Pickleweed Autumn

Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge covers about 19,000 acres of the Bear Lake Valley in southeast Idaho near Montpelier, and most of it is bulrush marsh, open water, and flooded meadows.  But, this year I found a surprising landscape on the eastern edge of a public tour loop.

This red salt marsh must have been placed here just for photographers!  There are acres of pickleweed scattered over several large areas east of the main driving tour loop.  Normally this stuff is green, but it turns red in autumn, and this year the color is really vibrant.

 Pickleweed (genus Salicornia)  is also known as glasswort or samphire.  It thrives in salt marshes where it stores excess salt in pod-like sections.  It is edible, in the same family as spinach, and has even become a gourmet delicacy.

We didn’t see much wildlife, but there were insects living in the pickleweed.  We found a few dragonflies that didn’t cooperate very well, but this huge spider (argiope aurantia) posed for photos with a grasshopper that had been a recent meal.  Geese nest in the grassy islands scattered around the marsh, and we found a few broken egg shells.

The red color varies a bit depending on the direction in relation to the sun, so we saw variations of red, pink, and magenta.  No filters were used for any of these photos.

The salt marsh had dried enough to explore on foot, and we found some yellow pickleweed. It added a little variety to the red scenery, and a wide angle lens emphasized the great distance to the mountains surrounding the valley.

Several photographers from our Sharp Shooters Camera Club have been here, and I returned to the scene three days in a row.  I found this Z pattern on the last day.  There is always something interesting to see at Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

Thompson Springs, Utah

My camping buddies and I explored Sego Canyon on our June 2014 annual camping trip.  On the way back to our campsite in Green River, Utah, we stopped at the modern semi-ghost town of Thompson Springs.  As a ghost town hunter, it turned out to be one of my favorite photo opportunities of the trip.

The town had some importance from 1890 when a post office opened, to about 1950 when the Sego Canyon coal mines closed.    The community was a railroad shipping point for ranchers in the area, and Amtrak was a flag stop here as late as 1994 or 1997.  The town was doomed when  I-70 bypassed it by just a couple of miles.

Today, downtown Thompson Springs has many derelict buildings, including the Thompson Motel, a café, the railroad depot, and several vacant houses.

The motel was an interesting photo opportunity.  It is boarded up, but the lobby door was open, and the inside has had a lot of abuse.

I explored the interiors of several abandoned houses, the railroad station, and a few other derelict buildings.  Most were in pretty bad shape and had been trashed by squatters, but there were a few interesting things to photograph, like this sign.

One house had a story to tell about a failed subdivision.  This story has been repeated hundreds of times across the deserts of the western United States.  I wonder if anyone paid $5000.00 for a membership.

The café was different from the other abandoned buildings.  It was locked tight, so my photos were taken through the windows.

It was eerie.  It looks like it could open again tomorrow, except for that huge hole in the ceiling.  But, someone has cleaned up the ceiling debris, and the sugar, salt, and pepper are still on the counters waiting for customers.

There are plans to clean up a uranium mine near Moab and bury the tailings near Thompson Springs.  Who knows… maybe those jobs will bring customers back to the old café?

Nine Mile Canyon Rock Art, Utah

Nine Mile Canyon is actually about 40 miles long, and was probably named after a nine mile transect used by a cartographer on the John Wesley Powell expedition of 1869.  It has been called the longest art gallery in the world, thanks to the thousands of petroglyphs and pictographs along the canyon walls.

I visited the site with Bruce Gregory and Stephen Johnson during our 33^rd consecutive year of camping.

Petroglyphs in the Daddy Canyon Complex

The rock art was created by Fremont people as far back as 950 AD, and by the Utes starting in the 16^th century.

Many of the images have unclear meanings, such as this anthropomorph with curving feet and mysterious circles.

The rock art of Nine Mile Canyon has been endangered by industrial truck traffic from oil and gas exploration over the last several years.  The rock art was coated by dust from the dirt road through the canyon, which has been paved recently to reduce the damage.

Archer and bighorn sheep petroglyph coated by dust.

Rasmussen Cave is a wonderful location with beautiful pictographs of elk, sheep, and other animals, as well as many petroglyphs, but it has been badly vandalized.

Probably the most famous rock art group in the area is the famous Great Hunt petroglyph panel.  It is located in a spur called Cottonwood Canyon, and the dirt road used to pass by just a few feet away, causing a lot of dust damage.  The road was re-routed away from the panel and paved, so now the hunting scene is accessed by a beautiful paved path.

There is a lot more to see in Nine Mile Canyon, including a ghost town, historic ranches, Fremont ruins, and beautiful canyon scenery.  Please visit my Flickr page to see more rock art and many of the other attractions.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ross_v_walker/sets/72157645395554154/

Grand Tetons From The West

When we think of the beautiful Grand Teton Mountains, most of us remember views we have seen from the eastern side, looking west from Jackson Hole or Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.  Linda and I decided to visit the Teton Valley in Idaho, on the western side of the mountains.  We planned to get there by driving through Star Valley and Swan Valley, Wyoming, but a big spring snowstorm changed our mind about crossing the high mountain passes.  Instead, we drove an extra 100 miles around the storm to Rexburg, and arrived from the west.

