Beauty Pool, in Yellowstone, sure is a beauty

Beauty Pool, in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin, reflects the sky in this wide angle image taken July 31, 2019. You can get to it by starting out from the the Old Faithful area and hiking along the boardwalk on the east side of the Firehole River. It's just north of Grand Geyser, another feature worth watching. Beauty Pool is connected to the nearby feature called Chromatic Spring. When one of these features has their water rise and overflow, the water level in the other decreases. This back-and-forth between the two can take weeks or even years.

We were lucky to have no wind despite the cloudy conditions, so the reflection of the clouds turned out as we hoped. To fit the whole pool in the image, we used a wide-angle lens on a smartphone. It's capable of capturing images of 180º and 360º. This image was captured with 180º setting and edited for levels, local contrast, and sharpened.

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

Arch Rock in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada at night

This is Arch Rock in Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, taken at night.  We posted a photo of the "backside" of this arch in a recent post, also a night shot.  This photo is from the road side of the arch.

Bob took this photo with a 30 second exposure, while Rick used a military grade flashlight to "paint" the arch and its surrounding formation.  The f/stop was 16 and the ISO was set at 3200.

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

Hidden Arch, aka Goulding Arch, the arch in Monument Valley near the campground

We traveled through southern Utah and northern Arizona in April 2017. We lucked into a campsite in Monument Valley and the lady doing the check in for us mentioned a hidden arch. After we asked for more information about it, she told us that it's actually called Hidden Arch and is a short hike from the campground, but can't be seen from the campground. So the next morning we went to see and photograph it.

We hiked through the arch from the campground side and are looking back in the direction of the campground for this image. This image was made from three separate images and combined in the computer to create a more detailed final image. These images were taken with a Sony camcorder that can also be used to take 20 megapixel still images. The final result is about 46 megapixels. Taken at 1/60 sec, f/4, 6.2 mm, ISO unknown.

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

The Windows, Arches National Park features

These two arches in Arches National Park, are combined as one feature called The Windows. They can be seen from a long way off, but you can also park and walk under them. You can see a small group under the left arch. Both arches are rounded and look like eyes. From this perspective, though, the left "eye" has a rock feature beyond it that fills in its left side. From further back and to the left, there is a spot where you can see both eyes clear and filled with sky. In some places, you can see signs of boulders having fallen from the underside of the arch. Makes you wonder about your safety sometimes!

Another thing this feature looks like is a sea turtle.  The arcs of rock enclosing the Windows can be thought of as flippers while the rock mound between them looks like the head.

ISO 100, f6.7, 1/180 sec were the settings.

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

Delicate Arch at the rim of a red sandstone amphitheater, Arches National Park

The world-famous Delicate Arch, in Arches National Park, formed on the rim of a red sandstone amphitheater where swirling winds carried sand to scour the formation into existence. It was windy on the day we visited the feature, along with as many as one hundred other people. The other side of the arch is a small ledge and then a steep cliff. It's rather steep all around the bowl-shaped area, but we were able to position ourselves at the opposite side and get distant shots that the usual photographer might not.

The snow-capped La Sal Mountains are in the background to the right.

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

The Maze in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, east of San Diego, California

This feature is called "The Maze" and is within the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California, east of San Diego. In some places, you have to turn sideways to get through. The last time I went through it, we encountered a couple of men racing up through the maze with their GPS units recording their hike. We had to pull over to one of the small pockets on the side to let them pass. We had parked near the upper end, where these hikers parked at the lower end and hiked up. We didn't make it all the way to the bottom since we had other places we wanted to see that day, so we turned around soon after encountering the other hikers.

This picture was taken at ISO 400, 18mm focal length, f3.5 and 1/60 second, vertically to emphasize how steep this feature really is.

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

Lexington Arch in the south end of Great Basin National Park in Nevada

Lexington Arch is a limestone arch in the southern part of Great Basin National Park in Nevada.  To get here you have to drive on dirt roads and then hike about a mile and a half on a rugged trail.  The fact that this arch is composed of limestone is very noteworthy, since most of the arches in the West occur in sandstone.  The fact that this rock span occurs in limestone may mean that it was once part of a cave that has eroded away.  Or it may be that the stream that carved Lexington Canyon carved this span when the canyon was much shallower, in which case this arch would actually be a natural bridge.

