Aurora Borealis over the Border

Northern Lights on September 26, - I was standing on the U.S. side of the U.S./Canada border in Northeast Minnesota when I took this picture. If you look closely you can see a couple of small red lights from communication towers on the horizon. Those towers are in Ontario, Canada.


Above: "Mt. Maude Aurora" - Northern Lights from last night at about 9:13 P.M. Exposure time for this shot was 30 seconds, aperture f4, ISO 2500 using a Canon 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 17-40mm L lens. This shot also made the front page at spaceweather.com today!

Color

Talking of the depressingly drap desert colors we have now makes me want to try and hurry spring along. We had a couple of days of 55 and 60 degree weather that always makes me want to get out and start the gardening. In my back yard, away from the horses where they can't eat them, I always grow lots of easy to care for flowers and a few tomatoes each summer. This photo is of our wild four-o-clock. I have put so many mundane photos on with no bright colors lately, I though it was time to do so. These are native here and, although hard to transplant, if you can get one going it will take the place. They are usually only about a foot tall but will spread out and cover as much as 12 square feet in a summer. Then they die back in the fall and you can't even be sure where the plant was after you get rid of the dead vine and leaves. All summer, from late June until the first hard freeze, each evening, as the sun desends toward the west at about four-o-clock, (that is why it is named that) the plant opens its hundreds of purple flowers and purfumes the air with a wonderful sent.

'Tis Nevermore :: The Nevada Shoe Tree is Gone

In the high desert of Nevada, a large Cottonwood Tree stood for decades alongside a stretch of U.S. 50 near Middlegate, between Fallon and Ely. Known as The Loneliest Highway in America, it is now even more lonely because a local icon has been destroyed.





The Shoe Tree was introduced to you, my readers, in Redefining Shoe Tree. About a week ago I was contacted by a gentleman who wrote a song about the tree being cut down. He wanted to use the photographs from my blog post in a video tribute to the tree. I was truly saddened to hear of the demise of the Shoe Tree.



A Google Search turned up numerous articles about the old tree telling what is known of the incident and a little history of the tree.



A month ago, vandals pulled out their chain saw and cut the Shoe Tree down. No one except the culprits saw the deed being done. As it so happens, the Shoe Tree was on property owned by the Bureau of Land Management so if the culprits are ever found, they will face federal charges. The incident is still under investigation.





There is no understanding acts of vandalism. Nothing will bring the old tree back, but I hope that the culprits are caught and get the punishment they deserve!



The music video tribute by Chris “CW” Bayer has been posted on You Tube: Someone Cut the Shoe Tree Down.



Disclaimer: I have no business or other relationship to or with Chris Bayer. I received no remuneration from him for his use of my photographs. The video is simply a tribute to an icon and will not be for sale.

Chick progression

Since we moved the little chicks out to the coop, it's been harder to get them to sit still for their close-ups.

They don't want to sit in my hand any more. It would embarrass them in front of their peers.

The only time they're interested in me is when I'm feeding them. Teenagers!

Going to Interbike

Interbike will be happening next week and this will be my second year. If there is anything there you are interested in me checking out and photographing or writing about, please let me know over email. Likewise, if you're going and would like to say hello, get in touch. Contact me at filigreevelo-at-yahoo with the subject line Interbike. Looking forward to it!

Noosa with Nate Foster

Location: Boiling Pot - Noosa National Park

Model: Nate Foster

Photos: jjobrienclimbing








I was thinking about Boiling Pot recently. Gritty short cliffs over sensuous worn stones, washed by the sea. I used to climb there when I first started. The place has been photographed to bits in every Noosa coffee table type book but I think there's potential for good bouldering photography.

Here's what Nate and I came up with.
















I think a million people or more visit Noosa National Park every year. There's a constant stream of families with boogie boards and towels colliding with each other on the path, as they migrate from carpark to beach to next beach and back.

Only one or two people visit for the climbing, but the bouldering is quite good and there's trad routes to be had at the southern end of the park.

Being neither a boulderer nor a traddie I only add to the million every few years.









































jj

Evacuation and Damage

The Park remains closed until further notice. For updated information, call 360 569 2211 ext 9.

The onslaught of rain continued throughout the night. The Paradise telemetry recorded another 7 inches, bringing the total to 18 inches of precip over the course of the storm... and it's still raining!

Aside from the rage of the Nisqually River, Longmire is a relatively quiet place. The NPS has closed its offices, and only essential personnel are allowed in through a backroad (which is largely washed out and requires shuttles). See image above, taken near the Eagle Peak Trailhead...

