A very Happy New Year!
Saturday, after I realized that it would be fruitless to try and get to the top of the mountain, I decided that I could still get a reasonable workout by hiking the connecting trail for a couple of hours. It’s amazing how much one is slowed down by trying to hike through 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow. I suppose all of the winter clothes didn’t help, nor did the extra pounds I have added in the last month or two, but nevertheless, I had a nice hike.
I thought the sign was appropriate for the conditions.
This first photo is the preface to the second, taken three days later, on Monday, October 28. I knew that the forecast for the Pacific Northwest was for clear skies for the entire time I would be there and this first view from the window of my plane on Friday, October 25 planted the seed in my head that if the opportunity arose, I might be able to get a good shot of Mt. Ranier as the last light of the day fell on it. Although I had my camera with me, by the time I spotted the mountain I had to grab a shot with my cell phone while it was still in view.
Monday morning found us in the Pike Street Market where I came across a photo of Mt. Rainier taken at a similar time, at least relative to the Alpen glow on the mountain. I asked the photographer where he got such a great image and he told me the name of the community. Then he mentioned that the RV park had the best view of the mountain.
After finishing my meetings for the afternoon, we took a trip with a couple of frantic detours around clogged roads arriving just in time to fire off three or four shots in the fading light. Thankfully Google found the RV park and it was right on the main road. It took at least an hour to get there, an then an hour to return, all for just a couple of minutes of shooting.
Then the show was over.
I think the photo was worth the trip.
Took the high road to Taos on Saturday and enjoyed some of the fall color before soaking in the hot springs at Oho Caliente.
I’m not sure why, but I decided to leave my long lenses and tripod at home. Who needs long lenses, right?
The first snows have started to get the slopes ready for winter.
And who needs a long lens anyway?
Grabbed a couple of shots of some climbing action this afternoon
These were shot with the telephoto setting on the camera. I’ve not had time yet to put together the panorama that I shot that shows the full area of the climb.
After he got to the top, he adjusted his anchors and began to rappel back down.
If you are the climber, drop me a line at [email protected].
The mountain has been drenched this summer and especially so these last couple of weeks. I suspect that it must have rained on it even within the last few days because of all the water pouring off of it today.
Flowers are busting out all over the place, especially ones that need lots of water.
The purple prairie verbena (also known as Dacota vervain) has come out in big numbers, especially in the foothills. Today however, I found a very rare example of a white one.
I also found a section of the mountain just about to break out in sunflowers.
I’m not exactly sure what caused me to look to the east today, for when I looked west, the sunset, while nice, was what I would call uneventful.
However, something caused my path to wander to the back of the house and I caught the reflection of the sunset off of the tops of the clouds in the east.
When I saw the towering cumulus I ran for my camera since I know from experience that the sunsets while sweet, can be very short. I decided to skip the tripod and bounded up the stairs and went out onto my west balcony. I climbed on the chair and hopped onto the roof from which I grabbed a ladder to get to the next level up.
Finally, from here I had a clear view of the sky.
Full sized panorama can be seen here.
Like I said, the light fades fast.
I don’t think the entire show lasted for more than ten to twelve minutes.
It’s good to be back on the mountain and it rewarded me this morning with an unusual abundance of wildflowers. Although August was dry, it appears that the July rains and the most recent rains have brought out the flowers in mass.
I saw a splash of red very early on in my hike and I walked off the trail to investigate and found the Trans-Pecos Morning Glory. Although I already have an image, I figured I’d try for another one, especially since this is only the second time in eight years of hiking that I have see (or noticed) this amazing little flower.
While I was shooting a humming bird came and went into ten to twenty of the flowers, some only an inch from my face. Unfortunately my camera was set for macro shots and I didn’t have time to change over to try and catch an image. After a minute or so I decided to simply record the scene with my mind and enjoy the little green visitor.
Shortly after, I found another species of Morning Glory, the Crestrib-Morning Glory off to the right of the trail. Half the size of a dime or smaller, it was almost easy to overlook but I’ve trained my eye to look for color against the fairly monochromatic desert scene.
The pollen grains are undisturbed so I guess this one has not been discovered yet.
All in all a great day for a hike, even if several weeks at sea level took some of the wind out of me. It took about four an a half hours to summit, but I also took almost 100 images. An early morning breeze made for shooting macro shots very difficult, hence the need for so many attempts.
It was nice to be able to add this Morning Glory to the collection that can be seen in the Slideshow of Wildflowers of the Sandias.
A extremely rare white tailed eagle takes flight from its perch on an island near Stykkishólmur, Iceland. Hand held on a moving boat.
There are less than 250 of these birds in all of Iceland. It’s a close relative of the Bald Eagle that we find in the United States.
At the world heritage site, Bergen Norway.
The fish market, Bergen.
by David Alan
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