C Berges Photography: Red Rock Lakes Drive

This was the 13th year that Don and I have done our Red Rock Lakes Drive. It takes you from Henry's Lake on the east end and out to I-15 on the west end - on the north side of the Centennial Mountain Range. Some years we've gone back east - on the south side of the Centennial Mountain Range - to Island Park - almost to where we started out - but some years we just head down the interstate for home.

This is mostly a scenic drive for us. Animal sightings are a bonus! Depending on when we go - always after Memorial Day - we may or may not get many shots of the wildflowers.

We get off Hwy 20 near Henry's Lake and head west.

We spot some Mule Deer who quickly disappear.

A hawk - Red Tailed? - has finished eating whatever he had caught for breakfast.

He pauses to clean his beak and soon takes off to do more hunting.

Don and I go back to getting some scenic photos.

This is Hellroaring Creek - there's a sign that says it is "the utmost source of the Missouri River - 3768 miles to the Atlantic Ocean." Pretty Cool!!

We always stop here and wonder what the story is for this little house.

Shooting Star flowers

More abandoned buildings

And a Mule Deer who we had to wait and wait and wait on before she would lift her head from eating!

Once you get closer to Red Rock Lakes the road is lined with birdhouses so now we spend ALOT of time trying to get shots of the birds landing at them. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we had to wait a l-o-n-g time before the bird would come back to us. Always fun!

Some of the Tree Swallows are checking out the houses

But we're really on the lookout for the beautiful Mountain Bluebirds!

Here the male is waiting for the female who has gone in to check out this house.

Yeah - there were ALOT of mosquitios!!

And sometimes the female would wait while the male was inside.

We find some Pronghorn near the road but out of all we spot today we're too early to see any babies.

I love the little critters too so Don has to stop whenever I see the little Uintah Ground Squirrels.

There were 2 that popped up from a hole in the middle of the road but they never came out any further than just their noses!!

We get off the main road to check a pond. Lots of birds here.

A Greater Scaup

A Mallard and a Cinnamon Teal pair.

An immature Double Crested Cormorant.

Couple more abandoned buildings

And then I made the Spot of the Day!! I found the Fox!! It never hurts to ask Don if he could stop and back up if I see something I'm not sure of - sometimes it's an Otter Log, a Grizzly Rock or a Bison Rock Carcass - but he's usually a good guy about stopping so I can double check what I've seen. Good thing we did today!!

She's by herself when we first spot her and doesn't move but just stares at us.

I wasn't sure why she wasn't hiding from us and was just mentioning to Don that I wondered if she had babies when they appear!!

We counted 4 but couldn't get a shot of all of them at the same time with her.

She had acted real spooky and she's finally had enuf and disappears over the hill.

The kits stay out for a bit but finally disappear too.

WOW. You absolutely never know what you're going to see!!!

On we go - stopping at a bridge I Love. It's been under construction the last 2 years - I'll have to get a shot of it from the interstate again one of these days.