Searching for Snow

One thing that is amazing about being back in school for a degree in photography is that, so often, I am able to combine my leisure activities with a homework assignment!

For my Photo Journalism class I have a whole bunch of assignments, one of which is to illustrate a sports story. So I decided to take my camera along on a back-country ski adventure this weekend.

The day started with a drive to road's end at Pilot Creek Trailhead in northern Wyoming. The trailhead gets its name from Pilot Creek (duh!) which in turn gets its moniker from Pilot Peak - seen here in the background. This area is used almost exclusively by snowmobilers this time of year. We were no exception as, to get to a ski-able area, we needed to take our snow machines about 10 miles into Montana, up Daisy Trail to the nose of Henderson Mountain.

This first photo shows the parking lot at the trailhead.

 In the second shot you can see Ken driving by on his machine, towing the sled with our skis, backpacks, poles and extra gear.

 In the third shot, Ken is headed out on skis to hike up the mountain so we can ski down. Normally breaking trail is a real effort but yesterday the trail was already packed down by snow machines. This was definitely a mixed blessing - it made for an easier up but quite a bumpy down! The snowmobilers are well aware of this year's increased avalanche danger and so they are riding in the trees more than usual. Usually this type of terrain is reserved for those of us without mechanical motors!

 Ken is still headed up.

 The specialized bindings and boots are what make back country skiing possible. We use a randonee or all terrain system which allows us to release the heel when we climb and lock down - like a downhill ski - when we go down. These bindings are new to us this year. They are Dynafit's; much lighter than the bindings we have been using for the last two decades.

 The wind was blowing and Pilot and Index Peaks were just visible from the top of our slope.

The other component of a back-country system is the skins. They have glue on the bottom which allows them to adhere to the bottom of the skis on the uphill climb. They add weight to the skis but it would not be possible without them. They are removed and stored in a backpack or inside your coat as you ski down.

Ken is finding some powder.

Enjoying the ride!

Pinholes

 I have two tasks on my agenda for today and it makes me smile to think of their differences.
My first chore is homework - I am to take a series of photos using a pinhole camera. For those who have never played with pinholes, suffice it to say they are about as far from cutting edge technology as you can get. Basically you have a light tight box of some kind which has 1) a pinhole that can be covered and uncovered to control the amount of time light can enter into the box (shutter speed) and 2) a slot to load light sensitive film to be exposed to the entering light.

The trickiest part is figuring out exposure time to not over or under expose the 4" x 5" film inside the camera.
The bad news is that I will not know until next week whether I have been successful in capturing anything, let alone something worth developing.

My second scheduled task for today is to work on my website which I hope to have up and running within the next week or two. I will publish the address once I have something up for viewing!

Cold Canyon

I haven't posted a panorama for a while so thought I would show this vertical stitch of five shots taken one morning along Mallard Creek Trail. You can see that the trees on the bottom - behind which there is a small waterfall - never get sunlight this time of year!

Color

 For Christmas I received a wonderful book from my step-daughter titled "The Practice of Contemplative Photography" by Andy Karr and Michael Wood. It is an interesting and thought-provoking combination of lessons in photography and Buddhism.

I took the book with me to Yellowstone and read as far as the first project - on color. Basically the idea is to take pictures of color. You are to ignore the "what" of the item and just focus on the shapes and patterns created by the color of the object(s). They specifically said that black, white, grey, brown, beige were not colors for the purpose of the exercise and also suggested you not attempt shots of nature since the subject was more likely to overwhelm the visual design. Easier said than done in the middle of a National Park!

My first shot was taken in YNP and yes, it was in nature because that was my only choice at the time. I rather like the way the trail marker stands out in the muted colors of the forest along Howard Eaton trail.

 I have been house ridden with a miserable cold for the last two days so decided to continue my pursuit of color shots indoors today. The shot above is of a colander hanging in the window in my kitchen.

 Next is part of a vase in a small alcove.

 I really like this shot of sunlight coming through the stained glass side windows of my front door. The colors were warmer and more intense on the tile floor than they were in the window itself.

