Black bear about to scratch himself near Hospital Rock picnic area, Sequoia National Park

On one of our trips into Sequoia National Park from its southern entrance, we turned off at the Hospital Rock picnic area on the way to the Giant Forest. As we pulled in, we noticed a large dark creature rambling through the area. This bear didn't seem to be in any hurry to get anywhere at all. It moved slowly through the area, taking its time sniffing around and scratching at the ground. At this point in its rambling, it had an itch to scratch, so its started to roll back onto its left rear leg in order to free up its right rear leg for the scratching. Understandably, the bear took little notice of our presence.

The camera I used for this image was a Konica Minolta DiMage Z6, set at 1/60 sec, ISO 200, f5.0, focal length 420 mm (35mm film equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Fireweed blooming at Teton Pass, Wyoming

Fireweed blooming at Teton Pass at the southern end of the Teton Range in Wyoming and Idaho.  Fireweed gets its name from the fact that it tends to be one of the first plants to come back into a burned area after a fire.  It has an interesting habit of starting to bloom at the bottom of the flower cluster and working upward.  This photo shows blooming flowers at the bottom while buds are waiting to bloom on top.

Teton Pass is at an elevation of 8,432' and is near the border between Wyoming and Idaho.  The nearest large town is Jackson, Wyoming  near the southern end of the mountain valley called Jackson Hole.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Canada goose at Woodward Park, Fresno, California, posing for the camera

Rick was out biking today and passed through part of Woodward Park, by the waterfowl refuge. There was a large flock of Canada geese seemingly expecting to be fed and it gave him an opportunity to get this close-up. The difficult part was capturing an image that only had one goose in it. Geese are something like the cattle of the bird world. Even if they'll take bread from park visitors, they mainly graze on grass. Rick runs to Woodward Park regularly and on one of those times that he was there, he watched several Canada geese swallowing whole acorns from under an oak tree.

The close-up was equivalent to a 1245 mm telephoto lens with 35mm film camera. The lens aperture was fully stopped down (which is f/8 for this paricular camera), ISO 100, and the shutter speed was 1/400.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Hinkey Summit Arch, Humboldt/Toiyabe National Forest, north of Winnemucca, Nevada

 This is a natural arch formed in granite.  It is located in the Santa Rose Range of the Humboldt/Toiyabe National Forest north of Winnemucca, Nevada.  According to the late Robert Vreeland, a geologist who cataloged many of the natural rock spans of the United States, this is a young, cave-type arch.  It has a span of 20 feet, a height of 15 feet, a thickness of 40 feet, and a width of 15 feet.  The top of the arch is over 8000 feet in elevation.

Natural rock spans are a particular interest of ours and we have traveled to many parks and wildlands looking for them.  Although this arch doesn't have an official name, we would like to call it the Hinkey Summit Arch, after the nearest named feature.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Cascade Creek Falls, lower end of Yosemite Valley, below the junction with Tamarack Creek

The waters of Cascade Creek and Tamarack Creek, in Yosemite, meet after flowing down the mountainside then falling over the brink at Cascade Creek Falls before ending up in the Merced River. You can drive into Yosemite Valley, from the Merced direction, and park near the base of these falls and hike over to them. This view, however, is from an area above the Tunnel View and involves hiking down a long slope of granite to a drop-off where you can see these falls from above. A little closer to the edge and you can see the road, as well, but we didn't want to include it in this image. Above the falls are 2 bridges that pass over Cascade Creek and Tamarack Creek. This road leads over to Highway 120, which is the most direct drive westward to San Francisco. Or, you can drive eastward on Highway 120 over the Sierra crest at Tioga Pass to Mono Lake.

This image was taken during the spring of 2004 when the water was running high.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Sticky Geranium with a wasp on the petal

A wasp in a Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum) blossom in Granite Canyon, Grand Teton National Park.  We photographed this flower with insect while on a 3-day backpacking trip from Teton Village in the southern end of the Teton Range and came out at Jenny Lake around the middle part of the range.

This shot was taken with the macro settings on the camera and fortunately there was no wind to cause blurring.

Remember, it's not just a photograph, it's a story.

Norris Geyser Basin panoramic image

The Norris Geyser Basin area, in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from a hillside at the southeast side of the basin looking northwestly over geysers and fumaroles. Of the many geyser basins in Yellowstone, Norris is the hottest. This northern part of the Norris Geyser Basin is called Porcelain Basin and the feature below us is Porcelain Springs. The colors in the hot streams come from different species of bacteria that can survive in high temperatures. Living things that can live in high temperatures are called extremophiles, and have been of great interest to biologists.

This image is the result of combining 2 images together and is at a 3:1 ratio. If ordering prints, make sure to keep that ratio in mind.

