1/31/04 Deck Cam, 7:51am, wind chill of minus 1 
The moon last night
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1/31/04 Deck Cam, 7:51am, wind chill of minus 1
The moon last night
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1/2/04 A The server where all of our web page files are stored has been having problems once again and we have been unable to access our web sites for the past couple of days. The problem has not been fixed yet, but I think I have found a way to update the Journal for now. I will make a "real" post in another day or two. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
1/4/04 Good grief I am finally able to sit down and type a few words to post here. It has been a long few days of the new year, but all were very good ones. I have mostly been working at the cabin - trying to catch up, always trying to catch up. I did get to spend another day in the woods building new hiking trail, and make a quick trip into town. The rest of the time has been right here at the keyboard and monitor. I can't complain too much, I love what I do and where I do it.
It is late at night, and I am trying to learn how to type on a new keyboard. Actually it is an old keyboard that has never been used - it came with this computer. The keyboard that I have been using - a special ergonomic style that not only keeps my wrists happy, but allows me to type at the speed of thought - just bit the dust about an hour ago while I was right in the middle of a large and important print job. Hum, someone around here violated the #1 rule about NOT having a DRINK around the COMPUTER! Especially one made from cheap bourbon. I guess that fancy keyboard just could not hold its booze because I only spilled a small bit into one corner of the keyboard and it just shut down.
Before Pam left to head up to Missouri for the day we did take a quick trip around the loop - has been a good long while since we did that together. It was warm, and windy, with mist in the air. Lots of wonderful browns and grays and GREENS in the forest today. And even though the wind was blowing quite a bit, somehow it was rather quiet in the woods. A very pleasant stroll with my bride.
On the way back I took a detour down to the Crag to check on some campers that had parked on Bob's land. He doesn't mind folks hiking around, but folks sometimes take advantage of his good nature and park and spend the night when they probably should not. I found a group of "addicts" as they put it who were part of group spending the week here outdoors trying to kick whatever they were hooked on. They were repelling off of the Crag. A couple of these guys were not too happy about having to go over the edge, and told their instructors so. Apparently going off of the Crag was something they were required to do as part of their rehab process. They all seemed nice and their camp was clean.
I had not planned for rain but got to hike about 20 minutes in it, and it was wonderful. I did have a lightweight windbreaker with me, but forgot my hat. Have you ever seen me in the woods without my hat? No matter, I enjoyed the hike, and was almost sad to make it back to the cabin. Hum, I guess I could have simply gone right on past the cabin and made another loop if I wanted to, so no one to blame but myself!
A couple of days ago I did some more trail work, and found myself taking a break right in the middle of a boulder field of lichen and moss-covered stones as far as I could see. There was a creek tumbling down through all of this, and it was a great little spot. I rather enjoyed getting to select the route of this new trail, and found myself wandering on over and along this little creek as much as I could with the trail. It will be a nice little hike, but also many places to stop and rest and look at all the neat things around. I'll be returning to this short trail that I am helping a friend build several more times over the next couple of week. One of these times I will take my camera with me and let you see what it is all like.
I have to divert my thoughts here for a few moments and tell you about my friend Bill Metzner. Bill is the great guy who packed up and moved to Arkansas from Houston when our family needed someone to move in and look after my mom several years ago. After mom died Bill decided to stay in the area and bought a little house in a quiet neighborhood next to a blueberry farm in Springdale. A couple of days before this past Christmas he came down with the flu and went into the hospital. One of his sons - Bill, Jr. who lives in Ohio - decided to make the long drive down and surprise his dad on Christmas eve. He and his wife drove all day long and finally made to town around 9pm. They snuck into the hospital room and found Bill there, all curled up and sleeping like a baby. Bill and Bill have always played jokes on one another, and were pretty close. Junior snuck on over and grabbed his dad's leg and shook him - "Merry Christmas" he said. But shock of all shocks, his dad had just passed away in his sleep, unknown to the hospital staff. He had been in perfect health just a few days before, and planning another fishing trip with son when he next came down from Ohio to visit. We were all stunned when we heard this terrible news, and especially of the circumstances. I found my dad on the couch of our home only six days before Christmas so I knew something of the pain. Bill was a very simple man and a super guy. He did not want any sort of ceremony, but family decided on a small gathering at Bill's house, with just a few friends and family, and I'm glad they did. It was warm and really windy on Saturday - a record temp of 74 or 75 degrees. We gathered on the front lawn in the bright sunshine. There were puffy clouds racing across the sky above, and children playing in the streets. It was a very short and simple service, with folks from the local American Legion providing support and presenting Bill's family with the American flag. Bill was a veteran, and proud to have served his country. I've never seen anything like this before, and I know every single person there lost it when a man in uniform stepped forward and began top lay TAPS on his violin - a more moving moment I have never seen or felt. It was quite remarkable, just like the man we had gathered to honor. Thanks, Bill, for taking such good care of mom, and for being there when we needed you.
Pam said that Amber gave a hoot and holler as they crossed the state line coming back into Arkansas this evening, and shouted hello to Newton County and Ponca and Boxley and Cave Mountain as they drove along. Amber has really taken to her new home, and just can't wait to get back into school tomorrow. I have that very same sort of feeling every time I return home too. Welcome home. Hello 2004!
12/06/04 It's about 3am and I just got up to stoke the fire. Temp is down to 11 degrees. Good grief the moon is just incredible outside! In fact the moon is lighting up the entire inside of the cabin, and the big fire that I built up is competing for equal time!
It was a blustery day yesterday, with overcast skies and high winds all day. The temp remained in the 20's, which put the wind chill down close to zero much of the time. And even though the forecast was for clear and sunny, it snowed most of the day. Not any real snow, just tiny bits of snail (compacted snow pellets), really dry snail, that never seemed to land anywhere, and just kept blowing around.
There was a good bit of hoar frost formed overnight last night, but it was up a little bit higher than our location. We are right at 2,000 feet, and can see the frosty ridgetops to the southwest that are 2200 feet plus. I was all ready to head over there to take a few photos after my daily chores were done, but my bride was not feeling well so I had to stay behind and run the bus pickup. It was Amber's first day back at school, and she was quite excited about it all.
Late last night, after the cabin had gone to bed and all was quiet, I slipped out the door and went for a hike. The temp was in the teens, with a very soft snow coming down. At least I think it was snow. There was a soft glow from the moon up there above the clouds - plenty of light to find my way around in - but not enough light to actually see what was hitting my face. There was a breeze coming from the northwest, and instead of hiking along a road or trail I simply turned into the wind and wandered around for a while. Every now and then I would stop, close my eyes, and let those tiny flakes gently land on my face. Who cared about the cold, it was wonderful being massaged by the clouds!
I'm into one of those no-sleep patterns these days for some reason. I go to bed at the regular time and don't have any problems getting two or three or four hours of sleep, but then I am up and wide awake (I take melatonin to help get me to sleep - have been doing so for years and it has really helped). That's OK with me because I am so far behind in just about everything, and it gives me some extra time to catch up. Only problem is that I have to be QUIET because the ladies are asleep.
