Desert Sky - Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

Happy New Year! My week of not posting on the Blog or Social Media turned into two weeks. It was a time to reflect and I am looking forward to getting back in gear in 2017. 2016 was one of my most traveled years, and I am still behind in culling through last years photos. So let's get going.

This photo was taken last month in Death Valley. We got to the dunes well before sunrise and faced a half-mile to mile hike out from the parking lot. Donning our headlamps, we all headed out in different directions. As we hiked, the early morning light began to appear, revealing some great clouds in the sky. This is a bit unusual in that Death Valley doesn't usually have  a lot of cloud cover (we were blessed with clouds all week). I kept checking eastward to see how the clouds were being lit and realized early on that we were going to get quite a light show. I snapped this image just before the sun peeked over the mountains.

Wash View - Artist Palette, Death Valley National Park, California

One of our stops on Jeff Clow's Photo Tour to Death Valley was to Artist Palette. The main attraction at this stop is the palette itself that you can see in the upper left, although the colors from this angle are not that pronounced. Trust me, from the parking lot, you can get a great straight-on shot of the palette where the colors are really apparent and I do have those shots. For whatever reason, I was in an exploring mood during the whole week of my trip and so, after getting the straight-on shots, I climbed and hiked out to get a composition looking up the wash. From this point, you can see where the water would run on the very few occasions that it rains in Death Valley. It also gives a better view of the Black Mountains in the background. If you look at this photo large, you can see four of my fellow photographers shooting the palette. 

Dante's View - Death Valley National Park, California

When one thinks about Death Valley there are two things that usually come to mind: the scorching heat and the lowest point in North America. There is no dispute on either claims. The average summer temperature is about 120° Fahrenheit, with the hottest day on record hitting an unbelievable 134° Fahrenheit. The lowest point in North America is pictured in this photo, Badwater Basin at 283 feet below sea level. This view, known as Dante's View, is from the north side of Coffin Peak (the location names in Death Valley are cool, but I am sure that there are many sad stories of how they got them). Dante's View is actually at 5,476 feet above sea level, giving you an idea of how far we were above the basin.

A few of us visited this overlook on a pre-photo tour scouting trip. It wasn't a particularly cold morning and we had some great clouds. I hiked from the parking lot far enough to get a full shot of the salt flat down below. The clouds had a great pattern to them and I was lucky to get a shot of the sunrise hitting the tops of the Amargosa Mountain Range at the end of the basin to the right. Just another great day in Death Valley.

Evening Drive - Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada

On our way to join Jeff Clow's Death Valley Photo Tour, Jaki Good Miller and I headed to the Valley of Fire for a couple of days. After landing in Las Vegas, we were ready to head there for the hour-long drive on the highway. Using Google Maps, I saw that there was a much slower route that looked to travel on the west side of Lake Mead. Being a landscape lover, I opted to head on the hopefully more scenic route. 

What a great decision that turned out to be. After getting out of Vegas, we came to the entrance to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. I hadn't realized that we were actually driving on Federal land. After getting through the gate, the scenery was absolutely fabulous. With a sunset scheduled at a very early 4:30pm, we were blessed with great golden hour light most of the way to our hotel.  Near the end of the park lands, we pulled over for a road shot of this amazing scene. If you look at this photo large, you can see a bright red car coming toward us, giving you a sense of how big these  rock formations are. I don't know the name of them, so if you do, let me know.

Fire Wave - Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Before joining Jeff Clow's Death Valley Photo Tour (a must do) earlier this month, Jaki Good Miller and I headed to the Valley of Fire to visit this stellar Nevada State Park. According to its website, "The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape." I can attest to the uniqueness of the formations and their color.

One of the parks must do and see locations is the Fire Wave. Unlike the more famous wave in neighboring Arizona, the Fire Wave does not require permits and it is a grueling hike to get there. Yes, there is a decent hike involved, but it isn't that bad and well worth it. Unfortunately for Jaki, her new camera started freezing up. Even though I have the same camera, we both couldn't figure out what was going wrong. When we finally got to the Fire Wave, Jaki sat down to see if she could get it working and I headed down the wave. That's Jaki in the upper right corner of my photo. The good news was that we were able to get the camera working somewhat sporadically and she was able to shoot the wave. 

