THE NORTH FORK: EAST OF EDEN

For Photographer, Wildlife Abounds Between Cody and Yellowstone

By Marion Dickinson, Guest Writer, 1-31-07

	Photos by Marion Dickinson.

There is no doubt that Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks are two of the most beautiful places on earth. All too often we are in such a hurry to get to our destination that we fail to see what is on the way, and end up missing a lot of wonderful sights.

The North Fork of the Shoshone river is one of those places. It is located between Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone’s East Entrance the beginning is a few miles past Wapiti. For me and other “locals”, the North Fork is a destination, not just a pass through, especially as winter drags on and on and on.

There are quite a number of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in that area, including some big rams. They are easy to photograph from the road or nearby pull outs, and are in various small bands all along that road. They are an ideal subject for a beginning photographer with a point and shoot digital camera, as well as for those with more equipment and more experience.

They sometimes are standing in the middle of the road, or are grazing just off of it, and are not easily spooked. Fortunately, they are not habituated to humans to beg for food, and please anyone lucky enough to see these magnificent animals.  Please keep it that way!

Some of the images in my portfolio were taken with a long zoom. The very nice thing about a digital camera is that one can take hundreds of photos and just delete those they don’t want; voila, the card is ready to use again and again.

It is my personal opinion that carrying a camera makes one so much more aware of the details of nature around them. The more one looks for a subject for an image, the more one sees.

Bighorn sheep are not the only things in that area. Grizzly bear is another animal occasionally seen during the early spring and late fall, and in fact the Wapiti school is one of two located in Park County that has a grizzly proof fence around the school yard. Do not approach them for a closer picture though.  If you have digital, take the shot from a safe distance and crop.

Mule deer also are very common and can be seen almost any time.  Moose, too, are often seen, although they seem to have decreased the last few years. This cow and calf were close to the road down along the river last summer. Unfortunately there were folks there who had no respect for the animals and insisted on chasing them out of the brush next to the road so they could see them better instead of letting them graze back into sight in their own time.

No amount of talking on my part would deter them either. We always need to remember we are intruders into the animals’ home and grazing instead of posing is how they survive. It is all too common to see folks whistling, hollering, or making other noise to get the animals attention; patience is far better.

Birds are very common on the North Fork, everything from common sparrows and robins to bluebirds, cedar wax wings, grouse and eagles. Some of these are only seen at times they are passing through the area.  Almost without exception, birds are very skittish, and best photographed using your vehicle as a blind. I saw this bald eagle feeding on a carcass in the river, and got a few shots from inside my vehicle before it flew into a tree, where I got some more also from my vehicle.

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