It's a couple of hours later now and I've been online doing research and answering e-mails. Got a roaring fire going and will wake Amber up here in a few minutes at 5:30. The sky is clear and the moon is big and bright. Temp is 11 degrees. After I take Amber out to meet the bus I'm going to head on over to some higher ground and see if I can take a few photos of the hoar frost that formed yesterday. I just stepped outside a few minutes ago to water the flowers - man does that feel great, standing there in your underwear, and just about to freeze something off! The ground has small patches of white from the snail pellets during the night, but no actual accumulation. I just love to take that frigid air deep into my lungs.
Time to go wake up that sleeping beauty. I'll make another post later today with some photos I hope!
(later) You should have seen that HUGE moon drop into the forest on the western horizon as Amber and I went out to meet the bus!
It was still dark when I arrived at my shooting location over near Kaypark Cemetery. By the time I got all of my gear together and headed up the hill, it was just beginning to break daylight. The temp was four degrees, and the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip. The wind chill must have been well below zero.
I climbed up through thick brush until I reached the very top of Turner Ward Knob. There is a ridgetop about the same height as it that we can see from the cabin and has been covered with the hoar frost, so I figured this would be a good place to start.
There was plenty of hoar frost in the tops of the trees up there, but nothing really too scenic, and so after I wandered around for ten minutes or so, I decided to head back down and make another go of it elsewhere.
As I drove away I could see Ozarkglow begin to illuminate the Buffalo Fire Tower, and the mountain that it sat on. This spot was indeed covered with a thick layer of hoar frost - I put the pedal to the metal and got over there as quickly as I could.
Most of the forest around here is this simple and pleasant brown and gray color, mostly brown from all the dead leaves on the ground. But once I got close to the tower, all of a sudden the forest changed to white - it was a frost fairyland indeed!
I stopped a few times and set up the camera near the car and shot a few images, but that wind kept cutting right through me and so I would jump right back into the heated air space one again. One thing about taking pictures with the sort of equipment that I use - you can't do it while heavily suited up. That means your hands and other parts get chilled quickly, and my hands turn into ice cubes very fast - poor circulation. In all my years in the outdoors I have yet to find a suitable pair of gloves that will keep them warm and still allow some precise movement.
My last stop was at the base of the fire tower itself. The sun was really lighting it up, as well as the tall trees surrounding it. I shot about 200 images in the immediate area, then headed for home. The wind prevented me from doing much more - tough to photograph trees that are swaying back and forth! None the less, it was one spectacular sight, and I'm glad I made the trek over in the frigid cold to participate.
One computer-related update. Seems that my keyboard doesn't mind a little booze now and then after all, and it began working once again today!
This afternoon a friend dropped in to pick up his Christmas present, but we didn't have a place for him to land (although he tried to reach out and grab it!):
The moonrise tonight
1/10/04 Very low ceiling this morning, with a temp of 21 at first light. Normally with it being this cold and the clouds down this low there would be hoar frost produced like it was on the ridgetops the other day, but so far I have not seen any, although there is normal frost on the ground and elsewhere.
We had a couple of odd things happen last night. First, Pam noticed a blinking light far out in the wilderness, down on the river about a mile upstream. It appeared to be a flashlight - no campfire, just a flashlight. It was blinking, although we could never tell if it was actually blinking three times and then stopping, or what. After a little bit we could no longer see it. What do you do in a situation like there when you don't really know if it is a distress signal from an injured hiker, or just someone out stumbling around with a flashlight? Call in the county sheriff and get a search and rescue mission going? Hike down there yourself and interrupt someone's wilderness camp in the middle of the night? Who knows. Since we really had no way of figuring it all out, we didn't do anything. I suspect it was just someone down in there out looking for firewood. We can often see campfires down in the valley - amazing how far one of those can be seen on a clear night.
The other odd thing that happened was that we heard this very strange cat calling out in the night, like one of our was wounded. When I when outside to investigate I found a large, nearly white, Manx cat just outside of the dog door trying to get it. Good grief, who's cat would have wandered many miles to our cabin in the middle of the night, and how in the world did it know about the dog door? (it was locked so the cat could not get in anyway) I have not ventured outside yet this morning to see if the kitty is still there or not, but will do so soon.
The other morning I just happened to glance up in time to see that the cloud bank hovering over the eastern horizon was beginning to glow bright red. I just happened to have my new "real" camera system within reach - even the big tripod - so I grabbed it all up and ran out on to the back deck. It was quite a stunning show for about two minutes, and I was all set up in 30 seconds and shot about a dozen frames. Then, poof, just like that, the color was gone. This is the second or third shot that I have taken this past two weeks with the new camera that is worthy of "portfolio" status - i.e. an images good enough to go into my permanent portfolio (if I had one), and certainly good enough for a book and/or calendar. You will see this image again, but here it is for now, a very poor reproduction of one of the most incredible light shows I have ever witnessed. And by the way, just FYI, anytime that you downsize a digital photo for the web the quality goes way down with it. I am often really disappointed and even embarrassed at how terrible my images look on this web page - especially ones shot with this new big camera setup. Actually many of the little point-and-shoot camera images will reproduce on the web a LOT better than the ones taken with the high-resolution camera. Just the nature of the beast, and I hope you can understand and tolerate them.
I'm on the road today - have a book signing at the Hastings bookstore in Russellville tonight (6:30-8pm). Then I plan to be around the cabin for much of the next week. This is our slowest time of the year, and it has been really terrific not to have to rush around every day to meet deadlines. We will have a ton of work to do all day long, seven days a week, but if I only work 12 hours in a day instead of 18 it's not going to kill me. While I still have several pages on the to-do list of current projects, I'm trying as best I can to get the huge backlog of undone things done. And somewhere in there I plan to get out into the woods.
One thing about "investing" in this new camera system - it will "force" me out of the cabin in search of photos in order to justify the huge expense of that premium glass sitting in the camera bag in the safe. While there normally is not all that much color in the landscape at this time of the year, there are certainly plenty of interesting subjects to keep me busy. By the way, just FYI for any of you curious about the differences between my "real" camera system and what I have been using, here is one factor that you might be able to relate to: With my point-and-shoot digital camera, the total weight that I take into the field is about 14 ounces, which includes a spare set of batteries, and cost about $900. The "real" camera system tops the scale at 37 pounds (without any water or snacks), and cost more than five times the price of my first car!
OK, I just made sweep of the property and could not locate the mystery cat this morning. It is quite brisk outside, although the wind is completely still, so it could be a lot worse. The fog in the air seems to be very thin, and just hanging there, with not enough moisture in it to produce any hoar frost. Smooth rocks on the ground are covered with regular frost, and you have to be careful as you walk to keep from slipping. TONS of little birds out this morning, enjoying about a dozen feeding stations that the girls have set up here.
