More Bryce Canyon shots

I am still sorting through all my images and there's certainly more than just 5 good Bryce Canyon shots from my 9 mile hike.

.

This pic has so many differents shapes, sizes and colors. That lonely tree gives one some perspective of the huge size of the rock formations here.

Here is an odd geologic anomaly. That huge gray boulder came down the mountain from hundreds of feet higher only to come to rest atop that little hoodoo. Again, those trees help to show that the boulder is about 25 feet tall.

As I walked along the Rim Trail, the photographic conditions really improved. Most people prefer to have clouds in their pictures.

Back at my motel room, the setting sun made for a marvelous sunset so, I took a break from processing images to snap off a few more colorful shots right outside the second floor room.

Almost ten minutes later, I was blessed with a second sunset. When there are clouds at both high altitudes and lower altitudes, you sometimes will get two distinct sunsets in the same day.

Plan Z, for Zion!

My last day in Zion was a glorious one, although the great conditions were in doubt just the night before. I was somewhat rested up after the 8.5 mile hike in Bryce Canyon so, I felt ready to hit the trails again. The mandatory Zion shuttle system was still in place for just one more day so, I found a place to park above the Visitors Center and got on the shuttle.

The light was very good and the angle of the sun was just right for some parts of this amazing canyon. I want to be up THERE!

Here at the lower elevations, cottonwoods and maples still had their leaves, and the peak of color hadn't arrived yet. This Sunday morning hike was idyllic, with plenty of friendly people hiking the many trails.

I had decided to take the relatively easy Emerald Pools Trail all the way up to the Upper Pool. Some people do not climb the last third of a mile of more difficult hiking. This is what they miss out on, as you arrive at the Upper Pool. I literally stood there and gawked at the immense grandeur of these regal orange cliffs.

While the pool isn't exactly "Emerald", it still provides a wonderful contrast to the arid cliffs and dry landscapes. I had almost 10 minutes of peace before rowdy kids arrived. I worried for their safety climbing on the huge, slippery, sandy boulders. (I also worried for the adults climbing on them who should know better.)

As it was time to head back down the canyon, my planning had worked out great with the sun at my back. You will always have the shadows at Zion this time of year but, finding ways to artfully use them is important. My next Zion post will show the pleasantly different views I saw on the other trail back down the canyon.

More Zion, please!

The day after the 9 mile hike in Bryce, I needed a break from serious hiking and decided to take an afternoon drive up to the end of the road in Kolob Canyon. I found some excellent lighting and some nice mixed clouds.

I'm always drawn to the ever-changing colors and patterns on Zion's rock cliffs. Add in the water seeps, plants and sky and you have all the basic building blocks of great photography.

Finally utilizing my telephoto lens, I've brought these distant cliffs much closer.

Just like a postcard, eh? Nice but, not very "artsy".

I like how that tree at the bottom of the cliff shows how really huge this mere portion of a Zion cliff really is.


Such dramatic ruggedness is so very common in Zion. The cliffs of sandstone at Zion are the tallest in the entire world. So much of the wonders of Zion go unseen.

Bryce Yourself!

My long-awaited journey into "Fairyland Canyon" at Bryce Canyon National Park had come! The weather seemed a bit fickle with some strange, but interesting clouds. It was also seasonably cold for the high desert of Utah.

The trails were in excellent shape but, I wasn't, after months of sitting in front of a computer. I knew I was in for a lot of body punishment but, didn't know just how much I would be inflicting on my lazy old bones. The hoodoos were quite plentiful and wonderful, and the light improved as the day went on.

Dropping down into the canyons meant I would have to eventually repay the "gravity debt" by climbing back up. As a windy and dry cold front approached, interesting lenticular clouds began forming but, those were not to be my subjects, as the hoodoos deserved all my camera's attention.

It is an extremely harsh environment for plants and trees, with growing seasons sometimes being merely a few weeks out of each year. Some of the pines, firs and junipers live for many hundreds of years, finding their niches in such a unique ecosystem.

