Xanterra, not the national parks system, and as a bonus it has a dump station, on the down side there is no cell service. We had booked ahead which was a good decision as the campground was full that night, we asked to add two extra days onto our booking when we arrived but they could only give us one. The first afternoon we arrived I suggested that we drive south to Old Faithful as I knew that Lindsay would want to go out each day looking for bears and therefore would be m...

Fishing Bridge RV Park You have to park your truck next to your RV Why we chose here? The only campground open in the eastern section of Yellowstone Location: Fishing Bridge, the middle east part of Yellowstone NP Sites: 346, but loops A to D are under reconstruction in 2015 Facilities: 50amp sites, heated restrooms, showers & laundry near the main office, general store near the gas station out on the road. Gas and diesel prices are not much higher than outside the park. There is another gas station at Canyon, same prices. Groceries: the general store has a small selection of food and drinks Reservations: Yes, it's run by Xanterra Cell Coverage / WiFi: Yes, 4G Verizon Price Paid: $54.45 Date of visit: May 2015 Notes:  The sites are small and crowded - not a pleasant experience at all, they are upgrading other loops presumably to make the sites bigger Opens approx 8th May to 20th September - see NPS website for up to date info Only al...

Madison Campground Why we chose here?  It's the only campground open in the middle section of Yellowstone NP between 1-7 May Location: 14 miles east of the West entrance of Yellowstone Sites: 278 Facilities: Restrooms, dump station, dry sites, tables, fire pits Groceries: West Yellowstone Reservations: Yes, it's run by Xanterra. We booked by phone to make sure we got the right size. Cell Coverage / WiFi: None, but you can get Verizon further into the park, especially near Fishing Bridge Price Paid: $25.66 per night Date of visit: May 2016 Notes: The sites are well laid out amongst the pine trees, it's a nice campground The dump station closes when temperatures dip below freezing – it was closed the morning we left. Our campsite looked like a pull through, but you have to back half-way in and then park your truck at the back. We had site A30 Would we come here again?  Yes, because it opens before Fishing Bridge small site V...

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming We met a great couple this time last year, Linda & Alex who invited us to stay with them in Wilson Wyoming, which is about 12 miles out of Jackson Hole. There are lots of ranches out here and you feel like you are driving through Horse Whisperer* country with rolling green hills all around you. We had to take the long way around to their house, as the short cut had a locked gate at the end of it that didn’t open for a few more days. Turning into their driveway wasn’t easy as it’s not meant for a 35’ trailer! cut the corner and the trailer would end up in the ditch; after a few attempts I managed to get into their property. Not having done any walks for a while they took us on a hike up the hill opposite their valley. 7,000ft can really get your heart pumping. It was a great walk through the aspens, and at the top we were rewarded with fantastic views of the valley. And, we didn’t run into any bears on the way! With the annual elk antler c...

Ever since we started going to Yellowstone, Lindsay has wanted to visit in winter. Fred from Seattle suggested that we look at snow mobile tours. There are a some from the west entrance and two from the north entrance. As we planned to camp in Mammoth campground, we chose the private company Yellowstone Year-Round Safaris as opposed to Xanterra who run all the government campgrounds. They run out of Gardiner and have two tours, one to Old Faithful and one to Canyon, we wanted to go to Canyon  which goes down the right hand side of Yellowstone. The last tour available when we rang was on the 27th February, so we made sure we got there a couple of days beforehand so that we could get over our travelling and therefore enjoy the experience more. Mammoth Campground When we arrived into the Mammoth campground, there was no-one else there. Surprise surprise. Only one block of restrooms were open, so we chose a campsite close to them as we had drained our fresh water tank and winteri...

The Devil’s Tower is a large rock in the middle of nowhere; there are numerous theory's about how it was formed, but I don't think they've settled on one. Many people climb it and even though they are asked to refrain for the month of June because of Indian traditions, some people like the ones we saw, still do.  The day we arrived, the weather closed in, which we don’t mind as it’s a good excuse to catch up on a few things and veg out. We are in the National Monument’s campground which is really nice – lots of green trees and grass. There is a walk and talk at 10am led by a university student who is paid by the park which was interesting. Black tailed prairie dogs are everywhere all around here, they even close one of the campground loops at a certain time of the year as they move in there!  

Cody, Wyoming Cody is named after Buffalo Bill – William Cody. The Buffalo Bill Museum is about five museums which cover Buffalo Bill, the Indians, Wildlife in the area and firearms. Your ticket covers you for two days but we didn’t need that long. During the morning we were at the right place to be ushered outside for a showing of the local raptors, so we got to see some of them very close. The red tailed hawk, Osprey, Great horned owl and the US version of our wedge tailed eagle. All of them had been injured in some way, rescued and now lived at the museum. The photographic section of the museum was disappointing, whereas the photos depicting the pronghorn migration were fantastic. A group followed their migratory habits by foot to see what obstacles they encountered and have rallied to have land (only a mile in width) put aside for them. The bottom barbed wire on the bottom of fences has been replaced in many areas to be bar-less so that they can crawl under without harm. And wher...

Hayden Valley, Yellowstone, WY The south entrance to Yellowstone was open the day before we were due to drive through, but it only stayed open for three hours. So when we got to it the next morning it was still closed which meant we would have to take the long way round. After going back through Jackson Hole, route 22 had a warning saying “no trailers”, so we had to find another alternative. We ran into a few blizzards along the way and texted friends to see if they knew what the roads were like – they had seen people sliding off the roads the day before! We also rang the road conditions number for Yellowstone: most of the roads were still closed and they were recommending snow tires or chains. As we got to the western entrance the sky seemed to clear up and Lindsay decided to ask the rangers what the roads were like: a bit icy, but he decided that it looked clear and the number of cars around would have cleared the roads. He was right. We made it through to Mammoth campground w...