Old Men of the Mountain

Where the glaciers meet the high meadows; spring, summer, and fall pass in the blink of an eye. The plants and creatures that call this fleeting alpine paradise home must wake, feast, reproduce and prepare for the return of the long winter months all in the space of a brief handful of weeks. Among the most striking and lasting flowers to grace these remote and lonely places is Old Mans Beard, Old Man of the Mountain, Western Pasque Flower, Anemone occidentalis.

Snowshoeing in the Cascade Mountains

The alpine forest is a quiet refuge of winter splendor, great drifts of snow bury everything in quilts of downy powder. The mist draws in to cloak the valleys and peaks in frigid fog. Ravens part the clouds with their dark wings and mournful call, breaking the silence of the ice and cold. This frozen wilderness slumbers in anticipation of the spring.

Hidden Beauty in a Humble Creek Valley

Beauty can be found even in the dullest and least interesting locations - especially through the medium of aerial photography! From a litter-strewn pullout between ugly forest and even uglier clearcuts I flew high and away over this quiet Washington valley to photograph the patterns in the winter woods and fields on the shores of a gently winding creek.

 

Sunset over the Willamette Valley

The golden rays of sunset pierce the thick haze that hangs in the air over the pastoral quilt of the Willamette valley. The warm light paints the forest cloaked valleys of Silver Falls State Park, and in the distance the volcanic peaks of the Cascades - Hood, Jefferson, and the Three Sisters - soar high overhead, their icy summits illuminated by a pearly alpine glow.