Sunsets Archives ~ Rambling ranger

February 9, 2024

Desert Wildflower Update: Warm Colors

How do warm colors make you feel? For me, they bring a smile to my face, excitement and happiness. I often use a warming filter on my camera because I like my colors a little warmer in most instances. This may come as no surprise to you, as I scurry south every winter to get more of the warmth! My favorite time to do photography is the late afternoon and early evening. It’s not only that I’m too lazy to get up early, I prefer the warm light!

The desert is full of warm colors. Even in the wintertime, you can find warm colors in the sunsets, the red rock, even the birds. I’ve been seeing a lot of those warm colors this past week.

Cactus wren — Even the birds have warm colors in the desert.

As for warm wildflower colors, not so much, but there are a few.

Gates Pass — Red rock is a warm color you can always find in the desert.

The warmest color in Saguaro National Park’s foliage is the yellow fruits from last year’s barrel cactus bloom.

Barrel cactus in fruit and Prickly Pears — The warmest color in Saguaro National Park this week

But there is one flower blooming in Saguaro, the delicate pink Fairy Duster.

Organ Pipe was greener. It looks to be a good bloom there in a couple of weeks. Right now Ocotillo is what’s blooming.

Here’s a closer look at those beautiful warm red flowers.

Warm Colors - Ocotillo — Ocotillo blooms

There was a carpet of green from the Sonoran into California, giving me high hopes for a good flower season in a couple of weeks. But right now the only thing blooming in that vast expanse was Brittlebush.

Brittlebush has started to bloom throughout the deserts.

I was underwhelmed and a bit disappointed when I got to Joshua Tree National Park. I had expected more.

Even the Brittlebush was sparse. There were a couple of new flowers blooming, Bladderpod and Chuparosa. These are both perennial bushes, as are Fairy Dusters, Brittlebush and Ocotillo. Annual flowers are practically non-existent still.

I did find a few Canterbury Bells in Joshua Tree, but that was it. The carpet of green I’d noticed in the Sonoran desert was missing here. By this time of year, there should have been a haze of fuzzy green, the seedlings of the annuals, covering the roadsides. I don’t know if the southern part of Joshua Tree missed the storms, or if it’s been too cold, but don’t expect a big bloom in Joshua Tree this spring. Very little is even sprouting there now.

Warm colors of Brittlebush — Perennials like Brittlebush are doing well.

A little bit of good news, though. Reports from Anza Borrego indicate that it should be a good wildflower season there. It’s already starting, especially the Sand Verbena, the sweetest-smelling flower in the desert. I’ve seen fields full of them here in the Palm Springs area, too.

Not really a warm color, but Sand Verbena is what’s blooming!

The latest reports I’ve found from Death Valley are a couple of weeks old, but state that sprouts are coming up, so I’m hopeful. I will be visiting both Anza Borrego and Death Valley next week and will have a better idea then of what this season will be like.

Panamint Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park — Will the sand dunes be the only warm colors in Death Valley when I get there?

So it looks like the flowers may get going a little late – March will probably be the best month to see the desert bloom this year. Until then, enjoy the warm colors wherever you are, wherever you find them – in the rocks, in the sunset – but keep your eyes open, warm colors in the flowers are coming soon!

Thank you, Egidio, for bringing us this week’s Lens-Artists Photography Challenge, Warm Colors.

Saguro sunset, warm colors — Arizona Sunset

January 26, 2024

Sunrise/Sunset

Coachwhip Canyon, Anza Borrego State Park, California

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”

– Jo Walton

New Mexico Sunrise — Sunrise/moonset at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Good advice.

Thanks to Ann-Christine of the Leya blog for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Illustrate a Favorite Quote or Poem.

Arizona Sunset — Sunset in western Arizona

March 3, 2023

Alone Time

“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity. ” –Albert Einstein

I think I’ve had more alone time this winter than I’ve ever had, in any season, in my entire life.

I didn’t plan it that way. The people I am housesitting for said it would be okay if I had guests, and I put the invitation out there. At least half a dozen friends and family members expressed an interest. Ocean-front property on Orcas Island? Sure! Sounds like fun! But in one way or another, somehow all those plans fell through.

Alone time in the San Juan Islands — I’ve had lots of alone time on Orcas Island.

Even though I’ve been on Orcas Island for four months, I haven’t made new friends. I’ve put out a few feelers – introduced myself to neighbors, attended a few concerts and other town social events, entered an exhibition. Everyone has been nice, I’ve had some interesting conversations, but that’s as far as it goes.

Everyone has full lives. They have no reason to go out of their way to befriend a here today/gone tomorrow transient housesitter. It’s kind of a waste of their precious time, even if she does seem to be a nice lady! I get it.

