Nov 15, 2020 | 7 Image Stories, Action, AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR, AF-S PC-E 24mm f/3.5D ED, Hiking Big Sky's Beehive Basin, Montana, Nikon 1 V1, Nikon D3x, Places
Hiking Big Sky’s Beehive Basin | a 7 Image Story Hiking the Beehive Basin trail in October makes for a beautiful day. It’s not too hot; not too cold. A little snow adds to the natural beauty of the land. No wonder Beehive Basin Trail has been ranked in the top ten greatest hikes in the world! As it winds through open meadows carpeted with wildflowers, it provides amazing views of the Big Sky Valley and Lone Peak.
The hike is considered moderate difficulty with a few steep climbs between flatter sections. The 6.3 mile trail starts at 7944 feet above sea level at the trailhead and climbs another 1300+ feet. Even though flat land visitors might notice the altitude a bit, a round trip hike should not take more than 5 hours, if you go all the way to the lake. It’s a beautiful day hike even if you don’t make it to the lake.
Looking Back As we started our hike, we looked back at our vehicle parked at the trailhead, Obviously, the terrain is rising already. We were the only vehicle in the rather small parking lot at around 2:30pm on a mid October afternoon. This trail is quite popular. Perhaps, October is a good month to miss the crowds. Up the Hill Up the hill we go. The incline is just over 200 feet per mile, but some places along the trail are steeper while others are almost flat. And remember climbing at elevations between 8,000 and 9,000 feet challenges some flatland folks. Foot Bridge No need to forge the river! This oe person wide footbridge keeps the feet dry while providing a nice vantage point.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Hiking Big Sky’s Beehive Basin.
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Oct 4, 2020 | 1 VR 10-30mm f/3.4-5.6 PD-Zoom, 1 VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6, 7 Image Stories, Action, AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED, Farming, Illinois Harvest, Nikon 1 V3, Nikon D3x
Illinois Harvest | a 7 Image Story Harvest time in northern Illinois is not your grandfather’s harvest experience. Farming in northern Illinois, like most other parts of the country, has become largely a corporate experience. The number of family farms continues to decline. Even the few remaining family farms outsource their harvest to larger operators. Corn and beans are “custom combined” by these operators using large, expensive machines.
Big Round Bales The round bales standout big against a mostly sunny sky. Custom Combining What an amazing sight! These combines cut a huge swath through the bean field. And, they rarely stop since they can offload to the wagon while continuing to cut beans. While watching this operation for a couple of hours, only one combine stopped only once and then for only a couple of minutes. Into the Semi Then, from the wagon the beans go right into the semi. The wagon can unload faster enough for one wagon to keep up with two combines. Pretty slick operation! Disked Under The farmer can almost immediately disk the field under before winter. Small Bean Field Why so many John Deere images? My dad was somewhat partial to John Deere equipment. My first tractor driving experience as a kid was on the John Deere H model. Corn Header Just change the cutter head and the combine will cut, husk, and shell corn. Big Illinois Sky After the harvest, fall paints northern Illinois fields in shades of gold accented by reds, yellows, and greens.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Illinois Harvest.
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Apr 19, 2020 | 7 Image Stories, Action, AF 80-400mm f4.5-5.6D ED VR, AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR, American Pelican, Barred Owl, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco, Mallard, Nature, Nikon 1 V3, Robins, Spring Walkabout Birds
Spring Walkabout Birds | a 7 Image Story Spring walkabout this year have been a bit different. More people are walking due to the virus driven stay-at-home orders. Folks are not only walking neighborhood streets but also the wooded and lakeside 
trails I tend to frequent.
Normally, it’s a busy day when I see one other person on my walkabout trails. This year I’ll see one other person on almost all my hikes, sometimes two. Now, one or two people in several miles certainly allows me to keep social distancing standards. Walking to and from the trails on local streets gets a little more crowded. People seem to be out walking their dogs much more often these days. Let’s now focus on some common spring birds found on my walkabouts.