Last up is the back of an old leather chair in the sunlight from a window.

Just a Little Different

 As close as we are to Yellowstone in air miles, there are major differences in the local ecosystems of the two locations. That means, among other things, differences in the bird life.

Today I am posting photos of four bird species I don't often see in this area.

First up, to the left, is a pair of Common Goldeneye. Strangely enough, it is somewhat unusual to see Common's in the park as the Barrow's Goldeneye are the usual residents. These are two females hanging out in the Firehole River.

 Next up is one of my favorite rarely seen birds. The Red Crossbill is well adapted to cracking pine cones with his strange looking beak. Its certainly not hard to figure out how they got their name!

(I always assume people know how to see these photos at a slightly bigger size but just in case that is not true, just click once on the photo and it will pull up the shots in a separate window on top of the blog space. When you want to go back to the blog just click outside the photo or use your back button. )

 I have to thank Ken for this third sighting. Wilson's Snipe are so well camouflaged that they are difficult to spot at the best of times. Somehow Ken caught a bit of movement along the bank of the Firehole and pointed it out to me. I took numerous shots of this guy and he is hard to see in all of them!

The last photo is of one of the iconic bird species of Yellowstone Park - Trumpeter Swans. It is always a treat to see these large, relatively rare beauties!

More Yellowstone

 There are two options for mechanized travel into Yellowstone in the winter: snow machines or snow coaches. We generally opt for the warmer, quieter choice of the snow coach which also has the advantage of leaving the driving to someone else so you are able to enjoy the scenery.

When you travel by coach, you get to make several planned stops going in and out. After almost a decade of snow coach travel, making the exact same stops every year, we are pretty much experts in the scheduled vistas. That doesn't mean we are tired of them, just that we get to wander as the driver goes through his canned speech at each location.

On the way out from Old Faithful, headed toward Mammoth, one of the obligatory stops is Fountain Paint Pots. The guides are quick to point out that this is a rare location consisting of all four types of the thermal features found in the Park. Hot springs can be seen, of course, as well as fumeroles or steam vents.
Mud pots, depicted in the first photo above, are always a crowd pleaser. And the classic feature of Yellowstone Park, geysers, are also in evidence.

 One of the snow coaches could be seen heading north as we made our way around Fountain Paint Pots.

 There are numerous small geysers in the area including some that spout water and steam every couple of minutes 24/7!

 One of the givens at Fountain Paint Pots is that you will see huge ravens in the parking lot. The snowmobilers are told to make sure they do not leave any food in the packs on their machines but for some reason there is always someone who doesn't listen.

When we arrived this raven was easily undoing the zipper on this backpack. He looked quite proud of himself as he proceeded to pull out a whole sandwich which he took to share with another raven nearby.

Yellowstone!

 We have just returned from five amazing days in Yellowstone National Park. Heading to Old Faithful Snow Lodge in winter is an annual trek for us and one we enjoy immensely. The Park is virtually empty this time of year compared to any of the summer months and the cross country skiing is beyond compare.

Tomorrow I begin my second semester of classes so this was a last chance to get away before I am caught up in assignments and schedules once again.

Yellowstone can be a photographer's paradise but it can also be a source of frustration if you are always striving to capture the perfect wildlife shot. I have learned that one way to avoid the stress is to focus in on the details of more abstract landscape features. While I managed to capture a few wonderful images of elk, bison, swans and several other species, this post will show just a few of the other kinds of shots possible in a winter wonderland!

These are "bobby sock" trees in the snow. They are lodgepole pines that have drawn silica up into their trunks through the water in the thermal features. The trees are killed off but remain standing for years with their white socks showing.

 This nest - probably belonging to an osprey in the warmer months - was vacant and frosty.

 The bumps, above, were seen near Lone Star Geyser. The thermal features under the snow were causing major dimpling in the surface.

This shot was taken on Howard Eaton Trail one morning. I love the texture of the sky.

Rosy Days

 We awoke this morning to one of the coldest days of winter so far. Quite a change from yesterday's 55 degrees!

