Navigating the swamps of Louisiana

December 06, 2019 • 14 Comments

CypressIslandPreserveLAPano

Back in November, I drove down to the swamps of southern Louisiana. While some of the photography was captured from land, boats where also used to reach some of the locations.

LakeMartinKayak

Three different times, I went kayaking in search of some unique scenes of cypress and tupelo trees in the swamps and bayous. During mid-November, many of these cypress trees turn a rusty orange/brown color. Below are some of my favorite pictures from Lake Martin, Lake Fausse Point and the Atchafalaya Basin near Lafayette.

AtchBasinYellowTreeWeb CypressIslandPreserveLA LakeMartinLANov1419 LakeMartinDawn LakeMartinColorfulMoss LakeMartinCypress

With cold air flowing over the warmer water (one morning the temperature was as low as 25 degrees), a thin layer of steam fog developed for one of these kayak outings. Besides the fall color, it is interesting to get up close to some of these wide tree trunk bases.

LakeMartinColorfulMoss3 LakeMartinColorfulPrint LakeMartinCorridorWeb LakeMartinCypressTrunks

That is Spanish moss hanging from the cypress trees. It gives a rather spooky and spectacular feel that contributes a lot to that "look" of Louisiana. Many people get concerned that Spanish moss can damage their trees. Contrary to what many people believe, Spanish moss is not a parasite and does not injure a tree by obtaining any nourishment from it. It only uses the tree for support and doesn’t invade the living tissue unlike mistletoe and other parasitic plants that do. It turns out that Spanish moss gets everything it needs from sunlight, rainwater and air like any other plant.

I also took a guided motorboat ride into the Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge near Houma. Here, I spotted bald eagles and an alligator.

LouisianaBaldEagle LouisianaGator-2

I spent one night at the Oak Alley Plantation to see the beautiful estate both during the day and also at night.

OakAlleyDay OakAlleyNight

The Waterfalls of Fall

November 03, 2019 • 1 Comment

Glory B Falls

We are close to the peak for fall foliage season here in Northwest Arkansas. However, it seems like it has been a below average year for color in the Ozarks. I think this is because of several reasons. We had a hotter than average September...followed by a very wet October. In fact, my hometown of Fayetteville set a record for the most rain ever recorded in October. An early light freeze back on October 12th with a harder freeze and temperatures in the 20s around Halloween didn't help either. Even though the color seems a little dull this year, there was one thing going positive this month and that was the amount of waterfalls flowing. So I decided to use it to my advantage and focus on waterfalls this season. Although the widespread color has been lacking this season, there was still some pockets of nice color in spots.

EdenFallsOct19-2

The pictures above are from Eden Falls at Lost Valley near Ponca and Triple Falls near Jasper. Below are an assortment of my other favorites from other lesser known waterfalls in Northwest Arkansas. I guess it turns out that I like to take verticals when it comes to waterfalls!

Devils Eyebrow Hideout Hollow Falls in October

HideoutHollowOct19 IndianCreekOct19

AmberFallsOct19 BroadwaterHollowFallsOct19

Paige Falls October BroadwaterHollowOct19

Touring the Top of Switzerland

October 24, 2019 • 2 Comments

SwissCow

Earlier this fall, I made a return trip to my favorite foreign country to see...Switzerland. I haven't been there since I was in college back in the 90s, so this was my first time to seriously photograph the landscapes here. I joined up with Christian Heeb for a photo tour of his native country. Christian was born and raised there before moving to Oregon. Much of the time was spending the night at hotels on top of a mountain that were reached by trams or funiculars. The picture below is an example of what a funicular (or a cog railway) looks like.

Murren2 Murren2 BirgSunstar

Spending the night on top of these mountains gave us the opportunity to see both sunrise and sunset. The first night on top of this mountain (pictured below) was near the resort town of St. Moritz, where we were treated with a morning of looking down on a blanket of fog beneath snow capped mountains.
StMoritzPanoWeb

Being above or at the same height of the clouds was a common theme when on top of these mountains. These clouds made for some dramatic images!

StMoritzPondWeb

The 4 pictures below came from the top Mount Pilatus near Lucerne, Switzerland and this was one of my favorite spots.

PilatusClouds PilatusSunset PilatusChapel PilatusBerneseAlps

One unique experience on top of Pilatus was to see this small herd of Alpine Ibex with the Bernese Alps in the background.

IbexVertical

Though they look somewhat similar to bighorn sheep, Ibex are not native to North America. Ibex can be found in Asia, Europe and Africa. Here, they are generally unafraid of humans so I was able to get close to one. This one looks like it could belong at a diorama in a museum.

IbexCloseup

While hopping from mountaintop to mountaintop, there were opportunities to see the valleys of Switzerland...with its picturesque towns, castles and countrysides.

WerdenbergCastleWindow SwissTreesRoad SwissYellowBirch StMoritzChateau Palpuognasee

We even made a brief visit to the small nation of Liechtenstein, which is only about 15 miles long with fewer than 40,000 people. Below is a picture of the Burg Gutenberg. Built around 1200, this landmark castle deteriorated before being rebuilt in the early 1900s.
BurgGutenberg

One of the highlights to visit any location in Europe are the old structures and its architecture. I am usually not one to photograph scenes that are inside, but the Abbey Library in the town of St. Gallen is remarkable.