Barred Owl The Barred Owl is sometimes known as a Hoot Owl due to its distinctive call. This owl was scouting for prey in a far off tree as I was crossing a foot bridge along my walkabout trail in a wooded forest preserve. Barred Owls are most active at night. Sometimes they’ll hunt in the daytime as well. This owl appears to like late afternoon. It really blends into its surroundings. In the spring before the leaves fully grow out, it’s possible to spot them when they are hunting. Binoculars can be very helpful to spot them against the tree branches. Without bins, finding a Barred Owl in a forest is nearly impossible; really just luck. Even with bins, it’s difficult. The only way I’ve been able to reliably spot them is to watch where they land.
Blue Jay Native to North America and northern Illinois, at least a few Blue Jays stay for the winter. They are here when winter turns into spring. They have beautiful plumage against the snow and green buds in early spring. They mainly feed on nuts and seeds so they show up at neighborhood bird feeders. They are very wary of people and fly at the first hint of sight or sound. Thus, it’s rare to capture an image on walkabout.
Dark-eyed Junco Juncos seem to stick around all winter and are here to welcome spring with us. Snow fell in the early morning of this early spring day and was almost gone as I began my walkabout. Small birds like this Dark-eyed Junco can be challenging to capture even with a long, fast lens. And, capturing a decent image while walking outside is difficult to impossible. You just can’t get close enough to them unless you are really careful and a bit lucky.
American Robin The little Robin red breast was my mom’s favorite bird with the possible exception of a Cardinal in the winter snow. She always loved it when the Robins first appeared at what seemed to be still winter because she knew spring was not far behind. Back then, they seemed to go south if the weather was too cold. Now, we see a few of them all winter long.
Mallard Of course, Mallards frequent several creeks along my walkabout trail. Mallards are the most familiar duck species in the world and are the ancestor of nearly all domestic duck breeds. The common duck’s quack is made by the female. Males make a quieter, rasping sound. The oldest known Mallard was a male over 27 years old.
American White Pelican Gear down, flaps down, clear to splash! It’s a good landing if you can float away. Although they are one the heaviest flying birds in the world, American White Pelicans are strong fliers who alternate flapping and soaring. Their large yet narrow wingspan makes soaring easier. Their bodies measure up to 5 feet in length, their bills can reach 14 inches, and their wing spans up to 9 feet. In the breeding season, they have a flattened “horn” on the upper bill. They shed the horn after mating. Males and females look exactly alike except the female is a bit smaller. And, they’re such clowns when flocked together on the water.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Spring Walkabout Birds.
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Aug 25, 2019 | 7 Image Stories, Action, AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED, Automobiles, IMHO, Nikon D200, Spinning Wheels
Spinning Wheels | a 7 Image Story Photographing racing cars in a race! How hard can it be? Set the shutter speed real high on a sunny race day and bang away. But wait, the wheels are frozen in time and the background is in focus. Looks like the car is standing still. Time to practice those panning skills. It’s one of those skills that degrade unless you practice often.
On this day I attended a meeting across the street from the race track. After the meeting I decided to practice my panning skills and try to capture a few decent images. Notice these images have a shutter speeds varying from 1/40 to 1/80 second and the backgrounds are all blurred due to panning. It took a while but finally I was able to make my panning smooth enough to keep most the car in focus while allowing the wheels to blur. These same panning skills come in handy when photographing airplanes as well.
The Ferrari 360 Type F131 is a two-seat, mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports car manufactured by Ferrari 1999 to 2005. The black wheels and tires seem to hide the spinning wheel blur a bit. The Lotus Exige is an agile lightweight two-seat British sports car. It performs nicely on both the road and track. Again, it’s hard to see the blur in those black wheels and tires. The Porsche 911, pronounced nine eleven, is a rear engine, air-cooled German sports car. It’s famous and distinctive design was manufactured from 1963 through1989. The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a lightweight two-seat, front mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car made by Mazda. Launched in 1999, the Porsche 911 GT3 is a high performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It’s has been a successful racer. Over 14,000 cars have been made in several variations designed for road and track. The BMW M5 is a high performance sports sedan from the BMW 5 Series.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Spinning Wheels.
