Yosemite Dressed in Winter 2007

Like it or not, we get a week off in February. Yosemite had been mostly dry and warm all winter. When the forecast called for snow, I booked a room at the lodge, loaded up the camera gear and hit the road.

As I drove in, it was still sunny and warm. But the temps dropped overnight and I woke up to wet, sticky snow. I spent a frantic day of trying to drive/hike to as many photo spots as I could get to amidst road closures and heavy snowfall conditions.

I caught a few keepers. And by the time I headed out the next day, Yosemite’s two-day Winter of ’07 was pretty much over. I lucked out on this one.

2007 02 Yosemite Dressed in Winter Winners Photo Album

2007 02 Yosemite Dressed in Winter Runners-Up Photo Album

Tetons Tower Beartooth Yellowstone 2006

The Grand Tetons

First leg of my WYMT06 trip. I booked an afternoon float through Grand Teton National Park followed by an early morning wildlife tour. On the float trip, I saw some beavers, bald eagles,  Canada geese, and some nice sunset clouds. On the AM safari, we spotted moose, elk, osprey, a doe and her bambi, bison, and pronghorn. 

Return to Devil’s Tower

This was payback! In 1978, Jean, Dena, and Dean traveled to the location from the then-hit film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We motored out way to the trails that circled the base. I circumnavigated the volcanic monolith with trusty camera in tow. I shot the monument from every conceivable angle. When I returned to the parking lot, I discovered there was no film in the camera. Twenty-eight years later, I returned with a digital camera (set to not shoot without a memory card installed). Two of the three trails at the monument were closed, but I retraced the loop trail and got my boatloads of pics. 

Toward the end of my full day there, a thunderstorm swept the prairie. I thought it would be worth the effort to try getting a lightning shot. I managed to stay fairly dry under my van’s hatch and learned a bit of technique in the process. I did manage to catch a keeper (though I missed a better shot). I hustled back to Gillette (60 mi west of The Tower) to post-process the pic. At Applebees, a fellow patron inquired about the shot. Her family had seen me by the side of the road getting the photo. And her older son was a student in Julie Bennett’s class. And her husband is the older brother of my schoolmates, Suzy and Katy Manett! The odds must be crazy!

Beartooth Scenic Byway

I had never traveled the Beartooth Highway, the high-altitude scenic drive across the Absaroka mountains. Stunning vistas greet drivers along every turn of the 64-mile course. You scrape up against 11,000 ft at the top of the pass. I spent one night at each end so I could sneak in some hikes and linger at the views.

Yellowstone

The Beartooth highway leads to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone remains my favorite national park. Originally set aside for the geothermal oddities, now also a wildland preserve. Natural settings that were ordinary in 1872 are extraordinary these days. I focused my explorations on the northwest section of the park (Old Faithful to Norris Geyser Basin). Hiked to Lone Star Geyser,  lonely Monument Basin, toured the mudpots in the secluded Pocket Basin, explored the Artist Paintpots, and tried to catch a nice shot of Great Fountain Geyser steaming at sunset. Capped it off with a full day trail ride in the northern section. Note to self: next time, go for the half-day ride. And yes, my horse was named “Widowmaker.” I passed through the Tetons one last time on my way back to Sactown. My last photo of the trip was one with me in it.

2006 07 Wyoming-Montana GOLD Photo Album

Sequoia and Kings Canyon 2006

After sweating out a week of jury duty on-call status, I motored down to Fresno, then turned left toward the Sierras. I worked my way from south to north through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Explored a 25-mile, 700-turn, single-lane road, a cool cavern, a river roiling with snowmelt, ran across some merry marmots, a slithering snake and a breakfasting bear on the trails.

I also had to turn around a set of proof pages for the upcoming Conceptual Integrated Science lab manual. I worked that out from my motel room south of Sequoia.

2006 06 Sequoia and Kings Canyon Photo Album

Red Rocks with Chris 2006 (it kinda rhymes)

My buddy, Chris, and I explored the wilds of southeast Utah during Spring Break.

Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, Monument Valley, Goosenecks of the San Juan, Valley of the Gods, Goblin Valley, and Capitol Reef. Late-season Sierra snow encouraged a southern route, so we went via Las Vegas instead of Salt Lake City.