I must admit I could have tried harder. Although I am outgoing and find it easy to talk to strangers in my work persona as a park ranger, in my personal life I’m kind of shy. I didn’t put myself in any situation that would take me out of my comfort zone. I didn’t get an outside job. I didn’t go to the bar.

The truth is, I haven’t tried harder to make new friends because I really have been enjoying my solitude!

Egret at Moss Landing, California — We need solitude for reflection and contemplation.

“Solitude is creativity’s best friend, and solitude is refreshment for our souls.” -Naomi Judd

Everyone needs alone time. Solitude sparks creativity. It can renew your soul. It allows time for daydreams and imagination, reflection and invention.

Carmel Beach, CA — There is freedom in solitude.

There is freedom in solitude. No one to tell you what you should be doing or where you should be going. Instead, it’s all up to you.

Death Valley National Park — Me and my shadow

Some activities require solitude. Reading, writing, and meditating come to mind. There are other activities where going solo brings immense rewards but at the price of much greater risk. For instance, as a park ranger, I often have to tell people that they should hike with others. It’s much safer. Yet I, and most rangers I know, revel in solitary treks. It’s very important to understand and acknowledge the risks of solitude and to be aware of the possible consequences of your actions when pursuing these kinds of activities solo.

Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington — Going solo can be risky.

“Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it. “ -Thomas Merton

For many people, it’s not easy to get that alone time we all need. The demands of work, family and friends can consume our lives. Solitude becomes a rare and precious event. If this sounds like you, it’s especially important to carve yourself out some alone time, even if you have to make a date with yourself and schedule it.

Sanderling alone time — Even if you usually run with the flock, you need to carve yourself out some alone time.

“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

There’s a big difference between solitude and loneliness. Solitude is the positive application of alone time. Loneliness and depression happen when you dwell on the negative aspects of being alone. Solitude has a purpose.

Mendocino beach sunset — Loneliness is the dark side of solitude.

“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.” – Henry David Thoreau

Some people need more solitude than others. They need their space. I’m in that category. So are many of my friends back home in McCarthy. A friend of mine once said, “McCarthy is where loners go to be social.”

Oystercatcher alone time — Some odd birds like me need extra alone time.

McCarthy is very social in the summer, but most residents deal with a lot of alone time in the winter. I find it interesting that two of my friends from McCarthy have also written about the pleasures of solitude this week. Jon Erdman of the Wrangell Mountains Center wrote a post about the effects of solitude. Kristen Link is a natural history artist and science illustrator. One of the prompts in her latest newsletter encourages other artists to draw what silence looks like. I don’t draw, but the following image is my answer to that prompt.

Long Beach, WA — This is what Silence looks like.

Perhaps that is why I feel okay about my season of solitude. It’s winter, a natural time to draw resources inward, to go quiet, and be dormant. The quiet time is necessary for future growth.

Moonstone Beach, Trinidad, CA — Alone time is necessary.

Spring will soon be here, a time for new growth, new connections, the ground prepared and spirit renewed by that season of dormancy. In April I will be traveling, embracing old friends and new experiences. I look forward to my spring travels, but I will also cherish this final month of alone time.

Thank you to Ann-Christine of Leya for this week’s Len-Artists Photo Challenge, Alone Time.

Goldstream Beach, Redwood National Park — It’s wonderful when your footsteps are the only ones on the beach.

January 13, 2023

Favorite Images of 2022

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, we’ve been invited to share our favorite images of 2022. I’ve been sharing this year’s favorite images in my last two posts, so I won’t be revisiting those images here. You can go back and look at those posts if you missed them!

One of my favorite images of 2022 — The God rays are still one of my favorites!

But I would love to share some other favorites. A few of them I’ve published in earlier posts, but most are brand new. It seems my favorite images change weekly! Because of the scarcity of electricity and internet access during my summer months in Alaska, I have still not caught up with my image processing for the past year, and I discover new favorites every day.

Cascade Falls Moran State Park, WA — This is becoming my favorite abstract image for 2022.

There are so many photos I haven’t even really looked at yet, including winter in Arches and most of my fall shots from Alaska and Washington State. It’s like Christmas every day for me as I continually find new favorite images.

I saw some amazing places in 2022. One that has been on my mind continually this week is the California Coast. Most winters I spend either January or February on the California Coast. I’m not there this year, which may be a blessing. My heart goes out to all the folks struggling with too much of a good thing, with the atmospheric river and torrential flooding.

I spent the month of February 2022 housesitting in Pacific Grove on Monterey Bay. I was 4 blocks from the coast and made a point of doing photography nearly every day while I was there. That is also the batch of work I am currently processing, so a lot of my favorite images in this post are from that visit.

