Landscapes

"Smoking Star Meteor."

A brilliant, December meteor streaks across the skies above Saint Mary Lake, in Glacier National Park. The meteor went dark above Dusty Star Mountain, or "Iszika-kakatosi" in Blackfeet, which means smoking star or meteor. This earthgrazer meteor lasted several seconds and left behind a smoke trail that persisted for at least 24 minutes.

"Roosevelt Arch, Yellowstone National Park."

After our Sun, the brightest orbs in our celestial view are (in order) the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. During a February dawn, it was Jupiter leading the way over the Roosevelt Arch in Yellowstone National Park, with Venus in second place and a 9% crescent Moon pulling up the morning. The quote across the top of the Roosevelt Arch is from the act that established America's national parks, reading, "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People." Now THAT was a bright idea.

"Great Northern Dawn"

That moment between dawn and sunrise, over Great Northern Mountain in Montana's Great Bear Wilderness.

"Going-to-the-Sun Road Aurora"

Headlights and taillights outline Glacier's historic Going-to-the-Sun Road at night while the Big Dipper rises over the northern lights. This 180-degree, east to west panorama includes (left to right) McDonald Creek, the Loop, Oberlin Bend, and the Logan Pass Visitors' Center. It's a 18-frame stitch (three rows of seven images) made between midnight and 1 a.m.

"Orionid Meteors Over Glacier Park

On the opening day of Montana's hunting season, I bagged 35 meteors between moonset (04:00) and dawn (06:30). All catch and release, of course, as documented in this composite image. Most meteors traced back towards Orion the Hunter, marking them as likely Orionid meteors — dust from Halley's Comet. Mountains in the middle are (left to right) Heavens Peak, McPartland Mtn. and Mt. Vaught, all in Glacier National Park.

"Old-school Montana"

Montana still has about 60 rural and one-room schools in use today, but that's what's left of the 2,600 we once had. Most have faded into history. And some — like this proud marm wearing a fresh flag — are still flaking, rusting and exhaling back into the prairies.

"Spirit Above, Spirit Within"

The Earth’s rotation around its north-south axis makes the stars seem to spin in circles around Polaris – the north star – above a tepee sculpture near Saint Mary. I spun my red headlamp in a spiral inside to mirror the stars and acknowledge our choice to bring the spirit above into our homes and hearts.

"Moon Mars Saturn Jupiter"

At dusk on 24 July 2018, Jupiter (top right) and Saturn (just below the moon) emerged from the deepening blue, and Saturn (the Greek god of agriculture) accompanied a 94% gibbous moon through the night. After all three had crossed towards the west (left to right), reddish Mars rose above the southeastern horizon, clipping the Blasdel Barn on its westward journey. While Mars was hiding behind the barn, I used my headlamp to make a quick light painting of the faded red walls. Then — after a few hours' sleep — I added the layers together. Moon images 3:00 minutes apart, planet images 1:30 minutes apart. Frank W. Porter built the barn in 1908, and the Blasdel family purchased it in 1945. They sold it to the Fish & Wildlife Service in 1987, and today it is part of the Blasdel Waterfowl Production Area. But really it excels at producing mosquitoes.

"Mt. Reynolds Moonset"

April’s full “Pink Moon” sets behind Mt. Reynolds before dawn, painting thin clouds an appropriate pink.

"Numa Fire Lookout," Glacier National Park

The summer Milky Way fades into a sea of smoke surrounding the Numa fire lookout and Bowman Lake in Glacier National Park.

"Bighorn Canyon Aurora"

The midnight aurora reflects off the water’s surface at Bighorn Canyon, in southeastern Montana.

"Mount Reynolds Eclipse"

The sun laps the moon above Mount Reynolds during an 85% solar eclipse over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park on August 21st, 2017. I knew there would be an abundance of excellent totality photographs, so I decided to look instead for some recognizable scene in Montana. I searched the state for a mountain with a slope that matched that of the sunrise and partial eclipse, settling on one of the best-known locations in Glacier. I picked this location during my scouting trip when I realized that the thin snow field would mirror the eclipse path, complete with a round "eclipse" of rocks. To make the image, I arrived before dawn to set up my cameras/tripods and capture dawn's first light on the mountain top, sans solar filter. Then I programmed the solar-filter protected camera to record images of the sun every 20 seconds, selecting those 2:20 minutes apart for this composite image.

"Flathead Lake Aurora"

Northern lights pulse and sway over Flathead Lake and the sleepy little town of Polson, in northwestern Montana.

"Blueberry Moon"

Blue dusk meets smoky gauze as Sunday evening's full moon rises beyond Great Northern Mountain (right) and Mt. Grant (left). As these mountains belong to the Great Bear Wilderness, I prefer the Ojibwe name for this one, the "Blueberry Moon."

Saint Nicholas Full Moon

The full moon drapes over the shoulders of Mount Saint Nicholas while rising into a dusky-pink sky over Glacier National Park. The moonrise was photographed every 2:11 minutes to make this montage.

