Winter Beauty

I love that I live in a place where I can walk out the door for an afternoon stroll and come back renewed by a sense of awe at the beauty that surrounds me. Tower Rock brings a feeling of joy every time I look at it - which is many times a day. There is rarely a morning when one or both of our resident Golden Eagles are not sitting on the top watching over their territory in search of a meal. At some point the Common Raven pair comes along and harasses the bigger birds until they give up and retreat to a further ridge but we continue to see them throughout the day and the next morning they are back in place again.

The tracks that are visible at the base of Tower belong to both bobcat and coyote. Somehow they manage to avoid each other most days although occasionally their paths will cross and then the bobcat usually has the upper hand (paw?) despite his smaller size and being out numbered.

Heart Mountain is about 20 miles away but its form dominates the horizon in a way that pleases my sense of balance.

This is home.

Bald Ridge Rainbow

Every summer Ken and I take a couple of serious, multi-day pack trips into the mountains, usually with the llamas hauling most of our gear. This year we are striving to add on a number of super short, one night trips to a few special locations with the goal of capturing some "magic hour" shots. For these mini adventures we are carrying the absolute minimum amount of gear, not including camera equipment. 

Our first excursion took place earlier this week with a drive up to the top of Bald Ridge and a short hike into a place where we could set up camp for the night. 

In my opinion the results of this effort were well worth it. I was hoping to come away with one or two shots to add to my growing collection of one-a-days of Heart Mountain which I have been snapping since January first of this year. I feel as though I achieved my goal and then some. The wildflowers were in perfect form and the sudden rainstorm that passed quickly through the area left a sky that begged to be photographed!

 These images are not in chronological order as the first few are from the next morning and the ones from the evening before are further down the page. We pulled ourselves out of the tent just a few minutes after 5 am to capture some color in the morning sky.

Not far from the tent I was scolded by a squirrel. When I turned around to take her photograph I discovered why she was upset - she was protecting two babies  that she had stashed away in an old woodpecker hole.

The trees in the area have a hard life with lots of wind and snow at high elevation. 

The larkspur and wall flowers were at their peak.

 Just after dinner we huddled in the tent to wait out a passing rain storm. As soon as it was over we grabbed the camera gear and ran for a perch at higher elevation in the hopes of capturing the aftermath in the magical light of the evening. I ended up with two shots that really made the trip for me. The first one is special because of the double rainbow as well as the view of the tent in the lower right corner. It definitely gives you a sense of scale!
The photo below was shared on Facebook and has received a lot of nice comments for which I am extremely grateful. It was actually snapped on the way back to camp after most of the storm had passed by.

 I learned something the next morning when we again climbed up the ridge to try and photograph the land to the west. In reality I should have been taking those shots the night before as well. The canyon is so deep that the shadows from the ridge I was on were not allowing any of the images I thought I would be getting. Oh well…that just gives me an excuse to go back and try again!

 On the way out to the highway we came to a field at lower elevation where the prairie smoke were abundant and perfect. Even though the rain had once again started to fall we stopped long enough to take a few shots of this colorful flower.

Morning Sky

 This morning was one of those when it pays to get up early. I stepped outside at about 5:30am and witnessed the most amazing lighting. I thought about trying to experiment with some HDR shots but decided I didn't want to take the time to adjust my camera. It was a good call as the light vanished within two minutes of me clicking the shutter!

Crow Pipe Ceremony

 Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to be part of a very special event - a Crow Pipe Ceremony at Heart Mountain.

The event was a joint effort of several groups, most notably the Crow, the Episcopalian Church and the Nature Conservancy.

I am only going to show a few of the many photos I took as there is a chance they will be published in an upcoming magazine story about the day and I don't want to preempt the opportunity to have them in print.


The youngest dancer of the day is pictured to the left.

 Makeup is applied to one of the dancers.

I love this shot - the strong face, the amazing dress and the wonderful sunlight and shadow!

 The drummers with Heart Mountain in the background.

Bald Ridge

I truly believe that Bald Ridge is one of the most beautiful places on earth. And how amazing that there is a public trail that anyone can access this time of year! The area is closed for about half the year for wildlife protection but that only adds to the ultimate magic of the place. When Ken and I hiked the trail on a rainy Memorial Day we saw pronghorn, white tail deer, mule deer, elk and a coyote, not to mention dozens of species of birds. We also saw very fresh mountain lion tracks and wolf tracks. The place is certainly alive with wildlife. 

 The Bald Ridge Trail starts at Hogan and Luce Reservoir. The swallows were incredible with multiple varieties that seemed quite happy to hang out together. Here we have a cliff swallow and a violet-green sitting side by side on a length of barbed wire.

 It would be hard to create a still life as beautiful as this natural arrangement of blanket flower growing in the red Chugwater layer next to a piece of juniper driftwood!