The flooding has seriously damaged or threatened many of the roads (and even a few of the facilities) in the park. This image was also taken from the Longmire backroad below the Community Building. You can see where the road once existed.

Longmire is isolated by washouts and mudflows, so it feels like a safe little island. Well, "safe" unless you're in the Emergency Operations Center (pictured left) which is being undermined by the Nisqually River... Oh, and some of the electrical and water systems are also damaged, but most of the facilities will probably survive the storm.

I'll provide updates when possible. If you plan on visiting this side of the park anytime soon, consider that it's going to take a few days to repair the main road between the Nisqually Entrance and Longmire. I hear that it's completely washed out near Sunshine Point Campground. And speaking of that campground, it's GONE.

Singing Ice

This morning was the type of morning that will live on forever in my memory. I only made a handful of images today but more so than the images, it is the sounds of the morning that I will never forget. My friends Roger, Jon and Don were up for a visit and I brought them all down to the Spirit Tree for a morning of photography. It just so happens that this would also turn out to be probably the most magical morning on Lake Superior that any of us had ever witnessed. The morning started out very peaceful. Before the sun rose everything was calm and quiet. The sounds of the snow crunching beneath our boots seemed to echo across the bay. As the sun came closer to breaking the horizon, the sky took on an incredible pink glow.

Below: This piece of ice was only a couple of inches tall. I laid down on my stomach and shot with my Canon G11 in macro mode to make this image.



Sometimes when the sun rises, you have only a few minutes of nice warm light before things become too bright. On this particular morning, however, there was a thin layer of clouds hovering just off the horizon which meant that we had at least an hour of soft, warm and diffused light. Only moments after the sun came up, the ice on the bay started to talk. It started off with just a few barely audible creaks and groans, with the occasional popping noise thrown in for good measure. As the sun got higher in the sky, the wind out on the lake increased. We were sheltered from the wind, but we could tell the wind out on the lake was increasing because before too long the ice was singing. As the wind out on the lake increased, so did the pressure being put on the ice in the bay. Ice can only take so much pressure before it cracks, and when it cracks under such conditions it makes a sound that is almost indescribable. The closest sound I can compare it to is the sound made by high tension wires when they are being buffeted by strong winds. Quite simply, once you've heard it, its not a sound that you will soon forget! Here are a couple of video clips that captured the sounds of the ice... be sure to turn your speakers up to their full volume to get the full effect of these awesome sounds!

http://travisnovitsky.smugmug.com/Video-Clips/Misc-Videos/4207197_KrddQ/1/803688816_hDBAt/Medium

http://travisnovitsky.smugmug.com/Video-Clips/Misc-Videos/4207197_KrddQ/1/803662676_494cK/Medium

Gourds

My gourd crop is small this year but they look to be nice ones. Have about six at this time.

From Strange to Familiar

For the first time in a long time, I've been riding for transportation along routes that started out as uncharted territories. As it often goes, at first these routes seemed hostile, strange. Unfamiliar towns. Different patterns of motorist behaviour than what I'd gotten used to. But over time, the trips grew familiar, peaceful, and therefore unremarkable. This reminded me why I write so much less frequently now about transportation cycling than I used to: because nothing "happens." Whether my commute is 2 miles or 22 miles, nothing about the process is really novel anymore. With roadcycling, there is still the rush of going a longer distance, discovering a new route, learning a new skill, riding with a new group or partner. But with commuting, things have become automated.




Most of all, I tend to forget the spectacleI make of myselfwhen I - a woman in a long belted overcoat, knee high boots and a beret - ride a weird bike through areas where such sights aren't as normal as they are in Boston Metro. Drivers roll down their windows in freezing temperatures just to get a better look at me. No one has honked or gotten angry with me yet for being on the road; I think they are too stunned to.




The other day I was just riding along, heading homeward, when I sensed a car hovering behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw it was a white minivan. The sun was in my eyes and I could not make out the driver. I got a little nervous and moved over to the right encouraging them to pass me, but they kept hovering. Finally, the van did pass, only to pull over to the side of the road in front of me. A woman jumped out and started waving her arms wildly, beckoning me to stop. Out of the windows I could now see several children's heads peeking out. So I braked and put a foot down tentatively, hoping this was not some trap to kidnap me and harvest my organs. And the woman shouted "Oh my God, I just wanted to tell you I love your bike and your outfit!" She asked some questions about the bike and where I was going, and was stunned by my answers. What about a bike that could fit her kids? (Just two kids, the others in the van were the neighbours'.) Yes, there are those kinds of bikes as well, I told her, and described the different options. She was so excited, it was really quite marvelous. A little extreme to pull the minivan over to talk to me, sure, but I'll take it over driver hostility any day. What started out as being strange to her became familiar. These are good encounters.