Pam is feeding the turtle, Amber just fed the cats. The dogs eat whenever they want to. The big fish in the pond outside quit eating last fall when the water temp dropped below 58 degrees, and won't be fed again until this spring when the water temp gets back up to that spot.
Speaking of the turtle, she is quickly becoming one of the main characters in a cabin filled with them. I never realized that a darn turtle could have such a complex personality. Like, for instance, yesterday afternoon when we had some visitor arrive for the night. At first Crystal the turtle simply swam back behind the big rock we have for you in the tank and hid. Before too long she got a little bit braver, and while she did not come out and visit with everyone, she did begin a methodical process of uprooting each plant in the tank and moving them to the back corner of the tank, creating a fort for her to hide in. Once all of the plants were moved into place, she backed into the cover and sat there for the rest of the evening. I have often felt just like that myself in society, but never had enough plants to place around me for camouflage (could be one reason why I live so far out in the woods - enough cover at last!).
One other wildlife observation. There are several bird feeders attached to windows in the living room right next to the dining table. On mornings like this one the birds feeding on them make quite a bit of noise, which has become somewhat of white noise in the background for me. A few moments ago I glanced over towards those feeders and while the noise coming from that direction had not changed, the wildlife had - there were four young ladies sitting at the kitchen table munching on breakfast cereal (Amber and her buddies who had spent the night) - and they sounded EXACTLY like the birds at the feeder!
1/12/04 Late last night, right after I had gotten into a deep sleep, the alarm system up at the office went off. That meant that something, or someone, was moving around either inside or outside of the office area. I grabbed my clothes, the 9mm Glock, a giant Mag flashlight, and headed up the trail towards the office. The moon was up but it was not really out - many clouds above - but there was enough moonlight for me to see my way without having to use the flashlight. My pace slowed and my heart raced as I approached the dark structure. I nearly stopped and began to inch my way through the last bit of woods, carefully placing each step so that I did not make any noise. All the while I was scanning the forest all around me as well as the office area for any signs of movement. Nothing. Not a sound. No movements. It did not appear that anyone had been inside the office, or at least nothing was disturbed. I went outside and looked around a bit, but couldn't find anything unusual going on. As I stood there in the darkness a pack of coyotes began to howl, long and low, mournful howls. They were nearby, and I suspect that it may have been them who set off the alarms. Normally a passing critter would not do that, but no telling what they were up to. Satisfied that it was them, I returned to the cabin, taking the long way back so that I could spend some additional time out there in the moonlight, as dim as it was.
Early this morning I returned to the forest with camera in hand to take a few shots of the pre-dawn sky, which once again put on quite a light show. Also the moon was still up there, and had a halo around it. Kind of neat looking, so I shot a few pics.
My bride and I ventured out into the surrounding countryside and into Jasper to run errands, then detoured to a spot in Boxley Valley that I had always wanted to photograph. It is an old cabin that sits in the middle of a grove of small trees. From a distance the trees remind me of an Aspen grove in Colorado, but I'm sure they are some other type of tree. I did not approach close enough to figure out what they were, but plan to do so on my next visit. I'm in this "tree" mode right now, always looking for interesting images of trees. You'll probably get to see many tree images as the winter progresses. I hope you enjoy them. (By the way, after I had posted this phot I got an e-mailed photo from a future digital photography workshop student of mine - it was the EXACT same photo as the one below - he had taken it the day before I was there!)
1/14/04 Cool and gray today before daylight, with a slight wind. We watched the radar all day yesterday as a large band of rain moved slowly across the screen - just SOUTH of us - we never got a drop. Darn it. It was clear last night, but thick clouds once again this morning.
It was still dark when I hiked up to the office to check on something, and for some reason, it just felt so wonderful out there in the woods, that I continued on, past the office, and headed west. At first I stayed on the road because it was easy to follow in the dim light, but soon I ventured out into the forest - just barely enough light for me to keep from bumping into trees. Of course, with each step it got a little bit lighter.
For most of my adult life and all of my photo career I have searched for this one particular tree scene, and have yet to find it. I have been actively seeking it this past few weeks. It's a very simple scene, one of those where there is a single or even two trees up on the very top of an open field - nothing but the bare tree silhouetted against a sky full of brightly-lit clouds, the kind of sky we have been seeing a lot of here lately. You can't imagine how difficult it is to find this simple scene! There is always a problem of one sort or another, although some of those can be corrected these days in the computer, although I tend to shy away from making any major changes that way. I'm not against it, just not for me.
Anyway, I have been seeing the top of this pair of big old oak trees at the far end of an open field up here on Cave Mountain for a while, but have never ventured over to see if they would work. Turns out that is where I was headed this morning, even though I did not know it at first.
As the darkness turned slipped away and more shapes and colors began to appear in the landscape, my pace picked up a bit, passing through forests and fields and past more trees. Before too long - a mile, perhaps two, I came to the edge of the field with the two big oaks in it. My pulse sped up a bit when I began to walk around them and the vision of that special scene flashed into my brain. They are an incredible pair of find oaks, stripped bare of all clothing for winter, and showing their true personalities. I just love bare trees! They live right at the top edge of a large open field, a field now covered with two-foot tall bunches of soft, brown hay. Hum, could this be the pastoral tree scene of my dreams? Close, but no cigar. It will be a terrific image that I plan to photograph the next time we have a great western sky in the evening, but it is just not quite what I wanted. I will shoot it and enjoy, but will continue my search.
It was a marvelous hike that both hiker and dogs enjoyed immensely. Moving through the landscape this time of the year is such a delight, so easy to do since the forests are open and void of underbrush. Now, if we can just get that rain that is supposed to be bearing down on us in a couple of days - we REALLY need a TON of rain to get the waterfalls up and running the way they should be at this time of the year.
Oh yea, one quick note about a Cloudland moment yesterday. My lovely bride and I were working on a project out on the back deck. The sun was trying to break through and there were beams of light in the canyons below, with the ridges beyond all black, or very dark gray. And then all of a sudden, out of no where, we both looked up at the same time and saw this HUGE mature bald eagle soaring below us, with wings fully extended, and quietly circling. Looked to me like this dude's wingspan was at least 20 feet! And you guessed it - he was right in one of those shafts of sunshine, so was really lit up - that white on black was so striking!!! Easily one of the most incredible sights I had ever seen. Of course, my camera was tucked away inside its bag in the safe inside, but I ran for it anyway. By the time I returned he was gone, but I set up the camera and long lens on a tripod just in case he decided to return.
That light in the canyon was pretty amazing. We worked for another couple of hours, but never did see him again. Oh well, that is one snapshot that will live inside my brain for a good long while. And the best part of it all was that Pam was here to share it with me. To me that is a big part of what having a life mate is all about - I have been so lucky in my life and have be part of so many wonderful things, but most of the time there has been a hollow feeling inside from it all because until I met Pam, there was no one to share all of those special moments with - now there is, and it means so much more to me...