Dune Top - Death Valley National Park, California

Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

Last week I posted a photo of the highest dune in Mesquite Dunes at sunrise. I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to climb to the very top of the dune before I left that morning. So off I went toward that dune very slowly (slow is the key word as walking in the sand is never fast). Along the way, I ran into fellow photographer and great friend, Jaki Good Miller. She asked where I was going and I told here that as soon as I saw the height of that dune, I was going to stand on top of it. Of course, Jaki said she had that same thought, so off we went trudging though the sand. 

Let me tell you, climbing to the top of that dune was no easy feat. Every step you would take up the steep incline, you seemed to sink backwards three quarters of a step. I even tried running up (I must have looked like one of those cartoon characters) but it did not really make any difference. I was determined to make it and, if I didn't walk five miles a day, I am not sure I would have. Jaki, on the other hand, was an All-American athlete, but she was hampered with a bad foot. I made it up first and her first words after taking my photo was, I don't think I can make it. I knew that she would not let me stand there alone (she is quite competitive) and allow the old guy to beat her there. Minutes later she was standing next to me.

This photo shows the view looking down along the dune's ridge line. The photo below was taken by Rad Alzyoud with his very long lens of Jaki capturing my photo before her climb to the top,

Desert Ruggedness - Death Valley National Park, California

Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California

In yesterday's post, I posted a photo that I took from the top of a rock formation in Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Today's post is from almost the same spot, but instead of looking eastward, I am looking westward toward the Amargosa Mountain Range that serves as a border to Death Valley. If you look at both photos, you get an appreciation of the diversity of the landscape in the park. This spot shows only a small section of the canyon, so you can imagine the vastness of it. Not only is it big, but the views from the tops of the rock formations show a harsh landscape that is extremely diverse.

Up On Top - Death Valley National Park, California

Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California

Some the best locations to explore in Death Valley are the many canyons that seem to be just about everywhere. Some are small and narrow, while others are wide enough to have roads. Of all of the canyons that we visited, Twenty Mule Team Canyon was my favorite. Truth be told, it probably was my favorite spot in the park. The canyon was named after the teams of 18 mules and 2 horses that were attached to large wagons that transported 10 short tons of borax from the mines. The trip traversed the Mojave Desert and was 165 miles long. Considering temperatures during the summer can be as hot as 134 degrees, it must have been a very difficult trip.

Twenty Mule Team Canyon is quite large, and viewing it from the ground didn't give me the perspective of the area. Fortunately, the rock formations are climbable if you are in decent shape. So up I went to the top of many of the surrounding formations, some by a trail and others blazing a new trail. When I reached the top to look around, I had a 360-degree view of this section of the canyon. As you can see, the landscape is quite amazing, with small ravines running between the formations. The dirt road is in between the two formations on the left.

Dunes - Death Valley National Park, California

Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

Death Valley is part of the largest desert in North America, namely the Mojave Desert. Of course, when one thinks of the desert, one of the first things they picture are sand dunes. The one thing that surprised me about my visit to the valley was, while there were dunes, the majority of the park (at least the parts that I saw) was more valley floor and mountains. Fortunately, down a few miles from our hotel, the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes were there waiting for us to explore. Arriving at the parking lot for the dunes about an hour before sunrise, we trudged out toward the dunes in the distance with our flashlights and head lamps. Along the way, the clouds began to put on a light show, before the sun peeked above the horizon (we were lucky enough to have clouds most of the week, which is most unusual for Death Valley). I shot a number of photos of the clouds, but my heart was waiting for the sun to light up the landscape and the dunes to the west.

As you can see in this photo, the sun did its job and delivered amazing soft light that exceeded my expectations. My main subject was the big dune in the background, which is the highest point in Mesquite Flats (more on that in future posts). The sun and clouds were kind to me, leaving a soft pink glow in the sky. A great start to an amazing morning.

Layers - Death Valley National Park, California

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California

Last week was my first visit to Death Valley National Park. It has long been on my bucket list, and it being a National Park is always a bonus. The one thing that surprised me was the presence of lots of mountains. There are two mountain ranges that create the valley -- The Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west. Both ranges are quite long in length, measuring 100-110 miles. That makes a mountain-loving visitor like me very happy. Perhaps the most famous viewpoint of the Amargosa Mountains is the view from Zabriskie Point. Every sunrise you can find lots of photographers lined up waiting to see the rising sun gradually lighting up the landscape. 