I happened upon a partially-burned snag with a very interesting spiral pattern to the wood. I used the macro function to zoom in and capture this very arsty shot. Right now, this is my favorite shot of the trip.

The hike was filled with impossible rock formations and all kinds of nice reds and whites to go along with the greens of trees and the blue skies.

Back in Zion!

A cloudy day and a long walk in a "finger canyon" resulted in some pretty nice pics, at first looks. The cloudy day guaranteed that I would have to play around with settings and do lots of editing but, I was able to select enough shots that didn't require any adjustments.

This area led me astray of my goal up-canyon but, I did happen to find something to capture. An interesting cave beckoned but just wasn't accessible to me without gear and a partner.

This area is considerably diverse in the types of plants and trees that grow in this narrow and deep canyon. Chances are, these pines are over 300 years old, with sometimes very abrupt growing seasons.

The textures and striations in the rock are just fascinating. Apparently, this rock is relatively erodible but, only in the tiniest of chunks of sand.

The fall colors were clearly past their primes but, a few trees were still clinging to their yellowing leaves. The oaks in the canyon had already dropped theirs. The boxelders and a few cottonwoods supplied some nice yellow to go along with all the rest of the great color in Zion.

With the difficult conditions, I tried to avoid excessive contrast from the sky and concentrated on some fine-artsy stuff dealing with colors and textures. I did a lot of them today, so some will be hits and some will be misses.

Assorted pics from the past

I've been going through my collection of pictures trying to set up some kind of coherant filing system for all of my digital images. This old laptops is just about out of room, yet again.

Here's a shot from the beach in Aptos, California and the pampas grass covering the beach's bluffs. I sharpened and manipulated the scene without adjusting the sky.

Loggers sometimes get bored and resort to carving stuff with their chainsaws. This cute little bear was on a backroad way up in the wilds of Montana.

Right before the 4th of July in Hamilton, Montana, this car showed up in a parking lot near my motel. I just had to walk back and get the camera to shoot this one of a kind car.

This is what is left of the famous Kinzua Bridge in NW Pennsylvania after a tornado-like micro-burst touched down. If you could see to the right, you would see that the entire forest was mowed down by the extreme weather.

Forest Carnage

You've seen many of the great scenic places I have been in my life. However, I have also seen a lot of "environmental ugliness" in my career. I'm currently on a mission to convince people that "letting nature take its course" is definitely NOT the thing to do, in this day and age. Posting pictures here means they will be available to me to post in eco-forums. A picture is worth a thousand words and, since I was once a "Freddie", my words are automatically tainted. Soooo, I think that posting pictures of the mess our forests are in will go a long way towards convincing people that our forests DO need human intervention and that they are NOT "doing just fine for the last 10,000 years without humans".

.

Here is a picture of the Lake Tahoe area behind Kings Beach, during the early 90's drought and bark beetle emergency. Environmentalists and misguided people stopped much of the salvage efforts and most of the dead trees you see in this picture have fallen over and lie in wait for the next inevitable lightning fire. In this dry summer environment, wood simply doesn't decay into soil. It BURNS!

Eco's always try to say that wildfires are "beneficial" and "low-intensity". This shot of Oregon's Biscuit Fire shows, without a doubt, that fires indeed cause forest destruction and very longterm damage. Even with a minimum of ground cover, due to rocky terrain, the fire burned with such intensity that it killed almost every single tree.

Here is another picture in the same area of the Biscuit Fire. For as far as you can see in the distance, the fire killed trees and burned up spotted owl nesting sites, and habitat. The areas that weren't salvaged, due to them being within Spotted Owl "circles", are now doomed to burn again, causing hellish fire intensities near the ground and sterilizing soils for decades into the future. They will no longer be able to support the large trees that were once there.

Here is a dramatic picture of a burn area in the Bitterroot National Forest, where mortality looks to be about 90%. The wood became unusable due to litigation against the Forest Service and now, this area is also doomed to burn again, at high intensity. The original fire is clearly NOT "beneficial", and the land will suffer for decades.