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

Half Dome at sunset in Yosemite Valley

Sunset at Yosemite Valley with the magnificent Half Dome as the main subject. There's North Dome at the left in this view. We've posted a photo of Half Dome as seen from the top of North Dome in an earlier section of our blog. We've been to the top of Half Dome three times, and Rick has been to the top of North Dome twice. One thing about the angle that Half Dome's face has in relation to the sun is that it is very often in shadow in the morning and isn't fully lit until the afternoon. There are now people hiking to the top of Half Dome at all hours of the day. We've met people started their hike to the top of Half Dome late at night because they wanted to witness the sunrise from the top the next morning.

Camera settings were 1/125 sec. f/5.6, ISO 100, 32 mm focal length.

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

Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs with hot water spilling over the edge of the terrace

View of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park from the trail with hot water flowing from underground and spilling over the edge of a terrace that's constantly building up from the minerals, calcium carbonate, the water deposits. Steam rises from the water as it emerges from underground. The minerals form where the stream of water drips down, leaving an "icicle" of minerals. A couple of the chunks of mineral having broken off in the past and you can see the "icicles" point upward near the left-center of the screen. Another chunk is lying on its side with orange bacterial growth at the center.

This feature is in a state constant, gradual change and can engulf trees, and even parts of the terrace that are older, or the flow can shift and leave a section of the terrace dry and subject to erosion. This picture was taken with an ISO of 100, f/8, and 1/800 sec. The shutter speed helped to capture the drops of water spilling over the edge of the upper terrace.

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

Telephone Arch in Telephone Canyon, Death Valley National Park

In one of Death Valley's many canyons is a natural arch. This canyon requires some driving on a dirt road to get to its mouth, then you can hike about 1/3 of a mile to see the arch. The canyon itself once had a telephone line and a road running through it, but time has obliterated most signs of them. This line gave the canyon its name of Telephone Canyon.  To us, this arch, appropriately enough, looks like an old style telephone.

The feature runs roughly north-south, so the western face is lit up during the afternoon, when this image was taken. The opening is roughly 15 feet tall (about 4.5 meters). There is a spring uphill of the arch but it appears to have dried up. The image was taken with ISO 50, 1/200 sec., f8, 6mm (35 mm equivalent).

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

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park wind-caused rippling pattern

Death Valley National Park has 5 different sand dunes within its borders, including California's largest in Eureka Valley. The easiest dunes to reach are the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes because they're right next to the main road through the park. These dunes were made famous by the 1970's TV series called Kung Fu, with David Carradine.

We got up early in the morning to get to the dunes before the crowds starting traipsing across it so that we could get undisturbed ripples in the sand. The wind blowing across the sand causes some grains to collide with other grains and knocking into the next crest.

Image taken at ISO 50, 1/40 sec., f8, 8mm (48 mm equivalent).

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

Death Valley's Telescope Peak reflected in Badwater Basin on a winter day

Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in the western hemisphere at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level. The name comes from this year-round spring where the water comes out salty and is not good to drink. It's located in Death Valley National Park in the state of California. Only 20 miles (32km) from Badwater Basin is Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet (3368 meters) elevation. During the winter it gets covered in snow along with much of the Panamint Mountains.

The geological explanation for the low elevation is the mountain ranges on either side of Death Valley, Panamint to the west and Amargosa to the east, are tilting up and away from the valley, leading to less support for the land in between, resulting in sinking. Death Valley is technically not a valley, because, geologically, valleys form by flowing water. Death Valley formed by the land subsiding. This type of geologic feature is given a German name "graben" pronounced like the bird "robin". But no one will campaigning to the Park Service to have the name of the park changed to "Death Graben."

