CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - NOVEMBER 2004 Click here to go to Part B, Nov. 22nd - 30th All photos in this Journal are available as Fine Art Prints
SLIDE PROGRAMS SCHEDULE POSTED HERE SEE the NEW John Brown University Print Exhibit online gallery HERE. | ||
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UPDATED 11/20/04 I want to be like Jimmy Carter 11/1/04 We've been POUNDED by heavy winds all night long, and some downpours too, although not that much additional rain yet - the radar shows a lot on the way for this morning. Several times during the night a loud thud or crash woke me from a dead sleep - some bit of furniture no doubt flying through the air and impacting the cabin wall. I'll have to wait until it gets light to go survey the damage, or more than likely it will be tomorrow. I'm off this morning to deliver the print exhibit to JBU in Siloam Springs and it will be after dark when I return. Then I'm going to sit down and take an hour break after an exhausting several weeks, but will be back at it again - I have to put together the final slide program that I'm going to show on Thursday at the reception, and that is going to take a while. Here is a photo that was taken by one of my students the other day, Linda Williams, showing the old man in his element - standing out in the middle of the creek looking for yet another photo.
I am going to try once again to make it possible for you to bookmark the "current" Journal page so that you will always be able to get to it - last time I tried doing that I put the file into a different folder which did not work out. So this time I'm going to place it into the main web page folder and see if that will work - it should, and I hope will make things easier on readers. You will be able to access previous months by going into the archives page, or for the most previous months you should be able to find them in the flyout menu in the upper left of the page. I will TRY once again to keep this month to a single page, but no promises - sometimes I get a little trigger happy with the camera! Just FYI, there were more than 30,000 hits here during October... 11/3/04 We have more rain here this morning, and fog, and wind, and chilly temps - it is 41 degrees just before noon. I hope some of you have been out chasing waterfalls because it is a GREAT week for them! Me, I'm stuck inside working away, and have only been able to escape once for a short hike yesterday. I spent most of the night up and at the computer working on the final version of my ARKANSAS WILD & FREE slide program that will be shown tomorrow night at JBU, and also at all of my program this fall and next spring. About an hour ago I finally put the project to bed, and sent it to be "rendered" - that will take 7-8 hours of work by the computer, but at least I can work on other chores while it is plugging away in the background. For any of you who have seen my programs before, I will tell you this one is far and away the best effort I have ever done - if you get a chance to see it, you won't be disappointed. We live in the most beautiful state in the land, and when you pair that great beauty with this music, I guarantee there will be tears shed by the end of the show by someone in the audience. When I did get out yesterday I found a wet and chilly landscape full of life and movement. The wind was blowing pretty good, and thrashing the trees around. And there were birds everywhere - especially ROBINS - haven't seen them around in a while - does that mean spring is on the way? I hope not - we need a REAL winter with actual snow for once this year! It was a day for berries, especially red berries. Lots of dogwood berries and also the one deciduous holly tree over at the edge of the Faddis meadow was COVERED with bright red berries. Some flock of cedar waxwings will have quite a treat later this winter when that little tree is covered with snow. The big persimmon tree that has been loaded down with what looked like 500 pounds of ripe fruit is nearly bare now - most of them are on the ground, or being carried around in the bellies of coyotes (or already deposited back onto the ground by said critters). There was a lot of activity down in the canyon in front of the cabin (or is that behind the cabin?) yesterday - not only was the Buffalo running wildly and making a lot of noise, but Whitaker Creek was really rolling and actually drowning out the Buffalo with its music. I really wanted to make a trip down there yesterday, but I was selecting additional photos for the slide show and sizing them all day and just didn't have the time. There were new clouds being born and rising up and swirling all over the place too - the winds kept shifting and blowing them around. EVENING UPDATE. It looked like it was going to be another 5-6 hours for my new slide program to be completed, so I decided it was time to pack up and head out the door into the mist and go on a hike. But first, the phone rang, and I had to wait around for the arrival of the very newest William McNamara painting - a very small one, but quite beautiful, of a pair of moths. Milancy brought it by for me to photograph for their web page. It is so fun to get to see all of these literally hot off the press - or in this case, right out of the painter's hands.
OK, neighborhood favor done, not it was hike time! This was actually the first time in a good long while that I got to set out on a ramble, with no particular destination in mind, nor time to be there, or back home. I did carry my little point-and-shoot digital camera just in case, and a tripod. But mostly I was just out to clear the cobwebs from my aging brain, and to get some exercise. It was cool with a breeze blowing, but I warmed up in a hurry and soon had to stop and remove the pile vest I had on. There was a fog bank hugging my trail, just off to my right - it was one of those spooky/magical views out into the deep woods to my right, but to my left, it was all clear, and nothing but dripping wet forest that had mostly shed its leaves for the season. The earth underfoot was also wet, and very soft, and my lightweight boots sunk in about 2-3 inches with each step - that would come in handy when I needed to get down a steep slope. I made my way out around the nose of the ridge and onto the big flat where the skewed tree once stood. It fell down several years ago, which was a sad day around here indeed. I visit it whenever I can, and made a point of veering over to pay my respects. The trunk has grown darker, nearly black, and the branches are beginning to crack and fall off, leaving behind just the hulky trunk that once was one of the great trees of the forest. Beyond the skewed tree the landscape gave away to a very steep hillside, one littered with giant moss-covered boulders, moss that was rich green from the moist air. I found my route easily, down, down, down, sometimes slipping and sliding and holding on for dear life, other times more of a controlled fall. Aspen and Lucy were far out ahead, or should I say below, and I had to call out to them now and then to keep them in sight. Before I knew it I was standing underneath another giant fallen tree - this one had landed on the top of a neighborhood-sized slab of sandstone that had broken off of the bluff. The big tree was covered with the same bright green moss, and guarded the entrance to one of my sacred spots in the wilderness - Magnolia Canyon. It is so named because of the umbrella magnolia trees that live there. It is not a big canyon, or wide - in fact it is very narrow, and not too long - only 100-150 feet or so. But it is nearly 100 feet tall on one side, and quite an imposing site when you are just a tiny human like I am. I always feel quite at home in Magnolia Canyon, rain or shine, hot or cold, happy or sad. It is one of those places where I come to when I need to think, or just wring out the mold and dust of everyday life. The walls of the canyon go straight up high into the air, and are covered with that thick layer of bright green moss. In case you hadn't noticed, a LOT of the forest today was covered with that same bright green moss! At the far end of the canyon, there is a cave of sorts - really just a spot where the gigantic rock has split open - a crack runs from top to bottom - but the bottom part is more open, and inviting, and you can walk right on into to the very guts of this towering boulder to seek refuge from the rain or snow, or to find a quiet and out of the way place to sit down, lay down, or just stand and be quiet. It had been misting a little bit on my journey today, and in fact it got heavier while I was in the canyon - especially when I took out the little camera to take a few photos. But the mist was more of a welcome than a bother, and I didn't need to seek shelter into the cave, nor be alone or quiet, nor take a nap, so I simply took its photo, admired the view of the canyon, then moved on.
