Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Prickly pear in the snow: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Nature
Keeping our Distance: LAPC
Keeping our distance
Avoiding close contact
Unsure where to turn
On the darkest of days
But one day, we will once again fly with our flocks
Rejoice with our families
And our voices will join together in song
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Distance
Hells Canyon in the Spring: Friday Flowers
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area is tucked into the northeastern corner of Oregon and the western edge of Idaho. We visited Hells Canyon in the spring last year. At the overlook, the meadows were carpeted in wildflowers. Perfect timing for pictures!
Many different types of flowers were in full bloom.
We had great weather to take in the panoramic view. The Snake River winds through this canyon nearly 8,000 feet below the canyon rim. Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America, is almost 2,000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Whitestem frasera plants grew in dense clumps sprinkled with pale purple flowers.
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area was created in 1975. It encompasses 652,488 acres. There are nearly 2,900 miles of trails in this recreation area.
The dramatic landscape was formed by volcanic activity hundreds of millions of years ago followed by collisions of tectonic plates. The mountains eroded over time. A series of lava flows sculpted them into the mountains we see today.
Purple larkspur flowers bordered the trail. I have a different native variety growing on my desert property near Bend, Oregon. One of my favorite plants!
A gallery of Hells Canyon wildflowers
Here’s a gallery of some of the other wildflowers I saw that day. I had never seen these varieties of balsamroot or clematis flowers anywhere before. Wonderful sights to see!
Penstemon 
Indian paintbrush 
Desert parsley in the foreground and lupine in the background 
Cutleaf balsamroot 
Hairy clematis flowers
The Hells Canyon Creek Visitor Center is located below Hells Canyon Dam. It is open seasonally and was not yet open when we visited.
You can see Seven Devils Mountain peeking out in this view to the north.
Hells Canyon Overlook is located 45 miles east of Joseph, Oregon, where we stayed. Check road conditions ahead of time because there can be snow in this high elevation area. It takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to get there from Joseph since you drive on twisting, turning Forest Service roads. The drive is well worth it!
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone: LAPC
When I saw that the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week was A River Runs Through It, I immediately thought of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
This river meanders its way through colorful rock formations
And pounds down in the Upper Falls
Past pine forests
And into the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Artist Thomas Moran captured the river’s spirit in this painting, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. He and others on the Hayden Expedition of 1871 traveled to the greater Yellowstone area and documented what they encountered. They were instrumental in the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in March of 1872.
Thomas Moran used his artistic skills to capture outstanding features in vibrant paintings of the landscape. He was an influencer in his time. See more of his work at Painter of Yellowstone.
Photo Bloopers 4: More photo fun
It’s time once again for fun with photos. Welcome to Photo Bloopers 4! This is what I do with pictures that don’t quite fit in or turned out weird looking. They needed a few words to make them more interesting. Hope they entertain you!
Do you want to see more of my Photo Bloopers? See:
Nature’s Still Life: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Spruce Cones in Snow: SMM
We got some much needed snow in the last few days of our mild winter. This close-up of spruce cones in snow was taken in my yard in Bend, Oregon.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Glimpses of Ireland & Northern Ireland
She unfurled her gossamer wings and searched for a far away land, greener than green. After a journey of many miles, she caught glimpses of Ireland & Northern Ireland. When she landed in a lush green pasture, a part of her remembered…
Though I usually keep my travels within driving distance, I just returned from a 10-day trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland with my daughter. After losing my brother and father within months of each other, I felt an urge to visit the land of my ancestors.
We drove about 1,600 miles and I took lots of photos. I will be sprinkling glimpses of Ireland & Northern Ireland into my blog occasionally. Enjoy the scenery!
Peekaboo view of American badger: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Mussel Beach near Pacific City: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Juniper rainbow: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Tules by the shore: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
A kaleidoscope of color: Friday Flowers
Friday Flowers
Western Screech Owlets: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Brown-eyed wolf lichen up close: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Views from the Cosmos: Friday Flowers
Paper birch up close: SMM
Cave Spring Trail in Utah: LAPC
If you decide to walk the short Cave Spring Trail in Canyonlands National Park, you will be rewarded with unique encounters with history and nature.
