Monthly Archives: February 2023

February 21, 2023 · 4:11 am

Photography In The National Parks: Atmospheric Phenomena

What you see in this image is a part of what is known as a “sun halo.” It’s an atmospheric phenomenon, which is an event created by the interaction of sunlight or moonlight with the atmosphere, water, rain, clouds, dust, or other particulate matter. The belt of Venus, a rainbow, crepuscular rays, anticrepuscular rays, the Northern Lights – those are all atmospheric phenomena and I have written about photographing them in my latest article published today in the National Parks Traveler.

Just click on the image above to be taken to that article.

This image was captured during a hike along the Carroll Rim Trail in the Painted Hills Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. This trail is the longest trail (maybe a mile one-way) in this particular unit and worth the hike up to the top for a 360-degree view.

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Filed under Photography, Photography In The National Parks, Trivia Tuesday

Tagged as atmospheric phenomena, atmospheric phenomenon, fun facts, national monument, national parks, National Parks Traveler, photography, sun halo, Trivia Tuesday, where the trails take you

February 11, 2023 · 4:30 am

National Parks Quiz And Trivia #58

It’s the last day of #volcanoweek so let’s start today off with a volcano quiz question.

Brokeoff Mountain (far right in this image) in Lassen Volcanic National Park is a remnant of the much larger and broader ___.

a) Mount Tacoma

b) Mount Tahoma

c) Mount Tehama

d) Mount Assiniboine

That’s one of the quiz questions in my latest quiz and trivia piece published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. Why not click on the image above and go on over there to test your national parks knowledge, read the trivia, and maybe even learn a little something new.

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Tagged as fun facts, fun questions, National Park, national parks, national parks quiz and trivia, National Parks Traveler, national volcano week, photography, quiz, quiz and trivia, where the trails take you

February 10, 2023 · 3:27 am

Celebrating Volcanoes

It’s nearing the end of #volcanoweek and it’s also #FunFactFriday . Oh, and the National Parks Traveler has published an article I wrote about volcanos and volcanic features in units of the National Park System as a Feature Story. It’s sort of a trifecta for me, I guess. Check out the article by clicking on the image above.

As for this image of Kilauea volcano, it was captured in the very late afternoon during a 2017 during a photo tour I attended. Kilauea volcano, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, is a shield volcano, like Mauna Loa. Shield volcanoes are actually the largest volcanoes in the world, although they do not exhibit that high, conical shape of stratovolcanoes, which we tend to think of as the highest. No, shield volcanoes look like warriors’ shields – a bit convex on top where the summit is, with broad, gentle, rounding slopes fanning outward.

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Tagged as feature story, geology, national parks, National Parks Traveler, national volcano week, volcanic parks, Volcanoes, where the trails take you

February 4, 2023 · 3:38 am

National Natural Landmarks – An NPS Designation For Very Special Places

A Northerly View Of The Yakima River At The Umtanum Ridge Water Gap, Washington State

When is a landscape associated with the National Park Service, yet not a unit within the National Park System? When it’s a National Natural Landmark.

Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published an article of mine about these very special places, designated by the NPS for their outstanding examples of a biological or geologic feature.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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Tagged as national natural landmark, National Parks Traveler, photography, special landscapes, Washington State, where the trails take you