Seemed like each few steps revealed another lush and beautiful scene in the landscape - tons of giant beeches with their golden brown leaves; plus hundreds of tiny beeches with equally golden leaves - in fact more so. All the while I wandered along the bottom edge of the great sandstone bluff to my right, the roar of the creek below was my constant companion. And oh brother was it roaring! This creek is quite rough and scenic, and today I bet it was really nice down in there, but I wasn't ready to take the plunge, not just yet. The next corner I rounded gave me a terrific view underneath the overhanging rock to Roberts Falls beyond. This is the waterfall named after Robert Chester, and the waters that feed the falls run right on past his little cabin a half mile away. Normally I notice all of the umbrella magnolia trees that surround this waterfall, but today it was the beech forest that was in view, ever so lush and golden because of all the rain.
I worked my way on around behind the falls and took a few photos - one with me in there for scale. That reminded me of my waterfall chasing days and weeks and months when I was working on the waterfall guidebook - I would have loved a day like today, and would have been up and out and chasing them from daylight to dark. The falls were indeed running well, in fact about as well as you could expect in other than really bad flood conditions - a great week for waterfall hunting! Instead of making my way along the base of the bluffline as had been doing, I opted instead to break off and head on down to the raging creek waters below. I knew it would be a tough climb down into that mini canyon, but knew the views would be worth it. On my way on down I crossed a semi-level but narrow bench - something almost unheard of around this area - and found not one but three really gigantic beech trees that had recently been uprooted and were resting comfortably right on across the level bench. You really get a sense of the size of these monsters when they are on the ground like this - much to large for me to climb over, so I had to negotiate a route around the backside of one of them in order to continue. Along the way I came through a small forest of sassafras trees that had apparently just let go of their precious autumn cargo - some of the most colorful leaves I had seen this year. They were covering the ground. It was misting a little harder now, but I managed to pull out the camera and take one snapshot without getting the camera too wet.
When I got to the edge of the little canyon I was rewarded with a spectacular sight - as far as I could see both up and downstream there were little and not so little waterfalls and cascades and pools of quick-moving water. The noise was rather loud, sort of like sitting in the front row at a rock concert. No way two people could have spoken to each other without using sign language. I slipped and slide and stumbled on down to the creek, and began to make my way upstream, stopping to take a few photos along the way. One thing I learned a long time ago in situations like this one - you are going to get your shoes wet. At first I always try to do the right thing - carefully hop from rock to rock, then work my way along the narrow edge of a small ledge and holding on for dear life. It is actually often more dangerous to work the creek bed this way - trying to keep your shoes dry - and instead it is much safer to simply plunge right on it and then you can travel the safest route and not worry too much about slipping. You are going to get your shoes wet anyway! And so I did - after about five minutes of careful steps, I decided to go ahead and stomp right on through the water. Man it was COLD! At one point I came to somewhat of a closed-in canyon - there was raging water filling the stream dead ahead, off to the left a tall cascading waterfall spilling down the steep walls, and to the right, a small bluffline that I could not scale. Did I way the water was loud before - now it was REALLY loud! But quite beautiful. I backtracked a little bit, then climbed part way out and continued on upstream.
At some point I knew I was getting close to a nice-sized waterfall up on the big bluff to my right, so I went ahead and climbed out of the canyon proper and made my way up to the bluffline and over to the big falls - it was running really well, and I admired it for a few moments then went on my journey. After wandering around for another half hour I found myself at the lower end of the main waterfall area in Dug Hollow. I set up the camera and took a few photos here and there - it all was quite beautiful and sometimes you just don't even know where to start. As it turned out, I spent about 30 minutes shooting and never even made it to the main falls on the creek - at least to take its picture. Before I had arrived there I noticed that my exposures were gradually getting long and longer - then I happened to look up and realized that it was getting DARK! Oops. Boy, does it get dark early these days!
So I bid the canyon farewell and headed on up the steep hillside that would lead me to the top of the ridge and down the other side and finally home. When I got back to the cabin and the computer I found my new slide show still had another hour to go. I stripped off all my soaked clothing and took a nice long hot shower - perhaps one of the last of the season in the outdoor shower. Man oh man that felt great! I will reluctantly shut down and drain the outdoor shower for the winter one of these days, but I plan to stretch it out for as long as I can. Well, it was one terrific hike, the sort that I used to take a lot of around here, but commerce has crept in and I find far less time to ramble than I used to have. But I suspect as I age there will be much more time for that...If only there was enough web page space to hold it all! 11/05/04 WOW, what a terrific turnout we had at John Brown University last night! It was great to see and meet so many Journal readers, and I hope you found the prints and the program up to snuff. I was duly impressed at how great the print exhibit looked - they have a wonderful little gallery there, and the staff did an artful job of hanging the prints, from start to finish. I wish I could hang my prints there all the time! And the slide program went off without a hitch - also, I wish I could give presentations in their auditorium all the time, or pack it up and take it with me! THANKS so very much to all of you who made it to the opening reception. For the rest of you, the gallery will be open to the public from on weekdays from now until Thanksgiving. I'll be giving a number of other public slide programs between now and Christmas, and you can get the details at the Slide Programs section of the web page. (Friend and new Newton County resident Don Nelms took a few photos during the event.)
We had a bit of a scare at the cabin here yesterday morning. We had several hours of incredible surges and plunges in the electricity coming into the cabin - the lights got so bright they seemed to be about to explode at any moment; our computer backup batteries were going nuts, and eventually they shut the computers down completely; and worst of all there were pops and cracks and the smell of burning electrical wires - NOT a good thing at all! This happened just as we were all waking up and trying to get Amber off to school. We have been paying for a very expensive "whole-house surge protector" monthly that the local power company installed several years ago, and we were under the impression that it would stop things like this from going on. As soon as we began to smell the burning wires we knew that something was not right with all of that. I hurried up and switched us over to generator power and shut down the power company's line, and we were able to continue with the day. As we got to looking around, we discovered a number of electrical items that had been fried, completely dead—so much for the expensive whole-house surge protector! With the rush to get everything taken care of and packed up for the trip to Siloam Springs for the program, we didn't have any time to mess with all of this, other than to get the power company out here to get the line fixed - which they did pronto - we have the VERY BEST local folks in the world here! When we arrived home very late last night from the program, I realized that one item that had been destroyed was our fax machine - a lifeline of our business. So, with no other options, I got up early this morning and made a quick trip into the Harrison Wal Mart to purchase another. As I left the cabin I knew it was going to be a grand morning - a sea of clouds were sleeping down in the canyon, just waiting for the warmth of the rising sun to wake it up and send it dancing throughout the wilderness. I instructed my lovely bride to take a few photos for me while I was in town, then sped away.
