Joe's Gap Autumn, Idaho

Joe's Gap is a small, but pretty, canyon that cuts through the hills just three miles from my home in Montpelier, Idaho.

This has been an amazing year for fall color in the Bear Lake Valley, with the red, yellow, and orange maples producing masses of color.  But smoke from several monster wildfires has made the color difficult to enjoy.  Joe's Gap is a good place to get into the trees away from the smoke.

The fallen leaves create a carpet of color on the trail where it enters the canyon.


As the trail climbs, the canyon gets more narrow and darker, so water droplets stay on the leaves until late in the day.


Joe's Gap climbs steeply into the hills with spectacular cliffs towering over the narrow gap. When the sun gets high overhead the autumn leaves glow with backlight.

The color is more muted on the valley floor, out of the direct sunlight.

In some places, the fallen leaves have gathered in deep piles against sheltered spots in the rock.

The muted light allows for long exposures, so I tried zooming the lens for about 0.5 second, creating this dynamic effect.

I wonder how Joe's Gap got its name? Who the heck was Joe anyway? This autumn, Joe's Gap was a very special place.

UPDATE - 04/08/15 - Thank you, George Lane, for telling me that Joe's Gap was named after Joseph Phelps, an early settler in Bennington, Idaho

Lamoille Canyon, Nevada

There are places in this country that are every bit as beautiful as most National Parks, but are nearly unknown by most Americans. Lamoille Canyon is one of those special places.

The canyon is the largest valley in the Ruby Mountains south of Elko, Nevada.  It was carved by glaciers, and usually has snow fields and waterfalls year round.  We missed them because of the dry year.


Wildlife includes beavers, and their ponds create reflective pools that are great for photographing the massive canyon walls. There are also bighorn sheep and mountain goats.


The canyon walls soar 2000 feet above the valley floor so sunlight hits some of the cliffs while others are in shadow.  The sheer rock walls remind me of Yosemite Valley.

The morning view in the beautiful campground included this dagger of light when the early sunlight touched the ridge.

The morning light bounced off a mountain and reflected in the water of the creek next to my campsite.  In the space of one second, the color disappeared when the sunlight reached the water. The rocks in this photo were in shadow, and they picked up the reflected blue of the sky.

The road through Lamoille Canyon is paved and 12 miles long. For you younger, more energetic kids, there are miles of  trails. The campground is excellent and there are motels and restaurants in nearby Elko. Don't miss the Basque food at the Star Hotel!

Metropolis, Nevada Ghost Town

Summer was way too busy to find time for updating this blog, but a camping trip last week included a photo opportunity that I just had to post.  I was on the way to Elko, Nevada to meet a friend for our second camping trip this year, and our 31st consecutive year of camping and photography.  I took a side trip north of Wells, Nevada to the ghost town of Metropolis.  This was a planned farming community started in 1910, with irrigation provided by a dam on Bishop Creek.  However, the planners never bothered to get water rights and were sued by the town of Lovelock, Nevada.  When Metropolis lost their water, the residents gradually moved out, and Metropolis was a ghost town by 1950.

The most spectacular ruin is the arch of the old Lincoln school.  The town once had a railroad station and daily passenger service, but there is no trace of the station.

This is the basement of the ruined school.  Spooky, to say the least.  Someone has shored up the stairs with a couple of 2 x 6's, and there are ceiling holes everywhere, but the debris-filled space is a ghost town classic.

The other major ruin was once a hotel.  Notice how isolated this place is.  There are miles of treeless sagebrush plains in every direction.  There is probably a cemetery somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

If you wander through the sagebrush, you will find a few foundations, the usual small artifacts like broken glass, and this wonderful rusty wreck.  There used to be a city here, with houses, stores, and about 700 people, but the desert has reclaimed nearly everything.

Sharp Shooters Camera Club Picnic

Our annual Sharp Shooters Camera Club picnic was held at The Shady Lady in Geneva, Idaho.  Cliff and Kathy price have a beautiful home with a picnic area in the foothills, and they invited the camera club to their place for the evening.  They call their home the Shady Lady, and it is a perfect place for a big group, with a covered picnic area, grassy lawn, lots of aspens, and outbuildings painted like a saloon and livery stable. Everyone brought food to share, then we had an informal photo shoot.

