A Few from the Wilderness - Autumn Theme

[Ralph Thornton]

We might tend to think of autumn views as having a lot of color, especially reds and yellows. Sometimes autumn brings something else.

Purple Asters along a burned Log

These asters bloom in the mountains well into autumn. It's not unusual to see them in bloom after the first snowfall of the winter season.

In the Heart of the Wilderness

This view looks across the North Fork of the Sun River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The interesting cloud formation is called a Chinook Arch. Its a common feature along the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana and predicts a period of very high winds.

Grizzly Bear Tracks

In autumn, bears are on the move. They are preparing for their winter sleep by eating just about anything edible they can find. It's OK to see tracks but I'm usually not too fond of seeing the bears up close.

 

[Brian Moore]

Great shots, Ralph. I think if I saw the bear footprint I'd be ready to skedaddle! (I'm no Kit Carson but that print looks fresh to me.)

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Print was fresh but the bear was going toward where we had come from. So we weren't too worried in this case. On another trip we were walking on a fairly middy trail and saw no beer tracks. Then coming around a corner there were tracks coming toward us that we're very fresh. But they turned off the trail at that corner. I think the bear got wind of us and skedaddled!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Holy cr@p - talk about going to great lengths to get the shot!

That cloud formation is interesting stuff - not heard of that one before

So I'm guessing you saw some areas of burn in your travels, based on #1 and #2?

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Yes Chris, fire is a regular part of the ecology of our forests just like it is out your way. The burned log in the shot with the purple asters was the result of a fire in 2007. In fact I doubt the asters came in until after the fire since they prefer open sunny areas in which to grow.

The second photo was taken in an area burned in 1988. That was an extremely dry year in our area. It's the same year of the huge Yellowstone Park fires.

Some times the fires create a dismall landscape but more often the end result is good. You might have to wait a hundred years or so but eventually the landscape recovers. The part of fires I really do not like is when they are actually burning. The smoke and ash from a fire a hundred or more miles away can be awful.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Regarding the Chinook Arch, we have a big one hanging over the mountain front this afternoon. The sun is shining on the snow in the mountains and the sky is blue there but overhead the big gray cloud of the arch is producing a dreary scene on the prairies near my home. The weather guys have issued a high wind warning for tonight and Saturday. Winds are forecast to reach 75 mph at times. That may seem high but it's not all that uncommon specially in fall, winter and spring. Last winter we had a Chinook that blew up to 140 mph in places. It peeled the roofs off of mobile homes like opening a can of sardines.

A Chinook wind in winter can be a good thing though. The term Chinook means snow eater and the warm Chinook winds of winter will really melt the snow fast.

I'll get the camera out and try to grab a shot or two of what the sky looks like right now. It might also be spectacular at sunset if the sun can get under the arch and light it up!