Another fantastic roadtrip was driving the Cottonwood Canyon Road in Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. It was on my bucket list for years, but usually this is a road that requires 4-wheel drive. I called the ranger station to see if it would be safe to drive in just a couple of miles to do some dispersed camping and the ranger told me the road was in great shape and my little Toyota truck would make it end-to-end just fine! Quick change of plans for me, I could not miss that opportunity. The highlight was visiting Grosvenor Arch, and it was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined it would be.

I’ve also spent a lot of time in Olympic National Park this year. I haven’t processed the fall images yet, but I’ve included a spring sunset in this collection.

My last post included a lot of my favorites from the time I spent at home in Alaska, but I am revisiting my favorite flower photo from this summer.

Bog Bean flowers — I love the pattern displayed by the flowers and their shadows in this image.

My best sunset/sunrise of the year was traveling south down Canada’s Cassiar Highway. Every image in the series is so rich and so different. That sunset went through every shade a sunset could possibly have. Intense. I did a series on Instagram last week with a few of these images, 7 Shades of Sunset.

This image looks like I tweaked the color in LightRoom, but honest, it was really that red. I did not saturate the color, I even used Adobe Neutral as my color profile. I published a different swatch from that evening’s palette of hues in last week’s post, ‘cuz this one looked too over the top to me. But now I think it is my favorite.

I traveled the Mt. Baker Highway for the first time this fall. Although the conditions were less than ideal due to wildfire smoke, I was amazed at the astounding views and the easy access to hiking in the alpine. I can only imagine how stunning it must be when there’s no smoke. A new favorite place, I will definitely be checking that road out again!

And of course now, I’m on Orcas Island for the winter, where there are some lovely waterfalls. This image is a favorite.

I look forward to seeing what favorite images 2023 will bring. If you have been following my travels on Facebook, though, it seems that Facebook has not been circulating my posts much lately. I urge you to subscribe to my blog instead, so that you won’t miss a post.

Happy 2023!

North Cascades National Park — I had to include some fall color.

December 31, 2022

Last Chance – Northland Favorites

When Patti announced “Last Chance”, our unpublished favorites from 2022 as last week’s Lens- Artist’s Photo Challenge, I knew I had an embarrassment of riches. Since I took a long hiatus from my blog this year, I had way too many favorites for one post. Since I spend about half the year down south housesitting and the other half home in Alaska, it seemed like an easy way to solve my dilemma would be to split my images into two installments. Last week’s post was “Below the 49th Parallel,” and I’m happy to share my Northland favorites this week.

Wrangell St. Elias National Park & Preserve — Bog Bean flower

Any roundup of the Rambling Ranger’s favorites would have to include a flower pic or two. My favorites this year were all taken in ponds along the McCarthy Road. My very favorite flower pic of the year I shared a couple of weeks ago in my “Patterns” post, Bog Beans and their shadows. I mentioned in that post that the flowers were exquisite when viewed up close, so here’s a closer view. My other flower pic is a combination lily shot, both Pond Lilies and Water Lilies growing together. Technically it’s a little messy and maybe not one of my best, but this post is about favorites, not bestest, right? Although sometimes they’re one and the same…

McCarthy Road — I love the juxtaposition of big lily pads and little lily pads, with the bigger pond lily flower centered and surrounded by tiny water lilies.

I took a one-day photo workshop through the Wrangell Mountains Center with Paul Scannell and Anna Mikuskova. One of our exercises was to each pick a piece of paper out of a hat, with an intangible concept written on it, then go out and shoot that concept. We were given 15 or 20 minutes to complete the assignment. My concept was “rebirth.” I shared a different image with the group that better illustrated rebirth, but this image was my favorite from that exercise.

Northland Favorites — Think I might call this one “Green”.

Since I spend most of my spare time at home working on the homestead, that’s where a lot of my favorites come from. I thought I’d try a square format on this image.

This B&W image is my very favorite part of the view from my front porch. I don’t know of anyone who has the view of this ridgeline that I do, and in my opinion, it’s one of the most amazing views in the Wrangells. And get this – none of those white mountains even has a name, not even the real high one lost in the clouds. That’s how wild this place is! The dark mountain in front is Mt. Donaho, which blocks this ridgeline from most of my neighbors’ properties.

Wrangell Mountains — My favorite part of my amazing view

The last shot I’m including from the homestead is my favorite aspen tree, the one right outside my front door. The fall colors were fabulous this year.

