Starting a Backpacking Trip Along Jenny Lake in Grand Teton

Bob is stopped along the trail to get a photo of Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. This image was taken with Rick's smartphone camera app's panorama feature. You can see the trail we came from to the left in the image and the direction we're going to the right. Also to the right is Grand Teton, Teewinot, and Mount Owen in the Teton Range. For this backpacking trip, we were heading up Cascade Canyon and coming down Paintbrush Canyon, where we spent the night in the lower camping zone. We parked at String Lake and hiked south toward Cascade Canyon, which made the first day a long day of hiking and second day, much shorter. The first day took even longer for us because we kept stopping to take pictures and to enjoy the thimbleberries and huckleberries.

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

Robinson Twins "twin selfie" at the Lewis River in southern Yellowstone, with Lewis Falls in the distance.

We entered Yellowstone from the south in August, 2015 and stopped at the Lewis River, where a bridge crosses over. In the distance, the highest waterfall on the river is Lewis Falls, south of Lewis Lake, from which the river drains. Lots of people stop here as essentially the first really scenic pull out along the road when coming in from the south. At least, it's the first waterfall you'll encounter when entering from the south end of the park.

Rick held his Canon PowerShot SX530 at the end of a selfie stick to take this picture. This camera is light enough that the selfie stick can hold it. This trip was the first time we decided to try getting what we call "twin selfies" with any camera. The picture was taken at ISO 200, f/8, 1/640 sec.

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!

Nearly full moon rising next to Half Dome, viewed from North Dome, July 11, 2014

After hiking about 4 and a half miles from Porcupine Flat to North Dome, I waited for the sun to set and the moon to rise. July 11th was the day before the full moon, so the scenery would still be lit by the sun, or at least still be bright, as the moon was rising. I had to reposition myself around North Dome until I saw the moon lined up the way I wanted it. I hoped to see the moon between Half Dome and the smaller high point to its left, called Sub Dome. Fortunately, that worked out. Then I hiked back out from 9PM to 11PM.

Getting the exposure on the moon and the landscape in the same image is very difficult. The moon at this phase is very bright, so a setting that properly exposes the landscape results in a washed-out moon. Properly exposing the moon results in a dark landscape with no detail. To solve this problem, you can take two images, one exposed for the landscape and the other exposed for the moon, then combine the moon from the one image into the washed-out moon in the other.

While atop North Dome, I decided to take a selfie with my smart phone as proof that I was there.

Richard Robinson standing on the highest point of North Dome with Half Dome over his shoulder.

The picture shown below is the bench mark for the highest point of North Dome, at 7531 feet elevation. On topographic maps, you'll see these labeled as BM and a plus sign or crosshair on the map, so that when you see this marker on the land and find that mark on the map, you know exactly where you are.

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

Yosemite Valley's upper end from Glacier Point, with Tenaya Canyon and the Merced River

This panoramic image is made up of 6 combined images. The view is from Glacier Point looking basically eastward into Tenaya Canyon, but also including scenes to the north and south. On the left side of the image is North Dome and Basket Dome. Below those features is a feature called the Royal Arches. Tenaya Creek flows through Tenaya Canyon, in some places you can tell where that stream is located. In the lower part of the image, you can see the Merced River flowing through Yosemite Valley. To the right of Tenaya Canyon is Half Dome and Clouds Rest. The canyon to the right, or south, of Half Dome is Little Yosemite Valley, within which you can see Nevada Falls, the upper one, and Vernal Falls, the lower one. We've been to Glacier Point in all seasons, including skiing out to it during the winter, but these images were captured in September of 2011. This image is best printed at a 2 to 1 ratio, such as 8x16 or 10x20, and so on.

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

Bryce Canyon in early Spring

Bryce Canyon, in southern Utah, is famous for having red rock features called hoodoos, pillars of rock sculpted by erosion. This image was the result of two images being merged and cropped at an 11x17 ratio. Rick was here in late March, so there was still quite a bit of snow around. During the summer, visitors have to take a shuttle bus to get to the various viewpoints, because of how crowded it can be on the road. There is only one road out and back in Bryce Canyon National Park. Trails lead from the rim down into the basins. The Kaibab Plateau makes the tree-covered, and snow-covered, horizon.

Bryce Canyon might not technically be a canyon, since that would require a stream flowing through it. It might be more accurate to refer to these features as ampitheaters, since they are more of a bowl shape. The many layers of sedimentary rock also show the much grander feature referred to as The Grand Staicase. Rocks in different layers with differing colors distinguish one step from another as erosion by water and wind reveals them over long periods of time.

