Springtime in the Ozarks
Spring was seemingly later to come to northern Arkansas as temperatures this April were about 6 degrees colder than a normal April. However, we did warm up by the end of the month and the forest eventually became fully green. Now that we are into May, we are starting to consistently see highs in the 70s and 80s. I visited both iconic spots that are well known and did some off trail hiking to waterfalls that are rarely photographed. Personally, I like going to the non-iconic spots more as I enjoy the challenge of creating my own unique art. However, the icons tend to be more popular among the public and sell better. People tend to want pictures of locations they have been to or are familiar with. I prefer to visit the icons that are frequently visited either early on weekday mornings or when the weather is lousy, when most people stay home. Such was the case on April 25th. Rain in the middle of the day kept most people away from Hawksbill Crag. Looking at the radar, I decided to time my hike there as most of the steady rain was ending but areas of mist were left behind. Not only did I have the place to myself, but it also made for some good pictures.
The rain and warmer weather allowed for some mushrooms to grow. I just happened to come across these morel mushrooms while hiking on the Ozark Highlands Trail. A bit of a rare find!
Last week, I did a couple of early morning hikes inside the Ponca Wilderness which includes some of the most beautiful and rugged scenery in Arkansas, including the Buffalo River that runs right through it. I hiked 3 miles in the dark to Big Bluff, one of the tallest bluffs on the Buffalo River. My original intent was to capture the dawn colors in the sky that I was expecting just before sunrise. I arrived just in time to find that the moonlight was reflected in the river. Both scenes turned out to be quite nice. Hikes that start in the dark can have rewards!
The next morning I took a hike on the Buffalo River Trail above the Steel Creek Campground with its view of the river and Roark Bluff.
I also did some off trail exploring to some hidden treasures in little traveled areas of the Ozark National Forest, which included some wild irises at this unnamed waterfall.
This previous Saturday morning, I was treated to spectacular early morning fog in the valleys of the Buffalo River. At my overlook of the Upper Buffalo Wilderness, I pulled out a zoom lens to capture the ever-changing patterns and light of the fog that slowly burned off.
This morning, I went to one of the more frequently visited waterfalls of Arkansas, Eden Falls at Lost Valley near Ponca, Arkansas. At over 50 feet tall, it is also one of the most photogenic waterfalls in the state with a pretty little pool at the bottom. Nearby, I also spotted some red columbines in bloom.
It is amazing how fast the forest can turn green. The phase of newly leafed out bright green leaves on the trees doesn't last long. Soon the forest will turn a darker and duller shade of green and will be that way through September. I will soon be focusing on storm chasing opportunities in the Plains for the rest of this month and into June. Springtime In The Ouachitas
Spring has been slow to come in my home state of Arkansas this year. During the period of April 1-15, the average temperature has been about 6 degrees colder than what is considered normal. I don't recall the trees in the higher elevations of the Ozarks to be this bare in mid-April. With that in mind, I decided to head south a bit to the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas. I felt I would see more green on the trees down there than I would in northern Arkansas. There indeed was a pretty big difference in the amount of green coming out. The picture above was taken earlier this week along Montgomery Creek at the Crystal Recreation Area in the Ouachita National Forest. Among one of my favorite hiking trails for climbing to mountain top views is the trail to Tall Peak in Polk County. Along the way, there was a field of wild phlox in a meadow with a view. Phlox is one of the most common wildflowers found in Arkansas during the month of April.
I continued to the top of Tall Peak. The views aren't that good at the very top, so I decided to head back down slightly to the more open views with some foreground elements to work with sunset. I climbed up a small rock outcrop just off trail and waited for sunset to happen. I was pleasantly surprised with how well this photograph turned out as shooting into the sun can be challenging. In order to photograph the contrast in light between bright sunshine and dark shadows, I used exposure blending of five different photos at different shutter speeds. This method in photography is called HDR, or High Dynamic Range.
The next day, equipped with a GPS and topo map, I headed to a unique view in Montgomery County. My first attempt to go there via driving on a dirt road warned me that I would be on private property. So this time, I decided to avoid the standard way in and instead bushwhack a roundtrip distance of 6 miles over 6 hours. This place is known as The Blue Hole and was actually once the McKnight Barite Mine. This manmade pit was once a mine rich in barite, a mineral used in drilling for oil. The Blue Hole has become a favorite swim spot since mining ceased in the early 1980s. The legend is that the miners hit an underground spring that soon caused the mine to fill with water.
Quite a beautiful accident! On the way back to my car, I stumbled upon a good viewpoint where I could gaze out into the forest bathing in late afternoon sun.
I wish I could have stayed for sunset, but my car was down in that valley in the distance and I had to bushwhack my way down to the dirt road that my car was on before it got too dark.
I love the various shades of green you can find this time of the year. In April, the freshly leafed out deciduous trees display various shades of bright green. This makes for a nice contrast with the darker greens found in evergreen trees. As the weather begins to warm up, I plan to focus more on springtime in the Ozarks, which is the last week of April. A Visit to Washington DC
Last week I made a visit to our nation's capital, Washington DC. I hoped to time my trip for the peak of cherry blossom season. Typically they occur around late March or early April. However, due to the cooler than average temperatures in March this year, the peak is occurring now as I write this entry (April 6th). When I was there Easter Weekend, the colorful buds had emerged but most of the trees did not have the pink flowers fully out. There was one tree along the Tidal Basin that did have blooms and I framed it with the Washington Monument in the background.
