Wild Wyoming (1/2) : Cody

In Cody, a small town in western Wyoming created by actor-turned-legend Buffalo Bill Cody in 1896, rodeo is an institution. It has been held since 1919. Every summer evening, cowboys and cowgirls from all over the country come to compete on the back of a horse, a bull, in handling the lasso. (19/07/2020)

1. In the box 2-4. Bronc riding 5-7. Calf roping 8-10. Barrel racing

📍Cody, Wyoming 19/07/2020

Wild Wyoming (2/2) : Grand Teton

Perched on this vast plain of grass and lurking flowers, this mountain range with rocks among the oldest in the world (over two billion years) rises to an altitude of 4,200 meters. In the 1810s, French Canadian trappers ventured there and gave it, after its form, the name of “Trois Tétons”. National park since February 26, 1929, it forms with its neighbor Yellowstone one of the last great intact ecosystems in North America.

11. Dawn lights 12. Hiking 27-28. Teton Sunset

Impossible to miss it, the yellow-bellied marmot utters its cry to attract the hiker, in a well studied act: it parades, multiplies postures, on its rock, for long minutes, without running away. This species endemic to the region of the Rocky Mountains is a beneficiary, in the short term, of climate change. With the increase in temperatures, a shorter hibernation period and early weaning of the young were observed as early as the 1990s. Rock chucks gain weight, escape their predators more easily, and multiply.

13&25. Rock chuck

From the top of these Grands Tétons, always snow-clad summits at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, many streams hurtle down slopes during the summer, taking the form of rapids, waterfalls or peaceful rivers.

14. H2O 15. Torrent 16. Stream

At the end of spring, the meadows and the undergrowth of the rocky mountains cover in variations of red with these flowers. Emblem of the state of Wyoming, the Indian Paintbrush is a parasitic perennial plant that attacks the roots of other plants, widely used in the past by many Native American tribes (both as a condiment and as a treatment, against rheumatism, to improve their immune system, or even for the quality and gloss of their hair), hence their name.

17. Indian paintbrush

At the top of a stalk of about thirty centimetres, one, two, or three yellow flowers, each composed of petals of a brilliant lemon yellow. It is Erythronium grandiflorum, or yellow avalanche lily, glacier lily, or dog-toothed fawn lily. Grizzly bears eat their bulbs, deer feed on their foliage.

18. Yellow-avalanche lily

At the bend of a path, a prey between its teeth, a fox.

19. Red fox

Lurking in the shade, between the trees, a moose.

20-22. The moose

Largest deer in the world, the moose is a peaceful animal that rarely becomes agressive. Males antlers can grow 1,8 meters large though, and they can run at a speed up to 60 km/h. They are able to swim for several miles and can even be totally submerged under water for around 30 seconds. Under the Chin, their dewlap is used to scent mark females by rubbing it against them during the mating season.

23-24. Out of the shadow

Sort of little striped squirrel, the chipmunk does not climb trees. This little animal as light as a chicken egg comes to beg for seeds on trails, before nibbling it between its eight fingers, or storing it in its burrow.

26. Eastern chipmunk

When wolf-dog ears dominate Grand Teton.

29. White Fang

Visible in the northern hemisphere sky since the end of March, Comet Neowise, a 5-kilometer-wide chunk of ice and dust, has never been closer to earth than that night. At 103.5 million kilometers, it shines in this luminous sky overlooking Grand Teton.

30. Neowise

In a bright clear sky, the milky way.

30. Milky Way

📍Grand Teton, Wyoming 14-21/07/2020

All over Wyoming July 2020