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

Mariposa tulip in the Sierra Nevada, Kings Canyon National Park

The Mariposa tulip blooms in the Sierra Nevada. We found this one along the trail in Kings Canyon National Park, on our Rae Lakes Loop trip in 2012. The term "Mariposa" is Spanish for "butterfly". The characterisitcs of these plants is that they have 3 sepals, 3 petals, 6 stamens, and one three-lobed pistil. The Mariposa tulip is in the lily family. The dark dots at the base of each petal helps to guide the bees that pollinate the flower to their nectar reward. In this image, the flower also has the shadow of an unopened flower stem crosing over the upper petal.

For photos like this, it's a good idea to use a low f/stop setting and a faster shutter speed. For this image, the settings were f/6.7, 1/350 second. The lower depth of field allows the background to blur so that the clearest part of the image is the flower you want to show. The fast shutter speed helps to ensure a sharper image in case of any slight breezes making the flower move. The closer you get to your subject, the more noticeable any motion becomes in the final image. Using a telephoto setting for the lens, allows you to move farther away from the subject, so motion is less noticeable. Some photographers use tripods and clamps to hold the flower stem still, which is a good idea. But, in this case, we were backpacking along a trail trying to make sure we covered enough distance each day. When we got this photo, we still had our packs on and just tried to get a good shot with the conditions as they were.

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

Sentinel Point, in Yosemite National Park, at sunset.

Sentinel Point towers over the south rim of Yosemite Valley. Not as famous as other features, like El Capitan or Half Dome, it can still offer some spectacular views. This image was taken as the sun was setting and Rick was looking for Horsetail Falls to the west of El Capitan picnic area. After gazing westward at the falls, Rick looked east and was surprised to see the moon rising near Sentinel Point, which is the left-most point of rock in this photo. The image was taken in February as the setting sun reflects from El Capitan's east flank, which only happens in November and February, each year. Because this was in February, you can see some  patches of snow on the cliff.

So many people know about Horsetail Falls glowing red from the setting sun in February, that the Park Service has started closing off one lane for parking, so all the photographers can park and be close to the waterfall feature. We've tried several times to get Horsetail Falls lit up by the setting sun in February, but there are other features around Yosemite to keep an eye out for, so don't fixate on one thing to the exclusion of others.

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

Bridalveil Falls at sunset with the Cathedral Rocks above and the Leaning Tower above right.

In Yosemite, Bridalveil Falls appears above the trees at sunset. After seeing Yosemite Valley from the Tunnel View, many visitors stop at Bridalveil Falls and hike to the base. Especially in the spring, visitors can get thoroughly drenched by the spray. This makes taking photos near the falls a bit hazardous for the integrity of lenses and electronics.For much of the day, Bridalveil Falls is in shadow. It's only afternoon and evening that the cliff face gets direct light. The setting sun made a slight orange glow on the granite in this January photo.

The Cathedral Rocks above the falls were the first high points in Yosemite to be climbed by mountain climbers and are still popular. Also, climbers ascend the Leaning Tower to the upper right in this image. Together they remind me of something like a Stegosaurus's back with the rocks forming the bony plates, and then Bridalveil Creek flowing over its back before falling. This image was the result of 4 images merged together to capture more detail. It was taken with Rick's 6-megapixel Minolta camera that has since been replaced by a Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR.

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

Yosemite Falls, upper and lower, with a lunar rainbow, or moonbow, with stars.

The mist from Yosemite Falls can turn moonlight into a moonbow, or lunar rainbow, around the time of the full moon. It also depends on how much precipitation the area had during the winter and sping, since the misting water droplets coming off the falls is what separates the white light into the spectrum of colors. The moon-caused bow is dim enough that human eyes can't distinguish the colors. We have rods and cones in our eyes, cells that respond to light. The rods respond to brightness and don't detect color, but the cones do respond to color, but only if their light has enough intensity. Moonlight isn't usually intense enough to trigger the cones. When looking at this moonbow, we only saw an arc of ghostly white light, but the camera's time exposure, 30 seconds, does pick up the colors that our eyes can't see.

This perspective also includes the upper falls and stars so that it's easier to tell that it was taken at night. To get here, you have to be willing to do a little scrambling off of the paved path over granite that is sometimes slick, right up to the base of the cliffs, but it's well worth it. You also should bring along a dry cloth to wipe the droplets off of your lens, since it will get wet. Wearing rain gear to keep yourself dry and protected from the wind is a good idea, too. Waterfalls create their wind. The falling water drags air down with it. 