"Glacier Park Aurora"

While the Pleiades star cluster rises in the east (top right), northern lights shimmer green in reflection upon Lake McDonald, in Montana's Glacier National Park. Meanwhile, the headlights from passing cars outline the park's winding roadways. If you know where to look, you can even see a car climbing up towards Logan Pass.

"Fire and Rain"

Perseid meteors burn up in the night sky over Lake McDonald after an evening rainstorm left clouds draped over the mountains of Glacier National Park.

"Hidden Lake Shooting Star"

A midnight meteor flashes green in the Milky Way's dust lanes above Hidden Lake and Bearhat Mountain, in Montana's Glacier National Park.

"Gold Butte Meteor"

A bright meteor overpowers the full moon's light on Gold Butte, in Montana's Sweetgrass Hills. This is a nighttime photograph (5:42 a.m.) but the moonlight makes it look like daytime.

"Elevator Meteor"

A bright meteor lights up the sky beyond an abandoned grain elevator near Cut Bank, Montana. The crescent moon peeks around from behind the elevator.

"Evening Prayers"

The chiseled​ face of an ancient elder silently chants an evening prayer that becomes the Milky Way.

"Hidden Lake Milky Way"

The Milky Way rises over Hidden Lake and Bearhat Mountain on a summer night in Montana's Glacier National Park.

"Palisade Falls"

The Big Dipper pours stars into the midnight sky while Palisade Falls pours down 80' of basalt columns, leftover from a prehistoric volcano. The lights of nearby Bozeman paint the thin clouds orange.

"Square Butte Aurora"

A rusting McCormick-Deering tractor watches the northern lights dance on the prairie winds at dawn near Square Butte.

McCormick-Deering 10/20 Tractor

This old tractor is a McCormick-Deering 10/20, said to be one of the most popular tractors of its time. More than 215,000 were produced and sold during its 1929-1939 run. It weighed just a few bolts over 5,000 pounds, and it could pull almost 3,000 pounds in low gear. It featured a 4-cylinder engine that produced 10.9 drawbar and 20.46 belt horsepower. That hole in the front is where the hand crank used to be. This rusty model had steel wheels, but rubber tires became a popular option in the mid-1930's.

Vision Quest

A pictograph panel of seven shield-bearing warriors stands guard over the rising Milky Way. The various Native American rock art drawings in this central Montana location date from 1,000 B.C. to 1850 A.D., with this panel dating between 1400 and 1700 A.D. Large shields such as these pre-date the arrival of horses to Montana, when all of the horse-owning tribes switched to smaller shields that were more manageable at a full gallop.

Mount Reynolds Harvest Moon

It was the Harvest Moon upon rising at sunset. But at sunrise, it was a 99% moon that gracefully exited the stage beyond Mount Reynolds, in Glacier National Park.

Bridge to Times Past

Earth Day 2016, from moon rise to moon set over the Spring Creek railroad trestle, near Lewistown, Montana. This is an interval photograph, with the full moon photographed every three minutes from 8:38 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. the next morning. Combining the frames shows you the moon's dusk to dawn path across the night sky. It was a micro-moon, the smallest full moon of 2016, and Jupiter is visible between clouds near the top right. I don't photograph man-made structures very often, but the full moon passing over this old trestle was too challenging to pass up. The bridge was completed in 1913 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. It's a "single track gauntleted trestle," 1,300 feet long and 80 feet high over the creek. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1977 and was eventually sold in 1985. The Spring Creek trestle was deemed unsafe for use in the 1980's, and ponderosa pine trees now grow between the rails just east of the trestle.

"Butte's Big Butte"

A frosty full moon sets over the "M" on Big Butte above the fogged-in town of Butte, just before dawn on a -6F morning.

Last Sunset

A December 31st sunset silhouettes the fire lookout on Huckleberry Mountain and backlights a ridge of frosted trees. (The sun was safely photographed by using an orange solar filter.)

Going-to-the-Sun

While Mount Reynolds waits in morning twilight (left), Going-to-the-Sun Mountain reaches for the first rays of sunlight on a winter's dawn.

"Comet Lovejoy"

Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1) rises into the winter skies above the fire lookout on Mt. Brown, in Glacier National Park, on December 7th, 2013. Behind the lens. It took four nights in sub-freezing temps before moon phase (new), cloud cover (none) and comet all aligned. On this night the air temp was minus 9F, not counting the wind chill.

"Green and Blue"

On a moonless night over Saint Mary, 2014's Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) visits the blue nebula surrounding the Pleiades star cluster. Lovejoy's green coma is created by diatomic carbon flourescing in ultraviolet light in the near-vacuum of space.

"Dawn Geese."

Canada Geese gather together in the peaceful, pre-dawn light on Lake McDonald, in Glacier National Park, Montana. Behind the lens. It's funny to me that so many of my photographs were made during the early morning (or the wee hours of the night), because I love to sleep in. But every time I'm out and about in those misty, pre-dawn hours, I'm reminded that it really is a peaceful, magical world out there. The light often has this ethereal feeling to it, and even the animals seem different somehow. It's an easy way to get back to your childhood sense of wonder and amazement -- with the help of an big boy sized cup of coffee, of course.