The 0.6 mile loop trail takes you past a narrow cowboy camp tucked under a rock ledge. Camps like these were in use from the late 1800s to 1975. The Scorup-Sommerville Cattle Company managed as many as 10,000 cattle in this region. Cowboys lived a life on the range and artifacts from their outdoor camp remain at this site.
This site was prized due to the fact that a spring existed here. Rainwater percolated through the sandstone over this site and carved out alcoves.
Sites such as these hosted cowboys in the recent past, but Native Americans lived here thousands of years before them. Their rock art can be seen in parts of the cave. The spring is considered a sacred place to descendants of these people.
If you follow the trail farther, you’ll come to two narrow ladders that take you up to a slickrock sandstone plateau.
Follow the rock cairns marking the trail…
to get stunning 360-degree views of the Canyonlands.
The trail drops down into another narrow alcove and continues to the parking area. Cave Spring Trail isn’t long, but it packs a lot into a short distance.
I was especially impressed by the many interesting formations in the rock along this trail. Cave Spring Trail, and the nearby AMAZING petroglyphs of Newspaper Rock, made this one of our favorite stops on our trip to Utah’s National Parks.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Narrow
Love is in the air on Valentine’s Day
On this day when love is in the air, remember to…
Be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud.
Maya Angelou
On the Hunt for Joy Challenge – Cheer Someone Up
Bunchberry in full bloom: SMM
This small groundcover plant is actually a type of dogwood. These striking plants range in height from eight inches, as in the bunchberry, to the 60-foot tall Pacific dogwood tree. Beautiful in any size!
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Someday in the future: LAPC
Someday in the future I’ll live on a street full of possibilities
Someday I’ll live where birds are the color of the sky
And flowers are the color of the sun
Someday I’ll live where lichens send messages that only I can see
And rocks will tell me of distant worlds in their own kind of Braille
Someday I’ll live where trees watch me through knowing eyes
And waterfalls speak to me in shades of green
Someday in the future I’ll live where every sunrise is more spectacular than the one the day before
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Future
White-headed woodpecker: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Great horned owl nest in silhouette: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
Bumblebee on paintbrush: SMM
I saw this bumblebee on paintbrush at Yellowstone National Park in the late spring.
Slender paintbrush was common near the thermal features.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
We got the beet!: Silent Sunday & LAPC
Autumn walk in Bend: LAPC – Finding something red
A beautiful October walk along the Mill A Loop Trail in Bend, Oregon. The rising sun’s rays highlight gold and red fall foliage. The sunlight was hitting the trees just right on this autumn walk.
An American flag flies from one of the Old Mill smokestacks. Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) renovated the 28,000-square-foot former lumber mill and opened a retail store there in 2005. They retained much of the building’s historic charm and it’s one of Bend’s iconic landmarks.
The Lens-Artist Photo Challenge (LAPC) today is Find Something Red.
Rock squirrel eating scouring rush: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Noticing the lines in a scene: LAPC
When I travel, I think about photographing what I see by noticing the lines. Your eye wants to follow where they lead you. Here a few leading lines from northern Oregon.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Leading Lines
Spruce cones up close: SMM
A photograph of spruce cones up close that I took in my Bend, Oregon yard.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Forests of Steens Mountain: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Ordinary to extraordinary: Monochrome Monday
Even a little bit of snow turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. Here are some patterns in the snow I noticed on my morning walks.
Monochrome Monday
One acre at a time: On the Hunt for Joy Challenge
Last week I helped preserve a bit of the desert, one acre at a time. Sometimes it isn’t apparent how your $$$ help a cause. When you donate to conserve.org, you can see your money in action.
Making a difference
For only $46 per acre, you can help the Oregon Desert Land Trust purchase part of the 118,794 Diablo Mountain Wilderness Study Area in eastern Oregon. You can view a 360-degree photo of each individual acre and choose which you want to help buy.