UPDATE: I did something this evening that I probably should not have done - I put food ahead of taking a photograph! It turned out OK though, and I eventually got the photo, despite the feeding frenzy. Pam and I worked outside most of the day again today - this time I had a big telephoto lens on my camera and on a tripod pointed out into the wilderness, ready for the return of the bald eagle. Being prepared like that all but assured us we would not be seeing any eagle today. And sure enough, the only bald guy around all day was me. We did get to watch a few red tailed hawks gliding around and having fun in the afternoon sunshine.
Just as we were ready to eat, the western horizon begin to get interesting - a few streaks of clouds gathered, and began to show a little color. It did not appear to be a really blazing sky to me - not enough clouds - at least that is the excuse I gave myself as I sat down on the back deck to admire the view of the sunset with paper plate piled high with a naked chicken burger, beans, and garlic bread. I did woof it down pretty fast though, then grabbed my glass of cheap whiskey and coke, then the camera gear, and raced out the door, heading for the new tree spot that I had found this morning. And I arrived in the old field just in time to set up the camera gear and get the most out of the sunset and the trees. The sky was nice, but not as good as it gets, and I will return and get better images. It is just one more site nearby where I know I can go and record some of Momma Nature's wonders.
1/15/04 Today was almost a carbon copy of yesterday, at least as far as that magical time right around sunset goes. We had taken a break from working and were eating dinner. I filled up my bowl with chili and was sitting on the back deck with my feet propped up and enjoying the sun setting low on the horizon. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. Just as a hint of color began to appear in the thin layers of clouds above, I remembered my trees over there in that old field. From the sounds of the weather forecast this next few days today might be the last time we see the sun for a while, so I thought I had better make another try at getting a good silhouetted tree shot against a brilliant western sky. But I had this bowl full of chili in my lap! What to do, what to do. I went ahead and tempted fate, and sat on my behind and ate. Then I got up and dashed out the door.
Turns out there was not much color at all after the sun went down, but I shot a few images of the gray sky anyway. While I was there waiting on the light, three deer appeared at the far edge of the field. They did not seem to be too concerned with me, and slowly made their way along the edge of the field, then wandered out into the middle just a little bit. I slowly began the process of changing lenses from the 17-40mm zoom I had on the camera, to a telephoto, then turned around to take a photo of them - poof, they were gone!!!
We had one quick thrill at the cabin today. Pam and I were working outside on the back deck when we heard a noise - a kind of muffled helicopter type of noise. Instinctively I ran to grab the camera - just the snapshot camera because my real camera was in the truck. And then it appeared, just for a split second. Way far up in the headwaters of Whitaker Creek we saw the flash of a helicopter and heard its motors. Then it appeared again. It was a military chopper flying down Whitaker Creek! And it was hauling buns! It flew below Hawksbill Crag at top speed, and in another couple of seconds was racing right below us. The chopper was so low and fast that I was unable to get a photo of it, or at least a clear one - it was below the trees! It banked and turned downstream when it got to the Buffalo, and then just like that, it was gone. Swooooooshhhh!
1/16/04 COLD and windy this morning, and wet. It did FINALLY rain during the night, but just a little bit - enough to get things wetted down but that's about it. And Pam said the road out to the bus stop was not even wet. Supposed to be 90-100% chance of heavy rain for the next two days. We need it so bad I'm not expecting very much, but will take any that we can get! The wind chill is down in the teens and low 20's. Lots of cabin work to do today, then I am off to deliver Amber up to Missouri. I promise not to post another tree picture today...
As I was sitting here typing this a few minutes ago, I happened to look out the window and saw just the thinnest streak of color across the very southern horizon - everything else was heavy gray overcast. I grabbed the snapshot camera and took a long exposure. By the time I stepped back inside, all trace of the color was gone.
1/19/04 The temp here a couple of hours before daylight is about 11 degrees, with a slight breeze. The clear skies helped bring the temp down during the night - when you have a cloudy sky, it acts as insulation and helps keep the warmth of the earth in, but when the sky is clear, lots of heat escapes, which brings the temps down.
HEAVY fog moved in Friday night, and remained with us all day Saturday and into the night. I thought it might be interesting to get a few "foggy tree" shots, so went out early Sat. morning to shoot a few pics. As it turned out, I could have waited until noon and would have got the same pics. I found a group of walnut trees that stood tall and seemed to defy the weather, so spent most of my time with them. It was actually raining lightly, and the wind was blowing, so I had to be careful with my camera gear. In fact since the wind was blowing I could only shoot while facing one direction - away from the wind - so as I wandered around looking for scenes that is the only direction that I considered shots from. The reason is that while the rain actually didn't bother me too much, and the camera is pretty weather tight, but there is no way to keep rain off of the front glass elements of your lens when shooting into a blowing rain (or shooting towards many waterfalls for that matter), and rain drops on the front of your lens really mess up your photo.
So I found a couple of neat compositions facing the correct direction, then set up my tripod and shot away. I guess I looked sort of funny standing out there next to my tall wooden tripod with all of my rain gear deployed. I had a large garbage bag covering my camera bag, then a two-gallon ziplock bag over my camera (with the lens pointing out the open end), and I was huddled around the camera with my rain jacket providing some wind and rain protection, all the while I was holding a small umbrella over everything with one hand while trying to operate the camera with the other - very important to be able to do everything with just one hand!
While I was out in the rain having a grand old time taking pictures, my bride and her two best friends were out hiking around the loop. These two ladies both have husbands that have been in Iraq defending our freedom for a good long while now, and we wanted to have them down for a weekend of R&R and a break from the daily grind. Also, it was one of their 8th wedding anniversary, and so we wanted to do something special for her. Her husband had set up some stuff with us via e-mail, which included me picking up a very nice batch of red and yellow roses from a florist in Harrison and delivering them to her at the cabin.
It rained most of the day Saturday and into the night - we got a total of about three inches. The Buffalo and Whitaker Creek began to roar, although we could not see what was going on down in the fog until very late in the day. Just before dark the scene down below lifted just a little bit, and revealed a muddy river, but it was not too high or flooded. Sometime during the night the rain stopped and the fog was blown away.
SUNDAY was a terrific day to go waterfall hunting - the BEST we have had in a good long while. They should remain running for a number of days now, and any litlte bit of rain we get will keep them going. Come on rain (or snow)!
I led a hike on Sunday for our OHTA hiking club at Lost Valley down in Boxley. One of the hikers who showed up was a young lady named Chelsie. You might remember that name as the girl who was in a terrible car accident some time ago and fell into a coma. The web page that her best friend put up and her family kept going gathered readers from around the world. Her story of hope and courage was indeed a great one, and Chelsie made progress. In fact she had recovered enough to actually walk across the stage several months later and receive her high school diploma with the rest of her senior class. I was amazed at how great she looked on our hike into Lost Valley, and especially at how well she did on the trail - even going over the difficult spots and up the steps. No way she could have done any of this without a great deal of courage from within, and without the prayers and support from thousands of new and old friends. Way to go Chelsie!