While we were hiking the trails around the Norris Geyser Basin, a couple of people wanted to have their picture taken with us, just because we're twins. So we accommodated them. Made us feel like celebrities.

It's not just a picture, it's a story!

Pronghorn antelope on a hillside in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park

This pronghorn antelope doe had just run across the road in front of some stopped cars and she settled on this hillside where she and her fawn could be safe and have a good view of the area. The horn of the pronghorn has a bony center and a sheath made of material like the horn of a bison, but it sheds this seasonally and grows new ones each year. A buck soon followed them in a great hurry to get across the road and join them. Rick managed to get some video of the buck while he was making his dash to the road. These are the fastest land mammals in North America. As soon as they were all on the hillside, they seemed to feel safe enough to settle in and hang around where we could see them. The sun was also getting low in the sky when we were driving through the Lamar Valley, which gave the hill a yellowish glow.

One of the best things about Yellowstone is seeing all the large- and medium-sized mammals all  in one place. Soon after taking this picture, we continued on our way and saw a red fox cross the road in front of us, but didn't have time to stop and get its picture. Then we joined people who had seen wolves earlier in the day. Yellowstone and other National Parks are sometimes referred to as America's best idea, we couldn't agree more!

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Black-tailed deer face, with antlers in velvet

This black-tailed deer was trying to get a good meal of grass seeds while numerous cars full of people were stopping to watch him in Yellowstone National Park. Deer and other related animals, like elk and moose, grow new antlers every year. During the time the antlers are growing, they're covered in a fuzzy skin called velvet. When the antlers are done growing, the velvet dies and the deer will sometines be seen rubbing its antlers against trees or shrubs to get the velvet to come off. The velvet might hang on in long strips and you can sometimes see blood on the antlers where the velvet still had a good blood supply. After the breeding season, the antlers will fall off from the base and the male deer will be antlerless until the next spring into summer, when the process starts over again. Female deer don't grow antlers, but the related caribou do have antlers for both sexes.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Bison enjoying lip-smacking good plants

This bison was part of a large herd right along the park road in the Lamar Valley of northeastern Yellowstone National Park.  During our visit in early August 2015 we saw herds of bison almost everywhere around the Hayden and Lamar Valleys, where they traditionally hang out, but in numbers much higher than we remember seeing before.  Bison are much larger in their forequarters than in their hindquarters partially as an adaptation to having to bulldoze through snow to get to forage in the winter.  The herds we saw had a wide range of ages from massive old bulls to young calves born this year.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Marmot from Grand Teton mountain range, Yellow-bellied Marmot (ground hog of the mountains)

The Yellow-bellied Marmot lives at higher elevations in the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and other mountain ranges. It's a large rodent related to the ground hog that lives in burrows among boulder fields. We saw this one during a backpacking trip along the Teton Crest Trail on the Death Canyon Shelf after crossing over the Fox Creek Pass. It didn't seem to mind our presence at all and we were able to get this shot from a distance that didn't cause it any concern about our intentions. There had been thunderstorm activity on this day and it seemed the marmot was trying to warm up on the rock.

The Teton Range in particular has a high incidence of melanism among the yellow-bellied marmot population. Melanism is a condition where the animal's skin and fur has a lot of pigment and appears all black. It's the opposite of albanism, in which an animal has no pigment and appears all white. We did see a melanistic yellow-bellied marmot on this day. It's shown below for comparison. On previous trips, we've seen a regular colored yellow-bellied marmot and a melanistic one playing with each other near their burrow entrance.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

A mule deer buck with antlers in velvet.  Antlered animals grow new antlers every year and require a layer of skin called velvet to nourish the antlers as they grow.  By the end of summer the velvet dies off exposing the antlers for the mating season.

This buck was next to the road in Yellowstone National Park.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Moose at Moose in Grand Teton National Park

This bull moose was foraging in the Snake River near Moose Village in Grand Teton National Park.  Seems like an appropriate place for them...either that an appropriate name for the place.  Visitors frequently see moose in riverside forests and wetlands throughout the park.  This bull moose and a second one were visible from the bridge that crosses over the Snake River at Moose and were leading to quite a traffic jam as visitors stopped to hike over to see the moose among the willows.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Lone Star Geyser, Yellowstone backcountry, double rainbow

A double rainbow in the mist of the Lone Star Geyser in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park.  A three-mile hiking/biking path leads to this geyser.  When we watched this eruption, only five other people watched it with us.  Contrast that with watching an Old Faithful Geyser eruption with perhaps hundreds of people.

This geyser's cone is listed in "The Geysers of Yellowstone" as being over 9 feet tall making it one of the largest cones in the park.  An eruption occurs about every 3 hours and is typically 30 to 40 feet high and can last more than 10 minutes.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

A view of the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park.  These are the most visited of Death Valley's sand dunes since they're right next to the highway connecting Stovepipe Wells Village with the park's headquarters at Furnace Creek.