As I made my back down into Boxley on the way home, with new fax machine in hand, that very same sea of clouds was in the Boxley Valley as well, creating some stunning landscapes. I looked around a few places but never did find the perfect spot to take a picture or two (I actually had my REAL camera with me this morning), but as I was driving through Boxley I spotted a really neat "rural" scene or two and decided to stop and shoot. I will soon have an online gallery of "rural scenes" like I shot this morning available for sale, and will continue to add to it as time goes on and I get the chance to shoot more photos. All of the images will be shot in color, but sometimes I will make them black and white or sepia tones shots (that means you can buy them as black and white, or sepia, or whatever else they happen to be - your choice). The clouds hung around for nearly an hour while I hiked up and down the highway looking for scenes. And as the sun came up over the far ridge, the clouds began to move, and sunbeams stuck the valley floor and created some interesting backlit scenes - many of them I only got to stand and watch since I could not photograph them for one reason or another. All in all it was a spectacular morning down in the valley - Boxley Valley is often magical like this, and I highly recommend you go out of your way to pass through there as often as you can, especially when there is weather or other changes in the atmosphere going on. Oh yea, there were a few elk out this morning as well, but they seem to have grown weary of all the tourists and are heading back into the woods sooner these days. Getting ready for deer season I guess.
As always, prints of all these images are available to order. It is bright and clear and windy and cool outside this afternoon, a textbook fall day, and I hope to be able to break away from the computer long enough for a quick trip out hiking someplace. The next week will be a busy one, as always, with one main goal (besides a TON of regular work waiting) of putting together yet another slide program - this one will be called WILDERNESS REFLECTIONS after the book of the same name, and will include images from wild places all over the United States that I have made during the past 29 years. It will have the first showing next Friday night at the Green Country Outdoor Club meeting in Tulsa, then again in Searcy on Sunday (along with the new ARKANSAS WILD & FREE show too). I can't wait! All of the programs listed on the web site are free and open to the public, so I hope to see some of you there... 11/06/04 Bright sunshine is just now arriving in the wilderness, lighting up the ridgetops with yellow and spilling down into the canyons. It is very still and quiet outside, other than the constant roar/music from the rivers and creeks far below. Pure blue skies. A textbook crisp fall day in the Ozarks. Just before the sun showed up I snuck downstairs and out onto the back deck, then began to slip into the hot tub for a nice long soak at sunrise. YIKES! Cold water. I guess the power surges from yesterday zapped the hot tub too. That is not a good thing. Yep, that expensive surge protector provided by the power company is doing a bang up job....... Late yesterday afternoon I took a quick hike down to the river. It was actually almost warm out. The leaves in the forest are beginning to dry out after being wet for more than a week, and there was just the slightest hint of crunch, crunch, crunch as I walked. I say "walked," but that was not always the case - I fell flat on my backside at least twice - those wet rocks UNDER the leaves take you by surprise! Mushrooms. There are lots of mushrooms popping up all over the place. And this one bright orange and red one caught my eye in particular. Now I realize that I don't know every single square inch of this country, but over the years of hiking the same trails throughout the seasons you do figure out where and when most things happen. The one mushroom came up in an area where I had never seen one before. Or perhaps it was just so bright that it finally caught my attention - I will now take notice of that spot as the years pass and see if this guy returns. Speaking of returning, I saw the first pair of Adam & Eve orchids down along the banks of Whitaker Creek. They had just come up out of the ground and were arching above the brown leaves of the forest floor, reaching out in opposite directions. Last year was a banner year for them - I'll keep an eye out to see if this year is the same. These are one of the most interesting plants in the forest to me, especially their leaves that are around all winter only to fade away just before the flower appears in the summertime. Another thing that I noticed on this hike was that I could SEE a lot more stuff! Most of the leaves are off the trees around here now and that has really opened up the forest. Sunny how you spend all summer getting used to how an area looks, and then when the leaves fall off it is all new again! I enjoy both views, but rather like being able to look out and see far into the forest. It will be a long day in town for me today - got to head to the Pack Rat in Fayetteville this morning to man a booth and hand out literature for our hiking club, then will restock a couple of Hastings stores in Fayetteville and Ft. Smith. I hope to get home by dark because I have a ton of office work to do. Pam said something yesterday (in a humorous tone) about us taking a "day off" - huh, "what is that" I asked? I told her she could take the entire weekend off with no problem, as long as she spent about ten hours scanning a couple hundred photos for me to include in the new slide program I needed to get to work on! Back in the old days with her normal fulltime job she worked a regular 40-hour work week, but out here a "regular" work week is more like 80 hours or more, seven days a week. Oh yes, when you work for yourself you only have to work half days - and you get to pick which 12 hours a day you work! Ha, ha, no complaints here, as I would not have it any other way (and Pam is the first in line and is always eager to get the job done). One of these years I do plan to slow down though... A NOTE FOR any of you who might be in the Springfield, Illinois area next weekend - the famous DON KURZ will be signing copies of his new guidebook ILLINOIS WILDFLOWERS at the Lincoln Memorial Garden's Holiday market from 1-3:30pm on Saturday, November 13th. He is quite a character, and worth a trip to go meet! (He is also doing a book signing at the Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City, Missouri TODAY.) 11/09/04 We've been up and working for a couple of hours this morning and the sun has finally joined us. It was a brilliant sunrise, with the color beginning as a narrow ribbon of bright orange hugging the eastern horizon - we are beginning to see more of it now as the trees loose their leaves. That band of color got taller and wider and redder until it filled the entire sky. Up there dancing around with all that color was the moon and two planets - I shot a quick photo of the three of them before the color began, and then forgot to shoot them when the color started! The temp was not too cool, but a brisk wind blowing up my robe made me realize winter is on the way.