Here is an example of a "biological wildfire", where bark beetles have overwhelmed every single pine in the area of Camp Seeley, near Crestline, in the San Bernardino National Forest. A lack of scientific forest management allowed this forest to become overstocked with trees, causing it to be ultra-sensitive to even minimal drought. As the drought worsened, the entire forest became completely stressed and the bark beetles "bloomed" into an unstoppable force and the forests had no defense against them.

Sentinel Rock and Glacier Point

I took yet another trip to smoky Yosemite and my destination was Sentinel Rock. I have been atop Sentinel Dome twice in the past so, I just walked on by it on my way to the edge of Yosemite Valley. I had a vague idea that Sentinel Rock wasn't very easy to get to but, I wanted to check out that rugged part of the Park for myself. When I wandered off the trail, I found that there was a 15 foot wall blocking my access and there was no way to safely drop off. I looked and looked and there was a potential way of getting there but that would involve a similarly dangerous "long way around".

So, I cut my losses and snapped off as many pics as i wanted and planned my Plan B. Right here is a picture of the farthest I could get, standing on a cliff, looking towards the massive El Capitan.

I spied this snag growing on the edge of the rugged cliff of Sentinel Rock so, I took out my telephoto lens and zoomed into the snag with El Capitan as a background.

I was hoping that Yosemite Falls would still have a pretty good flow, with Sentinal Rock being just right across the valley. The early snowmelt has drained the watershed of fresh springwater and it now is a scant trickle, as you can see. This is a quite different view of the famous Upper Falls and part of the very interesting inner gorge.

Here is a distant view of North Dome and Basket Dome, pulled in with my telephoto lens. Years ago, I took a hike and visited the top of both of them. Very few people go there, with the 10 mile roundtrip from the Tioga Pass Road.

Walking back via the trail, I had this nice view of Half Dome. Zooming into this shot, using Photoshop, I could see individual people on top of this Yosemite icon. Clouds Rest looms behind Half Dome and the peak has, arguably, the best view in all of Yosemite. I was once there and took pictures but, the roll of film somehow disappeared. Maybe I'll make it back up there, one day.

Tioga Pass

I was itching to go to Yosemite and had intended to have an adventure on the edge of Yosemite Valley but, smoke from a local wildfire was too thick for good photography. Instead, I decided to go up the Tioga Pass Road (Highway 120) and see if the smoke was dissipating at the higher elevations. Even Tuolumne Meadows had some smoke so I went even higher.

Here is the view from the parking lot at Tioga Pass, almost 10,000 feet above sea level.

My destination was one of the Gaylor Lakes, mostly above timberline. I didn't use the polarizer on this shot, to see the differences. I do like how the reflection on the lake is enhanced when the polarizer isn't used.

I wandered out this and found some great spots, including this view of Mammoth Peak and the Kuna Crest. Even though these peaks are above 12,000 feet, they are not taller than Mount Dana and the Sierra Crest.

Also on that ridge, you can see the Cathedral Range, looking to the west. Named by John Muir, the Cathedral Range is an impressive polished granitic monument. Many Yosemite visitors never see the higher elevations of Yosemite.

On the way back down, I stopped off at Tenaya Lake to snap off some pics at this magical place. The lake was busy with picnickers, climbers, boaters and even swimmers in the cool water.

More pics from beautiful Oregon.

Here's an intriguing shot that looks like it was processed and manipulated but, actually wasn't. The flower is vivid and sharp, while the water has an interesting shine to it. Hmmm, what kind of frame to put this one in?

Here's another nice macro shot from Shore Acres. I love the sharpness and contrast in the middle of the flower. Those colors sure are vivd!

Here's those mossy maples again, with moss on all sides of the tree, instead of just the north side. I do like the portions of the tree trunk which don't have any moss on them.

I saw this scene and decided to have the Crater Lake shoreline and a blue "foreverness". Having tons of digital storage allows me to shoot things on a whim, just to see how they come out. Another one that might be tough to find the right frame for.

