Cottonwood

Backlite cottonwood in the Garden of the Gods

Hot and Cold

I've been in Arches National Park for the last few days. After leaving Bryce and Kodachrome Basin, I decided to skip the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I wasn't ready to having winter weather.

Ironically, this morning, I woke to cold, windy and overcast skies. As there was no visible sunrise, I turned off my alarm, rolled over and slept for a few more hours. It's amazing how much easier it is to get out of bed on a cold day when you're in a warm room as opposed being bundled up in a sleeping bag to a cold tent!

I'm now sitting in Moab's wonderful Red Rock Bakery checking the weather forecast. Looks like a snow storm is predicted to move through the area. Too bad I don't have my four season tent with me!

Hopefully, some of the snow sticks to the red rocks and the clouds move off. What a sunrise that'll make!

Here's another shot from my time in Joshua National Park. It was taken in the middle of the Fortynine Palms oasis.

The oasis is very soothing after a very hot hike through the desert mountains. If you find yourself in Joshua, don't forget to visit this beautiful oasis.

Lemonade

Almost anything can look good in the right light. Take for instance, this tree. It has a nice warm red tone that goes well with the green surrounding it. That warmth is only enhanced by the early morning sun.

However, I can only see what it represents. I don't think that this will ever look pleasing to me. This tree is dead as a result of Mountain Pine Beetle damage. This bark beetle is native to North America from Mexico to Canada. The beetles bore into the tree for food and egg laying. This usually results in the death of the tree.

The current epidemic is much bigger than epidemics in the past, and effects millions of acres of trees western North America. The severness of this outbreak is believed to be caused by a number of factors, such as: recent droughts weakening trees, a series warm winters, past fire control strategies.

During our recent vacation, we spent some time in Steamboat Springs. I was appalled at how bad it had become. I was last in the Steamboat Springs area about 2 yrs ago. The difference between then and now is astounding and very depressing.

All I could think about was the loss of beauty and wildlife habitat, the future fires feed by all the dead wood, the erosion, etc.

While it’s not good, it’s not all bad. While in Kremmling, Co, we talked to the lady at the Visitor's Center. She says it’s a mixed bag - the death of all those trees is providing a lot of employment. There are a lot of dead trees that if left standing could be very dangerous. Besides providing fuel for fires, there is also danger from the trees falling. There are many campgrounds, picnic grounds and even forest roads that are becoming increasingly dangerous due to the threat of falling trees. Many people are finding employment logging these dead trees.

Additionally, the pine beetles leave behind a blue fungus that stains the wood. There are some that consider it beautiful. I've seen decorative items carved from it as well as furniture, paneling and cabinets. I think that it's better to use the already dead wood rather than cutting down new trees. However, apparently the market for beetle-killed wood is rather small.

Another use for the dead wood is as a source for creating cellulosic ethanol. According to the Rocky Mountain News, a Canadian company plans to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Colorado, which would convert beetle-kill, among other wood waste, into ethanol fuel.

But more than that, the death of these trees open up eco-zones for other plants (aspens, wildflowers, and grasses) and animals (deer, elk, etc).

I don’t think that these thing make up for the death of many millions of trees. It is simply an attempt to make lemonade. It does however, leave me wondering “What can I do”?

That’s my world this Tuesday. Be sure to visits other worlds at My World Tuesday.

Devil's Head

Today, I'm trying something a little different. I've been restricting myself to showing, at most, a single picture a day. Today, I’ll post a little series.

On Saturday I went to Roxborough State Park to catch a sunrise shot. I got a few, and by 7:00AM I was done. Instead of driving home via the Interstate, I took the Rampart Range road – a 60-mile gravel road from the town of Sedalia to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Along the way, I stopped at the Devil’s Head trail. The trail is about 1.4 miles climbing up about 950ft to the historic Devil’s Head Lookout Tower. It was built in 1921 and is the last remaining of 11 original Front Range lookout towers.

Once you reach the cabin where the ranger stays, you can climb up the 143 steps to get the lookout. The tower is a small glass-enclosed building with lots of lightning protection. I’d love to ride out a storm up there – what a sight that would be!

From the top, you have a great 360 degree view. According to the USDA National Forest site, one can see mountain peaks over 100 miles on a clear day.

If you're ever in the area, it’s a great hike with an interesting destination. But, bring water!

I’ll share some of the other photos in a future post.