Pam is off to put up blazes on a section of the Ozark Highlands Trail today, I will spend a few hours doing office chores here then will hit the road myself to restock a Hastings store or two. Pam spent most of the past two days scanning 116 photos from the Wilderness Reflections picture book that will become our new slide program. I started processing those scanned images yesterday, and by 10pm had them all ready to begin the process of putting the show together. While I was soaking in the hot tub after we shut down the office for the day, I got to thinking about that new slide show. While my eyes were about to bug out from staring into the monitor all day and doing the photo processing, it was a great treat to be able to go back through and look at each of those photos closely. I spent 11 months on the road taking pictures for that book project back in 1995, drove 50,000 miles and visited 43 states, and shot 40,000 photos (at a cost of a buck each for film and processing). This trip was a wish list of all the places in the United States I ever wanted to go photograph, and at the best time of the year to do so - New England in the fall, Texas Hill Country in the spring, Yosemite in the summertime, Rocky Mountains in the winter, and on and on and on. It was one incredible marathon. At the end of it all I sat down and put together what remains my most favorite photo book of all time. Yesterday I got to relive 116 different adventures all over again; I could smell and taste and touch and feel just the way I was way back then while standing at each location - it was a wonderful journey for me all over again. Anyway, while sitting there and soaking and thinking about all of this, I got kind of fired up, and returned to the computer and began putting together the actual slide program - it was after midnight when I got the first part of it completed and was totally exhausted and ready for bed. I have already been bragging about the new Arkansas Wild & Free slide show, but I must tell ya, I think this Wilderness Reflections one will be just as good - and I'll be showing both at my programs from now on this fall. I've still got a ton of work to do on the new one - only about 20% complete now - but I will have it finished by the end of business tomorrow. The first showing of it will be Friday night at the Green Country Outdoor Club meeting in Tulsa. Seems like we are beginning to get some nice color in the trees right now - the maples are finally starting to come along, although many of them have already lost half or more of their leaves. And with so many green oaks and hickories left, there is lots more color to come. In fact now that the sun is shining on the wilderness spread out in front of me, I can see that the greens of just two days ago are now yellow and orange - come on fall color! I've also noticed a lot of leaves drifting in the breezes, slowly down to earth. And when you hike through the woods there is that crunch, crunch, crunch underfoot that only comes this time of the year. This should be another splendid weekend to get out and hike, no matter where you go, just get out! Good news and bad news about our recent power surge problems. The hot tub is OK after all, but yesterday a "suit" from the power company (Carroll Electric) came by and informed me that it was illegal for them (the power company) to have installed the "whole house surge protector" inside the cabin five years ago in the first place, and that no electronic device was covered by it anyway - the only item that seems to be covered is a water pump. Duh, kind of false advertising if you ask me. We got screwed big time, and they are doing the same thing to everyone else who is paying for this surge protector. And, of course, they wouldn't even think of refunding the monthly fee that we have been paying for the worthless and illegal device all of these years. Sounds like a scam, and I am REALLY disappointed in Carroll Electric. SO, DON'T BELIEVE THEM when they try to sell you something to protect your home - it WON'T, and they will continue to ask you to bend over so they can get your money! We lost about $1,000 worth of equipment, plus have paid the power company $700 rental on the surge protector, a protector that protected nothing. Oh, I almost forgot - the suit handed me a new surge protector after he took the old one and said the company would like to give it to me for free - the cost was normally $40. At the time the original protector was "illegally" installed by them I was told I could not purchase one myself, and now I find out I could and it only cost $40 instead of the $700 I paid the power company. Sorry to get off on all this, but this sort of thing just pisses me off! PLEASE NOTE that all of this has to do with the suits in the company headquarters - the folks at the local Jasper office, and especially the guys out in the field that do the grunt work, do an incredible job and are the very best people in the world to work with! OK, off my high horse, and back to work..... OH, and one note of interest to folks in the Jasper area - GLENN WHEELER will be giving a program this coming Friday evening at the Newton Country Library at 6:30pm. They are wonderful folks at the library, and have some really great programs for the community there, including now Glenn's talk. HIGHLY recommended! 11/10/04 Yesterday, as I drove off of the mountain headed south for book business, I probably saw 1,000 photo ops right along the highway - seems like ALL of the trees have just turned blaze orange this week, and they were really blazing away in the afternoon sunshine! Maples, oaks, hickories, and anything that had leaves left on it - really very nice. But the wind was blowing and I was late so I never stopped to take any photos. We had this very same odd thing happen last year or the year before - great color in the middle of November in the Ozarks , very odd, but quite beautiful, and we'll take it for sure. I suspect all this great color will have vanished by this coming weekend, at least in this part of the Ozarks, but at some point we will see a tremendous "leaf fall" since so many leaves are turning at the same time. It was tough to keep the truck on the road at times the color was so bright. Way to go Momma Nature! Dull fall colors, yea, yea... Once I dropped down off of the dome of the Ozark and into the river valley the color disappeared and it was back to dull greens and browns - I'm hoping this sudden splash of color will hit down there and in other parts of the state this month as well. As I was headed back up the mountain just before sunset I could see the clouds up high beginning to turn some really nice colors. My mind immediately went into photo mode, and I racked my bring to figure out where I could find a pond or small lake to get some reflections from. I passed several along the route but none were any good. The faster I drove the more intense the color got. Then I remembered - there WAS a small lake just ahead, if I could only get there fast enough! (my apologies to the local law enforcement for perhaps exceeding the limit a bit) Sure enough, as I got closer to the lake the colors got even more intense and widespread - in fact not only was the eastern sky lighting up, but so were the clouds in the WEST, and they were REALLY intense! When I arrived at the lake I was thrilled to see still waters and a great reflection. I had never shot any photos here before, and didn't have a clue where I could go in order to get a good view. I really didn't have time to think, or to explore - those colors were getting even MORE intense by the moment, and no doubt would soon be heading in the opposite direction. So I pulled over at the first spot I could find, grabbed my camera gear and ran towards the lake. I was able to set up at the edge of the lake and get a shot. There were quite a few weeds in the foreground though, and I did not have a great view down the lake. All the while I stood there trying to get a good photo the colors got even MORE intense by the moment - really! OK, this was turning into a potential really nice image, but I HAD to find a better place to shoot from. So I returned to the truck and sped off down the dusty dirt road that went along the end of the lake. No time, I got NO time to spare! So then I was met with a problem that I run into quite often while out taking nature photos. The really good, the absolute BEST light generally only happens for a very short period of time. If you are set up in a good spot, you can get some wonderful photos. If not, then you are just out of luck. Often I am presented with this golden light and have to make a decision - just like I had to do here - do I stop and shoot at the location that I am at and catch the light before it is gone, or continue to search for a better location, knowing full well that in the process the light may disappear. I've done both, and have been rewarded with incredible photos, but have also lost once-in-a-lifetime photos. I decided to get what I could, so I pulled over at the next spot along the road and shut down the truck. I grabbed my gear and sprinted across a small field to the edge of the lake. The light was getting REALLY nice now, and so were the reflections on the lake, and I could see much more of the lake from this new spot. Only