Crest, Cliff & Canyon

I shot this frame back in early July, when the Wolf Creek Fire was just a little smoulder above our camp, spreading a typical summer haze through the Selway river canyon.

Just a pair of summer flower portraits from our best local trail… I love everything about thimbleberries, and their flowers are underrated, I feel.

The moon was stuck in a smoke bank at sunset last Thursday, so the shot I had in mind didn’t quite pan out.

More scenes from the Lower Salmon and Snake: tawny grass, jagged stone, sparse trees, hazy air and a blessed ribbon of water were very much the themes of this summer float.

Looking back 15, 10 and 5 years… August 2011 did not see much camera use from me, but I did get out for a leg stretcher in the Santa Fe mountains to see the aftermath of the Pacheco Fire.

Stone, sky, sunlight and the Snake River all united into shining flow… The Loren Eiseley quote, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water,” has become sorely overused, but I find it to be more and more true.

River confluences are always places with a bit of magic, and the magic felt strong here where the Salmon joins the Snake.

The mid-month archive revisit, looking back five, ten and fifteen years… July 2011 was almost absurdly productive, with river trips on both Selway and Middle Fork, plus outings in several gorgeous eastern Nevada mountain ranges.

“June gloom,” i.e. fog and clouds on Pacific Northwest coasts in late spring and early summer, is a well known pattern.

Images from five, ten and fifteen years in the rearview mirror… June is a good month, it seems.