On Saturday morning, I caught the full moon setting behind the budding cherry blossoms. Of course, I visited some of the major monuments in and around The Mall, including The Lincoln Memorial. One of the few times you can photograph this without many people in the way is early in the morning. Plus, you also get some neat lighting effects from the spotlights inside the memorial during the twilight hours.
Many of the buildings in Washington DC have a European flavor. After all, the city was designed by French born American engineer and architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant. Washington features some the most beautiful buildings, both on the outside and inside, to make you feel like you are in Europe. One of those structures is the National Cathedral. I happened to catch a unique moment as sunlight was shining through one of the stained glass windows. Beams of colorful lights were adorning the cathedral walls, as well as the face and shoulder of the statue of George Washington.
Another building with beautiful interiors that makes you feel like you are in Europe is The Library of Congress.
One last stop was to Arlington Cemetery on Easter morning. There I was able to photograph the gravesite of President John F. Kennedy as well as Senator and astronaut John Glenn.
One of the must sees when coming to Arlington Cemetery is the ceremony of "The Changing Of The Guard" at The Tomb of the Unknown Solider, the burial site of an unidentified American soldier from World War I. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and in any weather by tomb guard sentinels. During the daytime, either every hour or half hour (depending on time of the year), there is a shift change of the guard. Here I was able to capture the changing ceremony from one impeccably uniformed sentinel to the next.
You can read more about the process this here.
February Waterfalls
Last week was a very rainy week in the state of the Arkansas...some of the best rains we have seen in months. So I decided to head out and photograph a couple of waterfalls in the Ozark National Forest. One of the more iconic waterfalls in Arkansas is Glory Hole. Back when I was a teenager in the 90s, I had visited Glory Hole for the first time on a family hike. I felt that it was long overdue to return there and get some pictures of this most unique waterfall where a hole has been drilled into the sandstone. Back in 1993, Glory Hole was a relatively little known place and the trail leading to it was somewhat narrow and lightly used. These days, the trail is wider as it is visited many days of the year. Unfortunately, it is starting to show some scars of overvisitation...such as litter, carved up beech trees and even some graffiti on the rock overhang. Nevertheless, it is still a beautiful place to admire and I had it all to myself on that foggy morning.
I also visited a lesser known waterfall that is nearby in the Upper Buffalo Wilderness. There is a primitive trail leading to it, but thankfully the area is still pristine. Hopefully, it will still stay that way. As more and more people head to the backcountry, this is becoming more of a challenge. Please remember when you visit these places, leave no trace.
The following day, the rain ended and soon the skies cleared the following night. This allowed for fog to form in the valley of the Buffalo River below.
So now waterfall season has begun and soon the forest will begin to leaf out and add more color. I will have more waterfall pictures coming up this spring. Full Moons & Freezing FogOn the last day of January, we had a full moon. The night before the full moon, I decided to head to the top of Roark Bluff that overlooks the Steel Creek Campground on the Buffalo River. Many times, the best day to photograph is the day before the actual full moon, which in this case was January 31st. So why is it better to photograph just before the actual peak of full moon? In the days before the moon is completely full, the moon rises before sunset. For example, the moon rose 43 minutes before sunset on January 30th but didn’t rise until 26 minutes after sunset on January 31st. When the sun doesn't rise until after sunset, it becomes more difficult to photograph because of the contrast of the bright moon and the dark sky. After a short hike on a trail and a steep bushwhack, I arrived to the west end of Roark Bluff to get the moon rising over the east of Roark Bluff. Technically, the full moon was 100% the following morning, and was 99.5% full when I took this shot the evening before. However, to the naked eye, you can't really tell the difference. It still appears full.
The following morning, with the moon officially 100% full, I went back to the Steel Creek area and shot back in the other direction for the moonset in the western sky. However, there was also a lunar eclipse occurring at the same time. Part of the moon in this photograph is obscured by the Earth's shadow and the rest of the moon has a reddish appearance.
During this past weekend, we had some persistent freezing drizzle in Northwest Arkansas. While it created slick roads, the icing of the trees in Fayetteville was limited. However, that changed quickly in the higher elevations. Once I got up to about 2,000 feet in elevation above sea level, the ice accumulations on the trees changed dramatically. This was due to a phenomenon called rime ice. The rime ice was caused by the freezing fog occurring in the higher elevations when these trees were up into the low hanging clouds. Rime icing occurs when dense fog and below freezing temperatures exist simultaneously. If the right conditions exist, magnificent ice creations can form by the rapid freezing of water vapor on cold surfaces. This fog freezes to the wind-facing side of tree branches, usually with higher wind speeds and air temperatures between −2 and −8 °C (28 and 18 °F).
These pictures were taken along forest service roads in northern Franklin and Crawford Counties at an elevation of about 2,200 feet.
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