problem was once again there were too many weeds. I did not hesitate for an instant, and within moments I was up to my knees and going in deeper. I waded out through the weeds until I found a spot that I thought would yield a good scene, then set up my tripod. One problem that I noticed right away was the fact that the mud that I had been sinking down 6-8 inches in with each step sucked up my tripod legs in a hurry. At first I could not get a firm footing, but eventually it did hit thick enough mud, but the camera was just barely off the top of the water! And, of course, all the while I was wading out into the water and setting up I was creating ripples in the water and messing up my reflections - and the light was changing rapidly! My final problem was that I was using a brand new camera - I had sold my normal camera and so was using this one that I bought last month but had only used a couple of times. With digital cameras you have to learn a whole new language with each camera it seems - there are SO many buttons and dials, and they are never in the same place! But no matter, I managed to figure everything out and started firing away even before the ripples calmed down. I soon realized that this must be a great fishing lake because just about time the reflections returned fish started jumping and messing up them again! And then there was traffic along the road at the far end of the lake, and car headlights messed up the scene. I stood there in the mud that was up over my shoes, nearly waste deep in water, with one remarkable scene spread out in front of me and just smiled. It was all very frustrating and wonderful at the same time. I shot about 60 photos before the light faded. I think I got a couple of keepers, so it was ALL well worth the trouble. Could I have found a better shooting location - who knows, but I am happy with the scene I got, and I hope that you are two. As I emerged from the water I knew I had another problem - I was soaking wet and covered with stinky-bottom-of-the-lake mud. Yuk! I cleaned up as best I could, got back in the truck and headed on home. One note about this little story - if you ever see me out in public with my jeans wet up to my waist, you will know where I have been! After I got home and just before turning in for the night, I remembered that there was a possibility the northern lights may be visible from much of the US. All those clouds from sunset had been swept away and the stars were out, so I headed out into the night up to Aspen's meadow to see if I could see. At first I could NOT see a thing in front of me - I did not take a flashlight, and there was no moon. So I felt my way on through the forest with my feet. Soon all those carrots that I love so had kicked in and my eyes adjusted enough that I could see my way through the woods in the starlight - but just barely - I had to go slow. By the time I reached the top of the hill I could see pretty well. There were some clouds to the north, but it was mostly open. I could see a couple of glows on the horizon that were not normally there, but I think it was just from distant towns glowing and bouncing off of the clouds and not the northern lights. The rest of the sky was normal and still. I turned around and headed back to the cabin, but I had a much tougher time hiking through the woods in the dark going downhill than going uphill, but I managed and didn't hit the ground once. I all it was a very nice mile hike through the starlit wilderness. As I have been typing this early this morning the eastern horizon began to light up and get really bright, but within a few minutes it all faded away and is all gray now. The sun has not shown up yet, and is hiding behind that gray cloud bank. The rest of the sky is blue, so I suspect we will see it soon. I'm going to be putting the finishing touches on the new Wilderness Reflections slide program today, and send it to be "rendered" overnight by the computer. So I will be back in the wilderness most of the day today, at least in my head! 11/11/04 Once again, HAPPY VETERANS DAY, and THANKS a ton to all of you who have given so much of your lives so that the rest of us can live free. And for the families too, who give up so much in order that their loved ones can defend our country. I finally did put the new slide program to bed last night, and I woke up this morning to a day without deadlines for the first time in a very long while. It felt so great! Of course, I still had a ton of work to do, but at least for a few moments inside my head I was on vacation. Then it got light outside and that all changed. Wehad about an inch or rain overnight, along with a batch of powerful thunderstorms with lightning and strong winds. I didn't get too much sleep because I was up worrying about the now unprotected electronic equipment in the cabin. Of course, it hasn't been protected in the past five years anyway, we were only paying Carroll Electric for it to be protected! Anyway, as it began to get light, I realized that we had a good bit of water flowing out there, and some very nice color - that meant I needed to be out taking photos instead of hanging around at the cabin all day. It took Pam and I about an hour to get the week's book orders all packed up and ready for our normal Thursday UPS pickup, then I was off in a flash, hoping the clouds would not burn away to blue sky and sunshine - those are killers for waterfall photography. I had hoped to make it over to a nearby waterfall on the Ozark Highlands Trail before the sun came out. The color all along the way was quite spectacular, but the wind was blowing might hard so I didn't get to stop and take any pictures - although I did stop and look several times. There was plenty of water flowing when I reached the trailhead, and I quickly shouldered my camera pack and headed down the trail. Within minutes I was standing in front of a really nice waterfall - Lichen Falls. And there was a yellow maple tree in full bloom right in front of the falls! Only problem was that it was impossible for me to get to a location for the view that I wanted. As it turned out I spent about 30 minutes there on the side of a steep and very slick hillside, holding on for dear life, and trying to keep the tripod stable. The wind would not cooperate too well, but I did manage to get one photo that I think will work. That one photo was worth the trip alone!
I decided to do a little bit of exploring and began to follow the little stream down the hillside, watching it fall and tumble and leap from rock to rock. A couple hundred yards from Lichen Falls I came to a waterfall I had never seen before - it was about 15-20 feet tall, and coming off of a nice bluff with a little overhand off to one side. It had begun to mist heavily by this time, so I sought refuge under that bluff and took a few photos of the new waterfall. I no longer have plans to produce a second edition of the waterfall guidebook, but I wanted to document this falls anyway. Next I made my way on down into Lynn Hollow proper, turned upstream and followed the creek as best I could. It was rather rocky and rugged along the stream, and the banks were steep and rough-going as well. I fell two or three times - once nearly broke my foot - but I managed to keep my camera pack or tripod from being damaged (to heck with my bones, save the camera!). While it was a nice, scenic little hike, there weren't any great scenes and I didn't stop to take a single photo. Eventually I hit the Ozark Highlands Trail, turned left, and headed on back towards the truck. For some unknown reason, I decided to backtrack and take one more look at the little creek in Lynn Hollow, just a few feet upstream from where I had left it. I had seen some color down there out of the corner of my eye as I hiked up the trail, so I wanted to go check it out. Good thing that I did. There were several small-to-medium-sized maple trees next to the creek, each one seemed to be a different brilliant shade of red or yellow or orange, sometimes all three mixed in. I had seen other maples today that were equally bright and colorful, but this little batch of them was a bit more mature than the rest, and they had begun to lose their leaves. In fact the rains of just a few hours before had beaten off so many of the leaves that the forest floor - and the creek - were covered with fresh maple leaves! In years past this would have been a common sight - leaf fall happens quite frequently - but what made this so special was the fact we had running water this year! This fall has been so strange, and I haven't seen hardly any "fresh" leaves on the ground, especially a concentration of them like this. So I set up my camera and zoomed in to one group of moss-covered stones, leaves, and moving water. No sooner had I taken the camera out of the bag that it began to rain - actually it was still heavy mist, but REALLY heavy mist, more like sprinkles. I had decided to test out a new lightweight camera system I had just gotten, so I was using a small camera bag - and did NOT have my umbrella with me! I almost always carry one, and I really needed it today. I was able to use my hat to do the job, but since the wind was blowing, I could not keep all the water off of the front of the lens and I had to wipe it off and clean the lens a couple of times.
