Northern Utah

A few pictures I took earlier this month in northern Utah

 Bear Lake, looking to the east.

 Chokecherry blossoms.

 Cinquefoil flowers near Tony Grove.

 Echo Cliffs in Weber Canyon.

 Tony Grove lake in early July.

 

 Light band of Tintic Quartzite at Willard Canyon sits above gray Precambrian gneiss, schist, granite and pegmatite.

 Paleozoic outcrops at Temple Fork in Logan Canyon.

 Unconformity in Cretaceous rocks in Weber Canyon between younger conglomerate layers on top (flat) over older gently dipping conglomerates.

 Ricks Spring in Logan Canyon.

Flowers under the aspens near Tony Grove.

From Flam to Vatnahalsen, Norway -- June 2018

Our port stop in Flam gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with this lovely town and to ride the railway up the valley to Valnahalsen. Here are a few of the pictures from the day we spent here.

 Early morning on the fjord as we came into Flam. The water was so smooth and calm in the early morning.

A couple of view of the town of Flam from our Holland America cruise liner.

View of Flam from the ship.

View up the Flam river valley with the waterfall Brekkefossen in the distance.

Flam river with view down valley toward modern port. The village shown has the old Flam church in the center.

Traveling knee to knee on the Flam railway toward Vatnahalsen.

Views of the wildflowers around Vatnahalsen.

Vatnahalsen Railway Station.

Vatnahalsen Hotell where we stopped for waffles before returning to Flam.

 The deck and pool outside the Vatnahalsen Hotell.

Another view from the Vatnahalsen Railway Station.

Footbridge along path I explored near Vatnahalsen.

Outcrops of banded gneiss along path.

The train stopped for a few minutes at Kjosfossen, a spectacular waterfall with a free fall of 305 feet. My camera got spotted with mist in the bottom photo.

Wildflowers, waterfalls and switchbacks along the route back to Flam.

Brekkefossen near Flam on our way back to the harbor.

Views along Sognefjorden as we headed back out and on to Amsterdam. The top photo has a small horn at the head of a U-shaped glacial valley.

Moon Rise Over the Wasatch in October

Just a few shots of the full moon as it peaked through the clouds coming up over the mountains.

Views from Ice Cave Peak, Uinta Mountains

These are a few photos taken last week while out mapping along the south flank of the Uinta Mountains. Ice Cave Peak gives a great view of the Whiterocks River valley and the rocks that are exposed along that valley. Late June is a great time to visit because the mountains are so green and the temperatures are pleasant. In the higher mountains, rain clouds form almost every afternoon.

View to southwest from Ice Cave Peak across Whiterocks River valley. On the far side of the river you can see, starting at the far left on the far ridge, gray outcrops of the Pennsylvanian Weber Sandstone, then red outcrops of the Morgan Formation, also Pennsylvanian. At the bottom of the red Morgan cliffs is a thinner gray cliff of Round Valley Limestone, completing the Pennsylvanian outcrops.  The Round Valley Limestone sits above a dark streak of green trees that are growing in the strike valley formed by the soft shale of the Doughnut Formation (Mississippian). Then at the top of the closer ridge, and still dipping off to the left, is a somewhat covered slope (with trees and scrub) of the Humbug Formation sitting atop several ledges with some trees that comprise the Deseret and Madison Limestones, all Mississippian in age. These Mississippian units sit unconformably on a yellow orange unit, called the Red Pine Shale. The Red Pine Shale here appears to be almost horizontal. It is the oldest unit in the photo and is Proterozoic in age. That's probably more geology than you really wanted to know.

Another view to the southwest across Whiterocks River valley.

Looking to the north from Ice Cave Peak to the high rounded peaks of the Uinta Mountains with rain clouds gathering for their afternoon frolic.

A broader view to the northwest.

The storm clouds begin to dump their treasure onto the higher peaks.

Standing on the Mississippian limestones of the Madison Limestone that make up most of the outcrops around Ice Cave Peak and looking south. Below are a couple more shots to the northwest.

Sights of the Old Clark Ranch, Montana

A few more pictures of our recent trip to Montana. These are from the area around my brother-in-law's ranch. You can view more pictures of Montana on these earlier posts

• Birds at the Clark Ranch
• Mountains of Montana

The old wagon wheel.

Log fence along roadway.

One of the penstemon/beardtongue family members that likes fairly dry locations. I'm not sure of the species. Maybe you can figure it out from this Montana government web site.

Looks like a sluice box used in placer mining on wheels.

The Big Hole River in the backyard.

Unfortunately, the prickly pear cacti were not in bloom yet.

The old wagon is missing a couple of key parts.

 Sagebrush by the river.

The stairway to heaven. Access from the house down to the Big Hole River.