CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - DECEMBER 2004
It has been one of the best years ever, full of joy and happiness here at Cloudland. All of us wish you and yours the VERY BEST in the New Year! THANKS for being a part of our lives this year... | ||
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CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL, updated 12/30/04 Sponge-Bob pants? 12/23/04 A big, bright moon is high in the sky, and the winter wilderness landscape is inviting and friendly - at least, it was this afternoon when the temps had soared up into the low 20's. Supposed to dip down to near zero tonight - that will keep the snow around for at least another couple of days insuring the first white Christmas around here in a good long while. Our total from the storm was about 2-3 inches. I was up at 2-something this morning, and I think the moon was to blame. They were calling for continued snow showers with a 50% chance in the morning, then partly cloudy the rest of the day. That would have been perfect for my photo expedition. But at 2-something the sky had cleared and the moon was beaming into my bedroom window. Nothing but stars and the big old headlight. So by 6am I had aborted my photo plans and called folks who were going with me. I would instead head out and shoot sunrise at my favorite old cedar tree, then see what else the day would bring. You see, when the sun is out, it is tough to get the sort of photos that I want, especially with snow. The light is just too darn bright and harsh. OK, so it was 6 degrees when I left the cabin - I dug around in the back of the closet for ten minutes to make sure I found every stitch of clothes to wear that I could find. It was easy going in the pre-dawn light and within just a few minutes I had parked and was headed down the hill to the top of the big bluff where the old cedar lives. The southeastern horizon was completely clear, and mostly just light blue - not really much color in it at all. The blowing snows of yesterday had piled up on the northern sides of the trees along the bluff top, but that was the wrong side for me - I would be on the western side, and couldn't really see too much snow on the trees, but there was plenty on the ground. I got out my camera gear, set up the tripod, and waited. It was quite beautiful out there on top of that bluff - just me and the snow and the trees and the blank sky and the wind, goodness did we have some wind! That brought the wind chill down to minus (insert big number here) something. It was a wee bit nipper, but I was dressed warmly and even my hands were OK. When the sun did arrive I was down on my belly working the camera and looking through the viewfinder. The brand new angle finder that I received only a couple of days ago was tucked safely away in a box next to my desk back at the cabin - I bought it to use in situations exactly like this one where the camera is low to the ground - it allows me to stand over the camera, or at least kneel upright - and look down into the viewfinder instead of having to be on my belly in the frozen windswept tundra like I was this morning. But I had left if behind. Way to go. The entire shot was over in about five minutes - the sun had climbed up into the sky and I had taken about 50 photos and tested two of my new lenses. OK, off to the next spot!
I creeped on down the steep Cave Mountain hillside that gets up to a 17% grade in several places - it was snow and ice packed, but the truck made it down OK. Sunshine was just beginning to spill into Boxley Valley. I was going to get a snapshot of the old church as the first rays of sun first hit it, but when I got there the sun had not made it yet, so I turned around and drove back to Beech Creek where I saw a neat scene taking shape out of the corner of my eye as I drove over the bridge. As luck would have it, the scene that I saw was only visible from UP on the bridge - and only through the trees - I had no good shot from down at river level. But I wondered around a little bit and found one shot to take of the distant hillside reflecting its early morning glow in the water with snow-covered river rocks gathered alongside. It wasn't until later this evening that I found some neat ice formations that were right in the middle of the photos - I had not seen them when I took the photo at all, but with the high resolution camera I am shooting you can pick out little details like this scene from very small parts of the photo (this was about 5% of the actual shot).