The clouds moved out during the day and bright sunshine filled the canyons around Cloudland. And the temp began to drop. I rather like the combination of a lot of rain and frigid temps - that often will produce ICE FORMATIONS! Actually we will need several days of below freezing temps all day and night to make really nice formations, but we are getting a good start. Right now it is still a god ways from daylight, but as soon as it begins to break day, Pam and I are heading over to the Glory Hole for a quick hike to see how this landmark is running this morning, and perhaps to see a little bit of ice along the way.
UPDATE: The temp had climbed up to 16 degrees when we left the truck and started to hike down into the Glory Hole. This was my first chance to try out a large backpack camera bag that I got on Saturday, and the first time I was able to carry all of my camera gear in one bag. Each of us had several layers on, but it really didn't seem all that cold.
The creeks feeding into the top of the Glory Hole were running, but not really gushing. This is far up in the upper end of the drainage, so much of the rainfall from the weekend had already run off. But no matter - it looked like there would be plenty of water to make the falls look nice.
And the falls were nice, just about perfect flow! The sun was just beginning to reach down into the narrow canyon below the falls area, which lit up a lot of the "ice balls" formations at the bottom of some of the smaller falls and drips around the base of the bluff. Those ice formations were where I spent the next hour pointing my camera at. These balls of ice and fire are formed form the splashes of icicles and drips, just a little bit of water attaches and then freezes at a time, building up hour after hour. And the rounded formations looked quite different from changing angles of view - depending on how and if the sun was hitting them. While I messed around with all of this Pam wandered around and shot a few photos of her own - subjects for future drawings of her I hoped! (She also spent a lot of time helping me by holding an umbrella to keep water form splashing onto the camera and front of the lens, and found a couple of nice shots for me too.)
There was already a guy and his puppy dog there when we arrived - he must have gotten up really early to beat us down! I knew right away that he must have been a pretty good photographer because of this, and the equipment he was using and how much time he spent on one scene - and it was not the main waterfall scene that everyone else photographed. It was nearly an hour before I worked my way over to him to see what he was up to. His name was Randy (a Journal reader), and he did indeed have a very nice scene to photograph.
As we headed out the sun has really warmed things up and the ice was beginning to melt (even though it was still 24 degrees). We met three other groups of hikers on their way in to see the Glory Hole. This is one of the most unusual spots in Arkansas, and it is great that so many people are getting to see it - and nice to see so many folks out hiking in the cold weather!
Here are a few shots from the trip (you should see these in full resolution!):
Later in the afternoon my bride and I went out for a hike around the loop. It was sunny and warming, though still in the low 30's. There was no breeze, and it was rather quiet, just the swoosh-swoosh-swoosh of our feet through the dried leaves of the forest floor. We eventually wandered on over to the old field where those two big trees at the top of the hill are located. Something continues to draw me to these trees, and I could not really put my finger on it until this afternoon. I'm somewhat of a sap you know, so please bear with me. As I was standing there next to my bride, admiring yet another view of the two trees against a neat sky - this time a pure blue sky with the bright sun - I realized that those two trees represented my parents, and how they must be joined now in heaven. My mom died two years ago today, and my dad 24 years ago last December 19th. I think they would approve of my life out here at Cloudland, and especially the incredible lady that has come to mean so much to me. I don't know, kind of silly I guess, but I will continue to visit these two trees, and think of the greatest parents a guy could ever have, and know that my life with Pam will be as unique and wonderful as theirs was. THANKS mom and dad for giving me so much of you!!!
1/20/04 Not nearly as cold as I would have liked this morning - about 20 degrees at 5:30. I was hoping for really cold weather in order to create more ice on the walls of Dug Hollow where I had wanted to take pictures. But I thought I would give it a go anyway, and so as soon as I could begin to see color in the forest I took off with my big camera bag in tow.
It was kind of weird - there didn't seem to be any ice around at all, not even a frost on the leaves. My steps did not crunch, crunch, crunch, but instead were completely silent as I wandered on down into Dug Hollow. That silence didn't last too long because as soon as I came over the last steep bench above the creekbed I could hear the roar of rushing waters below.
Lots of water for sure, but as I expected, very little ice. And all of the ice was clear and not white. There was plenty of water in the ground seeping over the bluffs down in there - which is what you want to produce those really nice walls of ice - but it looked like perhaps there was too much water to form ice. Also it looked like the temp/sun had been too much yesterday, as there were piles and piles of ice at the bottom of those bluffs that had melted loose from the rock and crashed down.
It was kind of a strange feeling - being in such a beautiful place with waterfalls all around me, yet a bit disappointed in not finding walls of ice - what's a photographer to do! I did nose around a little bit and found a neat composition with a small falls and some ice, but had to keep the umbrella open and positioned just so to keep the streams of running water off of the camera while I make the photos.
Mind you it was still about 21 or 22 degrees, although I really didn't feel the chill at all - not even in my fingers, which almost always freeze up in a matter of minutes at this temp, especially when handling metal. I do wear very thin polypro liner gloves, but they don't keep out the cold much. I guess my circulation was better today for some reason.
So that was it, just the one composition and then I packed everything up and started to head out. Then something caught my eye, down at water level. There were several flashes of light dancing on the water, although it was overcast and no sunshine. I got down to take a closer look and found these little "ice hoodoos" that were attached to dead branches that were hovering just above the water. There was a cascade pouring into the pool about 20 feet upstream, which kept the water moving - wave after wave of water caused the reflections to really dance around. It was those reflections that really caught my eye. Man oh man I needed a video camera! I do believe that these ice hoodoos were created by this water motion - when the waves brought the water level up to where a bit of ice had formed on the branch, a thin layer of ice was left behind when the wave went down. Then another wave came along and added another tiny layer of ice. Pretty neat.
It was that moving water that really created a tough photographic situation for me though - with the low light levels and depth of field that I needed to get a good shot of this scene with a long macro lens, I had to "dial up" my film speed on the camera in order to get a shutter speed fast enough to stop the movement of the reflections in the water. That and me waiting for just the right moment when the wave action was at a split-second standstill in between motions to fire the camera. In order to get the perspective just right, I had to be at just above ground level. My big wooden tripod goes all the way down flat on the ground, and makes a stable platform for low-level shots like this one. Only problem is that I had to get down there on the ground with it, which meant laying down on an ice-covered rock ledge next to the stream. No problem, I had those thin liver gloves on, right!
I spent about 20 minutes shooting photos of these little ice hoodoos, and while since I was shooting digital and got to look at the histogram after each shot so I knew my exposures were accurate, I did not get to see if I had successfully stopped the motion of the reflections to make a good photo. So I kept on trying - digital film is free, all that you want to shoot!
Satisfied that I had either gotten the shot or would never get the shot, I got back up on my feet, packed up and headed out of Dug Hollow. It is always a magical place, and I will almost always find something interesting and unique to look at and photograph when I am in there. Same thing can be said of 100 other hollows in the Ozarks, if one will only take the time to explore, and look all around, even at your feet!