The Chugwater layer of earth is what defines the area and makes it so amazing - especially this time of year when we have the complementary green of spring growth. From this spot we could see Heart Mountain with its recent covering of snow in the background.

Of course the hiking was not exactly easy. Not only was it cold and raining, we ended up with 10 pound boots from the incredibly muddy trail!

Two Hearts

It has been a while since I posted any photos of Heart Mountain so I thought I would make up for it by posting two today!
One of the amazing things about the mountain is that it looks different from every angle. The two shots for today were both taken from the northeast side.

The top photo was snapped yesterday. The sun was behind the clouds behind the mountain which made for some unusual lighting.

By contrast, in the second shot, taken last week, the sun was behind my back and shining on the face of Heart. I took his photo to show the huge piece of a silo that had been blown into a nearby field after a massive wind storm the previous night.

Early Heart

Choppers

After arriving home yesterday to a sky seemingly clear of all signs of fire, we awoke this morning enclosed in smoke yet again. Last night's incredibly strong winds not only created power surges that fried my main computer - a mini disaster, to be sure - but also gave new life to the dying embers of the Hole in the Wall fire.

 Today's post shows some of the helicopter photos I have taken over the last week plus a few shots from above the fire. Ken and I hiked up to the top of the Beartooth Plateau on Sunday and made our way to Line Lake so we could look down on the blaze. When we arrived it seemed to be well under control. By the time we left, after the winds picked up, the fire had found new life - much like last night. This thing seems to have more lives than a cat!

The obligatory photo of Heart Mountain with a chopper above!

This shot is from atop the Plateau, looking out at the action. 

Here you can just see plumes of smoke rising from below.

In this photo you can see the smoke increasing as the winds pick up.

End of the World

What a week this has been! It may not be the end of the world but there are times when it has looked like it! For one thing, we have had one search and rescue call after another - it seems like people are now making up for the slow start to the season. Add that to the Hole in the Wall forest fire that refuses to behave and it makes for an unsettled atmosphere to say the least.

I took some photos of the fire as we made our way home from a SAR call near Cody yesterday afternoon. The top photo is from about 25 miles away. We could see that the fire - which had looked like it was under control when we left yesterday morning - had found new life and was moving north.

As we turned toward Clark from the highway we were able to get a shot of the firefighter camps set up in the valley with the fire in the background. To the left in the photo is the Clark Firehall. To the right is the community center with yurts and tents set up in the fields. There are now almost 200 firefighters battling this blaze.

As we got closer to home we were able to get a clearer idea of the size and direction of the fire.

Just after dinner Ken suddenly called me to come quickly and look out the windows. The wind had picked up and shifted and we had a wall of smoke and ash aimed right at our house. I took the photo above while standing on the back porch.

 This shot was taken through the dining room window. Right after this it went dark as we were engulfed by the smoke and ash. We shut the house up as tightly as we could and packed our bags in case we would need to evacuate quickly.

After a couple hours the wind shifted again and the smoke headed north. It is still hard to breathe outside but we are no longer worried about falling embers - at least for the moment.

The fire has grown to almost 4000 acres and they are now concerned it will follow the plateau all the way to the town of Red Lodge, Montana.

The last three photos were taken this morning and show the smoke hanging in the air. The whole sky looks like it is on fire!

Full Moon

Knowing that the full moon would be visible this morning and that the weather forecast was for clear skies, I set the alarm for 4:30 am and headed for Powell with my camera in the early morning darkness. My timing was perfect - even with the hour drive - my location good, but my planning left a little to be desired. I remembered the thermos of coffee but forgot my tripod! So I ended up with one or two usable photos of the moon setting behind Heart Mountain but not the shots I was really trying to get. 

On the way home across the bench I looked over and saw a herd of antelope running across the prairie with Heart in the background.  

 As I turned in my drive about 6:30am I glanced at one of my favorite rocks and saw a big cottontail lapping up the sun. I took a couple shots of her before I realized she was not alone. In the photo above you can see a rock wren sitting on the left side of the picture and below you can see the baby bunny seated to her right!

The real bonus came when I neared the house and saw the eagle sitting on a bush just off the drive. He has been around just about every day for the past week but in the distance as a silhouette. This morning he had apparently been hunting bunny and may have trapped one in the bush below.

Leftovers

 More leftover photos from the last week. Most are from the Beartooth hike with one early morning photo of Heart Mountain thrown in.


First up - the view looking south from our campsite.

 Next is the view to the north from the campsite.


 One of the first Elephant Heads of the season. These are my favorite wildflowers!

To the left is a Pygmy Bitterroot. These are about a tenth the size of the normal Bitterroot.

 This little guy was "hiding" in the grass as we went by. Doesn't he look fierce?

There were two types of Puffballs prevalent on the Beartooth tundra. These misshapen globs were everywhere.

And last, but not least...Heart in the morning!