Happy that I had made a couple of good photos, I packed the bag up and started back out the trail. I walked right through the middle of a large stand of small maple trees like the ones I had just come from, and while these guys were quite brilliant, they still had most of their leaves. The wind was blowing pretty good, and the mist was heaver, and I was a happy camper just to stroll on through this incredible fall brilliance. As I was headed back home I decided that the blue sky that had been feared was not going to materialize, so I decided to take a look at King's River Falls and see if there was any color down in that valley. Goodness sakes the views from the highway on both sides of Red Star were quite spectacular - really NICE color all the way! But the wind was blowing and I didn't even stop. When I got to the trailhead next to the King's River (where the big old barn is about to fall in - and in fact has begun to fall inward already), I realized it might be a lost cause - there wasn't much color at all. But hey, I was there, so I might as well to take a look. The river was up and running as I knew it would be, and so was the trail - it was more of a canal than a trail with all the water! But not much color, and the wind was blowing pretty good by this time. As I got close to the falls I could hear the roar. But instead of going and taking a look, I made a slight detour up into a side canyon that was not only running really well too, but also had a couple of bright maple trees tucked in nearby some waterfalls - I could see all of that from the trail next to the river. When I got up to the little falls and the maples I found a great spot and quickly set up my camera and tripod rig (I took my large camera backpack this time, but still didn't have an umbrella with me). The scene was right, but the wind would not cooperate. I stood there with my finger on the trigger for more than an hour, just waiting for the wind to stop completely. In the meantime I did take a few photos, trying out a new lens I just got, and testing the exposure. I have not looked through all of them as yet, but I did manage to get a usable photo out of the bunch, and I hope you like it. As I was standing there waiting for the wind to die down, I got to thinking about how I almost never see other photographers out in the wilds on the best days to take pictures - like today was (wet and misty and cloudy are perfect conditions for nature photography - the moisture really brings out the rich color - unfortunately, it also often brings out the WIND!). And literally as I was thinking about that I turned around and caught an unnatural flash of red out of the corner of my eye - it was indeed another photographer, and he was exploring around down by the big falls. He looked up and saw me standing there, then began to work his way up the little side canyon. Within a few minutes he was about 30 feet away from me - him down on the stream and me high up on the side of the canyon, where I spend a lot of time. I could tell he must be a pretty good photog because first he had his tripod with me, secondly he was out in this nasty weather, and thirdly because he really worked the scene before him, and before he left crawled out across a narrow ledge and nearly got down on his belly - with his tripod in the water - to take a photo. Yep, he was a real photographer for sure! The roar of the waterfalls kept up from saying anything to each other, but we both knew what was going on, although I wondered if he thought I was nuts or something because the entire time he was there I never shot a single photo - I just stood there (or actually was leaning up against a tree) with the cable release in hand, waiting for the wind to stop. He eventually moved on and so did I. Three good photos for me today, that would do it, and I was out of dry clothes, so I headed back to the cabin.
I had called Pam during the day and discovered that she had about 30 guests at the cabin most of the mid-day. They were a group of family from around the country who had grown up down along the Buffalo River - most of them near the mouth of Whitaker Creek and points upstream. They had asked me in an e-mail about coming out and going down the ladder trail to their old home sites (they are in their 70's plus now), and I welcomed them, as long as they stopped by the cabin to visit first! Turns out that even though Pam took them down to the ladder, the rocks were so slick and dangerous that none of them elected to make the trip down over the bluff. Instead they all sat out on the back decks of Cloudland swapping stories and telling Pam all sorts of interesting things. I would loved to have recorded all of their conversations! Several of them vowed to return, and we welcome them to. As I headed back towards the cabin around 3pm, my stomach began to growl - I just then realized that I had not eaten a thing all day, just a cup of tea at 5:30am. Just another one of those things I don't worry about when there are photos to take! The temp is heading south outside, and we just built the very first fire of the season in the fireplace. I decided to add a couple of the new photos I took today and the one of the sunset the other day to the Arkansas Wild & Free slide program, so I made those additions, then sent the program to be "rendered" once again - it will take it about 12 hours to complete, then I will copy it and the Wilderness Reflections program onto the laptop for the Tulsa show tomorrow night. Speaking of that show, this will be a special meeting of the Green Country Outdoor Club at the new library in Tulsa tomorrow night at 7:30pm. It is free and open to the public, in fact the public is encouraged to attend. It will just be my slide programs plus a few minutes of business, AND I HEAR a lot of great treats, including a special cake! The library is located at 93rd & Memorial. I hope some of you can make it! Saturday is the opening day of the regular gun deer season around here, and my goodness I have never seen so many big deer camps set up well in advance - many camps have been set up and manned all this week. This will be the first time in a while that we have actually been here on opening day - seems like there is always something going on away from here. Of course we will just barely be here - we won't be getting back from Tulsa until after midnight Saturday morning, then will have to head out early Sunday to make it over to the program in Searcy. Then we've got three more programs next week, and then a break for the holiday. I look forward to each and every one of these programs (especially to selling you a lot of cheap books and calendars!), but will be glad to have a day or two off as well. Hope to see many of you at one of the programs this fall! 11/15/04 The eastern skyline began to show just the slightest hint of pink early this morning. That pink turned to red and spread across most of the entire sky above. As the color grew more and more intense, I was wishing that I had not been sitting neck-deep in water watching it all - I should have jumped out of the hot tub and ran for the camera, but I said, what the heck, I needed a break, if only for a few minutes, so I just sat there and soaked up the incredible color as well as the hot water. GOOD MONDAY MORNING TO EVERYONE! We have had one long and exhausting weekend, and Monday almost seemed like it was going to be a Saturday, an entire day off. Yeah, right. Amber was out of school today, and she got up early and prompted me to make a big "Cloudland Hash" breakfast for everyone, which I was happy to do. Once we got the dishes cleared away it was time to dig into the mountain of work awaiting me. I absolutely LOVE this time of the year when we have so much work to do, and secretly (and not so) wish we could have the holiday book buying season all year long! Our weekend began Friday when we packed up and headed to Tulsa for the Green Country Outdoor Club program. It took us 45 minutes to get through Springdale with all the traffic, then we got caught in the glut of Tulsa rush hour traffic. When we finally arrived at the big new Tulsa public library on the hill, the place was closed. Oops, I thought we had really messed up. But our folks were hidden away inside the dark building, and came out to greet us. This turned out to be one really big show, and the folks there did one heck of a job putting it all together and setting it all up. In my many years of speaking out about one thing or another, I have been forced to eat my words a time or two, but on Friday night in Tulsa they made my EAT one of my PHOTOS! They had a huge cake made up with one of my photos decorated on it - you know, whatever process that is where you can get a photo put on a cake - it looked really good, and especially tasted great! It was wonderful to get together with these folks that I have been giving programs to for eight years, and to meet so many Journal readers who showed up. I got to see the new slide program for the very first time, and also the newest version of the other new program too. I still have not gotten used to these digital shows where everything goes right and I don't have to worry about slides not dropping, dust on the slides, etc. The only problem with the Tulsa show was that we did not leave the city limits of Tulsa until nearly 11pm - and it was a very long drive back home. We spent a total of 14 hours doing this one program, counting packing up and unpacking and drive time. And this after putting in nearly a full work day before we left. Saturday morning I woke up early as I heard a mouse down in the kitchen (seemed like we had just arrived and crawled into bed). It was Pam's mom getting up and ready to leave. I had to get up and process a large order that she was going to deliver to the new restaurant in Jasper on her way back to Missouri. Turns out this great new restaurant was not open on Saturday morning - I found that hard to believe, but I guess they still have not figured out their schedule yet, although you would think serving breakfast on Saturday morning in a tourist town would be #1 on their list! Anyway, that was just after first light, and as I hiked up to the office in my sleep to process the book order I heard a gunshot nearby - it was the opening