It is always fun to see what shows up at the bird feeder this time of year. Two almost certain customers are the pair pictured in today's post.

This cottontail was not at all deterred by my presence with a camera. He gave me one good long look and seemed to declare me harmless. Funny how they know right away what is a threat and what is not.

The second photo is of a rosy finch. Sibley's lists three subspecies of these birds and it is not uncommon to see all three mixed into a flock of a hundred or more, all doing their best to clean up the seed before the rock doves move in.

The amazing thing about these birds is their range. For such a small creature they must be made of steel. The first time I ever saw one was on top of the Grand Teton almost 20 years ago. They frequent high places and we even saw a small flock on Elbert last weekend when the temperature was below zero!

Our rosies arrive when the snow gets too deep on top of the Beartooths and stay with us only until the very first hint of spring is in the air.

Day 2

Day 2 on Mt Elbert was much closer to the kind of weather you might expect in January at 12,000'+. Still, with the remarkably low snowpack we had it pretty easy as far as travel to the summit at 14,440'.

In this first photo you can see Ken and Bill just starting out in the morning. The blowing snow had not yet begun to impede our views.

 Yvette is just ahead and heading to higher elevation.

This third shot shows Ken, Yvette and Bill bundled up during one of our short breaks. As we rose the winds picked up, the temperature dropped and it became harder and harder to breathe easily. It is pretty amazing to experience the effects of altitude at even these elevations. Once you top 13,000' a certain amount of adjustment is required. Some of the typical effects are insomnia, headache, nausea and labored breathing. Other than the need for a slower pace to facilitate breathing, I was remarkably and happily symptom free on this hike. The others seemed to be the same - maybe our two nights at higher elevation had prepared us for the changes.

 By the time we reached the summit - about mid-day - the winds were howling and snow was blowing everywhere.

Once we started back down the snow tapered off again and we made good time.

The sun even peaked out long enough to strike the nearby mountain top for a photo.

 Once we got back down to the main ridge we could just see Leadville in the distance many miles below.

In this last photo the tent looks more like it should for a winter campout!

Winter Adventure

 A month or so ago a couple of friends asked if we would be interested in joining them on a try for a winter summit of Mt Elbert in Colorado. Elbert is not a technical climb but at 14,440' it is the second highest peak in the contiguous states and still deserves some respect, especially in January! We decided to jump in and so found ourselves headed for Leadville last Thursday.

As luck would have it, the weather was unbelievable - unseasonably warm with an amazing shortage of snow - at least on the first day. The second day, when we did the actual climb to the peak, was snowy and cold with a pretty good breeze blowing. I will show those photos tomorrow.

For today, here are the shots from Day 1 and a few distance photos, in no particular order.

First off is a profile of one of the "camp robbers" - a common and appropriate nickname for the gray jay. We had four that hung around our camp at tree line - about 12,000' - begging for scraps of food!

 We got to camp early on the first day and set up the tents. To kill some time we took a short hike up the slope to get the lay of the land for the next day's push. In the second photo, above, you can see Ken and Bill making their way up the trail with a large lake many feet below in the background.

 Next is Ken finding some of the scarce snow just below tree line.

 This shot to the right is one I took of Mt. Elbert as we were driving to the trailhead from Leadville.

 The shot above is a panorama of Mt Elbert while the one below is of the nearby Mt Massive. These two panoramas were taken on our way out of town after the climb. You can see that we received several inches of snow while we were there.

 This show shows Yvette and Bill at the snow-free trailhead before we began.

I really like this shot of Yvette studying her map at the top of our first day's hike - about 12,700'.

Dawn's Light

One morning during Christmas week I headed out early hoping to catch some wildlife in the light of dawn. When I arrived at my planned lookout I was surprised to discover I had beat the birds! The only stalwart fisherman was this Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. The good news was that he was magnificent. He looked like he had a spotlight on him in the low early light. And then he found this long legged crab and spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get in. 

After I did my morning walk and came back to the same place there were hundreds of birds fishing where this guy had been earlier.