The viewpoint is often photographed from above, which is what I did on both mornings that I visited. The second morning, I decided to hike down lower to get a different perspective of the rock formations. This is where I captured this photo. I really liked this composition as it showed different layers, including the shadowed foreground and the Amargosa Range in the background. The formation that looks like a shark's fin is named Manly Beacon after the man who searched for help to save his fellow prospectors during the Gold Rush of 1849. 

Me and the Amazon - Valley of Fire, Nevada

Just back from another awesome Jeff Clow Photo Tour to Death Valley. I have heard people ask why anyone goes there to shoot because it is just desert. When you go there, you will know. Anyway, Jaki Good Miller and I spent a couple of days before Jeff's tour and visited the Valley of Fire in Nevada. I spent a few hours there way back in 2000 before I was seriously into photography. Boy, what a shame I hadn't been back there until this trip. The terrain looks other worldly. Our first morning, we found Elephant Rock (above us in this photo) and decided to take a shadow selfie. It looks like Jaki is towering above me in this shot and I called her an Amazon. She told me that she was called that when she was an All American volleyball player at Marshall University. For those of you who don't know, Jaki was the first female volleyball player inducted into Marshall's Hall of Fame.

Classic Banff - Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta

Here we are at the end of Alberta Week and I am ending it with another iconic shot from Banff, namely Lake Louise. This location is probably the most visited in the Canadian Rockies. Part of the reason is Victoria Glacier at the far end of the lake, as well as some amazing hikes that can be taken from the lake (the Tea House is a favorite of many). If you want to see the lake in relative quiet, visit at sunrise or stay at the impressive Chateau Lake Louise (every bit as pricey as the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff). If you are not there at sunrise, be prepared to share the lake with tons of tourists. It is a favorite stop for every tour bus in the area. It has gotten so bad that I won't visit there at any other time.

I hope you enjoyed my little visit to Alberta this week. I will be off on my last trip of the year to Death Valley today, so I will see you when I get back.

Bow Overlook - Bow River, Banff, Alberta

You don't have to go far from the town of Banff to see classic scenes of the Canadian Rockies. In fact, you don't have to leave town to do so. There was a reason that the town was formed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883 to serve as a stopover on the transcontinental railway on the route to the Pacific Ocean. One of the hotels that was built at that time to house visitors to the town is Banff Springs Hotel, pictured in this photo on the other side of the Bow River. Want to stay there? Better open your wallet, as the daily rate is around $799 Canadian a night. Even with a favorable exchange rate, it is still extremely pricey. For me, staying on the outskirts of the town and visiting all of the stops in town and the park is the way to go. This particular photo was taken from Tunnel Mountain Road, which rises above the Bow River with scenes like this.

Maligne Wonder - Spirit Island, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Earlier this week, I posted a photo of Moraine Lake, which is one of the most iconic locations in the Canadian Rockies. If there is another location that gives Moraine a run for its money, it has to be Spirit Island on Maligne Lake. I am guessing that Moraine Lake is the most visited, as it is pretty close to Calgary and all you need is a car to see it. Spirit Island is a bit more challenging to visit, as a 35-minute boat ride is required to see the island and it is over 4 hours from Edmonton. I am not as convinced that Moraine is the most seen, at least photographically. Why is that? We can thank Eastman Kodak. As part of a marketing effort, Kodak sent out one of their photographers, Peter Gales, to find remote locations that would help promote the sale of their film. His image of Spirit Island became part of Kodak's Colorama display (larger than life photos in Grand Central Terminal). Over the more than 40 years that it hung there, millions upon millions of people viewed the photo.

The classic view of the island (actually only an island when the water is high) is from above on a short trail. This composition from ground level is also wonderful and gives a closer look at it.

