Moonrise over Owl Creek Pass

This picture was taken from a campsite at Ridgway State Park in southwest Colorado during a road/hiking/camping trip through central and southern Colorado at the end of September/beginning of October 2020. At sunset, a near full moon rose above Owl Creek Pass, a northern extension of the San Juan Mountains. 

 

Not visible in this, just below the pass, is Mattie's Meadow, where a famous scene from the 1969 movie "True Grit" was filmed. We explored the beautiful autumn scenery and the meadow en-route to the pass the next morning.

St. Francis of Assisi on an Early July Evening -- July 2019, Center Township, Butler County, NE

This picture was taken looking west towards St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Center Township in Butler County, NE in early July, 2019. I was a bit depressed after a breakup and a friend leaving town who I spent part of the weekend with, so I decided to go for a short hike, get some prayer time, and do some photography north of Lincoln in the evening to get my mind off of things. 

The simple scenery of rolling hills in this region of Nebraska, when combined with the elegant architecture such as this church, was quite uplifting.

Smoky Canyonlands -- June 2018, Canyonlands National Park, UT

For this week's second picture, this was taken late in the afternoon in the Island in the Sky region of Canyonlands National Park in eastern Utah. Smoke was advected into eastern Utah in upper levels from a wildfire somewhere to the west, creating soft "golden hour" lighting for several hours on end, which was a visual treat. This picture was taken looking to the east towards the La Sal Mountains and Arches National Park.

 I've been to Canyonlands one time since this trip (the following summer), but have not spent more than part of an afternoon here. This is a park I would love to explore the backcountry of on foot someday.

August 6, 2018 Utica, NE Mothership

Continuing the two-post theme this week, and the theme of posting thunderstorm pictures during winter weather (it's currently snowing at a good clip this evening in Lincoln), the first picture is of a supercell updraft west of Utica, NE from August 6, 2018. On this evening, an isolated supercell tracked north of I-80 in central and eastern Nebraska before dissipating north of Lincoln. My friend Matt and I made a last minute decision to chase it, and were treated to breathtaking mothership structure. When we neared the storm before exiting I-80, the tail cloud extended well to the south of the interstate for a storm whose core, if I recall correctly, was at least 10 miles north of 80. While difficult to capture in good focus or even horizontal balance (I wasn't using a tripod and I was really excited at what I was seeing), and impossible from my vantage point to capture the entirety of the structure, this should give some idea of how high into the updraft the striations went. Along with May 21, 2011 near Ada, OK, this storm provided some of the most stunning supercell structure I've ever witnessed in person.