Autumn Rainbow

Near Greenwood Lake - Cook County, MN. The other day I was driving the back roads from the Gunflint Trail back to Grand Portage. Along the way there were a few rain showers and at one point the sun came out and I saw this beautiful, full rainbow. Luckily I was in a place where the trees weren't as tall so I was able to get a good view of it!

Happy New Years Day ice climbing...

Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone survived the welcoming of . My New Years was much like the rest. Laura and I stayed home, didn't do much. We stuffed ourselves with some Kielbasa, Hot Dogs (veggie dogs), Sauerkraut, and some New Years Pretzel Bread that Laura baked up (see photo) which was bomb diggity! We rung in the New Year and made our way off to bed to rest up for my annual New Year's Revolution ice climbing! The temperatures weren't very favorable the previous days up to New Years Eve, but we still kept our spirits up as the weather forcast was for below freezing temps by morning with it going down as the day went on. Well it did just that. There was also a small amount of snow on the ground. A welcome sight from the dreary day before. We loaded up the gear and made our way to Secret Cliffs II. As we neared the cliffs, the snow deepened and winter seemed to be back in action. We hiked down to the climbs, only to find that the ice was still EXTREMELY wet and not very well bonded in most places. We seriously debated for a while whether or not Called on Account of Security would go. I'm sure it would've, but the delaminated ice at the top looked way too unsettled to rappel down from and we opted to let it go and continue to build for the upcoming cold week. After leaving Secret Cliffs we opted to continue our quest. We decided that to surely get in some climbing we should go to Lower Meadow Run to get on the mixed lines. We found that the ice there was in reasonable condition. I'd been itching to get back on Caveman and try to get the redpoint. I tooled my way up to the crux (3rd. bolt) and made it to the ice. I couldn't pull up around the corner and came off. The ice was poorly bonded and was washing out as I was climbing. I pulled back on and clipped the 4th bolt. The section above the fouth to the Rhody was very unstable as was the mucky topout. Given a little more attached ice and I think I would've got it. I can't wait to get back on it again. Laura gave it a quick go. Despite having a severe reach disadvantage she gave it her best. Captain Caveman proved to be more suited to those with long limbs. We roped up Anger Managment and took some turns on it. We did much more climbing than initially thought. It wasn't the best New Years Revolution conditions, but we climbed what we could and had a great time doing so! -As always climbing is a great way to bring in the New Year. Welcome !

Majestic Mountain

Mt. Rainier rises from the surrounding alpine meadows to an elevation of over 14,000 feet.

Access, Openings, and the U.S. Army

Opportunity knocks with the park virtually closed. Over the past three weeks, I attended an emergency medical course with the U.S. Army at Ft. Lewis. Beyond the obvious benefit of training, it was a privilege to spend time with our soldiers. The training also explains why there have been few updates to the blog...

I continue to get questions about the best way to access the mountain (i.e. Paradise). For all practical purposes, getting to Paradise is almost impossible. Why? Because there is NO public access allowed along the road corridor above Longmire. That means if you have a trip to Paradise planned for later this winter or early spring, scale back your access expectations and consider other locations.

Access to White River isn't that bad, if you have a snow machine. One party rode into the campground, parked, and then snowshoed up to the Inter Glacier. To the right, a snowboarder breaks trail through Glacier Basin (image by Don Boutry). Perhaps some climbers will follow suit? And while we're discussing access to White River and Sunrise... the current thought is that the projected road openings will go as planned next spring. This is welcome news considering the delayed openings on HWY 123; it was totally severed and may not be fully repaired and re-opened until next fall!

Last week, NPS rangers discovered more facility damage to a few of the fire lookouts. Here is Fremont Lookout from the air. Note that the roof is missing. Similar damage was found at Gobblers Knob (the roof blew off and a wall collasped) but Tolmie and Shriner (the other lookouts in the park) survived OK.

The current talk points to an April 1st road re-opening to Longmire. That would make access to the Westside Road easier and more reliable. As for Paradise, they are cautiously predicting May 1st...

As for repairs, they just paved the road at Sunshine Point. Meanwhile, the road crew is installing more culverts at Kautz Creek. Another engineering obstacle remains at milepost 5, where the uphill lane is slumping towards the river. It may not look like much in this photo, but the embankment below is severely eroded by the Nisqually River.

You may have noticed that I am now managing the photos on Flickr and have finally started posting images in the flood folder. But using blogger for this purpose isn't that easy, so we'll see how much I can do with it...

Cute Donkey

This is one of the most unusual of the equines in my model horse collection.