This image was two shots, lower and upper, then merged together to create one larger image. The two were taken on June 2, 2012. We tried again this year, 2013, but last year's results were better.

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

Multnomah Falls, Oregon's tallest waterfall.

Multnomah Falls is the highest waterfall in the state of Oregon. For the traveler, it is very convenient to see it since it's right next to a major road. You don't even have to get out of your car to see it, but, of course, you'll want to get closer. The bridge that crosses the creek was built in 1914. There's a trail to the top of the falls that Rick hiked and got the view from the brink looking down at the people on the bridge, the Multnomah Falls Lodge and the parking area where his car was parked. This part of the Columbia River Gorge has many other waterfalls along the road and even farther upstream from those, if you're willing to do some hiking.

Because the falls are on a north-facing cliff, it is always in shade. That creates a bit of a challenge for photographers to get the right degree of contrast and exposure to bring out the details. Northern Oregon and southern Washington often have cloudy weather as well, adding a little more to the degree of difficulty. This image is the composite of three images that were merged together to capture more of the detail of the scene. The camera Rick had in 2006 was a 6 megapixel Konica Minolta camera, so the three images minus the overlap from the merge process gets to about 14 megapixels. The merging process allows a photographer to make images that are much greater in image detail than a single image.

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

Half Dome and Pacific Dogwood flower

Around May each year the Pacific Dogwood trees bloom in Yosemite National Park.  This image is of Half Dome taken from Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite Valley.  Dogwoods were blooming in front of cottages that overlook this meadow, so Bob framed up the shot of Half Dome and then bent a branch of dogwood into the view. The dogwood flower is actually a composite of many smaller flowers combined at the center and large white "leaves" called bracts forming what look like petals around the outside of the central disk.

Bob took two still images with a high definition camcorder.  One shot was of Half Dome in focus with the dogwood flower blurred and the second one was a flash shot with the dogwood blossom in focus and Half Dome blurred.  We then combined those images to produce this final one with everything in focus. The results were better than expected. Because this image was taken with a relatively low resolution camera, we recommend anyone buying this image keep the size at 8x10 or smaller.

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

Manly Beacon viewed from the south showing its cliff face and the trail leading to Golden Canyon with 2 hikers.

This is Manly Beacon as it appears from the south along the Badlands Trail. This is the first time we hiked the Badlands Trail together, in 2007, and we were impressed by Manly Beacon. Usually this feature is seen from the side when standing at Zabriskie Point, which is to the east. From this perspective, you can clearly see the imposing cliff face and what's also impressive is that the trail to Golden Canyon passes below the cliff, as you can see 2 hikers on the exposed slope to the left in this image. The Red Cathedral feature lies beyond Manly Beacon, you can see part of it at the extreme left. In a way, this cliff face reminds us of Half Dome in Yosemite, except it's made of sedimentary rock instead of granite and isn't nearly as high. From this angle, the outline of Manly Beacon is somewhat similar to Half Dome's outline, when viewed straight on at its cliff face.

This image was made with Rick's 6 megapixel camera, which he has since replaced with a 12 megapixel camera. He took 4 images and merged them to get this final product.This was taken on a very bright day in December. The settings were ISO 50, f8.0, and 1/500sec shutter speed for all 4 images, to make combining them easier.

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

Sedona, Arizona's Red Rock Crossing

Sedona, Arizona is famous for its red rock formations. In 2006, we made a side trip to Sedona as part of our travels to see the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. This image was of Red Rock Crossing.  Oak Creek is in the foreground and Cathedral Rock towers in the background.  These formations show the erosional patterns of sandstone rock formations in a desert environment.  Red Rock Crossing looking at Cathedral Rock is the most photographed spot in Arizona.

This was our first time using a digital camera for most of the images we took during this trip, even though we still felt that film would yield better results.

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

Coyote posing for the camera in Death Valley National Park

While driving the many miles of roads in Death Valley National Park during a visit in 1993, Rick pulled off the road to double-check the map for his next destination. Along came a coyote probably expecting a hand-out, but when none was forthcoming, it started looking around at the terrain to decide where it wanted to go next. For this photo, Rick didn't even have to get out of the car, it was taken while he was still sitting in the driver's seat through the passenger window.

