Wyoming - Yellowstone National Park Day 3

Fall in Yellowstone is very nice.  We mostly had sunny days, and a few, rather crisp mornings... ok, downright frikkin' cold!!!

We like to get up early, really early and get to locations for sunrise shots, or just to be in position for animal hunting.  We scouted out the site the day before, which is the photo above.

One of the spots I wanted to photograph at sunrise was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the Yellowstone Falls. This is the same spot at daybreak.  The first to arrive while it was still dark gave me lots of time to plan my shot.

And freeze!  The light when it finally got a bit brighter was very subdued.  This image looks like a painting to me.  And there are many paintings that have been done of this spot.  Probably why it's called Artists Point!

We stayed until the crowds started to gather, then headed out.  ( Ok, this shot was from our scouting trip the day before!  These people don't have enough layers on for the morning - it was 24 degrees!)

As we headed out to our next destination, we spotted a field of frozen plants and grasses.  I had to stop and capture some images as it was starting to warm up.

Waterfalls seemed to be the theme for the day.  The next one we came to was Gibbon Falls.  Impressive and nicely laid out for photographing it.

And the valley that the water of Gibbon River flows into.

I expected to see

more of the traditional fall colors while here in the park.  We have been surprised at the lack of aspen trees.  We think that the aspens haven't recovered as well from the forest fires in the past several years.

What we have seen are some pretty yellows and golds.  Maybe we're just early and things are going to change soon!

No matter, the scenery is spectacular, and we're totally enjoying it.