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 A few days ago I meet some interesting people who just happened to wander in to the internet cafe. The first being a guy named Jake Taylor. A nice guy from Oregon that wandered into the cafe for a bowl of soup whom I asked if he was in town to ski or snowmobile. He replied that he was camping, in which we all know is the automatic keyword that sends my brain and attention into automatic overdrive and excitement! Almost no one goes camping in the winter here simply for the fact that they would most likely die from exposure to the cold, getr frostbite or just be plain miserable. Most people who opt to spend a night outside in Yellowstone country, the few, spend it in a comfortable yurt camp with a wood heater built into it. I commented that I have been dieing to go into the park and take some photo's and have not yet been in the park this winter. He said that he had a website if I ever wanted to check out some of his photos. I of course go to his site, www.jaketaylorimages.com and was caught by surprise at how great this amature photographers images were. You should check them out yourself if you like awe-inspiring outdoor shots. I was nice to meet you Jake!
 
The other two interesting people that happened into the cafe were none other than the well known John and Barbera Gerlach, of Gerlach Nature Photography (www.gerlachnaturephoto.com). The pair live near here and are one of the largest selling stock photographers and are published with some of the most notable nature photographers in the world. They have published work in hundreds of textbooks, calendars, and Magazines and have even been published by National Geographic Society, Sierra, The Audubon Society, and Time-Life to name a few. They were in town doing a nature photo workshop via snowmobile into Yellowstone. They work most of the year as instructor/guides doing workshops and seminars for amatures, pros and aspiring enthusiasts. I hope to see this friendly pair again so I can hopefully chat their ears off.
After hearing Jake's account of camping and thinking about the Gerlach's and due to the fact that we are having an unseasonably warm few days around here, I was itching for a night out in the woods. I decided I would pack up Monday night and go camping and hopefully find something beautiful to photograph. I went to Rainbow point out at Hebgen Lake and dug a hole in the snow to make camp. I built a warm fire last night and ate an excellent backpacker Turkey Tetrazini meal from Moorhouse. Warming by the fire in my sleeping bag, propped up by a tree, I smoked a Padron cigar and thought about absolutely nothing as I stared at the flames. I was the most relaxed I have been in a long time. I went to sleep listening to the wolves howl in the distance across the frozen lake. It was so peaceful I easily drifted off to sleep thinking about where I was going to take photos tomorrow morning.
The next morning I woke up burning up to a super warm day and snow melting out of the trees. It was 46 at lunch! I waded through the snow without snowshoes, which proved to be extremely tiresome but I finally caught an open view of the Galatin range in the snowfield. I snapped a few shots of the powder caked mountain tops and was content. I returned back to West Yellowstone about fifteen minutes away and decided I would go out to lunch. Chinese has never been so good!
What a great two days off! Pictures will come shortly.
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