We found some new photo-ops and came away with a decent haul of keepers during “Dean’s Boot Camp.” Chris was given an appreciation for why I maintain my packing list on an Excel spreadsheet, hilarious as it seemed.

2006 04 Southeast Utah with Chris Photo Album

Xmas in the Desert 2005

It has been long past my turn to host the holiday gathering, so I decided to invite the family to my fair state for Xmas in Death Valley.

Surprisingly, the valley is rarely more “packed” than it is over the holidays. Seems like a lot of folks think it’s the place to be for true yule cool. Jean, Heather, Mary, Bryce, Tyler, and I got to cruise the sites and scenery of the park for a few days.

We were joined by my buddy, Chris, and his fiancé, Mary as we watched the Alamo Bowl. Michigan put a resounding period at the end of its worst season in many moons by losing to Nebraska. But we had a great time during our first Xmas below sea level.

2005 12 Death Valley Xmas Photo Album

One Day in October 2005: Eastern Sierra

I headed out to the Eastern Sierra in hopes of catching some fall color on October 15th. I explored some new photo destinations in the region and eventually headed into Yosemite.

2005 10 Eastern Sierra

Yellowstone Tetons Glacier Banff Icefields Jasper Moon Craters Yosemite 2005

Yellowstone 
Forty hours after getting back from France, I was driving with Jean from Sacramento to Salt Lake City. It’s a long haul, but one I’m increasingly familiar with. A nearly disastrous misadventure in Winnemucca was survived and we joined up with Heather, Tyler, Heather’s SO, Ben, and his son Jason. The PhyzVan was put to the test: parked for two weeks, then run out on a 650 mile one-day trip, then loaded to the gills for some mountain driving. We made it to Yellowstone and took in the sights, sounds, and—of course—smells. The geyser basins, Fire Lake Drive, Paint Pots, Terraces at Mammoth Springs, elk, bison, bears, and that one thing Ben saw. 2005 07 Yellowstone Photo Album

The Grand Tetons [hey, a chance to use my French]
Our time here was short, but I snuck out early the second morning and snapped a few keepers. Especially fruitful were stops at String Lake, a picnic area with a view (replete with split-rail fence), and the very simple Chapel of the Transfiguration. 2005 07 Grand Tetons Photo Album

Glacier 
Next it was up to the northern border of Montana for a stay at The Many Glacier Lodge in Glacier National Park. You really are up close and personal with nature there; bear-bells might actually do some good. The dramatic, glacier-cut mountains, valleys, and resulting waterfalls, and not-always-shy wildlife make Glacier a place worthy of return trips. Banff We kept the PhyzVan pointed north and continued up to the Canadian Rockies. First stop: Banff. In Canada, there are major towns inside national parks. Banff, for example. I wasn’t completely thrilled with the photo-ops here, but it had its charm. 2005 07 Glacier Photo Album

Lake Louise and Lake Moraine 
Now these places delivered on landscape scenery! Lake Louise, nestled at the bottom of a wide valley and catching the runoff of a glacier at the far end, posed politely for tourists’ cameras. I hiked up to a tea house tucked away at the edge of a high mountain lake and drank my tea while a storm moved in. Lake Moriane gets my prize for most picturesque destination in the Canadian Rockies. I snapped some nice keepers and sent one in for Paul Hewitt’s Conceptual Physics 10th edition (for a section on color and scattering). Yum!

Jasper 
The sun sets at about 10pm or so at this latitude. We boated out to Spirit Island on Maligne Lake on a stormy day (late July is still Spring up there). We also journey out to Angel Glacier and Cavell Glacier, though the weather wasn’t with us there. Then it was back south along the Icefields Parkway to enjoy the sights and part company with the Canadian Rockies. 2005 07 Canadian Rockies Photo Album

Craters of the Moon 
After a night in a scary down-market no-tell motel in Arco, Idaho, we enjoyed a day at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Old lava fields--what regions of Hawaii will look like in 1000 years--and air so unpolluted they measure it for baseline levels of atmospheric contaminants. We were there at midday, but better shots would be had early or late. 2005 07 Craters of the Moon Photo Album

Yosemite
We kept the PhyzVan pointed south and drove to Yosemite for a late-July visit. The falls were surprisingly robust given the season. And it’s hard to get tired of Yosemite. 2005 07 Yosemite Photo Album.