Kathy had some wild hats, costumes, and (empty) booze bottles, and several camera club members got dressed up and posed for the cameras.  My wife, Linda (left), battled with her sister Jo Ann Farnsworth.

Bernice and Bill Parslow looked great posing on the saloon porch.

Lynette and Dave Bower hammed it up to the delight of all the photographers.

 Do these people look like they are having fun?

Someone asked Linda to take their picture using their camera.  Then someone else asked.... then someone else...

You get the idea.

It was getting really dark, and photography was pretty tough, but thanks to flash or high ISO settings available on the digital cameras, we kept on shooting.





The last group of models was Linda Cochran, Connie Hymas, and JoAnn Taylor, and they looked wonderful.

The evening ended with a group photo critique in the picnic area.  It was a good ending to a really fun meeting.

Car Show

Our little town, Montpelier, Idaho, has a surprisingly good annual car show with lots of opportunities for photographers.

Friday evening featured a downtown cruise.  A beautiful Ford was parked across the street from our funky old Centre Theatre.

Several of the show cars 'dragged main", including this wonderful roadster.  The blur was created by "panning" the camera with the motion of the car.

Saturday was the day of the show, and cars were on display at the local park, including a customized Ford Woody. The lawn area under beautiful big trees was ideal for the show.

This Studebaker pickup won best of show. Car shows are usually a great opportunity for close-up photos with spectacular color.

Look for opportunities to use your wide angle lens. Edsels were sometimes called a "Mercury sucking a lemon." The wide angle lens exaggerates this feature and creates a fun distortion. It was a great show despite an afternoon thunderstorm, and I hope a lot of the car owners return next year.

My Home Town In Connecticut

Linda and I recently traveled to the east coast for my 50th high school reunion, so of course I explored my home town.  As expected, a lot has changed, but some things that are important to me haven't changed too much.  My home town is Sandy hook, Connecticut which is a borough of Newtown.  I graduated from Newtown High School, so in a sense, Newtown is also my home town. One of the first things you notice about Connecticut when you arrive from the west is all the trees. Everything is almost overwhelmingly green.

This was the house where I grew up in Sandy Hook.  In those days, this was J Appleseed Farm, and we had  a big apple orchard.  In fact, I have heard it was the biggest golden delicious orchard in the state at the time. The apple trees are gone now, but the house, built in 1742, and barn are still there.

This used to be Warner Store, or simply the Brick Store, and my family did most of our shopping here.  It was the centerpiece of the tiny town of Sandy Hook. It was run by my Godfather, Hawley Warner and now has been beautifully restored and turned into a restaurant. I got a tour by Michael Porco, the current owner. The Hook has really been dressed up and is a beautiful community now.

This is the main crossroad in Newtown, and it is famous for its flagpole in the center of the intersection. It makes for tricky driving, but is a magnificent sight. The church is now known as the Meeting House, but I was a member there when it was a Congregational Church. I once worked at the "Flagpole Fountain", a sort of 1950's C-Store that was located in the building on the right.

This is the center of Newtown from Castle Hill, showing (left to right) the new Congregational Church, flagpole, Meeting House, and Episcopal Church.  This scene showcases the beauty of New England architecture and trees stretching to the horizon.  I feel fortunate to have grown up in such a wonderful place, but now I am a westerner at heart.

Newtown High School Reunion - 50 Years

Linda and I just returned from a trip to the east coast for my 50th high school reunion at Newtown, Connecticut. Why on earth would I go all the way from Idaho to Connecticut just to go to a high school reunion?  I didn't even like school very much.  The answer might be in something my old college roommate, Mike Mele said.  When we get older and attend events like this, we just have a good time reacquainting ourselves with people that share something in common from our past.  All the old cliques are gone, and everyone seems to be more relaxed and mature.  Or maybe it is something classmate Tom Kretsch said.  Newtown was a wonderful place to grow up, and it draws us back.  I found both statements to be true.

Newtown High School, Class of '62 (me on the left)

Photo by Linda S. Walker  

I had a wonderful time at the reunion dinner and at the picnic the following day.  I am pleased to see that so many of us turned out OK.  People came from Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Florida, Idaho, California, and many other distant areas - even Israel!  Others were content to stay right there in the Newtown area, and more power to them.  It was a memorable occasion and the reunion committee deserves a big thank you.