day of deer season, and I knew the Woods Boys, Benny and Clyde, and others, would be hunting on this end of the mountain. About an hour later Danny Woods and Benny drove up in this neat rig called a "Ranger" (made by Polaris), and Benny's very first deer ever was in the back. He wanted a photo of it because it was such an unusual deer. The buck began the year growing a nice eight-point rack, but somewhere along the way something went wrong and one side of the rack got twisted and turned 180 degrees down and backwards - very strange indeed. I shot a few photos of Benny and his prize buck. I never got a photo of mine, and knew how important this was to Benny. As they drove off in the Ranger I rushed back into the cabin and printed up an 8/10 color print of his deer, then slipped down to their cabin a little while later (when they were in town checking the deer in) and left Benny a framed 8/10 print on the table. How is that for service way out in the middle of nowhere! Benny is the one who spend so much time and effort putting in multiple gardens that we rob out here all summer..... The rest of the day went sort of like that, so much to do, and no time to rest. However I did get to take off on a hike in the afternoon, and it was just wonderful, delightful, terrific, and much needed. The trail was completely covered with fresh leaves, and actually there was a great deal of bright color in the trees! People keep saying we have not had any good color this year, but I guess they are just not looking around! When I reached the bottom of the hill I sat down and leaned up against a smooth boulder and watched the dogs running and playing in the stream and up on the hillside. The afternoon sun, my exhausted mind and body, and the rush of the nearby water all combined to send me into never-never land in a hurry - I think I was out moments after my backside landed on the ground. At some point later on, I was awakened by something dripping on my shoulder. I woke up and saw Aspen looming much larger than real life over me - he was standing on the edge of the boulder that I was sleeping up against, his drool falling on me. "Wake up, WAKE up and PLAY!" OK, so much for my nap. Actually it must have been a very good nap because I was refreshed and renewed and ready to take on the world once again. So we headed on back up the steep hillside, although I was not quite as ready as I had thought, and had to stop not once but twice on the way up to blow. Sunday proved to be very long day, and we spent another 14 hours doing a program, this time in Searcy. I guess that is just one of the things about living way out here, it takes so long to get to anyplace! Of course, even if we gave a program next door, we would still have 4-5 hours of time invested in it. Then you add 3-4 hours driving time each way and it all adds up in a hurry. No matter - we had a great group of folks in Searcy, and got to meet some new Journal readers, and that is ALWAYS a treat for us! Plus Amber got to go with us, and we enjoy having her along - she is such a hoot. A couple of notes about other weekend book events - Glenn reports a good program at the Jasper Public Library on Friday night, and also he did a book signing at Books Galore in Harrison on Sunday as part of their Christmas open house festivities. And I think that Don Kurz set a record for us - he sold 190 of his new books at a book signing at a Springfield, Illinois nature center on Saturday - way to go DON! Our personal record is about 133 books at one event, so Don blew us away. I hope he has a few more like that this year! So now we are back to current time this morning. The sun has risen high in the sky, and the wind is blowing the falling leaves around, and I think it is going to be one terrific day out here in the wilderness. We have three programs to give this week - the first on at the Springdale Public Library tomorrow at 6pm (Tuesday) - this will be our ONLY program in the Fayetteville-Springdale area this year when we have books and calendars on sale, so that will be THE show to come to and get all of your Christmas Shopping done!; then at the Hot Springs Library on Thursday at 6pm; and then on Saturday at a photo club meeting in Bella Vista at 1pm. Then we will get to rest from public programs until December. So far, so good, and everything has gone smooth with the new digital projection stuff - well worth all the time and effort and money and worry over this past year. I still have a long way to go learning this stuff, but am enjoying the ride. OK, I'm off to the office to get started on the pile of work to do up there, but I hope to be able to take an hour off sometime today and go on a hike. I hope your Monday is a great one! 11/17/04 The sun rose early today and spread a broad smile across the wilderness - it was indeed a day of great joy as the angels above were joined by one of their own - Robert Chester's brother, Leonard, passed through the Pearly Gates and took his place in heaven. Leonard was one of the really good guys in the world. I never saw anything but a smile on his face, and he always had good things to say about others. He worked hard and got every drop of life out of his years. He will be missed down here by all who ever met him......... The wind is blowing quite a bit today and the temps are warm - up into the mid-60's, There are still quite a few trees that have held onto their leaves, and now many of them are letting go - lots of leaves flying by my window today! How in the world would have thought you could be hiking during the third week of November in the Ozarks with t-shirt and shorts on and getting hit in the face with fresh leaves! There is still quite a bit of color left out there, but you do have to go hunt a little bit for it - more individual trees rather than broad vistas of color. While out hiking the other day I came across a stand of beautiful beech trees. They are one of my most favorite trees out there. Normally they will not drop their leaves in the fall, but instead keep these golden-brown jewels all through the winter and lose them when new growth pushes them out in the spring. The winter woods are often cold and dreary, but get a little bit of sunshine hitting these leaves and you will jump for joy! Anyway, this particular stand of beeches I found had not golden leaves, but YELLOW leaves - I mean they were just as bright and saturated as any aspen trees in the fall. Upon closer inspection I found that some of the leaves still have green pigment running in the veins, which made for a really neat and colorful leaf pattern. Of course, I had left my camera at home, and the wind was blowing quite a bit anyway so I probably could not have done these leaves justice. I hope to return to them soon, with camera in hand, but expect they will have turned golden by then. We're in the middle of a marathon week of programs and other chores, and so far everything has gone well. We got to meet more Journal readers at the Springdale program last night - it was GREAT to meet each and every one of you! It continues to amaze me how many of you there are out there, and that you will even admit to it in public! Tomorrow we have a big program at the Hot Springs library, then one last one for the week on Saturday at the Bella Vista Photo Club meeting. We just got a rather large print order for rather large prints this morning, and silly me, I went out on a limb and said we could get them delivered by early next week! Looks like I will need several bottles of Starbucks Mocha to get me through this one. I just love the holidays, and while we probably would die from exhaustion, I wish we had them all year long! Pam and her dad headed out early this morning to put up blazes on the Ozark Highlands Trail, then Pam has to drive into town for a pastel class tonight. Amber and grandpa will get three nights together this week - don't know what we would do without Pam's parents coming to our rescue all the time! OK, the scanner is finished warming up so I had better get back to work. See ya in Hot Springs or Bella Vista or out on the trail... 11/19/04 Almost the end of the day this afternoon and I am pooped. We haven't had much sleep this week, and while I told everyone at the program last night that it was the altitude that was causing the slurred speech, it was really the fact that I am exhausted and in need of some rest! We had a great program, and got to meet even more wonderful Journal readers, as well as see some old friends from the hiking community there. I did get somewhat of a start when I looked up from my table and saw this strange man in a long black trench coat hugging my wife - turned out to be our good friend and jet pilot Greg Heinze. The drive down to Hot Springs was really nice - it rained most of the way, but we drove past what has to be some of the most significant fall color I've ever seen down in the Ouachitas, and indeed just about anyplace this year. The wind was blowing and the rains coming down, plus we were on a deadline, so I didn't stop to take any photos. But while it may be too late, I plan to head down that direction on Saturday or Sunday to see if I can get a few images. Really nice color. And speaking of color, an odd thing has been taking place in this neck of the woods this fall. Last year the power company cleared out all of the power line right-of-ways - some having trees in them that were more than 30 or 40 years old (this is to protect the power lines from storm damage - and is a very good thing indeed). Anyway, there have been a large number of maple tree seedlings sprouting up in the wake of this clearing, and man oh man you should see the brilliant and multi-colored COLOR on these little trees! Many of them are single-stem trees at the moment and look out of place, but upon close inspection you find they are indeed young maple trees. And they are blooming very late, almost after all the rest of the trees have lost their leaves. This morning I had to make a quick trip into the Bedfords camera store in Rogers to get some large prints made. On the way I stopped and took a few shots of one of my favorite old barns along the road - its days are numbered for sure, and I keep expecting to see it on the ground any day now. We had lots of fog this morning.
