Tent Caterpillars

Tent caterpillars are moderately sized caterpillars, or moth larvae, belonging to the genus Malacosoma in the family Lasiocampidae. Twenty-six species have been described, six of which occur in North America and the rest in Eurasia. Wikipedia: Tent caterpillar. I have been fascinated with these web nests since childhood. This particular web is in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. I found this nest and others in the surrounding area had already been abandoned because it is late in the season.

A Visit to the Devil's Kitchen

Earlier this year, I was able to drive part of the way around the Nebo Loop Road and make a visit to the Devil's Kitchen overlook. This area of red eroded rocks looks similar to Bryce Canyon National Park on a very small scale. In fact, this photo shows almost the entire area. The overlook is about 100 yards from the highway on a paved path. It was a nice cool day in the mountains with some lovely clouds.

The Mount Nebo Ridge

Mount Nebo is really a long ridge running roughly north and south along the Wasatch Front. The two summits are really almost indistinguishable from the remaining portions of the ridge.This photo was taken from around the 9000-foot level so the elevation difference between where I am standing and the top of the mountain is not that great. Unfortunately, to climb the mountain you have to go down a few thousand feet before you can start up the trail. The trail is roughly half the length of the trail up Mount Timpanogos. On Mount Nebo, the elevation gain is about 4160 feet and the trail is about 9 miles. The Mount Timpanogos Trails are about 15 to 17 miles and have an elevation gain of 4668 feet. Notwithstanding the shorter distance, the Mount Nebo trail is considered more strenuous.

Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo is both the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah. The mountain has two summits. The North Summit is 11,933 feet in the southern Summit is 11,882 feet. This technically makes the mountain both the highest and the second highest mountain in the Wasatch Range. The mountain is not nearly as accessible as the more popular Mount Timpanogos located adjacent to Utah Valley.

Utah Valley from the Nebo Loop

From this perspective, Utah Valley appears to be mostly agricultural. You get a different perspective when driving on the freeway. The entire population of the Valley is crowded up against the bottoms of the Wasatch Mountains. The haze makes the lake look small and far away, however it dominates the valley.

A Capitol Window

While we were traveling through Montana and other states this summer, the air was constantly filled with smoke. In this image, you can see the smoke like a white curtain in the distance through the window. The smoke came from dozens of huge fires burning around the area where we were traveling and as far away as Canada. The temperatures during our trip were in the low to mid-90s and we even had particles of ash falling on us while outside camping. Back to the photo, I do like the design here.

Woodworker's Paradise

Most woodworking today is done with power tools. But I am fascinated with the old hand tools. It takes a trained eye to name all of the tools in this photo. I know the use of most of them. In some other alternative world, I might have been a woodworker. Now, all the work I do is on computers, although I do have a fair collection of hand tools and a few powered ones also.

Post-eclipse Moon

The moon must be in its "new moon" stage when there is a total eclipse. The mechanics of this are explained on this website: Moonblink.info, "The Science : Mechanics of Solar Eclipses. This is two days after the total eclipse and the moon is just beginning to wax. If this were the opposite view, it would be called the new moon in the old moon's arms. But this is the old moon in the new moon's arms.

Cowboy Wallpaper

One of the jarring experiences of walking around in a ghost town is finding connections with your own past. We were exploring Bannock, Montana when we ran across this cowboy wallpaper. I immediately remembered the same design from my own room when I was very young and living in a small town in eastern Arizona. It is quite disturbing to be confronted with actual physical evidence that you are really old.

Grand Staircase Montana State Capitol

The pastel coloring of the interior of the Montana State Capitol building was fascinating. Stained-glass windows were also impressive. Overall, the building was certainly worth the visit.

Eclipse

One of the rarely discussed the effects of a solar eclipse goes the way that it affects shadows. This is the shadow of the tree on the street and each of the little sunspots shows the progress of the eclipse. Essentially you can watch the eclipse by looking at a shadow.

Montana State Capitol Dome

We were recently impressed with the ornately impressive state capitol building in Helena, Montana. This is especially true because of our long residence in Arizona. The Arizona State Capitol is less than impressive in fact, it is downright dowdy. It is hardly a tourist attraction. Around the United States, state capitol buildings vary from impressive to insignificant. At one time, Arizona had the opportunity to have an impressive state capital. Back in 1957, Frank Lloyd Wright made a design proposal for a dramatically different state capital building for Arizona. Unfortunately, the design was rejected out of hand.

The Montana State Capitol building was built out of time when the mining industry was booming. Unfortunately, Arizona never had the same motivation.

Mine Headframe

Many of the relics of the past in the western part of the United States are associated with mining activities. One of the prominent reminders of our mining heritage are the numerous old mine headframes scattered around the countryside. This particular one is extremely complex and well preserved. This particular headframe is in Butte, Montana.

Clouds at Sunset

Clouds are one of the dramatic backdrops to living close to the mountains. We often see beautiful sunsets, but the sunset in the west is just a part of the drama that takes place elsewhere in the sky.

Weathered

I know, I had two weathered wood photos in sequence. But sometimes that is what happens when you are walking around taking photos. You see some similar things. In this case, I had to walk up and touch this wood just assure myself that it was real. It looks like it has been sand blasted and maybe it has.

