No Mercy

Spied on this jumping spider a few weeks back. I was taking butterfly photos but saw him hidden in some flowers, going to town on this bug. I watched him catch it and then drag it away and gnaw on it. Pretty cool stuff. I had a lot of fun taking these pictures. He was fairly badass, as you can see.

Abc Wednesday (P, Predator/Prey)Macro Monday My World

And I will call you...

I have no idea what to title this one since I dunno what these are. I failed! Crap! Anyone? They're from the Truckee/Tahoe California area. I knew what they were at some point but alas, nope, not anymore. Well then! Today's Flower

Clark's Nutcracker

Oh hey look! It's a Clark's Nutcracker! I miss these guys, they're rather goofy and quite vocal. This one was in the White Mountains, CA, hanging out with the Bristlecones. Lucky! These guys are big seed dispersers for high elevation conifers (like Limber, White, Pinyon, Bristlecone Pines, etc). Fun watching them cache the seeds!Camera Critters SOOC Bird Photography Weekly Blue Monday

Agave Shadows

Guadalupe Mountains, Texas

Black and White Weekend, Shadow Shot

Minnesota Sunset

A rather idealistic sunset on one of Minnesota's 10,000. Those are coots on the left.

Skywatch Scenic Sunday

Glacier (sort of): One of those days (Day 8)

27 August.

So the disgruntled car needed a trip to the Honda dealership, 2+ hours away. Considering there were 40 mph winds and hiking would have been less than enjoyable, I guess this was as good a day as any to alleviate the problem.

While taking down the tents in the morning, there was crazy bird activity. Warbling Vireos, Waxwings, Gray Jays, Chickadees, Kinglets, Tanagers, Cooper's Hawk, 4 different warbler species, Robins, and 2 other species I can't recollect. A couple deer checking out the site too. This was all in the tiny campsite!

Anyway, drove the couple hours to Kalispell. The honda people said it was just a rock lodged somewhere behind one of the front wheels (whew!). That's what I was hoping it was but I had some serious car issues 3 years ago last time I drove through Montana, so I figured I should at least check. Didn't want to risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere again!

Ended up staying at a Super8 and properly bathed for the first time in 9 days. Whoa. Back to Glacier in the morning! (except for the kinglet, these photos are from the hike we took the 28th. I took an excessive amount of 'em)

Red Rock Reflected River. (or something like that)

This is an old one (August 2008). But I still like it.

Watery Wednesday Weekend Reflections

Glacier: Mountain Goats and Grizzlies (Days 6,7)

(25 August ) was a get stuff done kinda day - we had to stop in Missoula to charge camera batteries, stock up on food, etc. Got to Glacier NP around sunset and found a place to camp. Vladimir (car) started making an awful noise. Ya know, a lovely grating metal sort of noise. Either way, happy to be back in Glacier. Hadn't been since a 2007 backpacking trip. A pretty fantastic place to spend a few days!

26 August

The car was still making noises. And by noises I mean nails-on-a-chalkboard-kinda-want-to-rip -your-hair-out-and-cry kinda noises. Got worse throughout the day. Less than ideal, really. Should perhaps stop taking a 13 year old civic on sketchy dirt roads? Never! (in the picture below, I'm apparently trying to look as nerdbally as possible)

Anyway, ate some breakfast and later saw mountain goats. (cute! Have a ton more pictures of then to post at some point) Spent a while with them, obviously. We found a different place to camp (less people) and eventually got on a trail again. There was a grizzly (my first, finally!) a long way off. Luckily I had Zac's scope with me so we checked her out for a while. Just foraging on a mountainside, pretty cool stuff!

It was really overcast and raining on and off, which was kind of a bummer, but that didn't stop us. I didn't take too many landscape shots because the light was so bad, but it was still a really pretty hike. Like anything in Glacier isn't pretty! Exactly. (the guy above is a Columbian Ground Squirrel)

We could see the grizzly from the trail at a few spots. So cool! When we were done hiking, we saw another one! Yup. Another grizz. Excellent! This guy was standing on his back legs getting some tasty berries. Unfortunately, they were way too far away for photos. But I'm pretty pumped I finally go to see 'em. Zac was a bit jealous...