Death Valley is the lowest, hottest, and driest place in America.  These sand dunes are right about at sea level.  Two people are standing on the highest peak of the dunes in the upper right.

Remember.  It's not just a picture, it's a story.

California thunderstorm, lightning and a palm tree

During a thunderstorm in California on July 18th, 2015, Rick stepped out to his backyard and set up his camera on a tripod and set the exposure for 30 seconds, ISO 100, f8, 18 mm wide angle. Halfway through the first exposure, this lightning bolt sparked through the sky leaving a tracing that appears rounded and centered around a certain point in the sky. It also seemed to highlight the silhouette of the palm tree on the right edge of the frame. Rick continued trying more exposures after this first one, but none of the others turned out as "shocking-ly" good.

This image has been cropped to a 5x7 or 10x14 format.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Folded downingia at the Jepson Prairie Preserve, south of Dixon, CA

Folded downingia (Downingia ornatissima) is a flower in the bluebell family that grows in vernal pools in the Great Central Valley of California.  This specimen was blooming in the Jepson Prairie Preserve south of Dixon, California.  The wildflower gets its common name of "folded" from the appearance of the two upper petals.

We've been fascinated by the special flowers that grow in California's vernal pools ever since we were first introduced to them on field trips in college in the late 1970s.  Vernal pools are a highly threatened form of seasonal wetlands.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Yosemite Falls by moonlight, reflected in Cook Meadow's pool, with the Big Dipper above

This image was taken in June 2011,  when there was still a large pool in Cook Meadow. We tried to get pictures of the moonbow in Yosemite Falls, the lower end, then moved back farther, to the Sentinel parking area, to see if the upper falls showed a moonbow, as well. After getting out of the car, Rick noticed that Yosemite Falls was being reflected in the pool. After spending some more time examining the scene, he noticed that the Big Dipper was just above the falls, as well. This image is the result of 3 images being merged seamlessly together, was lit by moonlight and each image was taken for 30 seconds. You can see the reflection and a little of the bottom of the pool at the same time. It has been cropped to an 11x17 ratio.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Vernal Falls in Yosemite with a double rainbow

Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park with a double rainbow in the mist.  This was in early June with California in its fourth year of drought, but fortunately there was enough water flow to create the mist that causes the rainbows to appear.  This view is from the aptly-named Mist Trail. While I positioned myself to get the photos of the double rainbow, Rick stepped farther back on the trail and got a photo with the rainbow beside me.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Arch Rock near campground, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Valley of Fire State Park in southern Nevada is a geologists' and photographers' dream.  Among the red sandstone formations are a number of natural arches, including this one called Arch Rock near the park's campground.  In fact, this arch can be seen from the Campground Road at a parking area between the park's two camping units a short distance past the turnoff for Atlatl Rock.  This is not the view you'll get of the arch from the parking area, however.  Bob climbed up to and through the arch and turned around to get this view of it.

And here's a photo of Bob standing under the arch and touching the underside with his tripod to give you an idea of how big it is.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Tricolor Monkeyflower from the Vina Plains Preserve near Chico, CA

This tricolor monkeyflower (Mimulus tricolor) grows in seasonal wetlands called vernal pools.  This particular specimen was blooming in a vernal pool in the Vina Plains Preserve of the Nature Conservancy near Chico, California in the northern Sacramento Valley.  We were introduced to vernal pools while we were in college and have had a keen interest in them ever since.  They are unique to California and have been greatly impacted by agricultural and urban development.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Upper Graveyard Lake reflection, High Sierra, John Muir Wilderness

This photo shows the upper Graveyard Lake with the surrounding ridge reflected in its still water. Rick explored this area during a backpacking trip to the John Muir Wilderness in California's High Sierra mountain range. He camped at the lower Graveyard Lake the first night and hiked to this lake the next day. The wind was surprisingly calm in the late morning when this image was taken. The area gets the name of Graveyard Lakes and Graveyard Meadow farther down-slope because all the granite boulders that were left behind when the glaciers retreated after the last Ice Age, that the area seems to be filled with "tombstones".

Rick took this image as a vertical in an attempt to get the top of the ridge and its reflection in the water.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Snow plant in bloom in the Sierra, south of Yosemite

The snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), grows throughout the Sierra Nevada and into the Cascade mountain ranges. Unlike other flowering plants, it grows from digested organic material in the soil, similar to a mushroom, and doesn't make its own food as green plants do. The flowers can emerge while there is still snow on the ground, thus the common name. The species name, sanguinea, refers to its blood-red color. It's in the heath family, which includes cranberries and blueberries, but it is not edible.

