Long time no sea....

Catch up with us on our last two months of travels, won't you?

Rocky mountains and local snow shoe-ing wildlife below....

This wile coyote made his presence known long enough for a few camera snaps, while the rest of his pack slunk away into the forest...

Unfortunately, on our most fortunate of hikes our camera batteries decided to call it quits. At least the cell phone back-up allowed us to capture proof of the moose as well as mountain lion tracks we followed ~ 1/2 mile down the trail.

Emerald lake was blistery cold but worth the snowshoe to see such grand peaks up-close, even if for just a few minutes...

A little finch watched as we left the mainland for the rainbow state in early March... 

We went from temperature extremes of -30°F to 80°F in less than two weeks!

It wouldn't be a Ben and Carrie Tracks post without a sunset picture now would it?

 

Safe to say we've had a fair helping of snorkeling all around the island....the green sea turtle shots above were taken in Shark's Cove along the North shore.

Our journey begins this weekend for the NW Hawaiian Islands  (see post below)... and while we have enjoyed our time in Oahu, we have no qualms at all about leaving civilization and the hustle and bustle of Waikiki shown in the picture above.

Inconceivable!

You might recall our very first blog post 

about working in the most remote place within the lower 48 United States; areas of the Teton Wilderness during Summer of 2009 working with moose.  Now we can truly say we are headed to one of the most remote places in the world....

Starting in March, we're off to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to work 
with the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal for 6 months! 

 Photo Credit - Wikepedia.  We'll have our own pictures soon enough!
 
As Monk Seals inhabit multiple NW Hawiaiian islands, 
we will be living and working on separate (tiny!) islands;  
Ben at French Frigate Shoals and Carrie at Laysan Island. 

On Laysan Island, Carrie, living in a tent, will have no contact with the "outside world" other than a few minutes on a satellite phone each month.  This means Ben will be getting a crash course in blogging and tend to the upkeep and updates from life on French Frigate Shoals :)

Laysan Island - photo credit google map

French Frigate Shoals - Photo credit google map

We are absolutely elated and can't wait to share 

our newest adventure with all of you...
- we're ready to leave stat!
 When March rolls around, then we'll be off to Honolulu for the first 3 weeks for training before we set sail to our islands. 

(3 Day Boat Trip to French Frigate Shoals and 5 to Laysan)

But first, we're headed back to Rocky Mountain National Park's 
wintry wonderland for some fun in the snow.  

The main goal of the project is the recovery of the seal's population. For more information on the Hawaiian Monk Seal check out the following links:

NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources

Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center

From our Camera to Your Living Room

Over the past few years, our wildlife jobs have allowed us the opportunity to visit, see, and experience so many diverse places and animals. 

From birds of the Peruvian Amazon 

to 

Gulf Coast Alligators 

to 

Mexican Grey Wolves in Arizona and New Mexico

to

Teton and Yellowstone Wilderness Moose

to

Pine Martens of the Adirondacks in New York

to

Pacific Northwest Spotted Owls

to

Travel in between it all

When we weren't busy tracking, trapping, calling, weighing, measuring, drawing blood, giving vaccines, or radio-collaring wildlife....we managed to snap more than a few pictures and think it's high time we gave everyone the chance to share in the experiences; not only on our blog, but also through
Our brand spankin-new Photography Sale Website.

 We've chosen for our photos to be made at a professional photo lab in California, with exceptional quality prints and canvas, who ships orders directly to you.  What's really cool is that once your order has been placed, we get to preview the proofs from your order before they are created and shipped to you.  This way, we can notify you if we see any part of your order we think you may be dissatisfied with (such as the way a photo has been cropped).  Speaking of cropped photos... with our photography site you're given the option to crop photos to fit your specific print/product size you've chosen to your liking.
 AND if you're ever unhappy about the product you receive just LET US KNOW!   Give us the opportunity to make a print that you like, or to refund your money - after all it's YOUR satisfaction that is most important :)

Head over to Ben and Carrie Tracks Photography to see for yourself.

Sea-faring, scuba-diving, sight-seers

We've been a couple of lucky pups while away from the blogging scene....

  After finishing up our time in the fall colored Colorado Rockies last month, we headed to the Florida Keys, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel Mexico for some family, sun, and scuba.

 

These pictures are not National Geographic worthy, but are what we have come to expect given our budget for dive cameras and the ocean depth's filtering out much of the light and color spectrum.  

Communication under the water is slim for folks like us with little sign language knowledge.  But universal hand signals for underwater animals do exist and when followed up by an exaggerated index-finer point, the animal who otherwise may slipped away un-detected by your dive-partner is often spotted. The hand signal in the lower right picture means turtle.  A green sea turtle joined us for awhile munching away on the reef.....however, upon loading our pictures we learned that  2 of our 4 dive's shots were missing/deleted.  Bummer indeed - but tough to complain about after the experience.  (After- all, at least we got a few memory provoking pictures this dive trip....During our honeymoon to Curacao we dove every day and came back with squat.)

Zoo's are always a thought provoking attraction to visit....  While many super intelligent animals, sadly do not receive the enrichment they deserve in captivity... it is comforting to know the KC Zoo boasts a Chimpanzee enclosure called "one of the finest chimpanzee exhibits in North America" by the awe inspiring Jane Goodall.

The chimps above were raising their hands in hopes of attracting the attention of a care-taker dishing out fun treats.  Lemons, pine-cones filled with jam and honey, and other snacks were prizes whose left-overs were deemed worthy of smelling the ground for, as seen in the picture to the right.

Cheetahs and a Grey Crowned African Crane soaking up the late-afternoon rays...

Here a duck, there a duck, everywhere a ____ ____

"I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat". It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties."

 - Jack Handy 

Some of the best scenery in Rocky Mountain National Park, other than the mountains themselves, are the streams and rivers which meander alongside trails....

    Lily Lake 2008 Wedding                    ☞                       Lily Lake 2010 Visit

 The sweet sweet reward at the top of Lily Mountain....

After breaking for lunch, decided to feast the eyes too....

All shots are part of the following:

♬ Colorado Rocky Mountain High

Gas one way from KC to the Rockies - $58

 Entrance fee to Rocky Mountain NP - $20/wk

One cup of Spiced Pumpkin Latte @ Kind Coffee in Estes - $3.65

 Seemingly unlimited time to play in a giant National Park..... Priceless