As I headed back to Boxley Church I passed a couple of photographers walking down the middle of the snow-packed highway, heading for their jeep that was parked nearby. A few minutes later, while I was setting up to take the church shot (which did not turn out very good), I heard my name called out by one of the photographers. One of these guys was lugging around an $8,000 lens (plus an $8,000 camera to go with it), while the other one had an old $50 beat up Pentax camera. Turns out one of them had entered a photo contest several years ago that I judged and his photo won Best Of Show - it remains the best picture I have ever seen of Twin Falls of Richland Creek (taken in the fall on a freak day when the colors were quite spectacular, and both falls were at peak flow - a photo I would kill to have taken!). Guess which one of these guys was the better photographer - you got it, the one with the $50 camera who had won the photo contest. The most expensive and best equipment on earth does not always make the photographer good! I bummed around the valley a little while then decided to pack it in and head back to the cabin so I could play with my girls. As the afternoon wore on I got the itch to get out and shoot some more, so I loaded up and headed down the steep hill behind the cabin towards the river. With the skies still clear I wanted to photograph the alpenglow on the hills reflecting in the river, a scene I've always wanted to shoot in the snow here for a long while. My camera pack was heavy, and the going was not very easy - the slope was icy, and very steep! Getting down the ladder was quite a chore, and I ended up having to bust up the ice on the bluff and on the ladder with my tripod. Somehow I managed to make it all the way down the hill without doing a face plant, but by the time I got down I was already exhausted - yep, it sometimes takes just as much energy to get down a steep slope as it does to get up it, especially with a heavy load. I spent the next hour making my way up the main Buffalo River. It was quite wonderful down there, with the reflections in the water, the snow-covered boulders and trees and logs and beaches. And there were critter tracks EVERYWHERE! I don't believe I've ever seen so many of them this soon after a snowfall before. Deer. Coyote. Squirrel. Chipmunk. Fox. Birds of all sizes - you name it, it had been running around in the valley today.
As it turns out, the sky began to cloud up just about the time I had reached my ultimate destination and I never got the shot that I wanted. But I did stop along the way and take a few other images that I liked. I should have come down an hour or two early just to look around - wandering along the edge of a creek or river after a fresh snowfall is quite magical, no matter if you have a camera or not. In fact sometimes you have a lot more fun without a camera because you don't have to worry about getting the right picture all the time! Just about the time I packed up and headed back to the cabin the sky cleared off again and the hillside caught fire with golden color. I was too far from my shooting spot to turn around and go shoot it, so I simply hiked on and enjoyed the view of the hillside, and of the river below.
Many times today I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I will say for once I picked the correct clothing to wear, from top to bottom. I was always warm, yet never too much so. My hands and face were always warm. And even my feet stayed warm and dry, and that is saying something because I spent a great deal of time jumping around trying to get across the creek or out to a shooting location, and I often had to wade through 4-5 inch-deep water. I had on my heavy hiking boots (that I normally do not wear) and they are waterproof up to about 6-8 inches. Thank goodness I had those guys on today! OK, now for the climb back out. Don't know if I am just worn out from this long year, or physically drained from getting up so early all week, or just plain fat and out of shape (I vote for the latter), but the climb out today was the most difficult I think I've ever had - and I've come up that puppy hundreds of times! I had to stop probably 15-16 times and blow. There were times that I had doubts if I had the strength to make it to the top. Of course, each time I did stop I got to look around at the beautiful winter wonderland all around me. The sun had already set, and all the trees were silhouetted against the evening sky. Saw a few squirrels running around up there, but they were going about their work without a sound - it was perfectly quiet in the forest this evening. When I first left the canyon floor heading up the nearly-full moon had just popped up over the trees off to my right. It followed me all the way up the hill, gaining altitude as I did. And once when I was at my worst, I looked up and saw it beaming at me - "come on man, you can do it!" I kept singing this Lynn Miles song over and over in my head - "I see the moon. It's behind that tree. It's been there all day. It's been following me" After a pretty long haul, I made it safely back up to the cabin in the twilight. My girls were there to greet me and all was well. Speaking of being well, I am happy to report that while our good friends the Eastins are still in shock from their fire, they are quite stunned at the outpouring of caring and support they have been getting from a lot of folks. Ken said that when they drove down to Little Rock to their remove trailer home on the job site, there were piles of boxes full of clothing and food and other goodies waiting for them. Lots of folks have been offering places for them to stay, and I am happy to report that several Journal readers - folks who have never met Ken and Terry - have offered their homes or cabins for them to use. Kind of makes you feel pretty good about folks doesn't it..... The hour is growing late here in the wilderness, the cabin is glowing from the lights on the tree and fireplace, and from the computer monitors - not a single light bulb is on. My bones are weary, and I'm going to put this Journal to bed now and go play Santa - we are celebrating Christmas around here a day early since Amber has to make a trek up to Missouri on Saturday. I will try to work in a few more snow photos tomorrow, but don't have any big trips planned. 12/24/04 MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU! We had Christmas early this morning due to travel over the weekend. Amber got an entire season of her favorite TV show (and mine) - Gilmore Girls - we haven't seen much of her since then as she has been in her room watching on a second-hand TV (Carroll Electric destroyed her normal TV). Pam got EXACTLY what she asked for - a carpet steam cleaner! Crazy lady. Amber and I have one more item up our sleeves, but it won't be revealed for another few hours yet. And I got Ringo's postcard book - the one with that double-photo on the cover, along with some mugs to sip my tea with that I have been looking at for years. Since we give each other gifts all year long around here, we try to concentrate on giving to others instead of ourselves this season, but we all made out like bandits anyway! Soon after the gifts were unwrapped I bundled up and headed off to hike down into another canyon to see if I could get any photos. It was clear and bright and a bit nippy at 7 degrees, but the wind wasn't blowing and that sun warmed things up into the low teens in a hurry. It was glorious hiking out in the sunshine and snow. The snow was soft powder and the ground underneath soft - easy to skip on down a steep slope since my heavy boots dug in deep and held well. Speaking of boots and steep slopes, one thing I realized about my climb out from the river yesterday was the fact that I was packing about two pounds of extra weight down at boot level - snow and ice had built up on the bottom of my jeans - they were solid ice, about two pounds of it on each leg! So I was lifting a lot of weight on that climb out yesterday. When I reached the creek below this morning much of it was still in shade, but the sun was creeping in and messing up some of the potential compositions. There was some amazing light down in this little canyon though, and I found a bunch of interesting ice formations and spent more than an hour shooting them.