North Fork Meteor

A Leonid meteor flares across the sky over a bend in the North Fork of the Flathead River, along the western flank of Glacier National Park.

Ancient Circles

The night sky appears to circle around Polaris, the North Star, in this time lapse image over Lake McDonald. But it's really the Earth's rotation that is creating the circular star trails. Lake McDonald is a sacred area to traditional Kootenai. For generations the tribe gathered here each spring for the Bear Dance ceremony. The Kootenai name for the lake is "Yakilhaqwilnamki," which translates into "where people dance."

"Old Chief Milky Way"

On a clear Montana night, the 70-million-year-old Chief, Ninaki (wife) and Papoose (baby) Mountains watch in silent reverence as the 13.6 billion-year-old Milky Way Galaxy floats past.

"Silent Night"

The winter Milky Way (left) and bright star, Vega (center) shine through the fog over Lake McDonald, balancing Comet Lovejoy (right) as it rises above Mt. Brown, in Glacier Park. Behind the lens. I spent four below-zero night trying to get this image before the fog, clouds and comet all cooperated. It was minus 9 degrees when I made this image at two o'clock in the morning - without my gloves!

Lovejoy Lookout

Comet Lovejoy (C2014 Q2) sets behind the fire lookout on Huckleberry Mountain, in Glacier National Park, on a -10F degree December night.

Ponder the Night

A ponderosa pine tree watches over the night sky at Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge. Two Lyrid meteors dash across the Milky Way while two bright objects stand out on the right. The reddish supergiant star, Antares, shines through the clouds just below the planet Jupiter.

"Midnight Train"

Under a midnight Milky Way, the headlight beam from a westbound freight train paints the foothills framing Mount St. Nicholas, along the southern edge of Glacier National Park. When the old Great Northern Railway began building this northern-most route over the Rocky Mountains, in August of 1890 at Marias Pass, it set into motion a relationship between the railroad and the park that continues today.

"Waterton Valley Milky Way"

The Milky Way rises from the southern end of the Waterton Valley on a clear, moonless night. The valley straddles the international boundary, where the sister "Peace Parks" of Waterton National Park (Alberta) and Glacier National Park (Montana) meet. The Waterton town site rests at the valley's northern end, while Glacier's highest peak, Mount Cleveland, rises from the valley's southern end.

"Mt. Reynolds Milkyway."

A shooting star (lower center) falls from the early-summer Milkyway above Mt. Reynolds, in the Logan Pass area of Glacier National Park, Montana. Behind the lens. All of the motion in the night sky fascinates me. Mt. Reynolds is one of the most recognizable peaks in Glacier National Park, so I set out to photograph the Milkyway behind it. But on my first try, the Milkyway moved on past the peak before I got the image I wanted. But I was ready on my second try. To me, this is a classic image that represents how the park is timeless to us mere mortals. Generations from now, there will still be stars flying past Mount Reynolds.

"Good Medicine."

The Milky Way stretches across the midnight skies above Sinopah Mountain and Two Medicine Lake, on the east side of Glacier National Park.

"Wild Goose Milkyway."

The summertime milkyway spills out of the sky above Wild Goose Island, in Saint Mary Lake, on the east side of Glacier National Park. Behind the lens. I planned this image in my mind, and then I had to wait almost six months before the Milkyway lined up where I wanted it, right above the island. Between the moon and the weather, I only had one dark (moonless) and clear (cloudless) night to attempt to get the image out of my head and into my camera. And even though it was cloudless, there was lots of drift smoke in the sky from wildfires in British Columbia, hundreds of miles away. Because of the smoke, the stars turned out a little more subtle than those in a clear sky, like "Mt. Reynolds Milkyway."

"Heavens Above."

The Milky Way warms up the night sky above Heaven's Peak, in Glacier National Park, Montana. Behind the lens. Heaven's Peak is a well-known mountain up in Glacier National Park. What better foreground subject for a photograph of the Milkyway? Milkyway photos demand a dark, moonless and cloudless night sky. Otherwise the clouds of stars don't show up very well, if at all. Even under the best conditions, the summertime sky doesn't turn totally dark until 2-3 hours after sunset. Then the first light of dawn starts creeping in 2-3 hours before sunrise. This leaves a darkened window that only lasts about two hours in the mddle of the night. I created this window towards about 3 AM, when the first light of dawn is just starting to appear. So instead of stars on a black background, we get stars on a blueish background. This is a fine splitting of the hairs with background colors, and not all that easy to accomplish. Fortuately, you get to stay home asleep while I work these things out for you...

"Chief Mountain Milky Way."

The summer milky way slides across the midnight sky behind Chief Mountain, in Glacier National Park.

"Ms. Montana"

The statue gracing Montana's capitol building was shrouded in mystery when she arrived at the Helena train depot. No one in Montana seemed to know where she came from or who created her. She stood tall over our state for decades before her history was rediscovered.