Canoe Rental - Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia

Although this is "Alberta Week" on my blog and social media, I just had to post this photo from Yoho National Park. Yes, I know that Yoho is technically in British Columbia, but it is just over the Alberta Province line. The centerpiece of the Yoho is the beautiful Emerald Lake, where the color is the deepest emerald that I have seen in the Canadian Rockies (you can't tell that from this photo so you will have to trust me). One of the classic scenes of the lake are the canoes that can be seen being rowed on the lake. When we first got there, there were only a few canoes on the lake and I spotted this composition of canoes waiting to be rented. In the background on the left is, you guessed it Emerald Peak, and on the right is the fine restaurant, Cilantro on the Lake. 

Clearing Weather - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta

I am woefully behind in reviewing my photos from my trips this year and I am determined to catch up over the winter. I spent some time going through all of my photos for the first time from an epic trip to Alberta this past June. We had outstanding weather and I found quite a few "keepers". I have decided that this week will be "Alberta Week" on my blog and social media.

There is only one location in Alberta that deserves to lead off the week and that is from iconic Moraine Lake. The fact that the lake is located in a valley named "Valley of the Ten Peaks" probably says it all. Surrounding this emerald mountain lake are the towering Canadian Rockies and it is an impressive sight to see. This particular morning, it was snowing reasonably hard (yes it snows in Banff in mid-June) when we got to the parking lot. A few hardy souls climbed up the "rock pile" along the trail, which leads to one of the most photographed scenes in Canada. I chose to wait until the snow stopped before I headed up the trail. I was rewarded with this composition that showed a break in the clouds as proof the weather was clearing.

In the Shadows - Red Cliffs Lodge, River Road, Moab, Utah

Sometimes the light, shadow and clouds take over and you get side tracked. After Jeff Clow's Moab Tour back in March was over, Jaki Good Miller and I headed out to Grand Junction to visit Colorado National Monument before our flights home the next morning. I have visited this great park quite a number of times and it has been a favorite of mine. Jaki had never been there and I wanted to show her some terrific landscapes. All that went out the window as we got onto River Road. I don't know how many times we stopped, but it was quite a few. We spent a lot of time at this spot near the Red Cliffs Lodge and we were rewarded with some great scenes. We did make it to Colorado National Monument, but the light was gone. We will just have to revisit there on our next trip to Moab.

Colorful - Kruger National Park, South Africa

Happy Thanksgiving

Here in the US, we are celebrating one of our most family-oriented holidays, Thanksgiving. The tradition is for families to sit around the table and feast their eyes on a big turkey. The bigger, the better. I've seen turkeys on sale that weigh almost 30 pounds. Turkeys are not the prettiest birds in the world and I don't have a good photo of one, so I thought I would post a photo of a bird that is quite the opposite.

This bird is an African Pygmy Kingfisher that I captured on my recent trip to South Africa. While turkeys are basically white and brown, this bird is one of the most colorful ones that I have ever seen in person. From a size perspective, the kingfisher is usually only 5 inches in length. This bird is just too pretty to eat and you would need an awful lot of them to feed a family on Thanksgiving.

Before Sunrise - Palouse, Washington

Many of the photos that you might see of sunrises in the Palouse are taken from the vantage point of Steptoe Butte. There you can look down on the rolling landscape from a height of around 3,600 feet. There are, however, many places that are just as pretty without shooting from a great height. When Jeff Clow and I were scouting the Palouse this past August, we headed to the town of Palouse (the Palouse often refers to an extremely big area in eastern Washington and western Idaho) and stopped on this road when we saw the great light and clouds that were welcoming the new day to us. The farmland in the foreground had recently been harvested and you can make out the tracks where the farm machinery had been only days before.

Water Hole - Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa

With the two year drought in Sabe Sands and Kruger National Park, the existence of water holes is a key for the survival of the wildlife there. Some of the water holes have dried up and forced many of its wildlife "residents" to seek other water holes. Of course, those water holes are already "owned" by others and the only way to survive is in battle. We saw an example of that when a hippo, in search of a new water hole, presumably did battle with another hippo only to lose. That is not surprising, as the hippo probably had to walk a long distance in the heat, weakening him as it prepared to fight. 

The water holes represent survival to many. We were lucky to spot a herd of elephants one late evening that our guide said was heading to a local water hole. Sure enough, that is where they were headed. As they got close, they began to start running to their oasis. We were lucky enough to watch (and photograph) them drink and cool themselves off. A short respite for the herd in the wild.