We just followed the smoke....

My dad and I were driving along the shore of Lake Superior just outside Ashland Wisconsin when we noticed a big plume of white smoke rising into the sky several miles to the west. He said there was a prescribed burn about fifteen miles away.

I told him I always wanted to get forest fire photos, but never had the chance. I asked if he had time to go and he said sure. I had a camera in the car and my dad as a navigator so we started driving west on highway 2. The smoke was just whitish gray at the time, not the striking orange and red as in the image above. 

We drove about twelve miles west and turned on the only paved road going north through the Moquah barrens in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. We just kept following the smoke and after several more miles we came to a dirt road going west towards the fire.

It was almost sunset as we came to an intersection with another dirt road. Ahead of us was a flurry of activity, many vehicles from various federal agencies with lights on and fire crews in their trucks and walking the roads. A woman in a vest was standing in the middle of the road so I pulled over and parked out of the way. We walked up to visit with her. 

Our timing was great, because this was what we saw just across the road in front of us.

Fire crews had just ignited the blaze and the fire was quickly burning through the under story and up into some of the larger pine trees. 

We quickly got permission to be where we were and I just couldn't believe my luck.

I got my camera out and started photographing the forest fire in front of us. Flames were moving quickly through dried grass and shrubs and then climbing into the bigger trees.

All the colors and interplay of light and shadow was unbelievably beautiful. As I continued to trip the shutter release, I found myself saying "wow" over and over again out loud.

The Fish & Wildlife, or forest Service employee said we had to stay where we were as the fire moved away. I had been shooting hand held, but went to the car to get a tripod as it was getting dark and the shutter speeds were getting slow. 

I checked the ISO, made sure the auto focus was off, put the camera on the tripod and kept at it.

Trees that had been aflame moments earlier were now starkly silhouetted as the fire itself threw colorful light onto the smoke billowing towards the sky.

I just couldn't get over the mixture of light, color, and shadow. Just beautiful.

As the actual flames moved into the distance I noticed the surreal colors on the smoke above.

Some of the crews walked back towards their vehicles before driving off along the edge of the fire.

I kept on shooting and even remembered to look at the bigger picture. The colors were hard to believe.

We stayed for an hour and a half and it was dark as we turned the car around and headed out on the road we had come in on.

About a half mile down the road I stopped to capture this scene giving a sense of scale to the fire. 

The old adage, 'it's better to be lucky, than good' certainly applied here. My dad and I just followed the smoke, 

and had incredibly good luck, as far as location, timing, and fire personnel. What a night.

Right on time....

I'd been photographing wild horses in Teddy Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota until dark and planned to drive the 4 1/2 hours to Custer State Park during the night so I would be there for sunrise.

By the time I made it to Sturgis South Dakota I was more than a little tired and stopped at a rest area to rest. I set an alarm for 4am and fell asleep. I woke at 5:30am, not to my alarm, it never went off, I just woke up and the sky was already light in the east. The sun hadn't come up yet but it was well on it's way and I was late. 

Oh well, there was nothing to do but get going. So I got back on the highway headed for Rapid City and then Custer State Park. As I headed south out of Rapid City the sun started to crest the horizon and I realized I was in for a beautiful sunrise. Too bad I had overslept.

 

As I watched the eastern sky and the sunrise unfold I decided to stop and get what photos I could. I pulled to the side of the road and made several images. I could smell smoke in the air and thought there must be a fire somewhere.

 

 

A few minutes later I heard on a local radio station that a prescribed burn in Wind Cave National Park had gotten out of control the day before and had grown to 1000 acres.

 

Smoke from wildfires often lends itself to interesting skies and landscape photos, especially at sunrise and sunset. My sunrise photos were benefiting from it now.

 



I got to Custer State Park about half an hour later and found sharp-tailed grouse displaying on a lek near the road.

 

 

The male danced with his wings out to the side and sounded like a really fast typewriter as he displayed for the hens.

 

After a few minutes the hens walked away and he flew off. I didn't even drive a mile before I saw a large herd of elk on a hillside and moving south. They seemed to be in a hurry and many had their mouths open and were breathing hard.

 

 

These elk are just a small part of a much bigger herd that numbered over 100.

 

 

 

Here they walked across a gravel park road.

 

 

 

They may have been moving out of the way of the wildfire to the south. They were headed in the right direction.

 

 

 

As I got further into the park the smoke got heavier and I stopped to get this silhouette of the sun behind two ponderosa pine trees.

 

 

 

After the road crested a hill I stopped to capture this image of the prairie with smoke hanging in the air.

 

Before I got much further I found a pronghorn buck with three does. 

 

 

I love pronghorns.

 

 

 

Here's one of the does on the ridge line.

 

 

 

I really liked the way the sky looked behind them due to the smoke in the air.

 

 

 

Not even half a mile from the pronghorns were more sharp-tailed grouse with another male displaying for hens.

 



I couldn't believe my luck and started thinking how my alarm not going off changed everything.

 

 

I had to hold that thought as I found a group of wild burros grazing along the road.

 

 

 

The light was right and the hill in the distance looked good with the smoke still hanging in the air.

  

 

I had to set the alarm improperly and just accidentally wake up when I did, so I would be there for all of this. I thought I was late and had screwed up my chance to get good pictures that morning, and really I was right on time.

 

 

 

Though the burros are wild, visitors often feed them, so many times they will want to put their head in your window. I didn't feed the burro, but did take his picture before driving off. 







 

 

Glacier National Park, Montana

I was in Glacier National Park Montana for a couple of days one August. The daytime temperature was near 90 degrees and in the evening big thunderstorms rolled in from the west.

I was sleeping in my tent at the Saint Mary campground and woke to thunder and the most beautiful display of lightning I had ever seen. The storm brought very little rain but the lightning was incredible.

The photos below show the sky and clouds as the storm came in over Wild goose Island on Saint Mary Lake. The following morning was beautiful and clear. A couple of days later smoke and fog from the fires the lightning had started filled the valleys and hugged the base of the mountains.

Clouds started to form in the sky to the west in the middle of the afternoon.

Sunset over Wild Goose Island on Saint Mary Lake

The colors in the sky just kept getting better.

Saint Mary Lake in Glacier Park just before the storm.

Just after dark.

The next morning was crisp, clear, and beautiful.

A few days later smoke filled the valley below Mount Cannon. Lightning associated with the thunderstorm had started several wildfires in the park.

Morning reflections of Divide, White Calf, and Curly Bear Mountains at Saint Mary Lake. Smoke from the forest fires and early morning fog hangs low on the mountains.

Smoke billows into the sky from a fire burning near Anaconda Peak and Flattop Mountain.