flares again on this extremely hot and dry afternoon. The fire complex has grown to nearly 6,000 acres in size over the last four days and is located about 11 miles south of Castle Valley.
Aerial image taken by Great Basin Team 4 ((Link)).
Map from Utah Department of Natural Resources.
by a microwave transmitting tower high in the La Sal Mountains early tonight. My primary goal this evening was to shoot the Milky Way rising behind the high peaks but there was too much fire smoke hanging in the air.
at nearly 9,000 feet (2,750 m) in the La Sal Mountains. I always visit this deeply shaded aspen grove every late spring as these flowers never disappoint.
Columbine flower (genus Aquilegia).
captured during this warm and slightly smoky evening’s twilight.
Cumulative 30 minute-long exposure with Polaris tucked behind the tip of the right pylon.
with explosive vigor in the Pack Creek drainage in the foothills of the La Sal Mountains, just south of Moab, Utah. This fire broke out yesterday and filled Castle Valley with smoke beneath mostly cloudy skies, with most of it clearing out overnight. Then today, shortly after noon, the strong winds fanned the fire into full intensity once again. Yikes.
View from Castle Valley of smoke plume from the Pack Creek fire rising above Porcupine Rim. Strong westerly winds are driving the plume across the La Sal Mountain front. (Click on panorama to enlarge.)
Around 3 pm MDT the smoke plume grew considerably larger in size.
Image captured around 5 pm MDT showing development of pyrocumulus clouds above the smoke plume.
Here are live updates. Spoiler: The fire was human-caused by an unattended campfire, according to the U.S. Forest Service and Utah Department of Natural Resources.
UPDATE: This image was captured around 7 pm MDT. (Click on image to enlarge.)
and a bonus meteor (!) as twilight descends on the landscape. This shooting location is in Professor Valley, immediately to the east of Castle Valley, just on the other side of Castleton Tower. This image was shot as I scouted a location for capturing the Milky Way later in the evening, rather, early the following morning.
Cumulative twenty minute-long exposure consisting of 40 individual images, each 30 seconds long, stacked and blended with StarStax software.
Core of the Milky Way framed between Adobe Mesa (left) and Castleton Tower, the Rectory, Priest and Nuns (right).
by the majestic Milky Way galaxy. This was a spur-of-the-moment shot as I was driving home from Professor Valley around 3:30 am. I’m glad I stopped!
Image beta: Tripod-mounted Canon R6 with Canon EF 16-35 mm lens at 16 mm focal length in vertical orientation, ISO 6400, 20 seconds at f/4.
in bloom, a transplant in a local garden from New Mexico.
Cholla cactus blossoms (genus Cylindropuntia).
discarded by the nymph as it enters the adult stage.
Exoskeleton is 2.5 cm (one inch) in length.
Cicada exoskeleton strongly backlit by the setting Sun.
has been pulled through the recently buried orange conduit to the back wall of my rural home. The 21st century is getting closer!
Now all that is needed is an optical network terminal that bridges the glass-copper connection to the home and converts pulses of light into electrical signals for the router. Faster, please!
in Buckhorn Wash, Utah?
Large anthropomorphic “angels” showing wings that appear to represent virga falling from the sky. Are these depictions of rain gods?
Virga - precipitation falling from a cloud that evaporates or sublimates before reaching the ground - behind Castleton Tower.
on Porcupine Rim early this evening as a storm rolls over Castle Valley from the west.
There was a stiff wind blowing as indicated by the horizontal windsock, but unfortunately, no rain. And the good news is that there were no ground strikes in the valley itself.
Towards the east, a curtain of virga falls behind the incredibly scenic skyline as sunset approaches.
Lightning is extraordinarily difficult, and sometimes dangerous, to photograph. I can highly recommend the Lightning Trigger LT-IV by Stepping Stone Products, a device that controls the shutter release on a camera within milliseconds of detecting the flash. Also, consider your safety first!
this hot and windy afternoon. Could be an exciting late afternoon with lightning but I hope we get some rain.
I estimate the highest cloud tops to be around 28,000 feet in this image that I shot returning from my sojourn to see the Comet Thrower.
Another large storm cell forms over the Book Cliffs. Those are the Merrimac and Monitor Buttes, center and right, respectively.
pictograph in upper Hellroaring Canyon is a huge anthropomorphic figure that appears to toss (catch?) a comet! I chose today for a sporting (climbing) descent into the canyon to visit this fascinating panel because around 11 am on the 30th of May a narrow shaft of light illuminates the figure for only a few fleeting minutes. I wanted to witness this archeoastronomical event for myself. It was just me and the Thrower today. Priceless.
Comet Thrower pictograph in the shade, showing multicolor pigments used by the artist. Image spans about two meters in width, and three meters in height. This guy is big and the comet is distinctly yellow!
The curvature of the rim of the Wingate Sandstone escarpment controls the play of the Sun’s rays on the big wall, especially on the Comet Thrower pictograph (lower left). Those are the Kachina Spires in the distant lower right.
A triangular beam of light sweeps across the Comet Thrower between 10:50 am to 11:00 am on 30 May every year. The brightening occurs very slowly at first, a subtle thing, then proceeds in a counter-clockwise movement as it becomes increasingly lit. Wonderful.
Tip of the hat goes to RT of Castleton who alerted me to this phenomenon that he first observed years ago. Thanks!
have constructed these miniature sedimentary towers, so-called turrets, only a couple centimeters (less than an inch) high as entrances to their subterranean nests. These are the same bees (Diadasia diminuta) that collect pollen from the desert globemallow plant (Sphaeralcea ambigua). Industrious little diggers!
Bees exit the nest in a backwards direction. In doing so they lift loose sediment out of the turret on their backs.
Fully loaded pollen tanker returning to the nest.
For macro photography you must get CLOSE to the subject, and in this case, down on your belly!
Mallow bee in a globemallow blossom gathering pollen.
Here are a couple of good articles about the ground-dwelling behavior of the globe mallow bee and about the rose-mallow bee.
today, and why not? They’re real and they are spectacular!
Once again I want to thank R & C for allowing me access to their lizard-rich property in Castle Valley. I’m shooting the big guy from about three meters (10 ft) away with a tripod-mounted Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon EF 500 mm prime lens.
on such a tiny squirrel. And big feet too!
White-tailed antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus).
was visible for a fleeting few minutes as it cleared Fisher Towers but was quickly engulfed in more clouds. This is the best shot I was able to salvage!
last night as I was preparing to photograph the rising full moon that was, unfortunately, obscured by clouds.
Classic view of Fisher Towers during golden hour.
Dramatic cloudscape towards the northwest over the Dome Plateau.
Under the towers at the trailhead as the clouds roll in prior to moonrise. Dang!
on the Colorado River at dusk this evening, with light traffic on Utah 128 between Moab and Castle Valley.
Image beta: This was shot a little after 9 pm after I had scrambled about 400 ft up the steep and loose talus-mantled slopes to near the base of Dolomite Spire. Tripod-mounted Canon R6 with Canon EF 16-35 mm lens at 16 mm focal length, 20 sec exposure at f/22, ISO 2000.