Once we got back to the tents, it started raining pretty hard, lasted all night. Hmm. My tent actually started leaking, which was sort of bullshit. Granted, that bad boy has been around since 2004. I should tally up how many nights since then I've slept in it. It's gotten good use, but I really shouldn't use it in torrential downpours at this point anymore, so sad! My World Outdoor Wednesday

Lotsa Lepidoptera

Butterflies abounded at this particular spot. Lots of different species. A few even stopped for a second to have their picture taken, go figure! (the top one is some kind of skipper, second guy is a Common Buckeye, last is the Common checkered-skipper). Today's Flowers Macro Monday Mellow Yellow

Yoga on the Mountain

Susan and I went backpacking (the Fiery Gizzard Trail in Tennessee) last weekend. We ate lunch at this sweet overlook and attempted to pose for yoga pictures afterwards. I can still do the dragonfly, whew! I hadn't attempted in a long time so I was relieved I had it under control! Luckily neither of us flew off the mountain running into the self timer shot, though there were some fairly amusing photos. Shadow Shot

Arched in Black and White

Canyonlands National Park.

Weekend in Black and White Scenic Sunday

The Ranch

Second home. Skywatch Blue Monday

Bighorn

Camera Critters SOOC

The Sawtooths (Day 5)

After packing everything up, we went for a fairly quick hike up to Norton Lake. Was really wanting to do a longer hike to Sawtooth Lake but there was a pretty hefty fire nearby, and I'm not really a fan of low visibility and smoke. So, that's on the to-do list for next time. Norton was really pretty -the water was a really nice blue/green. And I heard yet more pikas! Got in the lake, which is always a stupid decision at 8500 feet but some attempt at 'bathing' was necessary at that point. Not the coldest water I've been in, but it was definitely brutal, oh yeah.

Hiked back down and started driving north. Had to put on the brakes for a big ol' badger casually crossing the road. Made it to Sula, MT around 10pm. Abc Wednesday (N=Norton Lake), Watery Wednesday Outdoor Wednesday Weekend Reflections

My Playground

White Sands, New Mexico.

Weekend in Black and White

Flooded Reflection

The fall colors in Minnesota last week were pretty spectacular. I was visiting family so I didn't get a chance to run around and take many pictures, but my parents and I went to the Minnesota Wildlife Refuge for a couple hours one day. The trails were still really flooded from the flood a couple weeks before...which made for a nice reflection shot above. Weekend Reflections

The Sawtooths (Day 4)

Considering the sun didn't feel like hitting the tents until about 0900, it wasn't until then when I braved the cold. Cold, cold. Upper 20's or so. I wasn't really designed for anything lower than 81, so it's always rough dealing with that nonsense. Quickly made some good thick coffee (shade grown of course) and downed that like a maniacal fool. Oh yes, the good stuff.

Because of the painfully cold temps, it took us a while to get our crap together. Really, talk about leisurely. Granted, we didn't get the tents up until pretty late the night before, but still.

I'm totally embarrassed to admit that we didn't get to the trailhead until 1:45 in the afternoon. It's true and uncalled for, but that's what happened. An obvious note: this is NOT an ideal time to start an almost 9 mile hike. But hey, we did it. And what a freaking gorgeous hike. The elevation gain was pretty good - about 2500 feet in the first 4 miles, but like I've said, I kinda prefer uphill. Also, the wild flowers were still blooming like it was spring or something, pretty niiice!

The trail eventually leveled out to a fantastic view of the Pioneer Mountains. Hot damn, talk about a pretty scene! The tallest peak was just over 12,000 feet. Ate lunch at the top while oohhh'ing and ahhh'ing.

On the hike back, which was a lot of pretty knee-jarring downhill but also a significant amount of uphill too, I was regretting dragging the extra weight of the 500 mm lens. But alas! There were more PIKAS! (they deserve the caps). Pika heaven, actually. Heard a ton of 'em, but took a while to actually spot one. He posed for about three photos and then went into hiding.

The hike back took longer than expected and we got back just as the sun was setting, so that was a little too close for comfort. No harm done though and what an excellent hike! Once we were done, it was (vegan) pizza and beer time. Of course. Then back to the freezing frozen tents (actually, it wasn't as cold as the night before, luckily). Scenic Sunday Nature Notes