Elkhorn, Montana Ghost Town

I am still trying to catch up on reviewing photos from our annual camping trip to Montana.  So, here are photos of Elkhorn, Montana, one of five ghost towns we visited in July.

 This silver mining town was established in 1872 and had a peak population of about 2500.  Now the population is 10, but I’ll bet most of them are part time residents.

The big attraction for ghost town hunters is Gillian Hall (left) and the Fraternity Hall (right).  These buildings are now preserved as Montana’s smallest state park.

The National Register of Historic Places states that the Fraternity Hall (built in 1893) is perhaps the most photographed ghost town building in the United States and lists it as number 1 of 12 western structures that should be saved.  This room was used for dances, meetings, and theatrical shows.

Elkhorn is a mix of abandoned and restored buildings.

The beautiful cemetery is on a quiet isolated hillside.  A large number of children were buried there after a diphtheria epidemic in 1888 - 1889.

Mining relics and ruins are scattered around, but most are in areas posted “no trespassing”.  The mines opened and closed several times and were finally closed for good in 1937 after producing about $14 million of silver.  Except for the two Halls, most of the town is private property but can be photographed from the road.

Please be aware that these photos are copyrighted.  If you would like to use them for any reason, please contact me.  My fees are very reasonable, and often free for charitable purposes.

Millions of Wildflowers

There are foothills in the Bear Lake Valley that always have a lot of spring wildflowers, but this year is exceptional.  Linda and I were invited to a wedding at a beautiful house on 300 acres high in the foothills and were amazed at the view and the mass of wildflowers.  The owners graciously invited us to return for photos, and we went back twice.

Most of the flowers are arrowleaf balsamroot, a showy, large flower.  Many acres of the hillside are a mass of yellow because of these flowers.

This area had several varieties of lupine mixed with the arrowleaf balsamroot.

Here are two of the many variations of lupine.

Patches of blue camas were a surprise because they are usually found in wetlands.  When I went back a couple of days later many of them were drying out.

We continued higher up the hill on our second visit.  The mass of yellow flowers disappeared and were replaced by scattered Indian paintbrush.  It is remarkable how the elevation change made such a difference.  It has been a beautiful spring.

Please respect my copyright and do not use these photos for any purpose without permission.  Thanks.

Painted Hills, Oregon

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument has three separate units.  One of these, the Painted Hills, near Mitchell, Oregon, is famous for its amazing hills striped with color.  It was the highlight of my 47 ^th camping trip in 36 years with Bruce Gregory and Stephen Johnson.

During the day the colors can appear fairly muted, but as the sun gets low the stripes become brighter, as in this photo from the overlook trail.

The wonderful stripes and contours are perfect for landscape abstracts with a long lens.  These two photos from the overlook trail show how the colors can change with the time of day.  The colors often become golden just before sunset.

Another beautiful location is the perfectly formed Red Hill, where we also found prairie clover.

The soil here is very delicate and would be damaged by walking on it, so most areas are fenced off.  In the Painted Cove area a boardwalk allows visitors to see the textures and shapes close up.

And finally, here is a five shot panorama taken from the overlook trail just as afternoon shadows start to touch the hills.

I hope you enjoy these photos, but please remember that they are copyrighted and must not be used without permission, and usually payment of a small fee.

Palouse Back Roads, Washington

As I mentioned in my two previous posts, back roads are the way to go in the Palouse.  There is no traffic, it is easy to find a place to stop, and maybe you will discover a location that isn’t photographed very often.

Most of our Palouse photos were taken on dirt or gravel roads, and sometimes I found that the roads themselves were great photo opportunities.  This one was near Steptoe.

How did we decide which roads to take?  This one is Rim Rock Road near Colton, Washington.  In this case we just had a few minutes and took a turn at random near our B&B in Uniontown.

I like S-curves, and roads often have this great composition element.  We found this road near St John on a “Photographing the Palouse” brochure that highlighted barns, lone trees, windmills, and abandoned houses.

This is another dirt road near Steptoe.  The rolling hills and fields were wonderful to explore.  The best resource for finding back roads was a map of Whitman County, Washington that shows every little dirt track.  I picked it up at the county offices in Colfax on a previous trip.

I loved the way this road followed a bank covered with wildflowers that led right to a lone tree near Steptoe.  It is important to be cautious on these roads.  You will be a long way from help, and may not have cell phone coverage, so if you don’t have four wheel drive, keep out of mud holes and loose sand.  We didn’t take chances, and turned back twice in our four days in the Palouse, but we had a wonderful time.

As always, please do not use our photos for any reason without our permission.  Thanks.

Arrowleaf Balsamroot Wildflowers

Our area has large fields of arrowleaf balsamroot wildflowers every spring, but this year is exceptional.  This hillside in Sharon, Idaho is mixed with sticky geranium (cranesbill) and field mint.

Arrowleaf balsamroot are large, showy wildflowers that grow on open hillsides.  Deer and elk often graze on them.

The second and third photos were taken in Emigration Canyon, Idaho.

This shot was taken by placing the camera on the ground and aiming up without looking through the viewfinder.

The last photo was taken near Salt River Summit in Wyoming.  The hillside was covered with arrowleaf balsamroot, but I found some purple lupine to place in the foreground.

What a treat for photographers!