Tom Murphy started a career in photography when he moved to Livingston, Montana and built a studio there. His photographic passion is Yellowstone National Park. Since 1975 he has traveled extensively within its 3400 square miles, hiking thousands of miles. Two things motivate him to travel carrying a heavy backpack; a desire to see Yellowstone’s wilderness back country, and to photograph the behaviors of free roaming wildlife and the colors, shapes, and textures of the land.
Tom was the first person licensed to lead photography tours in Yellowstone Park. One of the reasons he started his business was to give something back to wildlife and wild lands and to encourage and aid in their preservation. His photographs have been used in Life, Architectural Digest, National Geographic, Audubon and Time. Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Esquire and others have sent him on assignments. Yellowstone is Tom's backyard and he knows it very well.
Your Itinerary:
Day 1: Tom Murphy will pick the group up at 8 am in Bozeman for a two hour drive through the spectacular Paradise Valley south of Livingston, to the north entrance to Yellowstone at Gardiner. The group will arrive at the oldest national park which is still one of the finest wild lands in the world. You’ll be driven to the park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs and spend a few hours visiting this amazing rare feature of massive hot springs. Limestone formations produce over two tons of new travertine rock a day, precipitating out of hot water heated from the subterranean engine of the Yellowstone Hot Spot.
After lunch in Mammoth you continue on to Swan Lake Flat for a 3 mile round trip hike around the south side of Bunsen Peak. This is an old road way so it is very easy hiking for your first acclimatizing walk. You will visit the overlook of Osprey Falls and see the regrowth from the 1988 fires. The new lodgepole pine forests contain numerous birds, such as the sky colored mountain bluebirds, finches, wrens and sparrows, all looking for nesting sites in the standing dead trees. In the afternoon you’ll be driven south to your hotel rooms at the grand Lake Hotel built in 1889 on the north shore of one of the finest wild lakes in the world. After an early dinner at the hotel you will enjoy a slide show on photography. The program will emphasize composition and where to stand for great images. Tom will also talk about exposure and other technical aspects of photography. Most of the group will likely use digital equipment so he will talk about setting up these cameras to get the most from them.
Day 2: Today you will hike into Gardiners Hole south of Mammoth Hot Springs. Leave the Lake Hotel at 6 am for a drive through the early morning mists of the Hayden Valley. Every time you are driving to one of the planned day hikes, you will be easily distracted by the infinite possibilities of Yellowstone's natural beauty. Making nice photographs will be your reason to be late for some of the hikes. Gardiners Hole contains some of the best spring bear country in the park with early spring food for them including white spring beauty and yellow wild carrot in the open grassy valley below the Gallatin Mountains. You will make a loop from the mouth of Indian Creek north towards Electric Peak to the base of Sepulcher Mountain and back along the ridge above Swan Lake Flat. This open sagebrush steppe habitat is pleasant walking without established trails, and offers views of the snow covered alpine mountains to the west. The early morning photography will keep the cameras clicking until the light gets a little higher. After the coolness of the early frosts dissipates you will continue to watch for wildlife but the main attractions will be the landscape and early spring wildflowers. You carry your lunch with you and will have one of the best views in the world for your picnic. By late afternoon the group will be back at the vehicle to drive through to the Norris area for a stop at the most active geyser basin in the world. Dinner at the Lake Hotel. Time for digital image review and critiques.
Day 3: You’ll depart early from the Lake Hotel to drive over Dunraven Pass to the west end of Lamar Valley. Lamar is Tom’s favorite place in Yellowstone. It contains groups of all of the wildlife to be found in the park and many times they are easier to see because of the wide sweeping panoramas visible from the road. The National Geographic specials on the wolf reintroduction have all been filmed here and it is still the best place in the world to see a wild wolf. The west end of Specimen Ridge trail starts near Junction Butte. You will hike up to the top of the south edge of the central plateau where you can see most of the east half of Yellowstone and be able to see the Tetons rising above the Red Mountains over 150 miles to the south. Following along the ridge above the heads of Crystal Creek and Jasper Creek, east to the head of Amethyst Creek you will see the Absaroka mountains which run along the east boundary of Yellowstone. The panoramas visible extend up to a hundred miles to the north out over the Beartooth Mountains. It would take a lifetime to visit all of the peaks and drainages visible from the 6-8 hour hike along this perfect wildlife corridor named "Specimen Ridge Trail". After lunch somewhere on top of this ridge, made up of millions of years of volcanic depositions creating the largest petrified forest in the world, you drop down off the north slope to the Bannock Indian trail and follow this old prehistoric route west back to the vehicle. 8-10 hours. Dinner at the Lake Hotel.
Day 4: Starting from the Mary Mountain trail on the north edge of the Hayden Valley you will hike west past a wonderful back country thermal basin towards Mary Mountain. Hayden Valley is named for the government geologist, Ferdinand Hayden, in charge of investigating the truth of the 1870 frontier claims of geysers and spectacular landscapes. He found a place that soon became the first of the best idea this country ever had, the national parks. Joining with the old Trout Creek road near the site of Larry's Lunch Station (abandoned in the late 1890's) on the west edge of the open sage country, you will pick your way back along the north side of Trout Creek, through the rolling glacial sage covered hills in the center of the Hayden, coming back near the road past Sulpher Mountain. This area is home to the largest bison herd in Yellowstone, the Mary Mountain herd. It is now about 1200 animals and give visitors a small sense of what it must have been like to see the vast herds of hundreds of thousands of them that existed when Columbus discovered himself in America over 500 years ago. 6-8 hours. Dinner Lake Hotel.
Day 5: After breakfast, pack up to leave the hotel at 8 am. A late morning hike takes you up the Lamar River to Cache Creek and the Wahb Springs area. Lunch is at Roosevelt Lodge at Tower Junction. During a leisurely drive back to Bozeman in the afternoon you will stop for photographic opportunities in the park and in the Paradise Valley area that was seen on the way down a few days earlier. Evening dinner together in Bozeman. We suggest that you arrive in Bozeman, Montana a day before the tour begins, and book an extra night at the end of the trip.
2008 Dates: May 4-8, June 22-26, July 6-10, October 5-9.
Meeting Point: Bozeman, Montana, at pre-set time.
Note: Must bring own camera equipment, batteries.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
$2,395 per person, shared; $550 single supplement.
Price Includes:
- 4 nights hotel accommodation
- 5 days of photography lessons and hiking in Yellowstone National Park
- Workshop course
- Tax.
Also see tour packages in:
USA
Montana
Photography and Videography
Ecotourism
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