I just took a short hike up and around the mountain here - a nice cool breeze was blowing, it is very dim outside - nearly dark even though it was only 3pm. The temp was just about perfect for hiking - in the low 60's. A few little maple trees out in the middle of the forest were bright red and orange and yellow, but mostly all else has turned into the winter gray tones. Oops, I take that back - we still have some hickories here that are nice and yellow, and a few mature maples that are yellow as well. We had some rain yesterday, but not a gully-washer. Even so, seems like the smaller creeks are filling up nicely, which means the waterfalls should be running, even those higher up in the drainages. And the waters are clear and clean. I won't hurt my feelings if the wet stuff just keeps on coming on and off all winter - in fact we could use a foot of fluffy snow every now and then too! Someone asked me yesterday if I missed deer hunting. It literally used to consume my life for a good part of the year. When I was in high school I would deer hunt every single day from October 1st until the middle of February - with a bow, muzzle loader, and regular gun (for an hour before class, and all day on weekends). I would hunt in Arkansas, Texas, Wyoming, and Colorado (adding antelope and elk to the list). That continued on until I was 33 years old, when I spent 31 days in a row sitting high up in a tree from before daylight until after dark. You would think that an obsession like that would be in your blood forever. I quit hunting back in 1988 not because I have anything against it - quite the opposite, we NEED hunting in order to sustain our population of wild game in Arkansas - without hunters and hunting seasons there would be NO WILDLIFE in Arkansas to speak of. I mostly quit because I no longer liked the taste of wild game. That's it, pure and simple. AND I think that for many long years I would use hunting as an excuse for getting out and exploring the woods when I should have been in school, or studying, or doing something else - I would much rather be out in the woods! That remains the case today, but I don't have to make any excuses - all I have to do is head out the door and no one asks any questions! OK, back to my original thought, while I used to love my days and weeks out hunting, and the actual challenge and thrill of the successful hunt, I simply don't miss it at all. I am quite happy to see others enjoying this wonderful sport, and wish them the best, but I'll keep my feet on the ground and out of those trees (actually, I guess today a very large percentage of deer hunters spend much of their days on the back of a four-wheeler driving all over the place instead of walking the woods or sitting up in a tree soaking up the wilderness - which I do have mixed feelings about, but I won't get into that here). It is getting late on Friday night now, and I am tired and stuffed to the gills from a large plate of Baniff pasta, and I am running down. I have a program in Bella Vista tomorrow, then a quick trip to the Ouachitas on Sunday, then back to Rogers to pick up big prints, then perhaps back down to the Ouachitas. Maybe I will take a few hours off this coming week (after all, there will be turkey to be eaten!), and I hope to spend some quality time out in the woods just hiking or taking pictures or doing absolutely nothing. Once again I appreciate all of you that have been able to make it to the slide shows - I hope you have found them worth the effort! 11/20/04 The sun is beginning to creep up over the ridge to the east, and is casting a glow into the wilderness. There is a nice fog bank that covers the lower part of the canyon. I have my camera and new tripod set up on the back deck and have been documenting this progress. I'm hoping the sunshine will light up the top edges of the ridges and the cloud bank - I'm using a 10mm lens that enables me to get both the sunrise and the canyon in the same photo (that is a very wide lens!). There will be a photo of this scene as the deck cam today. The Buffalo is running wildly down below that cloud bank, and is singing a really nice tune this morning. I can't hear Whitaker Creek at all, but I know it has plenty of water in it. Everything is wet outside, although I don't think we had any real rain overnight. Oops, got to go shoot a photo...OK, I'm back. A large black cloud drifted over the rising sun so there was no color or light like I wanted. I will continue to wait and shoot a few more photos before posting. Speaking of photos, I know there are quite a few photo folks reading this, so I wanted to give you an update on my quest for the perfect tripod. I just received a new one yesterday and so far it appears to be the answer - I have been using as many as three different tripods this past year, sometimes all at the same time! This new one is a Valbon 730 Neo Carmagne carbon fiber. It weights about five pounds, is TALL enough so that I can shoot photos without having to extend the center column (the kiss of death), the legs spread apart and go up to 90 degrees for shooting flat on the ground, it has rubber and spiked feet, and while it does have twist locks (I LOATHE those on the Gitzo tripods!) they work quite different from all the rest and actually do WORK! I am pairing this with a new Markins ball head that will be here on Monday for the absolutely perfect setup for height, east of use, weight, and stability. Of course, there may be an ever better one on the horizon, but until then, this will become my tripod of choice. Looks like I have reached the length limit for this web page once again, so I will be splitting it up into a second section - the new "B" page should be at the same address as this first one, and there will be links to each. Pam is not feeling too well today so I will be brazing the show in Bella Vista alone. By the way, for those of you in the northwest Arkansas area, be on the lookout for an article about the print exhibit in Siloam Springs (only three more days to go see it!) in the Northwest Arkansas Times on Sunday. The reporter asked a LOT of questions and I gave my normal long-winded answers - I don't have a clue how much of that she got down on paper and how it will turn out. I'll be down in the Ouachitas (maybe) so won't see a copy, but hope to find one when I get back. Oops, there is the sun - got to go shoot another photo... By the way, speaking of photos, I saw some wonderful photos that our good friend Jeff Beauchamp from Bedfords Photo sent - he was at the Clinton Library ceremony on Thursday. It was pouring rain, and each of the Presidents and their wives had an umbrella, each holding their own and covering themselves up. But over on the left side of the photo were the Carters - and they were huddled close to each other, obviously still very much in love! That's the way things are out here at Cloudland, and I hope that long after my term is over my lovely bride will still want to huddle up next to me!
I wanted to share the follwing part of an e-mail from a Journal reader who was at a recent program: "I have to tell you, though, that even more than your photos and books, and many other accomplishments, it's your life with Pam and Amber that you describe in your journal that's so inspiring. If you worked in a factory, but still had them, you'd be rich." I TOTALLY AGREE!!! Click here to go to Part B, Nov. 22nd - present Back to top | |
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