StGallenLibrary

Founded in the 8th Century, it is one of the oldest working libraries in the world. And of course, one also must make a visit to a church. This Catholic church in St. Gallen was completed in 1767. StGallenCathedral

One of my favorite towns in Switzerland is Zermatt. It is the home of the iconic mountain known as the Matterhorn. We stayed at Gornergrat, which offers outstanding views of the Matterhorn, especially in the morning when the first light of the day reaches the mountain. I hiked 3 different times to a couple of small lakes and was able to get some outstanding reflections of the peak in the water.

MatterhornRiffelsee MatterhornGoldenGrass

In the other direction of the Matterhorn is the Gornergrat Glacier. Looking down in this grand strand of ice is an incredible sight. We were blessed with nice skies for much of this trip and only one evening was socked in fog so that you couldn't see the surrounding mountains.

GornergratGlacier

I also did some night photography with the Matterhorn. I will have a blog post in the future on some of my Milky Way shots from earlier this year. Now it is time to focus on my upcoming wedding this weekend and then on to fall photography here in Arkansas.

Adventures in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming

September 20, 2019 • 1 Comment

LonesomeLakeWYWeb

In August, I headed to the Wind River Range of Wyoming for the first time. Located in the central part of the state, it doesn't get as much attention or visitation as Grand Teton or Yellowstone National Parks, but the scenery is still spectacular. Part of the reason is the lack of roads going through this mountain range and the rather lengthy hikes to get into the Popo Agie Wilderness (pronounced po-PO-zsha).

Popo Agie River Wyoming

To speed up the time to get deep into this wilderness, I rode on a horse provided by Diamond 4 Ranch. It was a lengthy ride from the ranch to our camp...about 14 miles one way. Although a horseback ride provides less wear and tear on my body than it would by if I backpacked (and the pack mules carried the camping and camera gear!). However, after being on a horse for 14 miles, I was left with very sore thighs and knees once I was off the horse. Thankfully, I was able to walk off the pain within an hour once I was off the horse.

PopoAgieAug24BW

The view below is of the group of mountains known as The Cirque Of The Towers. Despite all the effort it takes to get to Popo Agie Wilderness, it was a great experience the beauty of the Wind River Range of Wyoming.

Cirque Of The Towers Wyoming PopoAgieAug24PMWeb PopoAgieAug25AM

Above The Timberline in Colorado

August 31, 2019 • 2 Comments

MtShermanGraysTorrey

I have just returned from Colorado and Wyoming...where I spent a couple of weeks of hiking, backpacking and horseback riding. I will have a future post about my horseback riding adventure in Wyoming. On my way back from Wyoming, I spent a couple of early mornings in Colorado watching the sun rise from over 13,000 feet.

The first climb was up the Continental Divide Trail to Argentine Pass and 13,856 foot Mount Edwards. This section of the CDT leads to atop the actual Continental Divide above Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and the Loveland Pass/Eisenhower Tunnel area west of Denver. Watching night turn into day from high above can be a magical experience. The picture below was from Mount Edwards looking east toward Denver and the upcoming sunrise. You can see ridge after ridge of the foothills between me and Denver. Purple mountains majesty!

Argentine Pass Dawn

Reaching the top of the mountain by sunrise can be a challenge. Not only does one have to wake up in the middle of the night and hike in the dark, but also one doesn't have much time for rest to catch your breath in thin air. The conditions were harsh with temperatures in the 30s and a stiff wind gust that I would estimate to be over 30 mph. At times, I would have turn my face away from the direction of where the wind was coming from to properly catch my breath. I would barely get to Mount Edwards in time with a view Grays Peak and the "twilight wedge" behind it. The band of blueish purple is the Earth's shadow on the western horizon just before sunrise.

GraysPeakAug19

On the way back down to Argentine Pass, I saw a herd of mountain goats. These mountain goats were generally unafraid of humans. I slowly approached them as they slowly approached me. These were some of the best mountain goat pictures that I have ever had.

MtnGoatArgentinePassWeb
2MtnGoatsArgentine

Every year since 2014, I have climbed at least one 14er (a mountain exceeding 14,000 feet above sea level). This year, I targeted Mount Sherman east of Leadville. It was possibly the "easiest" 14er that I have done. Still, it was a stout hike of about a 2,000 foot elevation gain from the trailhead to the top. In order to reach the top before sunrise, I started hiking at about 3:30am to make sure that I would reach the top in time. It was in the blue hour before sunrise when I reached the top of Mount Sherman to see a nice alpenglow scene.

MtShermanBlueHour

As you can see, with the above normal snowpack in Colorado this winter and spring, there was still some snow banks near the top. Although I enjoy the physical challenge reaching the top of a 14er, what I enjoy the most is seeing the morning "atmospherics" from high above the tree line. With a camera, this is best seen with a zoom lens to compress the scene.

View of Pikes Peak from Mount Sherman

The mountain in the distance is Pikes Peak, a little over 50 miles away.

Tundra from Mount Sherman Colorado
Here is a wider perspective with Pikes Peak in the distance. Notice the shades of red in the alpine tundra. The growing season is short here and at this elevation we are already seeing signs of summer transitioning to fall!