The storm was clearing as we entered the Teton Valley on Highway 33 and stopped at the Teton River.  This view shows the small city of Tetonia in the distance with the magnificent Grand Teton mountains as a backdrop.  This photo is an HDR image created from three photos, one properly exposed, and the others two stops over and underexposed.

The Teton Valley is on the Idaho / Wyoming border.  After settling in to a beautiful log cabin in Driggs, Idaho, we drove west across the Wyoming border past the small town of Alta.  At this high elevation, the trees were just starting to leaf out in the middle of May.  The air was remarkably clear after the storm passed through, and we were lucky to find this gorgeous view at the John O. Sessions Overlook.  Later, we were told that days this clear are extremely rare.

We spent several days exploring the area, and at the end of our trip looked for another view of the mountains.  The Teton Valley used to be entirely agricultural, but now houses are scattered everywhere and it is rapidly losing its rural look.  We searched back roads for a country view of the mountains, and finally found this farm north of Driggs near the Idaho / Wyoming border.  I think it is in Idaho.  There was a pretty good sky and the shadows on the Tetons gave them a very different look compared to the previous sunlit view.
There is a lot to see in the Teton Valley area.  I don't think it will ever become another Jackson Hole, but it is changing fast, so if you want to see it, I suggest visiting there soon.

Groundbreaking at Bear Lake Memorial Hospital

We are a long way from a big city hospital here in Montpelier, Idaho, so our small rural hospital is an important part of our community.  Fortunately, it is an excellent hospital with great doctors and a community spirit.  But, the patient rooms are 50 years old and have two beds per room.  Two million dollars had to be raised in order to upgrade the rooms, which seemed like an impossible task for a city with just 2600 people in a county with a population of just 6000.  We did it, and the groundbreaking was held on April 3, 2014.  This may not be a great photo opportunity, but it is such an important event for the community that I had to share it.  Hospital administrator, Rod Jacobson welcomed a large crowd, told about the vision and fund raising efforts, and thanked contributors.

The variety of activities used to raise money was amazing, including recycling abandoned cars (rust to rooms), raffling a restored Volkswagen donated by Patricia Talcott, and Auxiliary volunteers earning money at a Thrift Store, annual snowball dance, and more.

Three large checks were presented for $200,000 by the Hospital Auxiliary, $200,000 from hospital employees, and $1,400,000 from individual donations, including one of $500,000 from Ted and Liz Schmidt.

Several groups took turns breaking ground, starting with hospital board members and officials.

The hospital Auxiliary took a turn.  My wife, Linda is fourth from the left.

Photographically, this isn't the most interesting post, but as an important local event and a source of community pride, it is hard to beat.

Winter in Bear Lake Valley, Idaho - 2014

On January 18th I posted photos of the amazing hoar frost we had here in the valley this winter.  This was an exceptionally beautiful winter in the Idaho end of the valley, so now that spring has arrived, I thought I would post a few scenic photos from winter days that didn't have that gorgeous frost.

The Rearing Pond in Montpelier Canyon is a favorite photo stop, but I don't think it ever looked better than on this day.

Conditions could be harsh, and this scene on the edge of Montpelier was a challenge because of strong winds and blowing snow.

One morning in late winter I saw these low clouds and hurried down the street to this abandoned house.  I think it was a great subject for a black and white photo.

The Bear River between Georgetown and Nounan was beautiful when the ice started to melt and the transition to spring started.  Most people are ready for spring, but I will miss the clean beauty of winter in the Bear Lake Valley.

Artist Point, Yellowstone

The Sharp Shooters Camera Club had a field trip on February 8, 2014 to Yellowstone National Park.  We reserved a snowcoach and left from West Yellowstone, Montana on a snowy day.  The snowcoach took us along the Madison River and across the park to the Canyon area where one of the stops was at Artist Point.  The driver was worried that we wouldn't be able to see much because of the storm, but the snow eased up when we arrived at the Canyon.

Artist Point was thought to be the location where Thomas Moran created a famous painting in 1872.  It was named by park photographer F. Jay Haynes about 1883 and the name stuck, even though the painting was actually done at Moran Point.

Our view was straight down the magnificent Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone toward Lower Falls, which were about a mile away.  The wind was blowing hard, and photography was difficult with snow blowing toward the camera.

Notice the yellow color of some of the cliffs that gave the park its name.

As we zoom in closer, the Yellowstone River and Lower Falls become easier to see.

Finally, the third photo shows a closeup view of the 308 foot falls, which were partially frozen.  An inverted V of water along the left edge drops down to a huge mound of snow and ice at the base of the falls.

The trail back to our snowcoach was a snow-covered uphill walk along the canyon wall.  It was interesting to look down on the rocks and trees in the deep snow.  This tree was the only one to survive the steep cliff and snowdrifts in one area.

If you don't mind a little cold and snow, a snowcoach tour is a great way to see Yellowstone.