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!

Mono Lake tufa tower pointing at the moon

It's all a matter of perspective! While returning to Sacramento from a trip to Death Valley, we stayed for one night in the Mono Lake area so that we could get early morning images in the Mono Lake basin. From the south shore, at what used to be the state park, we hiked out to the shore to look at the features and set up our tripods for photos of the lake and the tufa towers. Along the way, Rick noticed that the moon would be setting as the morning progressed and wanted to include it in some of his pictures. He lined up this image to include a tufa tower and the moon so that the tower appears to point to the moon. The early morning sun was lighting one side of the tower and the moon appears to be immediately above it.  In this shot, the moon appears to be the yin yang symbol.

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

Half Dome accompanied by a nearly full moon

Yosemite National Park's most famous landmark, Half Dome, accompanied by a nearly full moon in spring. On Half Dome, the small feature that protrudes from the top edge is called "The Visor." We've been to the top of Half Dome three times and each time we've heard people refer to that feature as "The Diving Board". But the "Diving Board" is a feature along the same ridge as Half Dome but is well below and not part of Half Dome. Ansel Adams took a famous photo of Half Dome from the Diving Board called "The Monolith."

To get this image, we stood in the Ahwahnee Meadow 2 nights before the actual full moon hoping to line up the eastern edge of Half Dome with the moon as it rose. A night or two before the full moon is often best for these kind of shots because the sun will still be up enough to light the scenery you want to include with the moon. Especially in a steep place like Yosemite Valley, waiting until the night of the full moon to try a get a photo that combines the landscape with a rising moon will be more difficult since the sun will have already set by the time the moon is high enough to be seen with the landscape.

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

A female elephant seal flips sand onto its back to stay cool, at Año Nuevo State Park, California

This female elephant seal was resting at Año Nuevo State Park, in California. Because elephant seals have so much blubber to stay warm in the cold water, they tend to overheat when they're not in the water. To keep cool, elephant seals will try to find cool spots to lie on and will flip sand onto their backs to create a little shade on their skin. 

We observed these elephant seals during a guide hike conducted by docents with the state park. During the breeding season for the elephant seals, hikers must go with a guide on an organized trip to protect the seals. Our guide had a lot of great stories to tell and photos of himself and the elephant seals when he used to do research on this species. He even had a picture of himself using an elephant seal as his pillow while he took a nap.

The elephant seal species was nearly wiped out by sealers, but their population has come back strong. One interesting aspect of their recovery is that historically they would only breed on islands, not on the mainland. Now they are hauling out on the mainland for breeding. So what prevented them from breeding on the mainland in the past? The California grizzly bear, which is now extinct due to human activity.

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

Road Runner searching for a morning meal in Death Valley

While we were waiting at the entrance station for the Furnace Creek campground in Death Valley National Park, hoping to get a campsite for the night, 2 road runners came trotting by looking to have a breakfast. The first one just kept going, but the second one stopped and posed sometimes, before scurrying on. Rick managed to get this full framed image of the bird during one of his stops. Road runners eat lizards and snakes and aren't usually chased by coyotes. They are in the same bird family as cuckoos.

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

Sagebrush Lizard, Death Valley; America's Next Top Lizard's Closeup

This is the same lizard as the previous post.  Bob had his camera set to do closeup shots of the wildflowers in bloom, so he tried to get a closeup of this lizard, since he seemed to be very cooperative about letting us take photos of him.  Bob was able to get within an inch of his face to get this shot.

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

"America's Next Top Lizard", a sagebrush lizard at Dante's View, Death Valley National Park

While in Death Valley during this year's "superbloom", we went to Dante's View to look down on Death Valley from a high vantage point and managed to find a photogenic lizard. This little guy stayed on the top of this rock for over half an hour. We got closer and closer to it to get pictures and it didn't seem to mind at all. Eventually, we even put on close up lenses and got pictures of its face. The lenses came to within an inch of its face, but it still didn't move. Rick started calling it "America's Next Top Lizard", because it turned out to be such a good model for us. We pointed it out to people passing by and they were able to get their smartphones close to it for close up images, too. It finally left after we saw an insect land on the rock below it and the lizard dropped down quickly to snatch the bug in its mouth, then it scampered off to the ground and continued on its way. We wished we had a camcorder running to catch that action, but we missed it. This was the same cluster of rocks where we saw the chuckwalla shown in our earlier post.

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

Chuckwalla lizard in a rock crevice at Dante's View, Death Valley National Park

While visiting Death Valley to enjoy their "superbloom", we saw a chuckwalla lizard out in the open, near the Dante's View parking area. Then it moved into a rock crevice when it felt threatened. Some of the other visitors thought it was a pregnant lizard, but that's just how they look normally. This species is the largest lizard in Death Valley. It stores fat in its tail and along its sides. When threatened by a predator, a chuckwalla can work itself into a flat crevice and inflate itself in order to be completely wedged into the space such that the predator has no chance at pulling it out. You can also see that it blends in very well with the rock.

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!

Sunset silhouette of the Teton Range in Grand Teton NP

A sunset profile of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park. The peak named Grand Teton is the highest peak, third from the right.  The sun's rays are flaring over the southern end of the range.  The highest peak under the rays is Buck Mountain and the canyon to the right that is the low point is Avalanche Canyon. The timing worked out for this image as Bob was driving back to camp and saw the effect the peaks were having on the light from the setting sun, so he used one of the turnouts along the main road through the park.

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.

Indian Rock Arch, Yosemite's only granite arch, viewed from the south looking north

This photo shows Yosemite National Park's only granite arch, called Indian Rock. It's not identfied on maps or even by the signs along the trail, that this feature is an arch. It forms through the process that erodes granite features generally, exfoliation. Sheets or plates of granite peel off through the the freeze and thaw process. Arches are rarely made of granite because the exfoliation process would have to leave the arch behind as other parts of the rock peel away. Reaching Indian Rock involves hiking three miles from the Tioga Pass Road starting at Porcupine Flat. This view of the arch is from the trail to its south looking northward during the morning. We've posted another picture of this arch in our gallery looking at it from the north looking south, with Half Dome appearing underneath the arch. We've camped near and hiked to this arch more than 5 times. This photo is 2 photos that have been merged to a proportion of 2x1.

There is another granite arch in the Sierra south of Yosemite along a route known as the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway.

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

This picture shows Bob sitting by the arch on the north side.

Double-crested cormorant near Monterey, California

This double-crested cormorant was resting on rocks along the coast between Monterey and Pacific Grove, California. Cormorants are fish-eating birds that can hunt their prey in both salt and fresh water. They can be found along the coast as well as along rivers. This one seemed quite content to rest close to the walkway that follows the coast, despite the people passing by.

Cormorants' eyes work better in air than they do in water. According to a study of the greater cormorant in England, cormorants only see well enough to catch fish about 1 meter (3 feet) in front of them and their snake-like necks allow them to strike quickly at a fish that is within range. The small tooth-like structures in the bill point backwards and keep the fish from escaping after the bird bites down.

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