When I got back to the cabin all hell broke loose. Well, not exactly, but it felt like that. We had a number of things to get done today, and I had planned just enough time to make it all happen before a school group came by at 1pm. But I had not expected for the UPS guy to come out today, and when he called to announce his arrival, we had to scramble to get a bunch of book orders all boxed up before he got here (he normally only comes out on Thursdays unless we are having a busy week and need more pickups). I also had a pile of state tax stuff that had to get in the mail today to do, and the new computer programs I have been using are not nearly as easy to figure out as the old ones, so it all took me longer. Pam and I taped up the last UPS package just as the truck pulled up; got the check written to gov. Huckabee just in time to get it out to the mailbox for pickup, and I got the office picked up and grabbed my hat just as three truckloads of students pulled up to the cabin!
While I HATED my time as a student - at ALL levels - I always enjoy seeing groups of students come by the cabin. This group was from the Rogers/Bentonville Montesorri School - all Jr. High kids. We gathered around the computer and talked a while, then went down into the basement where I had one of the slide/music programs set up to show them. After it was all over everyone posed for a photo on the back deck. When that was finished I had everyone go around the side of the cabin and back up to the front of the cabin. I noticed that one of the girls was barefoot (many of the students politely removed their shoes when they entered the cabin - very nice manners). Just as I was getting ready to have her come through the cabin instead of walking barefoot through the woods around the cabin, I saw that she was playing with a large chunk of ICE with her bare feet - that she was one tough cookie! So I figured she could handle the forest barefooted with no problem.
The day is winding down here tonight, as is the fire in the fireplace. It is cloudy, but still cold outside. I have to go out and gather a few more sticks of wood to stoke up the fire before going to bed. It is really DARK outside right now - the moon is on the other side of the earth for a few days so nothing to shine down to light my way. Now that I have a long lens, I hope to take a few more portraits of the moon as it goes through its daily changes. Here is the moonrise shot from a couple of days ago:
1/22/04 The sun is just now beginning to touch the western horizon as I write this, sunlit objects are turning yellow, now gold, and the light is getting less intense. The steady flock of small birds at our four bird feeders just outside the windows (a couple attached to the windows) have retreated back into the trees and are still and quiet. The forest all around is also still and quiet. Amber is in her room doing homework. My bride is in the kitchen fixing dinner. Aspen and Lucy are taking a nap. Everywhere is calm, so I thought I would take this opportunity to sit down and type a little bit. So peaceful here. I don't think I could have ever found a better place to live - it took me 15 years of steady searching to find this place, and it was worth every moment of it.
There are a couple of web sites that I would like to pass onto you. One of them I just found out about, and is a nature center in the South Carolina that has some weekly articles that you can get e-mailed to you (for free), or you can simply go look up all the old articles. I have not read them all, but it looks like some really neat stuff. Here is the link: http://www.hiltonpond.org/.
The other link is one that I have had on the HikeArkansas.com web site links page for a while. It is the site of Randy Wilson (Ozark Light), the photographer that we ran into down at the Glory Hole the other day. I highly recommend that you go take a look at his web site - there is some incredible photos there, as well as some very well-written stores and prose. His site is: http://comp.uark.edu/~jrwilson/
We had a wonderful meeting yesterday with a famous author and photographer Don Kurz (author of OZARK WILDFLOWERS - the best wildflower book I've ever seen; also MISSOURI TREES, which is already sold out in hardcover after being out for less than a year!; OZARKS SCENIC DRIVES book; plus several other books). I consider Don to be the foremost authority on the outdoors in Missouri. He also happens to be a very good egg. It looks like we will be working with Don on one, and perhaps even two new book projects in the next year or two - a very exciting thing for us! Since publication dates are so far away, I won't get into any details, but I will keep you posted. The only problem with the meeting was that I did not get Don to sign our guest lamp shade, get a photo taken to prove he was actually here, or get him to identify that small grove of mystery trees down in Boxley Valley! Hey Don - you'll just have to come back again SOON!
The sun had dipped below the trees way out there now, and the temp is beginning to drop a little bit too. Just before I got to the computer this afternoon, I took a quick trip down to the river - a fitness trip, and I hope the first of many to come. You see I have put back on ALL of the weight that I lost last summer, mostly just because I have been lazy, and spending way too much time at this computer. But those pounds will gradually come back off again. All it takes is a little exercise each day!
The sun was low but still bright and rather warm as I made my way down the steep hillside towards the river. Seemed like Aspen and Lucy were having even more fun than normal running back and forth across each bench on the way down. Also seemed like I could see a lot farther than the last time I went down. Don't know why that might have been.
As I got near the river I could tell that something was different - the water had been up high, and washed the river bank clean. There is a little grove of sycamore seedlings all crowded in on a narrow gravel bar right where the trail hits the main river. They just started growing there a couple of years ago, and now are about five or six feet tall. The three inches of rain that we got over the weekend brought the river level up enough to send lots of leaves from upstream floating downstream, and piles and piles of them were deposited on those sycamore seedlings.
The river was wide and fast, but still pretty shallow - it has gone down a lot since the rains, and is about normal for this time of the year. The sun had already left the river, and the water was lit up by the blue sky above, creating a blue sheen on the water surface.
On the way back up I detoured to visit Whitaker Creek, which was singing a very nice lullaby. This is just one of hundreds of small but beautiful mountain streams scattered throughout the Ozarks. Even though there is not much color evident at this time of the year, the scene is still quite delightful, and I enjoy exploring upstream - no end to the streams that you can follow and what you can discover. Have you ever sat down next to a talking stream and just listened for 20 minutes? I highly recommend it!
The trip back up the steep hill was easy on me, although I did blow quite a bit but never had to stop. Once I got the dogs up and over the bluff and I reached the cabin, I did 50 sit-ups. I guess that trip up the hill and all those sit-ups helped work off those Chick-fillet fries that I had for lunch!
Smells like dinner is ready so I will put this to bed now. Outside the sun is long gone, the hills are black, and all the trees around the cabin are in silhouette. Just a hint of color on the western horizon. A few stars are beginning to appear in the dark blue sky above. Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...All is well at Cloudland.
1/25/04 We've had a delightful weekend filled with work and play and quiet time and RAIN at last! The sun is down now as I am typing this, the girls are downstairs watching TV, and the cabin is warm and toasty with a big blaze in the fireplace. It rained most of the night last night, and we got more than an inch of wet stuff - a slow and soaking rain, not too hard. They were calling for flash floods, but none of that got near us. It was COLD at first light this morning - 34 degrees - and if it had dropped a few degrees lower during the night we might have had a lot of white stuff on the ground instead of noisy creeks running all around us.
Yesterday Glenn Wheeler and I met up well before daylight and drove up to a spot in Missouri where we were hoping to photograph a lot of bald eagles. We got to see plenty of these incredible and majestic birds, but didn't have the type of lighting that we needed, and the birds were kind of skittish. We did get one or two good shots, but hope to return to the area and get some really nice ones with dozens of birds all together.
