Le Trois Teton - Grand, Middle, and South Teton as seen from Hurricane Pass, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

In Grand Teton National Park, most visitors view the Teton Range from the east and look westward. In 1999, Bob and Rick backpacked nearly the length of the Teton Range on the west side. Along the way, we viewed the highest of the Teton Range: Grand, Middle, and South Teton to our east. Along this route, we crossed over Hurricane Pass in the afternoon and had the range illuminated from the west as we looked eastward.This trip took 5 days and we covered around 55 miles, ending at the Jackson Hole Resort and taking the tram down to the valley.

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!

Wind Caves at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Looking almost like housing from The Jetsons, the Wind Caves in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California, are found above the Fish Creek Wash where wind-blown sands hit exposed sandstone and create alcoves and arches. To get this image, we drove into the wash from a primitive campsite we stayed at the night before, then hiked up the slope to get a closer like at this feature. This image was created by merging three overlapping images together. It is best printed at a 2 to 1 ratio, such as 8x16 or 10x20. This drive doesn't require a 4-wheel drive or high-ground clearance vehicle to get to it, but going any farther up into the wash does.

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

Moaning Cavern flowstone feature, The Igloo.

Moaning Cavern is a solution cave found in California's Sierra Nevada foothills. It has a metal spiral stairway leading into the largest cave room in the state. This room is large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside! Flowstone refers to the features that result from water flowing in laden with minerals, which then evaporates and leaves the minerals behind to accumulate over thousands of years. The Igloo shown in the photo, had water drip onto it, then run down the sides, causing the feature called cave drapery below the top of the igloo-like part of the feature. The name of the cave came from the sound that air flowing out of its natural entrance used to make. Unfortunately the lights are on long enough that algae is starting to grow on the flowstone.

Cave features can be difficult to photograph since the photographer usually has to provide all the lighting and then position it well. This feature was lit for the tourists to see, so that made it easier to photograph from a distance. You can also see some of the features above it were also lighted.We're hoping to make a video and photo book highlighting all the cave types in California. Interesting that most people don't associate California with caves, but the state could have more than any other state, plus the five main types of caves are represented here, as well.

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

Bridalveil Falls and the Leaning Tower lit by the setting sun from across the Merced River, Yosemite National Park

On one of our trips to Yosemite, we were on the Northside Road heading out when we were struck by the light of the setting sun on the other side of the valley. The water of Bridalveil Falls glowed in the light of the setting sun, but the wall behind it appeared to be in shadow or was a darker granite. So the water really stood out from the wall during the brief time that the light came in at that angle. This image was taken in March, so there was still snow on the upper slopes. The Merced River was in shadow as well, so the brightly-lit cliff face and cloud are the brightest parts of the image. It has been cropped to an 8x10 ratio.

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

Kalmiopsis Wilderness, lizard using Sierra cup as a tanning bed!

We backpacked into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in Oregon several years ago. After the first night, we decided to hike around a little bit without our packs to explore the area. Rick left his Sierra cup on a rock after breakfast so that it could dry out while we were away. When we came back, we saw this head sticking out from the edge of the cup. We made a point of making the lizard feel comfortable enough to stay put, while we got our cameras. While we were gone, the sun warmed the metal enough for the lizard to find it appealing for itself, so it had its body presed as flat as possible on the inside of the cup. Rick moved around until the glare from the cup shifted away from the lizard's head, so there would be enough contrast.

Th Kalmiopsis Wilderness is named for a rare memeber of the heath family of plants. It was discovered in the 1930's and is believed to have survived the last Ice Age in this part of Oregon's mountains. The wilderness also has the Chetco River flowing through it, which is used by river rafters and kayakers.

Here's what the lizard looked like from behind. Really trying to soak up the warmth.

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

Vernal Falls and rainbow

A view of an imposing granite wall that the Merced River tumbles over to form Vernal Falls.  A rainbow crosses in front of the waterfall, nearly every afternoon since this wall faces west.  This view is from the Mist Trail, a popular hike for visitors to Yosemite Valley.  Hikers on this trail often wear ponchos or other rain gear to keep from getting thoroughly soaked by the mist, especially in the spring and early summer.  It always amazes us how trees can seem to cling and grow in seemingly hostile places. Just down from the brink, you can see a conifer growing on a ledge, just above the upper end of the rainbow.