As I was hiking out from the canyon when I finished taking photos, my mind got to wandering a little more than it should, and soon I looked up and realized that I had no idea where I was. I had made this hike in and out a hundred times, but today I just kept on going up the hill instead of turning off on a narrow path that I had intersected - the path was covered with snow and I just walked right on past it. I get like that sometimes when I am out wandering - my mind is just set adrift to go where it may, and my feet follow. A few seconds of actual worry were followed with the calm of me knowing that I couldn't have drifted very far off course, and all I had to do was head back down the hill again and I would surely find my way. That is exactly the way it worked, but there for a few minutes I was just a little shaky.
As I drove back to the cabin I realized something was wrong - I stopped and got out and found one my tires flat. I hooked up the mini air compressor that I always carry, and while it ran I got out the camera and took a few photos of the deciduous holly tree that is next to the lane we often hike - bright red berries against a pure blue sky. You've seen dozens of photos of them here in the Journal before, but I thought you might like this view of the tree and the lane. When I got back to the cabin I found my bride in the drawing room, all snuggled up with a blanket, a good book, and both dogs at her feet. Amber was on disk four (out of six) of the Gilmore Girls. AND there was an entire plate of chocolate peanut butter fudge on the counter - way to go Pam! The afternoon sun is beginning to dip a little bit over there in the west. I think I'll head on out for one short trip over to Haleys Falls and Hawksbill Crag and see how they look (should be some nice ice at the falls, but there won't be much water). Eventually I'll make my way to an old barn scene that I want to shoot, then it will be back here for a Cloudland Christmas Eve, complete with the lighting of the moose when we all give thanks for all that we have, and make a wish or two for the coming year. Aspen has now moved on over to my feet - good dog! LATE EVENING UPDATE. Well, I made it out to the Crag and Haley Falls, but by the time I hiked out it was too late to make the moonrise at the barn. I found a lot of ice at the base of the upper Haley Falls, and not much water. It was kind of interesting being back under the bluff there, just as the sun cast its last rays before dipping below the trees on the far hillside. I scrambled around to shoot as many different scenes as I could in the changing light. And then it was all gone.
I packed up and hiked back to the Crag, and only had about two minutes to get my camera set up and take a couple of shots - and than the light was gone. In this business if you hesitate, you sometimes just don't get the picture. Today I got it, at least at the Crag. Looked like there had only been a couple of groups to the Crag since the snow - I had expected to see a lot more tracks - and there were none on the lower trail along the bluffline - that is the most scenic part of the hike - or at Haley Falls. It had been a while since I visited either place, and it was great to get out and roam around a little bit.