Saturday evening the ladies and I sat down and watched one of the great movie epics of all time - and one that I had never seen before - Gone With The Wind. At 3 hours and 53 minutes we did not expect for Amber to sit through it all, but she did, and even wanted to see all the "extras" that come with the DVD. Such an impressive production at any time in history, but especially for 1939.
ALL of our web pages were out of order most of today - sorry about that, but there must have been some problem with the provider in Fayetteville. At least we have access and connections now, and I hope not too many of you were rejected. One of these days I'm going to try to figure out if we can become our own provider here and not have to rely on things elsewhere going down on weekends and holidays, which always seems to be the case.
After the rains ended this morning a THICK layer of fog settled in for most of the day. We spent much of the morning doing chores around the cabin and stopping now and then to take a closer look at the birds that are literally flocking to our feeders - Pam has at least five of them close to the cabin, with more on the way. Not only do bird feeders offer a close-up view of wildlife, but the provide some much-needed nutrition to the birds at this often stressful time of the year.
As the day rolled on we all decided to go on a hike - the cats and dogs and Amber too. The fog was still very thick, and we could hardly see more than 100 feet or so into the forest. It was just wonderful out hiking though, sort of just drifting through a cloud of cotton. Almost as soon as we got started I there was a vision that flashed through my mind - a vision of a photograph that I needed to go take. I won't get into the specifics of it, but the vision was so clear and urgent that I left my ladies in mid-hike, returned to the cabin, then gathered up my camera gear and sped away. I was actually heading down into Dug Hollow, one of my favorite shooting locations, although I have never published a single image taken there.
The photograph that I had in mind required the thick fog that we had been engulfed in all day long. But as luck would have it, as I began to make my way down into this scenic canyon, the fog disappeared, and by the time I reached the noisy creek below, there was no fog at all. So much for my vision.
Not wanting to waste the trip I set up and shot a number of different scenes of the waterfalls - which were flowing quite nicely. Wanting to keep with my "trees" theme of late, I found a couple of composition that included trees. In fact the more I wandered around the more tree shots I found. One area that I visited was especially filled with young beech trees, their golden leaves still clinging on until springtime. I spent an hour or two photographing beech trees up against a wonderful sandstone bluff, and with a tall waterfall.
And then I discovered a really neat location down below one of the waterfalls, a spot that I had looked down on many times, but had never scrambled down to explore. There is a GIANT boulder there, right in the middle of the stream, and much of the underside of the boulder has fallen away, leaving a grotto or sorts, and overhang, a place of refuge from rain. The big falls can be seen above, and its flow tumbles down moss-covered rocks and goes right through the middle of this paradise. The waterfall is unnamed and uncharted, but has always been one of my favorites. This little grotto area will become one of my favorite destinations during high water time in the future too - it is really a unique and special little magical spot tucked away back in the wilderness.
After spending another hour at the grotto, I began to make my way back upstream to the main waterfall area. One thing you can say about Dug Hollow is that fact that it is pretty darn ROUGH going down in there - boulders and bluffs and slick rocks and downed trees are EVERYWHERE! While the going is tough, the scenery is spectacular, and I had a hard time concentrating on where to put my feet because there was SO much neat stuff to look at along the way.
As I was approaching the main waterfall area I spotted a guy and a white dog. They were exploring along the creek. You seldom ever seen other folks down in this place (most of the access is via private property), and I guess with the tough going I can understand why. By the time I had hoisted myself and my camera gear up and over a very slick ledge, the man and his dog were gone.
Waterfalls, I just LOVE waterfalls, and had to stop on my way out and shoot one more composition. No matter how many waterfalls I come across in my lifetime, I will always take the time to stop and enjoy, and now that all of my film and processing are free, I suspect I will take even more photos of them than ever before!
The ladies had the cabin all warmed up and smelling great when I returned - fresh chocolate chip cookies had just come out of the oven - I could tell that right away when I walked inside. Only problem was that the cookie pan was EMPTY! They had eaten all of them! That's OK - I was quite happy to take in the aroma just the same.
Later in the afternoon the sun began to burn off the cloud cover, and it looked like there would be quite a light show in the western sky. After downloading all of my digital images onto the computer, erasing my flashcards, and cleaning up and drying off the camera gear, I loaded it all up again and headed on over to my favorite silhouetted-trees-against-setting-sun viewpoint. It was just being out and wandering around this evening, even though the sunset never produced any color at all - I set up my camera but never took a single photo. While I was waiting for the color to appear, I spent my time cleaning lenses and getting my camera bag in order.
After I got home the three of us worked together to haul in a big load of firewood - Amber being the lead person using her red wagon to haul loads of wood to the cabin from the woodpile. Pam and I marveled at how well this young lady had got the hang of this place in a hurry, and how much she enjoys living out in the wilderness - even doing CHORES!
The fire is burning down now and I need to go load it up with fresh logs. Then I will spend the next hour or so picking out the photos that are posted with this entry, and processing them for the web page. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I loved taking them!
1/28/04 Good grief, January is almost gone! I've been sitting here this morning working on some prints I'm making today, and for the past two hours it seems like the eastern horizon has been glowing - first just a tiny bit of yellow, then pink, then orange, then red, then back to orange, then pink, then yellow. And heck, the sun is still not up yet! There isn't a cloud in the sky - nothing but pure blue above, with those warm fringes around the horizons. Oops, I take that back, looking to the southwest I can just now see that the very tippy tops of the ridges way over there are beginning to glow with the orange warmth of sunshine - that means it won't be long now before that sunlight begins to stream into the office window here at the cabin, and a new day will be born. Here it is! The cabin walls are lit up - bright yellow. The lamp that is on over next to the fireplace is now dull. I guess Mr. Sun is the biggest and brightest lamp of them all. And now the eastern-most tips of the ridges up in the main Buffalo River canyon are now getting sunshine - I just stepped outside and snapped a photo for the daily deck cam that I hope illustrates this.
Yesterday began with an early phone call from Amber's bus driver - the first bus that she rides each day. "It's too slick, I'm not hauling her today" was the message. A few minutes later we heard that Jasper school was cancelled because of the snow. Snow? Really? It did in fact snow most of the night, and the temp was down to 11 degrees, with a wind chill of about ten below zero. It was FRIGID outside! But not really much snow at all. Perhaps the wind blow so hard and long all night that the snowflakes never had a chance to hit the ground! Most of the landscape was covered with 1/2 to 1 inch of snow, but no more. And it was absolutely DRY snow, and even the giant flakes that came down remained as flakes - looking closely at the ground you could see that it was just a pile of big flakes, and none of them were wet enough to stick together.
Before long the skies above cleared, the sun came up, and nothing but blue skies above. Although it was still snowing! I'm not really sure if it was just flakes left over from clouds that had already passed overhead and the flakes were just then reaching the ground, or is the wind was picking up snow from elsewhere and just pushing it around. At any rate, it was quite spectacular as the rising sun turned the blowing snow into blowing sparkles. Of course, I had to try to photograph this - it was quite a beautiful sight.
