IN THE FIELD: Brain Spot

Periodically I will look through the several binders and boxes filled with film slides I have shot over the years. And when I have some down time, I’ll scan several images so I can archive them electronically. I find it’s better to do a dozen or so at a time, and take a short walk down memory lane. Rather then reliving the entire journey.

The oddest thing is even with the large volume of images I have in my library, I can still remember where each shot was taken. And if I would put some thought into it, I could probably recall the lens I used. Somewhere in my gene pool, one of my ancestors must have had a photographic memory…and I am sure glad I inherited it. It’s been rather handy.

The problem is, I get teased a lot by folks in my inner circle for having supernatural memory powers. But then, these same folks poke fun at me because I have retained the names of most of my teachers as far back as elementary school.

But…every now and again, I hit a Brain Spot. Like with this photo. I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea where this image was taken. I do know that this is not a man-made structure, and the steps in the rocks and the waterfall were formed through natural processes.

I’m pretty sure it was taken in upstate Pennsylvania. Or was it in Minnesota…

 

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IN THE FIELD: The Kanc

The Kancamagus Scenic Byway traverses the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire for 34 miles. It is like traveling back in time because there are no services such as gas stations, hotels or restaurants. Several campgrounds are in the area along with numerous trailheads for hiking and a few pull offs to take in the scenic views.

My wife and I had been hiking one of the numerous trails in the forest and we realized the water supply we had with us was getting low. We could hear water tumbling over rocks nearby so we thought we would have a look and fill our canteens. As we headed off the trail towards the sounds of cool refreshment, we were stopped suddenly in our tracks.

About 15 feet in front of us, the underbrush started to move about in an unnatural way. Out from behind the curtain of green popped a fully grown adult male moose. It’s antlers had a spread of about five feet. Male moose can weigh between 800 and 1500 pounds, and he was at the upper end of the scale.

He looked at us, tilted his head to the right, then tilted his head to the left, then gave a loud snort. Apparently, we interrupted his refreshment time. Needless to say, we cautiously reversed our heading. Since we were there right in the middle of the rut season, giving a wide berth to the big guy was a wise idea. Male moose can become aggressive during this time. And after all, he had his priorities.

After the moose decided we were not his competition, he took flight deeper into the woods and we made our way to the stream to fill our canteens. Partly, so we would have water for the way back, and partly to quench the instantaneous dry mouth we both had developed from startling a moose 15 feet in front of us.

Making our way back towards our starting point, we met three hikers about 200 yards from the trailhead. They were heading towards moose land. We tried to explain to them about the moose but they didn’t speak any English. I resorted to putting my arms up in the air pretending they were antlers, thrashed around in some saplings, and repeated the words “600 kilos” several times. They got the message. We never saw those hikers again…not even back at the trailhead.

IN THE FIELD: Brrrrr It’s Cold Outside

Winter is here for sure. We had a light dusting of snow this morning and the temperature will not get out of the 20’s. The wind is gusting to 40 mph and the wind chills are somewhere near…well, let’s just say it’s a bit brisk. Since it is the winter season, I thought a photo reminding me of warmer times would be a nice treat, and this waterfall scene fits the bill.

My wife and I had been to this location several times for picnics and hiking and photo excursions, but on this day I had something else planned.

It was a beautiful warm summer day and the conditions for photography were just about perfect. We got some shots of the falls and then ventured downstream to photograph the water tumbling over the rocks in the stream bed.

We took our shoes off, clambered onto some larger rocks to sit and cool our feet in the mountain stream. We sat there for a while listening to the sound of the water and enjoyed the woodland surroundings. The air was refreshing with a light mist from the falls and the wild rhododendron bushes were in bloom, covering the banks of the stream.

We agreed this was one of the prettiest places we had visited together. I decided this would be the perfect time for my surprise. So, I pulled this little velvet box that you get from a fancy jewelry store out of my pocket, opened it, and asked her if she would like to spend the rest of our lives together. She looked at the “sparkly” resting in the box, and almost fell off her rock.

She told me later that she had an idea I was going to ask her to marry me soon…just not when she was teetering on a rock in the middle of a cold mountain stream.

This waterfall is named Silver Thread Falls and it is located in the lush woodlands of northeastern Pennsylvania.