Madison River Valley Yellowstone          click to enlarge

Driving back from a day’s shoot I always looked forward to entering the east end of the Madison river valley for the final 14 miles back to West Yellowstone where hopefully one of the towns restaurants would still be open so I could get dinner before I got to my room and the nights work of transferring images to safe storage and prepping for the next days shoot.

There is something about the Madison that is addictive. It’s the first place I head for when I arrive in the park and the last I travel through on my way back home when the trip has ended. There is always something happening along the banks of this slow flowing river. The buffalo and elk herds gather here to have their calves in the spring. Canada geese hatch their young and take refuge on it when a wandering coyote nears, hoping to catch a gosling or two. Wolves patrol the far bank en route from one wolfish activity to another. In the fall bull elk do battle along the river and sometimes in it for the right to collect cows for their harem and sometimes I think just for the sheer enjoyment of it. Otters will travel down the river, swimming, playing, occasionally catching trout nearly as long as they are. All of these things and more happen in other parts of the park too but somehow they’re more special when they’re observed here.

Besides the wildlife there is just the sheer overwhelming beauty of the place. Driving into the valley at first light when the fog drifts across the road and shadowy elk and buffalo slowly take form as you pass by. The suns rays slicing through the mist that blankets the river and lighting up the boulders above 7 mile bridge. Watching the elk herds stir to life as the day begins, the new calves frolicking in the wet grass, you think that the very best time to be here is the break of day.

But then you are headed home after a long day working all the other incredible places in the park and you’re tired and hungry and want to get back and take your shoes off and drink a nice hot cup of tea. You need to decompress from everything you’ve seen and done and one of the best ways to do that is to slowly make the drive back along the Madison and watch as the skies slowly darken and the colors change from bright blue to indigo, and the sunset displays in every color of the spectrum until night falls. And you think this is the very best time to be here.

The image above, a study of blues, always reminds me of Emmy Lou Harris’s song “Easy From Now On” which had the phrase “A Quarter Moon in A Ten Cent Town” from her album of the same name, not so much because of the words but more the sound of it. The way the haunting melody shapes the music of her words adds their richness to the vision and totally completes this image. Then I’m sure this is the best time to be here.