I ran to get the camera gear and set up down on the lower side deck, where I could see down through the forest towards the river far below. Sunshine was spilling into the canyon, and looking through my long lens it all looked just incredible. I spent the next hour shooting at all different shutter speeds and f-stops and focus points, trying to capture even a tiny bit of this great beauty. I knew there was no way I could do it justice - I really needed a video camera to get the movement of the snowflakes and the twinkle that the sun provided.
Then I noticed that the snow was rather heavy down in the main river canon, and that there was a wide beam of sunshine beaming down through it and creating an unusual shaft of sun-lit snow. While still in my slippers, I dashed down to a nearby viewpoint that overlooks the river to see if I could get that scene in the camera. By the time I arrived (and literally had to hang on for dear life because the snow was so very slick, especially with my slippers!), the sun/snow shaft had dissipated somewhat, and I was unable to get anything in the camera that even remotely resembled what I had seen. I did get a good shot of Beagle Point from down there:
Most of the snow as gone by mid afternoon, although Amber and I did get in a couple of good snowball fights.
While all the snow melted away in a hurry yesterday on all the landscape where the sun hit, the north-facing slopes did not melt, and even this morning, Beagle Point is still white. I suspect it too will melt off later today as the temp inches up.
Speaking of the temp, I was really surprised at how warm it was here this morning - 22 degrees. When I went to bed last night it had already dropped down to 18, and the sky was clear, which meant it should continue to drop during the night. (There was a 1/3 full bright moon up high looking down on us all - first time I had seen the moon since I shot that silver sliver photo through the tree branches.) So the temp actually went up during the night - not too common in January.
1/29/04 Clear and cool today, and it never did warm up any. Clouds moved in right after sunrise, and it was one of those gray winter days.
I loaded up and headed out the door about mid afternoon for a hike, or rather a ramble. A ramble is when you take off with no particular route or destination in mind, and bushwhack through the forest and wind up wherever you may. It was the perfect day for it, and the soil, leaves, and lighting conditions were just perfect.
I headed down the steep hillside towards the river, then veered off into the teeth of the steep, and nearly vertical at times, hillside. Man you can see forever in these winter woods! The dogs were working far out at the very fringes of what I could see. Sometimes I would just sit down and watch for a few minutes. It was great to be out.
I came across an odd item - a tree that had been knocked down by something or other, but it was the bark that was really weird. Most of the bark had been stripped off - and freshly done too, after it had been knocked over. At first glance I thought a bear or something had scratched the bark off, but upon closer inspection I could find no marks. There were many little holes in the wood though - probably from bugs inside working their way out (or in).
It was easy going, although sometimes I would have to hold on for dear life as I slide down a really steep section - the benches in this country are really STEEP! But the ground was soft and the leaves dry and it was actually kind of fun sometimes. It didn't take me long to get into some country that I had never been through before. I knew where I was, but just hadn't actually set foot on it before. I got down close to the creek, and could hear it roaring below, but I was stopped by a bluffline.
I continued to work my way through some giant boulders that had been tossed onto the side of the mountain from far above, and kept looking for a way down through the bluff, but there was no way for a good long while. Then I found a break in the bluff, and down I went, only to discover that there was an even taller bluff just below me - between me and the rushing waters that I could now see below.
And as I was making my way across this steep land of boulders and steep drop-offs, I heard more water rushing - hum, it was coming from up ahead, and not down at the river. I knew there was a waterfall in the area, but it had to be below me. And then I came to the sound - it was coming from a pair of waterfalls alright, but they were INSIDE the hillside! I had to climb up to reach it, but when I did I found a large hole in the side of the mountain, and inside where these two waterfalls, side by side. The water appeared from the ceiling, then disappeared into the floor. None of this was very large - perhaps a hole of 12-15 feet in diameter, and the actual cave inside was smaller, and probably about the same height. It was just the most bizarre "cave" opening that I had ever seen.
I climbed down inside the opening and tried to take a photo or two, but did not have much luck. I could not get far enough away on the same level in order to capture the cave opening and its place on the hillside. There was a strange odor inside the cave - not bat guano, or mold, I don't know, I just couldn't place it. And the rocks - all around the opening and inside the opening were layered and rather odd - don't recall seeing that type around here before. The entire package was rather unusual. I'll have to come back to this place!
My route to the river was still blocked, and I even had to retreat and go back uphill for a little bit, but then I was rewarded when the bluffline broke down quite a bit and I was able to slip and slide and pick my way on down the hill, soon landing at the edge of the creek. And my oh my did I land at a beautiful spot!
Many of the boulders along the creek were covered with bright green moss, and there was rushing water all around, with one spot somewhat of a waterfall that poured into an emerald pool. I climbed up onto one of the larger boulders and took a break. A miniature paradise right there at my feet.
When I finally got up to continue on my ramble I realized that this spot is where an old mule trail left the creek bottom and started up the hill towards Cave Mountain Road. This trail originates at the mouth of Whitaker creek at the Buffalo River - the route from the point where I had been resting downstream to the Buffalo is extremely rugged and difficult to find. Andy Friend had told me about this trail - he spent his first few years of life on the Buffalo nearby and used the trail a lot. Last year I had successfully traced the route on uphill towards the road, and was able to follow it all the way up to Mule Trail Falls. Today I did not go all the way to the falls, but I did use the trail to take me on out of the canyon and up to near the base of the big bluff just below Hawksbill Crag.
Few people ever get down below the Crag and look at how incredible this bluffline really is, but I stop and admire not only the size, but especially the color of it every time I hike by. I guess there is a lot of iron in that rock for all the red color to show through.
The rest of my ramble was an easy one, mostly just wandering back and forth through the forest along the gentle benches and on back to the cabin. It was nearly dark when I arrived. I hauled in a load of wood, then built up a big fire to roast my buns by.
1/30/04 I was sitting in front of the big fire warming up my toes and sipping a cup of Earl Gray tea and cream when my lovely wife burst into the cabin - she had just been out to deliver Amber to the first bus. "You've got to get out and take pictures - it is so BEAUTIFUL!" Of course, it was still pitch black out, an hour still before sunrise, but she could see hoar frost sparkling in the headlights. We didn't have any here at the cabin, but on up the road where the terrain is a little higher, the hoar frost had settled onto anything and everything. The temperature was a brisk 12 degrees, with light snow falling (or was it frost coming out of the trees?), and some wind, which brought the wind chill down to zero or below.
I always try to obey my bride, so as soon as I had finished my tea, and cooked up a little smokie sandwich, I was out the door. Sure enough, it was quite beautiful all along the road, at least where the elevation was high. I drove around, stopped and got out to look around, at at least a dozen locations before I finally found something to my liking where the wind wasn't blowing. I spent the next couple of hours doing that - driving and stopping and looking and sometimes getting out the camera to shoot. Then I was back home again to warm my toes in front of the fire. Here are a few of the images of the morning shoot.
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