These snow plants were blooming south of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra National Forest. We were out looking for plants in the spring of 2013 and found these excellent specimens.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Lassen National Park's Cinder Cone in the morning, from the north-east

During the time of the Reading Fire, in August, 2012, we approached the Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park's largest cinder cone. We thought we'd try to get a view of Mount Lassen from the top of the cinder cone by looking westward from it's summit. But because of the fire, there was too much smoke in that direction, so we only hiked half-way up before turning around. We had taken pictures of the Cinder Cone as we hiked toward it and as we headed away from it. After we got back to camp, we looked over the images and realized that this feature was dramatic by itself.

This image was made by merging 3 images together and then cropped to a 2 to 1 ratio. It would work well as a 20" by 10" picture.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Redwood Sorrel in bloom in in the Sinkyone Wilderness

During a trip to the Redwood Coast of California in August, 2014, the Redwood Sorrel flowers were in bloom. You sometimes see another type of sorrel growing in people's yards which you can recognize by the leaves, but this one is a wild species native to California. It grows in shady places under the big trees and up the coast into Washington state. This flower has 5 petals with purple veins and 10 stamens. Plants in the sorrel family, including Oxalis, have sour sap.

This Redwood Sorrel was blooming in the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. We saw it during an overnight backpack trip where we camped near a beach. This part of California's coastline is the most remote coast in the state, even though the area used to have a large lumber operation that ceased operating many decades ago. 

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Point Bonita Lighthouse at sunset, San Francisco, CA

Two views of the Point Bonita Lighthouse at sunset.  This lighthouse is in one of many units in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in and around the San Francisco Bay area.  This historic lighthouse is perched on a sea stack at the entrance to the Golden Gate and is still in operation.  It requires a hike through a tunnel and over a bridge that looks like a miniature version of the Golden Gate Bridge to get to.  These images show the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean and its light glinting in the lens of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse is only open to visitors this late in the day during Sunset/Full Moon guided tours given by the National Park Service.

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Coyote near Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park in winter

On one of our many cross country ski trips along the Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park, we camped near Sentinel Dome late at night and didn't awaken until late the next morning.  As we were lying in our tent, we heard an animal trotting through the snow around us.  We looked outside and saw this coyote approach us as though he was expecting us to give him a handout.  Eventually he moved in closer and laid down in the snow and waited to see what we would do.  He was only about ten feet away.  While he waited, a second coyote bounded in and the two of them chased each other around until they both ran off.

 Actually we were a little concerned that the coyote might run off with a piece of our gear.  The night before as we were skiing in we encountered a couple of skiers heading out at about 3 A.M.  They told us that they had encountered a coyote a couple of hours earlier when they had stopped for a rest break.  The coyote was trying to get some food from them and they responded by throwing snowballs at him to shoo him away.  Eventually the coyote gave up, but not before grabbing one of their ski poles and running off with it.  The two skiers who told us this story asked us to keep an eye out for their friend who was trailing behind them.  As we continued skiing in, we encountered the other skier, who was using a roadside marker as a not-very-effective replacement ski pole, about twenty minutes later.  We let him know how far behind his friends he was and he thanked us and then said that he would do that coyote in, if he ever caught him.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Salt Creek pupfish, an endangered species in Death Valley National Park, Spring 2012

During the spring, the endangered Salt Creek pupfish males set up territories in Salt Creek as if flows from a spring south to the below sea level section of Death Valley National Park. The pupfish are considered the remnants of fish that once inhabited Lake Manly which filled what is now Death Valley during the last ice age. As the water level receded as the ice age ended, the water became saltier and now only a few springs persist and provide the only habitat for this species. Besides the saltiness, this creek experiences flash floods, nearly drying out, and temperatures from near freezing to over 40°C. (104°F.)

This image was taken by hiking along the boardwalk of the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail, a short turnoff from Highway 190, between Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek, the two main developed areas within Death Valley. Rick got down on his belly and waited for a male to swim near the shore to get this shot. You can tell it's a male because of how colorful the front is and by the bluish dorsal fin. Females are better camoflouged and blend in with the grainy creek bottom.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Bull elk in velvet along the trail in the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, California. 2014-08-08

We encountered this bull elk along the trail in the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, California, while heading back to the trailhead during a backpacking trip. In early August, the elk's antlers would still be growing with the furry-skinned velvet covering them as they're growing. Later, when the antlers are finished growing, the velvet will die and slough off. Sometimes, the elk will get an itchy feeling from the whithering velvet and feel the need to rub the antlers against a tree or shrub to get the velvet to come off faster.

This particular elk didn't seem to have any problem with our presence and was actually lying down when we first came across him. Another bull elk headed downslope off the trail at a leisurely pace and got his antlers caught in grape vines.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!