When I got back to the cabin I was greeted by my dog with this "OK bud, it is nearly dark outside and we have not gone hiking a SINGLE time today OR yesterday - what gives!?" I felt terrible - I've left him behind on all my hikes because with snow a few dog prints will mess up the scene in a hurry. Before I took off my boots I turned around and headed back out into the twilight, with the dogs, for a quick hike into the snowy forest. When we got back, I filled up their dog food tank with some brand new goodies, and I filled up with some of Pam's homemade chili - lip-smacking good! Oh yes, Santa made it by the cabin this afternoon before I took off, and we now have a large "bird feeder tree" out in the yard - complete with six or eight feeders. Pam will have her hands full keeping all of them filled, but all the feathered folks out there will love it! 12/27/04 It is about 20 minutes before sunrise here and the sky in the east is looking pretty nice - bright blue background with pink and red clouds in front. That great color will be gone in a few minutes as the bright sun works its way up to the horizon. Yesterday at this time I was out running around in the snow frantically trying to locate a spot to take a picture from. Ever since I moved out here I have wanted to photograph the sun setting directly behind the Buffalo Fire Tower, which is one of the last remaining fire towers in the Ozarks, and one that we can see from our back deck (it is very small though, and more than five miles away). I gave up on doing that when I realized that on December 21st the sun is not quite far enough to the south to make it directly behind the tower - and this is the farthest south that it gets before moving back towards the north again. The other day while I was driving into town I caught a view out of the corner of my eye of the sun RISING nearly directly behind the tower - obviously I was on the other side of the tower, but that didn't matter. It looked like a great scene, and one that I wanted to photograph. Problem was that this area was all deep forest with no open areas that I could see. However, we have a lot of blufflines around here, so I figured I could simply get over there a little while before sunrise one day and find a spot to shoot. I left the cabin well before daylight yesterday morning to do just that. Hum, not quite so simple. I had planned to get there about 30 minutes early, which certainly would give me enough time to find an open spot in the forest. I actually got there about 45 minutes early, and spend the next 45 minutes hiking around at first - then jogging around the final 10-15 minutes - looking for an open spot. I never did find one. There are no bluffs in that area at all! At least none that were far enough up the hillside where I could have gotten a good view of the rising sun. The best I could do was take the following snapshot sort of looking through an opening in the trees. From this same location the sun will rise directly behind the tower in another few days, but since the view is not really open, it wasn't much good. I include it here just to give you an idea of what I am talking about. But my search is not over yet - I have one entire ridge line yet to explore, and will have the next couple of weeks to find an open spot as the sun moves to the north. Wish me luck!
All was not wasted - the temp was about 30 degrees, which was at least 20 degrees warmer than it had been during my past couple of pre-dawn photo trips. The ground was still covered with about 4-5 inches of soft snow, and it was just delightful out there hiking in the warm temp and the snow, and especially with the pre-dawn color spilling into the forest. When we got home late last night from a quick trip up to Missouri, we found that much of the snow on south--east & west-facing slopes had melted away, although the north-facing slopes are still white. When we look out from the cabin today we will see a lot of white over on Beagle Point and on the other ridges that face out direction (the cabin faces due south).
12/30/04 HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER! She got up a twelve-year-old this morning, and just an inch shy of five feet. I never knew a kid could be so happy, and she seems to be most of the time. While on an errand into town the other day she forced me to stop and go hiking. We visited a neat historic farmstead, and inspected each room of the cabin as well as the old barn, and the outhouse too! On the way back to the truck Amber wanted to go bushwhacking down to the river, so we followed an old deer trail that led us right to the edge of the river, and across from a long and tall limestone bluff. We spent about ten minutes tossing rocks, and playing with a pile of freshly-chewed beaver sticks. It was a beautiful sunny and warm winter afternoon in the Ozarks and we had a great hike. Here is a snapshot of the little lady this afternoon:
We have nearly been torn off the map this past few hours - the gale-force winds have been blowing like crazy, howling really. Furniture has been tossed around quite a bit, and the trees look like they are going to snap right off any moment. It is rather warm out - up in the 50's. It feels and smells like rain, but I don't think we are going to get any. The humidity is high outside, and so the ground and rocks are "seating" and are wet - actually they are soaking up the humidity out of the air. While I was standing out on the back deck this morning - and just a few seconds AFTER I took the deck cam photo for the day - a white flash caught my eye. A giant bald eagle soared right past the gazebo in front of me, did a quick loop, then rode the powerful wind currents right back in front of me and around the corner. He was only in sight for perhaps ten seconds, all that time just right there - I could almost reach out and touch him. With the camera I was using when you take a photo you cannot take another one for about 30 seconds, and so I did not get a picture of him. (it was kind of off that I had a camera in my hands anyway when seeing an eagle this close up - normally all cameras are back inside the cabin) Other than the hike that Amber and I took the other day, I have not been outdoors much - still piles and piles of paperwork to do here and up at the office. My brother and his wife arrived late last night, and they cooked us a marvelous breakfast/lunch that we feasted on for much of this morning. Later today we are headed into town for Amber's b-day dinner. Rain, rain, we need some RAIN! If you know any good dances...Back to top | ||
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