Spring flowers!

Here's a few recent pics I took while back working in the burned area of the Eldorado National Forest. Fires very often bring out a multitude of new plants and flowers, mainly because the wood ash changes the soil's pH from being acidic to a more neutral soil chemistry. Especially when pine trees are the dominant tree species, because pine needles are very acidic. You can also use wood ash in your yards and gardens, being loaded with lots of macronutrients and micronutrients. All of these pics were taken with the camera's macro function on.

This one below is rather hypnotic and nicely symmetrical.

This Little Wood Rose is unlike its cousins and is also Alberta's Provincial symbol and flower.

Potpourri of pics

Since we're kind of in between seasons, here in the central Sierra Nevada (it could rain, snow be hot or be cold), I'm offering up a mixture of pictures for your viewing pleasure. This one below, from Zion National Park, has proven to be very popular with my family and friends. I expect that it would also be popular with photo buyers, as well. Too bad it isn't really a very high resolution picture which I could enlarge beyond 11x14.

On that same trip, I was on my way to Bryce Canyon National Park and found this nice little roadside stop below, called Red Rocks. It's a free (last time I went) Forest Service recreation area on the Dixie National Forest along Utah State Highway 12. These rock formations are called "hoodoos" and are thought to be "entities" by the local native indians. Definitely check this place out, if you're ever in the vicinity.

Here is another place called Red Rocks, but this one is in California, at the extreme southern end of the Sierra Nevada along State Highway 14, between Mojave and the scenic US Highway 395. It's really nothing more than a turnout in the desert but, it IS very geologically interesting and photogenic.

We finally return to the snows of Yosemite again and, this should cool you off from the coming summer heat. Looking at this picture, some may realize that they only have around 200 shopping days until Christmas.

We finally come to the Sequoia National Monument and the 100 Giants. Even the huge old growth ponderosa pine below is dwarfed by the massive Sequoia bigtrees. After the sequoias were first discovered, "tall tales" of these monsters were taken back to the east coast and people back there couldn't (and some WOULDN'T) believe that a tree could grow so big. Even after stripping all the bark off an entire tree and reassembling it in Washington DC, people declared it to be a hoax (fooling the public was a popular activity for some in those days). These trees only exist naturally in a handful of scattered groves along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, their range diminished 100-fold by an ancient change in our global temperature. The largest Sequoia tree in the world is over 26 feet in diameter and 350 feet tall, one of nature's largest living things. Also, the largest tree in Europe is a planted giant Sequoia, as there is no "old growth" left in all of Europe.

Penn pics

These lily-like plants were almost everywhere, amongst the blowndown trees of the Allegheny National Forest.

Here's what it looked like to be measuring these trees. Pete just happened to get one of his trees randomly selected to be a "measure tree". Luckily, he got one that was pretty easy because it was laying flat on the ground. Often, a tree is hung up in another one and some trigonometry is sometimes required.

A(squared) + B(squared)= C(squared)

A, being the horizontal distance to the merchantable top diameter.

B, being the vertical distance the tree is off the ground at the same point.

C, being the calculated length of the trunk of the tree.

However, it can get plenty more complicated when you factor in the estimated rot and unusable wood within the tree. They gave us comprehensive tables and information on how to subtract the percentage of wood that is "unmerchantable". We also had to estimate the portions of each tree that weren't "saw logs" and were sold as "pulp". In dealing with the high-value Black Cherry trees, a few percent can mean hundreds of dollars on an individual tree. And, when that is expanded and applied to hundreds of trees, that can result in either grossly over-estimating the value of the trees a purchaser is buying (and, a potential claim and court battle), or a significant loss of money to be paid by a purchaser to the government.

Finally, I did get another chance to take a picture of a business that might give one a big double-take. Is Mickey D's branching out into other areas, diversifying their business into the great beyond? Could this be the Soylent Green of science fiction becoming science fact? Could this be a clown's offspring stepping out of his Father's big floppy clown shoes? There's actually at least two of these establishments in NW Pennsylvania.

I'll certainly be on the lookout for an opportunity to capture the clown's likeness to cut and paste into this image in a humorous way *GRIN*

Niagara Falls!!

Now, here's a challenge for all serious photographers. How can you capture the power and majesty of Niagara Falls in maybe a different way than thousands of others already have? I surely can't say that I've done anything different than most, here. Judge for yourself whether these pics offer any enlightenment or amazement.

Since spring has just sprung up there next to the Canadian border, tulips were blooming all around the grounds of Niagara State Park. This particular group of tulips caught my eye and I used the macro function to zoom in VERY close.

This next shot seems to remind people of the ocean, with all the mist and the water. I like how I was able to exclude all traces of human "intrusion" from this picture.

This last one is my favorite, making this tourist icon look deserted. The wind conditions made it so that the mist wasn't too much of a problem. The "awe factor" is in full force when you get down below the falls.