May 31, 2016 - The Broadtail Hummingbirds are back.  I took this photograph at dusk with the flash in front of the feeder.  I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw how well it turned out.

May 30, 2016 - Memorial Day, USA

May 29, 2016 - A small herd of antelope came sweeping full stride down over the hill in front of the house early this morning and stopped to browse at the bottom of the hill just a couple of hundred yards from the house.  They looked beautiful in the spring-green grass and sage.



May 28, 2016 - Forty-five years ago today I was in the bottom of the Grand Canyon with friends.  In my college days at CU in Boulder it was our custom after our last final exam to load into a couple of cars, speed south out of town, and head to the Grand Canyon for a two week trek down and somewhere within.  Our hikes were always meticulously planned and rationed, as they had to be for the arduous desert excursions.  In all, I made five trips to the Colorado River at the bottom of The Canyon.  My love of the desert was forged here, "in fire".  Temperatures sometimes reached 130F.

 

These photos are from my first Grand Canyon trip, hiking from the North Rim of the canyon to Thunder River, Tapeats Creek and Canyon, and Deer Creek Canyon in 1971. 

 

The first photograph is Thunder River, a river exploding out of the cliff side and creating a hanging garden of green as it riots down the face of the cliff into Tapeats Creek.  Thunder River is the only "river" that is a tributary to a creek.

Photo two is the Colorado River at the mouth of Tapeats Creek in the bottom of the canyon.  As I remember, it was a 21 mile hike from the North Rim to this point.  We cooked summer sausage on the blistering hot rocks here for lunch and tried to keep out of the sun as much as possible, which wasn't an easy task.  We drank Tang in those days, like the astronauts.

The last picture is looking down into Deer Creek Canyon before we started our precipitous descent.  The Cottonwood trees in the bottom of the photo were 40-50 feet tall.  There were ancient Indian ruins here, and Deer Creek made a final 200 foot drop as it plunged over the last cliff beside the Colorado River.  We camped a number of days at the bottom of the waterfall in the cool mist of the falls, and explored up Deer Creek from there.  Deer Creek has created a very neat, narrow slot canyon at the head of the falls.

In my journal on this trip I wrote, "This place makes me think of the Navajo chant; 'Beauty in front of me, beauty behind me, beauty all around me.  In beauty I wander.  In beauty I wander.' " 

 

This is a wonderful memory to have.  I enjoyed making this post.

May 27, 2016 - Two whitetails.  The buck is going to be a nice one, his antlers are already growing wide and with a tall brow tine.  The doe is obviously pregnant; fawns should be here very soon.

May 26, 2016 - The sunlit Bighorn Basin and snowcapped Rocky Mountains from the west slope of the Bighorns on highway 14A a few mornings ago.

May 25, 2016 - I am still doing photos of my trip up the mountain last Sunday. 

When I reached the top of the pass, it was snowing, windy, dark, and cold here on Little Bald Mountain.  These gullies filled with snow are up to 12 feet deep. 

I will post one final picture from this trip tomorrow.

May 24, 2016 - The valley of the North Fork with the limestone cliffs of Castle Gardens on the horizon.  This was a couple of mornings ago.

May 23, 2016 - I was just in time for the famous Bighorn Mountain moose steeplechase on the mountain early yesterday morning.

May 22, 2016 - A male Lark Sparrow and sagebrush.

May 21, 2016 - The mountain was an unbelievable color yesterday morning just before sunrise.

May 20, 2016 - A few photos of the redwall country west of Kaycee at the south end of the Bighorns.

May 19, 2016 - Outlaw Canyon and the Middle Fork of the Powder River at the south end of the Bighorn Mountains in the Hole in the Wall country; Wyoming.  This is rough, beautiful country.

May 18, 2016 - Spring rooster; the cock of the walk.

May 17, 2016 - The male American Redstart returned this week.

May 16, 2016 

"The new grass was like a pale green flame burning slowly up the sloughs, and the young leafage of the cottonwoods was a thin smoke against the sky that day when they started north with the robins."

John G Neihardt  - The Splendid Wayfaring

May 15, 2016 - A pair of Mourning Doves in the tree out front.

May 14, 2016 - Spring was sending a mixed Wyoming message yesterday morning near the Cottonwood tree at the top of PK hill on the road to town.

May 13, 2016 - Here, I think, is one of the neatest places for a Raven's nest I have ever seen.  This is at Hell's Half Acre on my trip last week.  Certainly nothing can invade this nest site by land.  No young then.

May 12, 2016 - Backlit aspens in the last light of evening.

May 11, 2016 - Spring turkeys in the woods out back.

May 10, 2016 - Mourning Doves are back.

May 9, 2016 - Lilacs, aspen and blue spruce.

May 8, 2016 - Hell's Half Acre.  I really like this place; but that is not to be taken as a reflection on my moral character.  The Rattlesnake Mountains are on the horizon, and my favorite antelope hunting area around Cyclone Ridge and Ervay Basin is roughly between Hell's Half Acre and the mountains.

May 7, 2016 - Wind River Canyon: the road between Legend Rock and Hell's Half Acre.  It is difficult to make a picture here without attaching the road or the railroad; and there are few places to pull off the road to stop.  The river is always beautiful though, and the canyon inspiring.

May 6, 2016 - Legend Rock is a low, south-facing, rocky ridge about one mile long.  The petroglyphs are amazing; the oldest dating from about 11,000 years ago. 

May 5, 2016 - Four Places.  The next few days will be photos from my trip this week to the southern part of the Bighorn Basin across the mountain.  Today's photos are Fifteen Mile Badlands on the way to Legend Rock.  The blue, white topped line on the horizon is the snowcapped Bighorn Mountains to the east

May 4, 2016 - Immature Bald Eagle.

May 3, 2016 - The creek and road home through the woods from Harry McCormack Hill.