The trail eventually reaches the top of the falls via stone steps with railings. The railing extends from the trail to the brink of the falls and slightly upstream along the Merced River.  It's important to keep behind the railing.  Some people who have chosen not to have been swept over the edge to their death.  Although we refer to Yosemite as a park, it is still a wild place with inherent dangers that need to be respected.

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

Riverview Ranch from the San Joaquin River bluffs

The Riverview Ranch serves as a visitor center for the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. The house has been turned into a museum and there's a gift shop in the middle building. A storage building further to the left in this image houses the Trust's canoes, which are used for trips down the river. The San Joaquin River forms into Millerton Lake behind Friant Dam, which shows the orange glow of the setting sun on its face, 7 miles away.The Sierra foothills appear beyond the dam. The bluffs created updrafts of air as the day warms up, so you can frequently see hawks and vultures riding on these air currents.

We made a recreational video about the San Joaquin River around the year 2000, but now want to re-do it in high definition. For that recreational video, we canoed the river from Lost Lake to the Highway 145 bridge (about 33 miles), biked the Eaton Trail, and flew over this section of the river twice. The Parkway expanded several times after we made the video, so it's already out of date. There are plans to eventually construct a hiking trail along the San Joaquin River that would allow hikers and backpackers to start in the Fresno, California area and walk all the way up to the Pacific Crest Trail, in the High Sierra.

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!

Trona Pinnacles in the Mojave Desert of California. Where the remake of "Planet of the Apes" was partially filmed.

The Trona Pinnacles are in the Mojave Desert of California. They were formed while underwater in the ancient Searles Lake, which is now completely dry. Where the towers form represents freshwater springs that spewed calcium-enriched waters into the carbonate-laden mineral waters of the ancient lake. Calcium and carbonate combine to form calcium carbonate, the same material that makes up sea shells and cave formations. Mono Lake is famous for its tufa towers that are still forming. The ones at Trona that formed under Searles Lake can't grow anymore.

A few years ago, the Planet of the Apes movie was remade and some of the scenes in that movie were filmed among the Trona Pinnacles. We've also seen some commercials  with these pinnacles in them, as well.

We often stop by the Trona Pinnacles on our way to Death Valley National Park. The small town of Trona is south south-west of Death Valley and along the route from Ridgecrest, Highway 178. The dirt road out to the Pinnacles comes off of Highway 178 and crosses railroad tracks. This area is not a National Park, but is Bureau of Land Management land. They don't have the restrictions that a park would have in effect, so people can drive right up to the features and hike around them. There have been mines here so a visitor should use caution when exploring. Camping isn't allowed, though.

The last time we drove through here, the full moon was about 4 days away, so the nearly full moon was rising well before sunset. We looked at the moon and the pinnacles from several angles. Rick liked this one with the moon between a couple of the pinnacles as a dramatic shot.

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

Subway Cave: a lavatube cave near Lassen Volcanic National Park

Subway Cave is a lava tube cave near Lassen Volcanic National Park, in the Lassen National Forest. Lava tubes form when lava flowing out of a volcanic eruption cools and forms an upper crust, but lava underneath is still warm and fluid and eventually drains out, forming a tube. When parts of the roof collapse, entrances are created. Subway Cave has two roof collapses about .3 miles apart, which allows visitors to take a short hike from one to the other. The visitor can then return to the start through the cave or take a surface trail back.

Northeastern California has at least 300 such caves, but few are as high or as easily accessible as this one, being right off a main road. The cave entrances have cement stairs for easy access. The actual lava tube continues further along than where the stairways are located, but these parts of the cave may be considered less stable and therefore more hazardous. We've hiked into the extended parts of the cave to explore it more and found that the tunnel split. Very fascinating, these features, especially when you try to imagine what the flow of hot lava would look like when the tube was forming.

Anyone wishing a print of this photo will need to keep its dimensions in mind when ordering.  The dimensions that our online photo processing offers that applies to this image is 2x1 (or 8.5x17 legal size paper).

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

Sunset silhouette of Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Delicate Arch is one of the most iconic of all the natural rock spans.  It's not only the symbol of Arches National Park, but also appears on the license plates of many Utah motor vehicles.  It was also shown on a postage stamp honoring Utah on the centennial of its statehood.

This photo shows the 65-foot tall arch in silhouette by the setting sun.  It is one of the most visited arches in the park requiring only about a 2 mile hike to reach.  It was formed out of Entrada sandstone and is a freestanding arch, which is what makes it so distinctive. To make it even more dramatic, it is also perched on the edge of a huge sandstone bowl on one side and a cliff on the other.

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