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Aug 18, 2019 | 7 Image Stories, Action, AF 80-400mm f4.5-5.6D ED VR, AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR II, AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR, AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED, Bike Illinois, Illinois, IMHO, Nikon D200, Nikon D300, Nikon D3x
Bike Illinois | a 7 Image Story Illinois has many picturesque biking trails; long and short. These cyclists are riding a charity event in the relatively flat land of northern Illinois. Biking can be a family affair for younger and older cyclists alike. And while biking, you can add extemporaneous fun activities.
You can sing loudly while riding passed pedestrians to watch their surprise. You can cut cross country across a cornfield (with permission of course) or follow a power line. Fill a small cooler with cheese, cured meats, and drinks then stop half way for a picnic. Stop to read those roadside historical markers you passed in the car. Don’t forget a nice sunrise or sunset ride.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Bike Illinois.
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Jun 30, 2019 | 7 Image Stories, Action, AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR, Michigan, Nature, Nikon 1 V3, Places, Pleasant Lake Kayaking
Pleasant Lake Kayaking | a 7 Image Story Paddling along Pleasant Lake’s shoreline generally turns up watercolor and wildlife. The Water Iris line the northwest shoreline. Naturally, the Swallowtail Butterfly visits them regularly. These magnificent large butterflies feed on flowers. They keep their balance when feeding nectar by beating their wings. Although Canada Geese make a nuisance of themselves to people living on the lake, they too contribute to our wild heritage. The flowers of water lilies are just beginning to pop up. They provide additional color while paddling around them.
The north side of the lake contains a large number of beaver dams woven together making a wildlife wetland. Most kayak trips along this shoreline encounter some type of wildlife. On this trip, the Eastern Kingbirds were nesting on a branch just a few feet above the water. A long telephoto lens is definitely required. If you get too close to the nest, the male Eastern Kingbird starts screeching and dive bombing you. As you can see, the male is perched about 5 feet off the water. The female and her nest are below him, about 2 feet off the water. When photographing them, I tried not to disturb them by using a 300mm telephoto lenses to stay far enough away. Remember, the 300mm lens on a Nikon 1 V3 with a 2.7 crop factor yields 810mm. Looking forward to my next kayaking trip. For another Pleasant Lake kayaking story, see Kayaking on Pleasant Lake | a 7 Image Story.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Pleasant Lake Kayaking.
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Jun 16, 2019 | 7 Image Stories, Action, Hawaii, Kodachrome, Minolta 50mm f1.7, Minolta XG-9, Minolta XG-9 to Maui, Nature, Nikon Coolscan V, Vivitar 75-300mm f4.5-5.6
Minolta XG-9 to Maui | a 7 Image Story My first trip to Maui was also my first trip with my new Minolta XG-9 SLR camera. The XG-9 replaced my SRT-102 as my top camera. The SRT-102 was a great camera and a hard act to follow. The XG-9 was smaller and a bit easier to use. It performed quite well in Maui, even though it was new to its photographer.
Maui is known for it’s rainbows. It seems like there’s a rainbow everyday. Rain clouds frequent the tops of the west Maui mountains. Sometimes, the rain in the mountains will blow onto the beach while the beach remains sunny. You can sunbath in rain drops and get a sunburn. One night, when driving back from dinner after dark, a rainbow made by a full moon and mountain clouds could be seen for miles. It wasn’t very colorful, but was clearly a rainbow.