It always amazes us how hardy animals and plants can be in such harsh enviroments as Death Valley. During the summer, this coyote would probably only come out at night, but this image was taken in April, so he was out during the middle of the day. Unfortunately, these animals seem to have gotten accustomed to the idea of a stopped car meaning free food, but ironically it's how Rick was able to get such an easy photo of this one, even though we never feed wild animals..

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

Lower Yosemite Falls showing a rainbow from the mist

On a camping trip to Yosemite in March of 2010, we were seeking rainbows in the waterfalls and the nearly full moon rising next to Half Dome. It turned out to be a very successful trip. The moon rising next to Half Dome you can see in an earlier post. The morning of that same day, we hiked out to Yosemite Falls from Camp 4 and arrived just in time to see this prominent rainbow, or mistbow, in Lower Yosemite Falls.

Fortunately, there was no wind this morning, so the mist from the falls went straight out from the wall and across the cliff face where the mistbow made its appearance. We were closer to the falls than the bridge and down a little toward Yosemite Creek, so that our view could be looking up enough to include the sky in the image. This image is the result of 2 images being merged together. The bottom image included the rainbow, the second one included the sky and didn't include the rainbow at all. We didn't want to try merging two images with separate parts of the rainbow because it could've presented a greater challenge in making them fit together seamlessly. This image has been cropped into a square shape.

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

The Slot, narrow canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California. It's east of San Diego and is made up of many different sections with the town of Borrego Springs somewhat in the middle of  everything. One of the interesting natural features in the park is called The Slot. It's a very narrow canyon made up of dried mud, sand and gravel. In some places, you almost have to turn sideways or duck down to pass through. The drive to get to this feature involved a short segment of dirt road off of Highway 78. Once you get to the canyon, you have to hike to the upper end and carefully work your way down to the bottom on loose gravel and sand.

The day Rick was here, the sky was a bit cloudy with alternating sunshine throughout the day. The canyon generally runs east-west, so the afternoon sun lit up the vertical ridges of the canyon. While Rick was hiking the canyon, some GPS runners came up the canyon trying to mark the canyon with their GPS units so it could be accurately shown on the map. After they got beyond the narrowest part of the canyon to the wider section, they planned to turn around and head back down.

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

Half Dome and Clouds Rest in a winter alpenglow light from Washburn Point, Yosemite

We've traveled the Glacier Point Road during its winter closure more than 20 times on cross-country skis, sometimes even snow camping near a source of water along the way. The distance from Badger Pass ski area to Glacier Point is about 10.5 miles. We've done the whole 21 miles out and back several times, including the occasion when we got this shot of Half Dome as the sun was setting.

We spent some time in the valley before heading up to Badger Pass, so the skiing portion of our trip started a bit later than it should have. Bob doesn't get to Yosemite as often as Rick does, so on this trip, he insisted on skiing all the way to Glacier Point, even if it meant skiing out in the dark. During moonlit nights, the trip isn't that bad, since you're skiing along a road and the snow makes the moonlight much brighter. We reached Glacier Point while there was still daylight. On the way back, we were passing Washburn Point and were struck by the overarching pink glow of the sky by the low sun. During the summer, you can park at Washburn Point and get a view of Half Dome, Clouds Rest, Vernal and Nevada Falls, and part of Tenaya Canyon and Yosemite Valley. For this image, we used the trees to frame Half Dome and Clouds Rest.

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

Sunset over Southern Idaho volcanic butte

Sunset at one of southern Idaho's volcanic buttes, probably Middle Butte, as seen from Highways 20 and 26.  Southern Idaho's Snake River Plain is an area of fairly recent volcanic activity, including the Craters of the Moon National Monument, which we have visited many times.  The scene in this photo is east of the monument between the town of Arco and the city of Idaho Falls.

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

Yosemite's winter landscape from the "real" Tunnel View

Maybe this could be called "The Real Tunnel View" of Yosemite Valley.

Many visitors to Yosemite Valley arrive by driving Highway 41 through the south entrance and pass through the famous Wawona Tunnel. In February of 2011, we went skiing at the Badger Pass ski area and the Glacier Point Road. After skiing, we paid a visit to the valley and were immediately struck (not physically... mentally) by the icycles hanging from the rim of the tunnel. So we pulled off into the Tunnel View parking area, and, when traffic permitted, we walked back into the tunnel to fire off several photos of the view of the valley with the end of the tunnel and its icycles included in the images. To the left is El Capitan, with icycles pointing down at it. To the right are the Cathedral Rocks, with another icycles marking the high point, sort of. Just left of center is Half Dome and Clouds Rest, which, true to its name, very often has clouds enveloping it, as is the case here.

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