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

A Mono Lake Tufa Tower "Pinching" the Moon

On our return from a trip to Death Valley, we camped south of Mono Lake, on the east side of the Sierra. Mono Lake is famous for its tufa towers, calcium carbonate structures that formed underwater, now exposed due to Los Angeles diverting 4 of the 5 fresh water streams that flow into the salty lake causing the lake level to drop. We were up early enough to get sunrise shots and while taking pictures of the tufa towers reflected in the water, we noticed that the moon was setting. Rick positioned himself near this tower that had two peaks that appeared to have a pinching action, so it would appear that the two peaks are pinching the moon between them.

The image was taken before 8 AM on March 27th, 2016 as the sun was rising to light the tower's east face and the moon was setting in the west. The camera settings were f22, 1/30 second, and ISO 100, with the camera set on a tripod and using the timer function to allow the camera to be still.

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

City of Rocks National Preserve in Idaho has the Window Arch, a rare granite arch

The City of Rocks is an out-of-the-way National Preserve in south-eastern Idaho where granite spires, domes, and loaves seem to pop out of the rolling plains. Historically, this area is famous for the pioneers on the California Trail heading west and having this landmark serve as a special stop along the way. Many of the pioneers signed their names on the granite rock using axle grease. This place is also famous with climbers for some of the clean granite rock that makes for excellent climbs. We climbed one of the easier climbs in the area before taking lots of pictures. Since granite rarely forms arches, we made a point of looking for this feature, Window Arch. It's right next to a parking area for camping off of the main road through the area. Window Arch appears to be on the verge of falling down. The horizontal pieces of the arch have split and are offset from each other. It looks like either or both sides could some day soon slide past the other and collapse. Granite might form arches when sheets of granite flake off in a process called exfoliation. If both sides of a dome-shaped granite rock flake off, there may be left behind the highest part of the dome or loaf left behind, thus making an arch.

This image was made by merging two images together to increase the amount of detail in the final image. Both images taken at ISO 100, f8.0, 1/180 sec. with a Canon Rebel xSi, with a focal length of 18 mm. Rick made a point of composing this image so that the sky and top of the tree would be clear of the underside of the arch.

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

Yosemite's Chilnualna Falls, near Wawona, viewed from 3 miles up the trail

This is Chilnualna Falls in Yosemite National Park, but not in the world-famous valley. South of Yosemite Valley is the historic area called Wawona. From the Wawona area, you can drive past an area called Redwood Cottages and reach the trailhead that leads to Chilnualna Falls. You can't see the tallest falls along Chilnualna Creek from Wawona because there's a big granite wall in the way. You have to hike up the trail about 3 miles before you can see it from the side, as in the photo above. Another mile up the trail, and you can stand at the brink of the falls. In about 4 miles of trail you gain about 2000 feet (about 700 meters) in elevation. This picture was taken in late spring after a wetter than average winter. During late summer, the water can be a bit warmer and the flow almost stopped. It was during a trip to the falls in August that Rick saw people soaking in the pools above the falls like hot tubs. There's even a pool right at the brink, so that people soaking in the "hot tub" can look over the edge and see the 240 foot drop right next to them. Backcountry camping is allowed beyond the falls.

As the water falls over the edge, it flows down along the granite wall, but also encounters pools along the way, causing the water to eject out away from the wall. You can see that effect in this photo. We also lucked into arriving at the right time of day to see the mist of Chilnualna Falls interact with sunlight to make a rainbow.

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

Minerva Terrace in Yellowstone NP, at Mammoth Hot Springs

Minerva Terrace is located at Mammoth Hot Springs, at the northern end of Yellowstone National Park.  This photo was taken in the mid-1980s and these terraces have changed over time so they no longer look like this.  Over the years, shifting water flows can cause some terraces to dry out and crumble and new terraces to form elsewhere.  This view is looking northward toward the Gardiner River Canyon where storm clouds threatened rain.

 This picture, taken during a previous trip, shows the terrace engulfing trees that used to grow on this hillside and are now dead and nearly buried.

This image, taken on the same trip as the one above, shows a sign placed on the terrace by the Park Service being gradually covered over by the minerals of the hot spring.

March 1st is Yellowstone National Park's anniversary.

Happy 144th Birthday Yellowstone!

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