I spent a little time this fall at the toe of the Kennicott Glacier, less than a mile from McCarthy. It’s an interesting place to be. With global climate change and the glacier melting, the lake at the toe gets bigger all the time. The Kennicott Glacier has a surface moraine and is covered with debris. That ice is moving a lot of rock! Any image you take here is ephemeral. It will definitely look different a year or two from now. Here’s the face of the glacier with some of the surrounding mountains.

I try to make a fall road trip on the Denali Highway every year if I can. This year I went for it, even though the weather was dismal when I left McCarthy. On my first night out, it poured buckets. The forecast called for more rain, but surprisingly, the morning dawned bluebird. I got the best views I have ever seen of Mt. Deborah and Mt. Hayes. Meanwhile, back in McCarthy, it dumped inches. It rained so hard it washed everyone in Kennecott’s water systems out of National Creek, including the Park Service’s! So glad I made the road trip! The feature shot is of the Susitna River with Deborah and Hayes dominating the view.

One of my Northland favorites from that trip became a favorite during post-processing, when I noticed a grizzly bear in the photo. I didn’t see it when I took the picture! It’s over a quarter mile away, in the center of the photo, before the line of trees. Look for the light spot. Fall can be a scary time for a bear encounter in Alaska. They match the fall colors and can be hard to spot.

My last Northland favorite is from Canada’s Cassiar Highway. I camped at a remote lake, where I witnessed possibly the most colorful sunset/sunrise cycle I’ve ever seen. Both sunrise and sunset morphed through every color imaginable, from gold to orange to red to purple to pink. And it was completely still. Incredible reflections and color combos. I couldn’t pick a favorite shot, but this is one of them.

What fabulous images will the New Year bring? I can’t wait to find out!

December 22, 2022

Below the 49th Parallel – My Favorites

Well, I couldn’t do it. This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Last Chance, when we’re invited to show off some of our favorite 2022 images that have not been published in a post yet this year. Since I took such a long hiatus from my blog this year, I have plenty! Too many, in fact. I can’t narrow my unpublished favorites down to one post.

Harriman State Park, OR — Oregon beach sunset

I’ve been trying, but I have lots of sweet images I’d love to share. Because I have too many, and since the Lens-Artists are taking a week off for the holidays and won’t be putting out a prompt next week, I’ve decided to divide my favorites into 2 parts. This week will be my favorites from below the 49th parallel, and next week will be my Northland favorites.

Redwood National Park — Tallest trees in the world

Last Winter’s Travels

One suggestion was to include images that would probably never be included in one of our typical posts. I pet sit in the winter but I very, very seldom include photos of my charges in my posts. Here is a favorite shot of a kitty I took care of last January.

Anacortes, WA — This kitty used to chew holes in my clothes!

I spent the month of February on a housesit in Pacific Grove, California. I envisioned this shot and was so excited, especially in post-processing when I realized I’d captured exactly what I’d envisioned!

I love visiting the redwood forest, and I love capturing abstracts. This is my favorite abstract shot for 2022. Charred bark from a previous fire and living green moss and lichens contributed to hues as bright as a peacock’s tail when looked at closely in this image.

Last Chance Photo Challenge — Rainbow Redwood

Check out this cool tree. It’s in Olympic National Park’s coastal forest, and with a burly head, fungus features, and a crown of fern leaves, it’s a people tree! I stop by and say Hello! and give it a hug every time I pass that way.

(Yawn) Another sublime Olympic sunset… The Feature is one, too. I captured this image on Rialto Beach. I love the dreamy feel of this image. The Feature shot is from First Beach. I had so many great shots from First Beach it was hard to pick just one.

This Winter’s Travels

My final image from Olympic is fall colors, maples along the Sol Duc Hot Springs Road. Olympic had by far the best fall colors I found in Washington this year.

Now I’m on Orcas Island, and I have especially enjoyed the waterfalls here. This one is called Rustic Falls.

For my final image, while hiking a local trail I saw this Big Leaf Maple leaf standing, still attached, on a tree branch – perfectly upright and all by itself, beautifully backlit. It’s getting a bit ragged, but mostly green, even though it’s December. It hasn’t let go, just keeps hanging on. This is a great inspiration for those times when I’m feeling a little raggedy! I underexposed the background because it was a bit busy and distracting. Doing this helped me to capture the way this leaf looked to me and made me feel.

Hope you, too, are still hanging in there and I wish you all a Happy Holiday season!

Category: Sunsets

Desert Wildflower Update: Warm Colors

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Sunrise/Sunset

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”

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Alone Time

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Favorite Images of 2022

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Last Chance – Northland Favorites

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Below the 49th Parallel – My Favorites

Last Winter’s Travels

This Winter’s Travels

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“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”

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Last Winter’s Travels

This Winter’s Travels

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