Satisfied Land + Misty Mountains

Above photo: "Satisfied Land".

After a very dry spring, moisture returns to the north woods of Minnesota. This was our first good day of rain in almost two months during a time of year that normally sees a lot of rainfall.


Above photo: "Misty Mountains".

This was about an hour before sunset; the clouds were breaking up and the hills had this beautiful fog rolling through through them. I love not only shooting but just plain being out in the woods when the conditions are like this!

Big Bend Revisited :: Cerro Castalon

Saturday, March 2nd - - In English, Cerro Castalon is called Castolon Peak. Whatever you call it, it dominates the landscape in the Castalon region in the southern realms of Big Bend National Park.





The southern view is the
most photogenic side of Cerro Castalon. As you drive in from the
north the peak appears from out of nowhere as you crest one of the
many hills. The road winds through the area with virtually no place
to pull off to get a picture.





On my way back from Elena Canyon, I
shot this through the front window, stopping in the middle of the
road. There wasn't much traffic... Shooting through the windshield
adds a greenish tint to photos so I converted it to black and white
and adjusted the contrast a little.





At the base of the peak, on the western side, is a pull-out. This too, is Cerro Castalon though it doesn't look quite so impressive from this vantage point... which just goes to show, you need to look at everything from different perspectives!

Shy Moose

I had a fun encounter with a moose yesterday. After work I went for a drive in the woods and as I came around a corner on a local dirt road there was this moose standing right in the road. As soon as it saw the car it walked off into the brush. I of course got out of the car to try and get a picture, since the moose only walked about 100 feet off into the woods. It was very difficult to see, however, since the brush was so thick. It was definitely curious about me, as it stood at a safe distance but kept staring at me through the trees. I had to manually focus my lens in order to make this shot. Because of all the brush in the way the camera was unable to autofocus on the moose, instead choosing to attempt focusing on every little branch in the way between us. After about 10 minutes the moose must have gotten bored because it finally turned and walked off away from me. This is far from my best shot of this iconic northwoods animal, but still it's a picture of a moose so I figure it's worth sharing :-)

Ecola Park

Looking out across the little bay toward the mountains that hide the town of Seaside which was hit by hard storms this winter. It is kind of a neat sight to see all the rocks sticking up out of the water. No wonder there were so many shipwrecks along the Oregon Coast.

Petzl picks?

Hey for those of us waiting for the new Nomics and Ergos to show I suspect we are getting closer to that fall delivery date!







Why would I say this you ask? Well yesterday the UPS truck showed up unexpectantly with4 brand new ICE picks for my Nomics! I'm stoked ;-) It is a great start for the new winter season.

New route on the Jorasses?

Exciting for me to meet really active climbers through the Cold Thistle hammers.



I was forunate to haveOlov ask formy lastsetof hammers as I left Chamonix last spring.



He has be doing a lot of climbing that I keep track of through his blog which is amongfew I follow.



http://olovisaksson.blogspot.com/



Congradulations Olov!



Grandes Jorasses expert Luca Signorelli wrote to Olov:





"It looks like you did the continuation of Cristal Palace originally missed by Ivano. I doubt it has been ever climbed the way you did, but the problem with the R flank of the North Face is that it had a lot of undocumented or poorly documented activity by locals. You may safely claim it as a major variant and see what happens! Keep in mind that there's a lot left to do on GJ particularly on the Italian side, so a new route claim.wouldn't sound outrageous! "

Of Rabbits and Hares

This was among the first photos taken with the new Nikon P500 camera, which arrived on the 8th. I stepped out the back door on my way to take pictures and this little fellow was sitting across the alley. I got two shots off before he darted away. This is not a cropped image...





This jackrabbit, also known as a hare, was seen in Mountview Cemetery in Billings on the 13th. At first I thought it was a grave decoration, albeit not near a grave, but then I noticed its eyes were moving.





A close-up shot, at the full 36x magnification of the zoom lens.



It was a little wobbly in the hind legs when it stood up – a lot like my legs after I've been sitting for too long!





It looked back at me, then jumped off – literally – covering a distance of five feet or more with each hop as well as a foot or more in height. And it was fast! Sure was fun to watch too. (In a search for info on jackrabbits I found out that they can leap up to 10 feet and reach speeds up to 40 mph. Their young are born furred and with their eyes open.)