Maui is such a beautiful island, it’s hard to think about crops. The sugar cane fields dominate the southern slopes of west Maui. Notice the almost ever present clouds on the mountain tops. The West Maui Mountains are also called West Maui Volcano or Mauna Kahalawai. Mauna Kahalawai means “holding house of water” which relates to the huge amount of annual rainfall in the mountain tops. The mountains are made from a highly eroded extinct shield volcano; approximately 1.7 million years old.
Haleakala is the world’s largest dormant volcano. At 10,023 feet tall on the east side of Maui, it provides numerous breathtaking landscapes and skyscapes. Haleakala means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian. Sunrise on Haleakala may be the most spectacular sunrise on earth. Near the summit, the Haleakala Crater offers hours of hiking in a colorful, sculpted cinder desert. There are many hiking trails offering solitude with scenic vistas through sub-alpine shrub land, cloud forest, and cinder desert.
For more information on the Minolta XG-9 camera, please see Minolta XG-9 Camera.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Minolta XG-9 to Maui.
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Jun 9, 2019 | 7 Image Stories, Action, Aviation, Flying to Alaska, Kodachrome, Minolta XG-9, Nikon Coolscan V, Nikon Zoom Touch 500, Places, Vivitar 75-300mm f4.5-5.6
Flying to Alaska | a 7 Image Story Why fly to Alaska from the lower 48. Why not? After 10 years service, my company offered a sabbatical; an extra 8 weeks vacation taken at one time. Time to recharge the batteries. What better way to recharge than to fly; perhaps, a flying adventure. My criteria was simple; fly somewhere unusual, see something new, and make the trip a bit difficult, at least, for a flat land flyer like me. To be clear, it’s all about the flying; flying first, sightseeing second. So, I chose Alaska; America’s last frontier. My flying to Alaska summer adventure occurred during the last part of the film era. In the future, it’s my intention is to write a daily Alaska Flying Log with much more detail for the pilot.
Planning for this Alaska trip began almost a year before the trip. It started by reading The Don Sheldon Story “Wager with the Wind” by James Greiner which gave me a better feel for the challenges of flying in Alaska. Then, it continued by reading the Alaska Airmen’s Association Logbook by Don Bowers cover to cover while underlining important parts. Planning a first trip to Alaska without the AAA Logbook would be much more difficult. The MilePost and the AOPA Airport Directory become very handy when a change in plan becomes necessary. Of course, the US and Canadian VFR charts are necessary as well as the Airport Facility Directory along with the Canada Flight Supplement and the Alaska Supplement. Much has changed since my Alaska trip. If the trip were being planned today, more sources of information would likely be required, probably available online, and downloadable to an iPad.
Preparation Flying to, from, and In Alaska is not for the faint of heart, flat land pilot. The trip absolutely requires extensive planning and preparation. Extra time is needed when flying VFR over the roads. Weather can change quickly. Good stick and rudder skills are required; especially cross wind landings. Mountain flying skills are a plus. Before leaving, I flew several training flights to hone my cross wind skills.
Airplane & Equipment For this trip, I flew a Piper Cherokee 235 with a fixed pitch propeller. It cruises at 133 knots and burns about 12 gallons per hour. The panel included King radios, an Apollo Loran, and a simple 2 axis autopilot. Nope, no GPS; the trip occurred before GPS became common. The plane and the pilot were IFR certified and current, but my intention was to fly the entire trip VFR. I Followed Roads once into Canada; specifically the Alaska Highway to Alaska then state highways and roads once in Alaska. To fly through the north country, emergency gear is required including a large emergency backpack, basic camping gear, and a rifle, required by Alaska, at the time. When clearing US customs in Alaska, they actually checked for survival equipment and a firearm. The airplane required a little extra preparation. Obviously, all the maintenance was up to date. Although not used, I also carried tire tubes and a couple of air cans for the tires as well as extra tools and oil.
