Ghost Train

We are getting on towards Halloween and I might just put up a few of my weirder photos. This is not a double exposure. I took this just as the ghost train passed the street I was looking down. You might have to click on the photo to see the street.

A Magnificent Glacier

When my wife and I took a cruise to Alaska, I was wondering if we would really get to see the places shown in the travel brochures and videos. It turned out much better than expected. But the interesting thing was, there were over 2000 people on this huge cruise ship and only a very small handful even took the time to look out the windows or walk outside to see this magnificent glacier. A very puzzling reaction to spending all that money and time.

Rivers of Ice

Some of these Alaskan glaciers are fed by huge snowfields nestled in the tops of the mountains. Some of the ones in this photo are separate from the huge mass of snow behind the mountain ridges. Here is a satellite view of the area near where this photo was taken, you can see the huge ice fields and the smaller glaciers on the mountain tops. The area is much more impressive from sea level than from thousands of feet up.

From Google Maps View of Whittier, Alaska

Blue Glacier Ice

Glacier ice is definitely blue. You can stand right next to it and see that it is blue. It is not a reflection of the sky. The reason is that glacier ice is so dense, that it absorbs all of the colors of the light except blue. Sometimes the ice can appear almost green, but usually, as you can see in the above photo, the ice is a brilliant blue color. You may need to click on the image to see the bands of ice visible under the snow cover.

Mountain Fastness

I was wondering if anyone just went around and climbed to the top of all these peaks and mountains? They are probably not high enough to attract dedicated mountain climbers and who else would take the time and effort to climb to the top of an unnamed peak. Then again, maybe they aren't unnamed and someone has climbed every one of them just to do it. Interesting thought.

The Remnants of Erosion

We see the effects of erosion in the iconic photos of the arches and the grand vistas of the Colorado Plateau, but we seldom focus on the more intimate side of erosion. These formations are not more than six feet high and probably would be ignored by any flashy state or local advertising campaign. However, these rocks symbolize all of the reasons I am attracted to the high desert. They are iconic in their own way. They illustrate the capricious nature of the erosional process and the fantastic and unbelievable forms created by wind, water and ice. What is also evident is the efficiency of the process in cleaning up the debris left by erosion.

A Tropical Rainforest

I like contrasts. The last photo I posted was of the effects of an August snowstorm. Today, I am back to Oahu, Hawaii and the tropics. The overall effect of seeing a tropical jungle or rainforest is the color green. It takes a while to differentiate the separate colors that really co-exist in the trees. Not all the colors are green. Here, the mountains are covered with clouds. The central range of mountains on Oahu capture a great deal of rain, rendering the west coast of the Island rather drier than the east coast.