That’s My World! Go to My World Tuesday for more.

Tremuloides

These trees are Populus tremuloides, also known as Quaking Aspen. Aspens are a favorite tree to me. Growing up in deserts of New Mexico, aspens have always represented being in the mountains. Now I live in a place where I have aspens in the yard of my house!

Aspens are really interesting. In the dry western US, aspens propagate mainly by clonal root suckers. That is, new trees pop up from the root system of existing trees. That means that the forest pictured here may be made up of clones from a single tree. Go to wikipedia to read about Pando, a truly huge clonal colony.

The photo was taken during my recent trip to Crested Butte, near Ruby peak along the Kebler pass trail.

T is for Tremuloides. Click over to ABC Wednesday for more T-theme photos.

Mind's Eye

I've been "stalking" this tree for awhile. It lives in Ute Valley Park near where I live. I've photographed the tree many times in different weather and lighting conditions. I'm still waiting for the perfect combination of lighting (sunrise) and weather (partial clouds) and/or the moon. This combination is fairly rare. I got the sunrise on this one, but no clouds.

There are a few other scenes that I repeatedly shoot. In my mind's eye, I can see an image. But, I've been unable to fulfill that image with the camera. Yet...

Keep shooting!

Be sure to visit Thursday Challenge where the theme to day is "TREES" (Leaves, Branches, Bush, Forest, Pinecone, Seeds,...)

Narrow Margin

Yesterday I awoke very early to capture some sunrise shots. Rather stupidly on my part, I didn't check the weather report when I made these plans. The morning turned out very cloudy, misty and, ultimately, rainy.

My buddy and I threw our plans away and headed for Red Rock Canyon open space here in Colorado Springs. That's right, yet another Red Rock Canyon. I got very few photos worth keeping, but we had a great morning of hiking.

It's been a few years since I've visited this park. I'm now really eager to return as I saw lots of potentially interesting shots.

Hike over to Scenic Sunday for some other great scenes.

Sunset Red Granite

This is my first entry in the Thursday Challenge. This weeks theme is "BUILDING" (House, Hut, Tent, Skyscraper, Green House,...).

In Texas, they brag that The State of Texas capitol building is largest state capital building in the US - everything is bigger in Texas!

This Italian Renaissance Revival building was opened to the public April 21st, 1888. The building is constructed with "Sunset Red" granite quarried from Marble Falls, TX.

Click here to see a photo of the dome from inside.

Yuba City Christmas

Kelly and I spent xmas in Yuba City with her family. This picture is of a Mandarin Orange from the tree in their front yard. Very tasty oranges!

Click on the orange to see some family pictures that I took while there (ask me for the password if you need it).

Keep checking back - I've got lots of pictures still to process from the last few weeks...

Fall Colors

I got a chance to go on my first photo drive in Colorado! The aspens are changing colors and there traces of snow on Pike's Peak. Click on the photo to see a few other pictures.

Muir Woods

I visited Muir Woods yesterday for a bit of sight seeing and hiking.  I wore my flip-flops while driving there and planned to change into hiking shoes.  However, I forgot my socks!  I did the hiking anyway.  I wouldn't recommend it - my feet were not happy after a day of hiking.

The Muir Woods are a very challenging place to shoot pictures at.  The contrast is very high, the ground is cluttered, its a very chaotic environment.  I found that the best shots used silhouettes.  Here's one example.  It's not purely silhouette-y, but close.  I think it gives a good sense of how dense this grove of young redwoods is.

Whispy Clouds

Around lunch time at work, I happened to look outside and see some really cool clouds (cirrus?) in the sky. At this time of the year in Folsom, the skys are usually cloud-free (or as I think of it, "cloud-poor").

Luckily, I took my camera to work with me, so I hopped on down to a nearby park to do some shooting.

Normally, I wouldn't bother at this time of the day, because the sunlight is so harsh, but those clouds.

Here's the result.

Three Oaks

While walking this evening, along the American River near the Old Fair Oaks bridge, I came across these three oaks growing on a cliff on the far bank.

There was a group of people jumping off the bridge into the river while another group on the bank near by banged on their drums (bongos, that is).  Lively area.

Sunset thru Oaks

We had another smoky day here in Folsom - bodes well for a nice sunset. I went walking around for a few hours to find a good spot to shoot the promised sunset. Here's what I found.

Time to dig out the stickers.