An Old Screen Door

I love the texture of old wood. In our modern world, we would be compelled to paint and preserve such beauty. Paint is nice. But there is something about wood that connects in a way that paint cannot. I hired one of my grandsons to paint the fence around our patio. I liked the wood, but snow and rain were destroying the wood and so I wanted to preserve it. Preservation has its place, but so does old wood.

Anasazi Beans

We love Anasazi Beans. This bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) variety is supposed to originate with ancient Native Americans in the Southwest. But a search around on the internet was inconclusive. They are similar to the pinto bean, the most popular bean in the United States. When you do an online search for beans, you mostly get recipes.

A Decorative Door Hinge

Sometimes what is of great interest is in the small details of the things around us. In walking through the Bannock, Montana ghost town, I spotted this decorative door hinge. This is certainly not something that you could buy in your local hardware store today. There are distinct advantages to mass production but there are also great losses in craftsmanship and in the details of our lives.

What I Saw

I have seen a lot of things, but now I have seen what I saw. I am certain that this is the first collection of antique saws that I have seen. I saw this collection in one of the abandoned buildings in the Bannock, Montana ghost town.

An Odd Collection

Bannock, Montana is a ghost town. It is one of the best preserved and most diverse such attractions that I have seen and I have seen a lot of ghost towns. It is maintained as a Montana State Park. Quoting from their website:

Bannack was founded in 1862 when John White discovered gold on Grasshopper Creek. As news of the gold strike spread many prospectors and businessmen rushed to Bannack hoping to strike it rich. In 1864, Bannack was named as the first Territorial Capital of Montana. Remaining in Bannack for only a short time, the Capital moved on to Virginia City.

In 1863 gold had been discovered near Virginia City and at that time many prospectors left Bannack in hopes of finding the mother lode in Virginia City. However, some people stayed in Bannack and explored the use of further mining techniques.

From the late 1860's to the 1930's, Bannack continued as a mining town with a fluctuating population. By the 1950's gold workings had dwindled and most folks had moved on. At that point the State of Montana declared Bannack a State Park.

Today, over sixty structures remain standing, most of which can be explored. People from all over visit this renowned ghost town to discover their heritage.

The Montana State Parks governs the townsite and surrounding area of Bannack.

An Old Log Wagon

A visit to the ghost town of Bannock, Montana resulted in some very interesting exploring. This old log wagon was just one of several items we found in walking around for a few hours in the warm sunshine.

Sagebrush

Artimesia or sagebrush is really a long list of individual species, many of which have a similar appearance. In many places in the Western United States, sagebrush is the dominant plant species and some writers have referred to the area as a "sagebrush sea." The most common of these species is probably Artemisia tridentata or the Great Basin sagebrush shown in the image above. Here is a description of the plant from the article Wikipedia: Artemisia tridentata.

Artemisia tridentata, commonly called big sagebrush, Great Basin sagebrush or sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub from the family Asteraceae, which grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, throughout a range of cold desert, steppe, and mountain habitats in the Intermountain West of North America. The vernacular name "sagebrush" is also used for several related members of the genus Artemisia, such as California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica). 

Big Sagebrush and other Artemisia shrubs are the dominant plant species across large portions of the Great Basin. The range extends northward through British Columbia's southern interior, south into Baja California, and east into the western Great Plains of New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.

A Path in the Grass

Some places have a quality all their own. I found this field of late summer grass along the Snake River in Idaho. The sun was almost setting and glow of the grass was intense. A path had been cleared through the high grass and the area was surrounded by Russian Olives. In contrast to grass, the trees that are usually silver gray were almost black. It was one of those magical moments of light.

A Snake in the Grass

While walking along the appropriately named Snake River in Idaho, I spotted this snake in my path. At first, I was uncertain as to whether or not to be concerned but soon recognized that this was a Pituophis catenifer or gopher snake. It does bear a resemblance to the Prairie Rattlesnake, so my caution was warranted.

Sunrise over the Three Islands State Park, Idaho

The air was thick with smoke and the effect on the light and the camera was dramatic. Just as the sun rose, the sky turned a light rose color and the sun had an aurora of color around it. The photos convey on a small amount of the strange light effects.

Wagon Tracks on the Oregon Trail

Once the emigrants made it to what is today the Oregon state line, they still had a significant amount of sagebrush and dry desert to cross. This stretch of the Oregon Trail outside of Baker, Oregon is typical of what the emigrants faced, day after day. When we visited this portion of the Trail, the temperature was almost 100 degrees and the air was filled with smoke from fires burning all over the Northwest and into Canada.

Idaho Mountain Lake, Farragut State Park

I always carry at least two cameras whenever I travel. This time, I hardly took any photos due to huge forest fires in both Montana and Idaho. The air was almost opaque in both states. This photo was taken early in the day but within a few hours the air was filled with smoke.

The New Addition to the Missionary Training Center, Provo, Uta

The Missionary Training Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Provo, Utah adjacent to the campus of the Brigham Young University. Quoting from the MTC's website:

The MTC’s campus has 19 buildings on a 39-acre site, with a capacity of housing and training 3,700 missionaries. Over 600,000 missionaries from nearly every country in the world have come to the MTC for training. The MTC trains missionaries for all of the Church’s missions and gives instruction in 55 languages.