My camera gear included three cameras; Minolta XG-9 SLR, Nikon Zoom Touch 500 35mm point & shoot, and Minolta IX-Date VE TIS2000 compact point & shoot. The Minolta XG-9 SLR had a flash and several lenses: Minolta 50mm f1.7, Minolta 135mm f2.8 , and Vivitar75-300mm f4.5-5.6 zoom. And, of course, tons of film!
Route of Flight My planned route of flight was basically to fly the Alaska Highway VFR through Canada to Alaska, then after reaching Alaska, to fly the highways VFR. Thus, numerous flight plans were required for different routes in order to fly where the weather was good. The trip required extensive research and planning since I made no reservations of any kind until after landing for the last time of the day. This trip worked for me, but will not likely work for others. Everyone should do their own research, planning, and preparation to meet the challenges of flying to Alaska. My final flight path:
| To | Aurora IL ➞ Sioux Falls SD ➞ Williston ND ➞ Havre MT ➞ Lethbridge ALTA ➞ Whitecourt ALTA ➞ Fort St. John BC ➞ Fort Nelson BC ➞ Watson Lake YT ➞ Whitehorse YT ➞ Northway AK |
| In | Northway AK ➞ Tok AK ➞ Gulkana AK ➞ Merrill Airport in Anchorage AK ➞ Mt. McKinley AK ➞ Fairbanks AK ➞ Coldfoot AK ➞ Anaktuvuk Pass AK ➞ Fairbanks AK |
| From | Fairbanks AK ➞ Northway AK ➞ Whitehorse YT ➞ Fort Nelson BC ➞ Fort St. John BC ➞ Lethbridge ALTA ➞ Cutbank MT ➞ Grand Folks ND ➞ Minneapolis MN ➞ Rochester MN ➞ Aurora IL |
Flying Trip: Major Highlights
- Flying the Alaska Highway with nowhere for an emergency landing except the road below. Mountain flying meant flying the valleys while keeping your finger on road on the sectional chart so you don’t fly into a canyon you can not fly out of. Also, the road provides the only place to land in event of engine problems.
- Flying over the mountain lakes just east of Whitehorse.
- Morning takeoff from TOK with only half the runway, about 1500ft, available.
- Flying from Gulkana AK to Merrill Airport in Anchorage was the most beautiful flying in my life. This flight leg followed the Glenn Highway in the valley below as well as the Matanuska River. The height of the valley floor varied but was mostly less than 3000 MSL. Flying at VFR at 4500 or higher gave me plenty of altitude. The glacial mountains on both sides of this valley were over 8000 MSL with some over 11,000 MSL.
- Flying over part of the Knik glacier as the glacier very quickly rises below.
- Landing at Mount McKinley Airport; now called Denali Airport. It took flying close to mountains and compensating for heavy downdrafts at the runway threshold.
- Takeoff at Mount McKinley, a one way runway, then clearing hills southwest by a hundred feet or so.
- Before taking off from Fairbanks, ATIS said visibility was 100 miles. Actually after airborne heading into the Brooks Range, visibility must have been 200-300 miles; clearest day I have ever seen.
- Landing at Coldfoot was particularly interesting with changing right/left crosswinds on final and again on rollout.
- Flying through the Brooks Range onto the North Slope and landing at Anaktuvuk Pass with large gravel runway.
- Flying 100 miles northwest of Fairbanks; seeing Mount McKinley after sunset.
Flying Reflections Most of my flying days were mostly sunny or partly cloudy with occasional scattered showers. Rain and thunderstorms delayed me twice; once at Denali and once in Minnesota coming back. Mountain flying meant flying the valleys while keeping your finger on the sectional chart. By flying the valleys over roads, I did not need to fly very high the entire trip. A few legs were very bumpy. And, the weather can change very fast in the mountains. Clearly, this trip was the most beautiful flying I’ve ever done.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Flying to Alaska.
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Disclaimer This post, which depicts my flying trip to Alaska and back, is for information only. This information may not be appropriate for your purposes. Please see our disclaimer page.
