We spent about a week doing storm photography across the central and High Plains in mid May. Below are summaries with photographs.
May 15, 2017
A strong southwesterly flow aloft continues across the midsections of the country so that adequate wind shear is present across large areas. The best shear, however, is across the northern High Plains and upper midwest, with less shear across the central Plains. A dryline is present across western Kansas and southward with adequate moisture to the east and a plume of moisture has moved northwestward into western Nebraska, western South Dakota, and northeastern Wyoming.
After looking at too much model data, we decided to head to eastern Wyoming with hopes of storms developing over the Laramie Range and then moving to the northeast. Finding ourselves in Lusk, Wyoming, in mid afternoon, it became clear that the northern storms were too far away to reach. A storm we had passed earlier near Chugwater continued to develop so we backtracked south from Lusk to Lingle, then southeastward. We ended up in endless light rain and some small hail until we reached Mitchell, Nebraska. I took a few photos here of a weakly rotating updraft then headed east and north to watch the storm.
It wasn’t very impressive. We headed back to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for a hotel and dinner. As we left the hotel, new storms to the west were producing continuous in-cloud lightning and occasional cloud-to-ground lightning. We went north of town and spent about 15 minutes photographing the storm and lightning.
Two-image panorama of a weakly rotating storm updraft.Laminar bands preceed the main storm while continuous in-cloud lightning lights up the storm.
We left the storms and headed back into town for dinner. While eating, we got to enjoy the storm as it moved across town with heavy rain, small hail, and gusty winds.
My first visit to Death Valley National Park was in January 2014. At that time, I noted that “…I would like to return–soon–and visit many of the other wonderful locations in Death Valley National Park…” Well, it turned out “soon” was more than three years later but we finally made a return visit.
With the significant amount of rain that has occurred across the American Southwest this winter I was hopeful that there would be another wildflower “super bloom” comparable to that which occurred in 2016. But either we were too early or it just doesn’t happen two years in a row. So we were disappointed with the scarcity of wildflowers.
Dante’s View of Panamint Range and Badwater Basin.
Still, it’s hard to be disappointed for long when visiting Death Valley National Park. So much to see—and usually not enough time to see it all. On this trip we visited a few of the sites that we saw in 2014 but we also visited places we had not been to before.
Our first stop as we entered the Park was Dante’s View. The view from this high point is expansive and includes the Panamint Range and the Badwater Basin regions—where the lowest elevation in the United States occurs (–282 feet; –86 m).
Our next destination was supposed to be Badwater Basin but we got sidetracked along the way and ended up at Desolation Canyon. We hiked here then continued on our way to Badwater Basin, arriving—barely—in time for sunset.
Textured landforms of Zabriskie Point.The Narrows of Desolation Canyon.Desolation Canyon.
Because of the rains this winter Badwater Basin was wet and the famous polygonal shapes in the crust were not present. Instead, it was more like a giant basin of slushy salt. As the sun was setting, the wave clouds over the Panamint Range took on a variety of colors that made for interesting photographs.
Badwater Basin at sunset.
The following morning we made a trip to Mesquite Sand Dunes for sunrise. The rising sun and shapes of the dunes can make for amazing photographs—especially if you can find a place without footprints. The longer it has been since the last windy period the harder it is to find pristine sand. In some locations the polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor and makes for an interesting contrast with the dunes. Regardless of the conditions it’s hard to go wrong in this location.
Mesquite Sand Dunes.Sand dunes and polygon-cracked clay deposits.Sunlight and shadow draped across the Mesquite Sand Dunes.
After a late breakfast we struck out for the west side of the park with a destination of Darwin Falls. It’s always amazing to see running water—and waterfalls—in a desert environment. We spent a long time in this lush and green environment.
Running water in Death Valley.Darwin Falls, Death Valley National Park.Standing water in Panamint Valley.
On the way back to Stovepipe Wells Village we found ourselves driving up Emigrant Canyon Road and out to the Eureka Mine and Aguereberry Point. The NPS guide says a high clearance vehicle is needed because of rock outcrops and a rocky section in the final 1/2 mile. I’m glad I didn’t read that in advance or I would never have bothered. It turns out the road is in great shape (March 2017) and any passenger vehicle can make the journey. I guess they must have done some recent road improvements. Lucky for us!
Eureka Mine, Death Valley National Park.Badwater Basin from Aguereberry Point.
The next morning we attempted the sunrise over the sand dunes again. We had learned from yesterdays visit where we might find dunes without footprints–or, at least, not many footprints. Indeed, some of the most interesting footprints we did find were from the nocturnal animals that wander the dunes at night.
Mesquite Sand Dunes illuminated by moonlight.Mesquite Sand Dunes at sunrise.Mesquite Sand Dunes at sunrise.Animal tracks on the sand dunes.
Later we traveled north towards Ubehebe Crater. Along the way, we crossed over Grapevine Canyon Wash which had a devastating flood in October 2015. As a result, the road up Grapevine Canyon as well as Scotty’s Castle remain closed until repairs can be made. The debris field that is still evident from the main road is very impressive. At the crater we were motivated to hike down into the crater itself. Even going down was tough because of the loose cinders. Going up? Yeah, that was work.
Ubehebe Crater panoramic composite.Wildflowers on the road to Beatty, Nevada.
As we left the park via the road to Beatty, Nevada, we saw our second wildflower of the trip. Yep, two wildflowers in four days. Not much of a season yet. Hopefully it will get better.
It was finally time to move to another area in the North Cascades and we decided that Mount Baker would provide some interesting hikes.
We departed the Cascades Pass Road and returned to Marblemount NPS Ranger Station to refill our water bottles. Unfortunately, their water system had problems and was not safe to drink. It’s interesting that all the campsites and campgrounds we visited either had no water or had water problems. Luckily, we carried a 5-gallon jug of water and still had enough for a few more days.
We stopped at the USFS Ranger station on our way to Mount Baker to get water–and it was closed for scheduled maintenance. But there was water available outside so we finally had a chance to refill.
We thought that we were almost there and that it would only be a short trip from the Columbia River Gorge to the Northern Cascade mountains. Wrong, again. There’s a lot of terrain to cover between these two locations. So we drove east on I-84 until we could cross the river on Highway 97 then north to Yakima, Washington. We stopped to load up on current maps (our highway maps of this area are old!). The good folks at the Visitor Center recommended a visit to Leavenworth–a Bavarian-style city. So we did. It was…um….interesting.
And, still, we had a long ways to drive.
We stopped in Winthrop—which had a nice grocery store—to stock up on food supplies for the next several days. Heading west we encountered several campgrounds—all full to capacity. It’s the beginning of the weekend so we weren’t too surprised. We finally drove down a Forest Service road to a trail head and decided this would be our camping spot for the night.
We’re finally in the Cascades. Dang—that took a long time to get here!
Sunrise on Liberty Bell Mountain.Sibley Creek on Cascade Pass Road.
This summer we travelled through several western states over a period of about three weeks. Major attractions included watching the Perseid meteor shower in the Nevada desert, backpacking in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains of California, viewing the waterfalls on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge, and hiking in the northern Cascades of Washington. The weather was good with light rain on two days and heavy rain once—and that was on the drive home.
Here are some photos from Nevada and the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.
Car camping near Boundary Peak in the Nevada desert. This was the peak night of the Perseid meteor shower and the dark skies resulted in a great show.