The deep blue of the water usually just stuns people. Sometimes it's fun to watch people see it for the first time, in the Lodge parking lot. The wide angle did a good job of capturing a slice of this southern Oregon gem.

Oregon in July!

I went up to Mom's, up on the Oregon Coast, to celebrate her birthday and to tame her wild yard. My "brother" Chris and his friend Mercedes was there and we all went out on the local tour, with Shore Acres included. The Oregon coastline is spectacular and here's a photo to prove it.

Of course, at Shore Acres Botanical Gardens, there are always lots of flowers during this time of year. I practiced my macro techniques on some of the flowers and got some good results.

The pond had some great lilypads and I took a few really nice artsy abstracts.

Mom and I took a nice drive on some Oregon backroads and ran across this nice picnic area underneath some very large bigleaf maples. The Oregon rainforest is very good at growing trees, as well as moss.

On the way back from Mom's, I made a short little stop at Crater Lake National Park. It was an idyllic day and I got an early start so, the sun was still at a good angle for photography. After I took a series of pictures on a rocky outcropping on the edge of the caldera, a Park Ranger was waiting for me with a stern look on his face. He reminded me that such activities were dangerous and that I shouldn't be doing them. I replied that I have lots of experience but, he seemed like he wasn't in the mood for an argument. I decided that I couldn't win against his badge and uniform so, I moved on down the road to find another cliff to stand on and shoot until my camera battery was gone.

Redwood forest

My brother Ken and I took a short hike in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, in the Santa Cruz mountains. The intense green of spring here made for some good pictures. Here's one of the nice hardwoods that inhabit the park.

.

Within the park is this remnant of historical industry. Lime was mined out of the landscape and processed here before it was sent out to a growing building industry in the Bay Area for making mortar. The lime first had to be cooked in this kiln before it could be used in construction.

Here is some more maples framing a redwood tree. The lighting was very difficult and I again didn't have my camera set right to capture images with all those shadows and bright sunlight. I ended up with some blurry pictures in the darker shots.

Here is a good example of one of those blurry pictures. Funny how the exposure is good. This would have been a great picture, otherwise.

This is the overhead view of one of the lime kilns. Yes, I was on the wrong side of the safety fence, yet again.

Springtime in Yosemite Valley

My brother Gary came and visited me on one of his business trips and I surprised him by taking him to Yosemite Valley. He hadn't been there for more than 20 years. We bought some lunch materials and had a nice meal on the banks of the Merced River.

.

Here's a view of Half Dome, the Washington Column and Tenaya Canyon.

I felt I needed to get some more shots of Bridalveil Falls, as the meltwater was very high with the warm spring day. Gary and I walked up the main trail to the viewspot and it was very wet and very crowded. Not good for picture taking. This was a good opportunity for me to exercise my best photography and outdoors skills. I scanned the area and checked the wind direction and decided to go to the other side of Bridalveil Creek. I did slip and fall kind of hard on a slippery rock, bashing my elbow but, saving the camera. I did find a secluded spot and was happy that Gary was there to hold a tree branch out of the way for this shot.

Of course, no photoshoot in Yosemite Valley is complete without the required Half Dome shot. You always have to have something in the foreground to show just how big that rock is.

Another thing Yosemite is famous for is the world-class climbing. The Royal Arches is one of the world's 50 classic climbs. Many years ago, I was on top of North Dome on one of my own classic jaunts. Also in the picture is the Washington Column, another favorite of climbers.

And here is my brother Gary, at my secret spot along the Merced River. I couldn't get one of those fantastic reflection shots with the water being in motion from the spring runoff. We both had a great time enjoying this world treasure.

Pics for Sale!!

I currently have 8x10 pictures up for sale on eBay. There's a link (on the righthand column) to my seller's profile on eBay and you can see just what I am selling there. Maybe your favorite one, like this lichen picture from Pennsylvania, is there.