They are trying to purchase 880 acres that are currently in private hands. The Land Trust and Global Wildlife Conservation organizations will match funds for each donation to make the $182-per-acre purchase.
Once the purchase is complete, the public will have access to the land. The purchase ensures that the site will not be developed in the future.
This bit of the desert includes interesting natural and archaeological features. The salt flats and rimrock hillsides are home to mule deer, pronghorn, greater sage grouse, and burrowing owls. Migratory birds live in the sagebrush and greasewood habitats.
The Paisley Caves contain evidence of humans that dates back to over 14,000 years ago. The nearby Fort Rock Cave and Catlow Caves contain similar artifacts.
If you donate to this site, you can visit “your” acreage. I haven’t visited the parcels I helped purchase yet, but I can’t wait to see them in person. It will bring me great joy to see how I made a difference, one acre at a time.
New photo challenge
There is a new weekly photo challenge called “On the Hunt for Joy Challenge” and the topic this week is “Get Outside.” I thought this would be a perfect time to feature this conservation opportunity.
Firehole Swimming Hole: LAPC
On your way to see Old Faithful, you may want to take the 2-mile long Firehole Canyon Drive to the “heated” Firehole swimming hole in the Firehole River.
You will drive past the 40-foot waterfall of Firehole Falls.
Just a little farther up the road, you’ll see the Firehole swimming area. The hot springs of Yellowstone National Park feed into the river and heat the chilly water to a comfortable temperature. There is another swimming area called Boiling River near the north entrance of the park.
Please read the regulations and find additional information about the Firehole and Boiling Springs swimming areas at Swim and Soak prior to your visit. Most of the park’s hot springs are extremely hot and soaking in them is prohibited. These are the only two places where swimming is allowed.
On our last few visits, we have been at Yellowstone in May and June. The Firehole has been closed to swimming because the water level was too high. It’s a nice place to take a short break when you are out exploring the park.
You can access the area by this staircase when it’s open.
Swimming the river in the summer
When the water levels drop in the summer, you can drift the river beginning near the cliffs. Large signs warn you about the risks of swimming here so use common sense.
I took the following two pictures in July 1998. Note how the trees in these pictures show the effects of the fire of 1988. Compare them to the pictures above, taken in 2011 and 2018.
In nature, lightning causes fires that help thin overgrowth and release the seeds of certain types of pine. The photos in the beginning of this post show how a healthy forest is regrowing in Yellowstone.
This is what the Firehole swimming hole typically looks like on a warm summer day. I have many fond memories of swimming here with my family over the years. It is a special spot!
Lens Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Special Spot Shots
Prostrate lupine – a tiny beauty: Friday Flowers
We stopped at the Kiger Gorge overlook on Steens Mountain in August and saw tiny flowers at our feet. These are prostrate lupines, Lupinus lepidus var. lobbii. I put my hand in the picture just to give you an idea of the scale.
This native plant grows in alpine habitats. The tiny blue or purple flowers measure 1/3 inch across. The plant grows to a height of 4-6 inches. Another common name for this low profile plant is “dwarf lupine.” Lupines have distinctive leaves that are almost star-like in form. The seedpods are often covered with soft “hair.”
Prostrate lupine blooms in June, July, and August. The plants I saw in late August were growing at 9,000 feet in elevation. Everything blooms later there.
This lupine ranges north to the Cascade and Olympic mountains in Washington State, south to northern California and east to western Idaho and Nevada. Prostrate lupines grow on talus slopes and in rocky pumice soils at high elevations.
Prostrate lupine is a perennial that grows in areas with heavy snowfall in the winter and short dry summers. Like other lupines, its flowers attract pollinators.
Friday Flowers
Great horned owl vignette: Wordless Wednesday
Do you wanna play?: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
Favorite Pictures 2019: LAPC
It’s that time of year when you share some of your favorite pictures. As usual, I have a hard time narrowing it down. Please enjoy this selection of wild places, wildlife, history, and a pinch of art at the end.
May the new year bring you wisdom, patience, and peace.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Favorite Photos of 2019
Earth & Water: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Snow in the Sage: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
West Thumb Geyser Basin: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday