that occurs tomorrow morning when I aspire to photographically capture the “triple sunrise” behind Castleton Tower. Fire smoke in the air last year frustrated my efforts and I’ve been patiently waiting for 364 days to try again.
This morning, out on the bike, on the trail beneath the Tower. Helluva back yard.
My calculations indicate that the show starts around 6:45 am MDT tomorrow.
on a warm and golden evening. Good vibes.
these aerial scavengers are spying a dead skunk on a neighboring property.
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura).
in Arches National Park while a family enjoys a stroll at dusk.
during the first 100 degree day of the year.
Desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii).
above its confluence with the Colorado River is easy to navigate if one already knows where the holes are. Drive the riffles, not the pools! It’s another mini adventure with my friend and neighbor in the Bronco with the front seat roof panels removed.
Today, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) above the confluence with the Colorado River near Dewey Bridge, Utah, the Dolores River is flowing 135 cubic feet per second (cfs). Last year it was flowing 721 cfs and the historical median flow on this date is 1,120 cfs based on 40 years of record at a USGS gaging station a few miles upstream.
from southeastern Utah.
at the feeding stations. Super tiny and super cute.
White-tailed antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus).
Close up of the not-a-chipmunk the following day.
The diagnostic white tail.
by a mischief of Magpies occurs like clockwork every morning as they raid the feeding stations. Smart and entertaining birds, but noisy.
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia).
is ready for the forecast high temperatures this weekend. The blower was lubricated and the original water pump was replaced with a new one that is much quieter, while the aspen wood pads were replaced last year. I’m grateful that a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet wasn’t required for the pump. It’s very simple tech that works extraordinarily well.
with the Gemini twins above Porcupine Rim shortly after sunset.
Drifting clouds slowly reveal, from lower left to upper right, Jupiter, Venus, Pollux and Castor.
brightly paints the eastern horizon early this morning.
is shifting to earlier and earlier in the day as the arrival of summer is exactly two weeks away. Here’s a look at a most magnificent back yard at dawn and my shadow proves I was there.
Panorama view of Castle Valley National Park including the big five: Round Mountain, Porcupine Rim, Parriott Mesa, Castleton Tower and Adobe Mesa. (Click on image to enlargenate.)
is a well kept secret.
The downtown business hub of Paradox, Colorado on a weekday afternoon.
Buckeye Recreation Area at 7,700 feet (2,350 m) in elevation. It’s a nicely clean and quiet US Forest Service campground.
View of the high La Sals at dusk. No astrophotography was attempted as it is a full Moon.
View to southeast at dawn, looking down the long axis of the Paradox Valley. Early explorers were puzzled as to why the Dolores River flows across this valley rather than along its length, finding it paradoxical. Hence the name Paradox Valley was adopted, and the Middle Pennsylvanian age strata responsible for developing these long and linear collapsed salt-cored anticlines is called the Paradox Formation.
is found deep in La Sal Creek Canyon where a disseminated ore body formed adjacent to a small normal fault. Following discovery in 1897, the Cashin Mine operated here from 1899 to sometime in the 1950s producing both copper and silver.
Copper mineral staining is common on exposures of the Wingate Sandstone (Lower Jurassic (201.4 Ma - 174.7 Ma)) around the mine site.
Copper mineral staining along a normal fault with a mine adit located on the geologic structure.
but its important nuclear legacy will never be forgotten, having served as the hub of the most productive uranium mining district in the nation. The former company townsite has been erased from most maps following complete environmental remediation of the valley.
Wide panorama from the Star 13 mine portal showing the San Miguel River canyon where the former town and uranium mill was located. Recent remediation efforts resulted in the dismantling of buildings and excavation of radioactive waste and the debris is now sequestered in several containment cells south of the former town site.
The mill and town of Uravan, circa 1970. (Rimrocker Historical Society, donated by Wyatt family.)
Link to NRC closure document: Umetco Uravan.
One of several containment cells in Hieroglyphic Canyon. I measured only background levels of radiation while standing at the fence along the road and snapping this image.
in the San Miguel and Dolores River canyons, built between 1888 and 1891 by very determined miners working a gold placer deposit further up the canyon. Imagine trying to build this incredible project today!
Remains of the five mile-long wooden flume above the San Miguel River, still clinging to the sandstone cliff after more than 130 years.
Closer view of a section of the wooden flume as seen from an overlook from above, on Colorado 141 north of the former townsite of Uravan.
View from below at a partially restored section of the historic flume. The flume only operated several years after its completion, following which the wooden beams and planks were scavenged and re-purposed for other uses.
Around the nose of a meander bend, the hanging flume hugs the escarpment above the San Miguel River, a short distance above its confluence with the Dolores River.
at the nearly 9,000 foot (2,740 m) elevation in the La Sal Mountains above Castle Valley, but, alas, none are in bloom during this year of drought in an ordinarily gorgeous patch among the aspens. But it did afford a visit with two of my favorite ancient ponderosa pine trees.
Continuing on to Gateway, Colorado, dropping into John Brown Canyon.
this coming Sunday, the second occurrence of a full lunar disc this month. Here it is tonight, looming high over the La Sal Mountains where only a few remaining snow cornices cling to the summit ridges.
given the location of this new and lovely sculpture of trout in Lions Park, very near the south bank of the muddy Colorado River. Very nicely done, nevertheless.
