Late Fall Update

A little music to accompany the read...


Well, its been a while since I've put anything on here. I figure tonight is as good a time as any. The summer has long faded away and the gales of November have blown dry for much of the last 30 days. Still, December was kind enough to stroll in carrying a few inches of snow. In about two weeks I will say goodbye to Michigan for what I hope is a long, long time. I love my friends and family here, but the mountains are calling me everyday.

This time of year tends offer up some great sunsets to this part of the world...






Fall puts us indoors more often...gotta love pool tables...such a great place to shoot some photos.



These next two are from a big party we had at my buddy Matt's house. He lives in this little town in rural Michigan and has a bunch of musician friends that jammed through the night.

Here's a town local, Pat. He's got a lot of stories to tell.


In a moment, the drummer summed up the energy of the whole night.


Late fall means swells start to line up (screenshot courtesy of the surfgrandhaven webcam)...


and the days get dreary..




but then end like this...


Still, the best part of late fall in lower Michigan has to be the fact that it inevitably becomes winter; with the onset of winter comes snowboarding...



I'll be hitting up Caberfae on Saturday for my first day of the '10-'11 season. This will be my 16th year riding, and I can't describe how excited I am to be getting back to the mountains...see you in a few weeks CO. I'll be ready.

Lowest Recorded Barometric Pressure on US Mainland.....Ever

Yep...happened in my backyard today. Well, ok specifically speaking the record was at the center of the massive low-pressure system that brought several feet of snow to the mountains out west, and 60+ mph winds and torrential rains to the heartland. But hey, climate change isn't real right?

A look at the system (screenshot from NOAA's website)


On my way home from school today, I figured that there might be a good opportunity for a great sunset shot down at the lake tonight. However, as I got into Muskegon it was clear that the holes in the clouds I had seen on my way home were becoming less frequent and the prospects for good light were fading quickly. I got down to Pere Marquette Beach where it seemed like 1/3rd of Muskegon's population was hanging out watching the waves crash over the lighthouse. I couldn't help but laugh at all the people with their point and shoot camera's out taking pics in horrible light, using their flash. Man, I wanna see some of those shots :D

Any way, I parked near the water filtration plant and waited, and waited, and waited for good light. There was a point when the sun poked through the clouds in as a glowing orange orb casting decent light on the lighthouse, but I wasn't quite set up yet; and to be honest, I felt that if I shot anything at that time that it would be awfully cliche as everyone has shots of the Muskegon lighthouse. An isolated patch of rain rolled though and it looked like all was lost save for one potential sucker hole I could see behind the rain. I went back to my car disappointed that I didn't get down to the beach sooner thinking that the night was a bust and as I started my drive home in the fading rain when I noticed that the smokestacks at the old Paper mill were starting to glow with a familiar hue. Looking around, the sucker hole that I had my eye on was now passing overhead. I drove as quickly as I could (legally) to Kruse park to capture what was left of the fading light. This was the result of my efforts. Hope you dig it, because it almost didn't happen.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation Pt.2

Long post warning!!!! My advice is to grab a beer and enjoy...

I'm a bit late with this post, but now that school has fired up again updating my blog has unfortunately fallen toward the bottom of my list of priorities....

I returned to Muskegon for a week after my trip to Colorado and Wyoming before heading out to Oregon to do my research on the Clackamas River near Portland. The week at home was weird. It didn't so much feel like home anymore, especially since the majority of my summer was spent out west.

The plan was to get into Portland a week before our research started and just hang out and enjoy the amazing Pacific Northwest in the summer. My friend Dave was cool enough to let me crash at his pad while he was away at some music festival, so I had a free place to stay in downtown Portland. I spent the week chillin', hanging out at the infamous Bunside skatepark, riding Dave's bike around town like some crazed bike messenger weaving through traffic and generally having a blast. My friend Danielle came up from Tahoe and we hung out for a day, went hiking and grabbed some drinks downtown. All in all, Portland was good to me, and I can't wait to get back there....whenever the winds blow me in that direction again.


A couple of cloud shots from my flight from Grand Rapids to Portland...



This thunderhead reminds me of a UFO or something...



Although I'd been to Portland a few times before; this was my first time in by air. You get a great look at Hood on your final approach, and while not nearly as impressive as the view of Rainier you get on the way into Seattle, its still a sure sign you're in the Pacific Northwest.

I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason I always feel very much at home in the Northwest. I don't know if its how green everything is on the western side of the Cascades, or if its the down to earth attitude of the people out there, or what; but the Northwest feels like somewhere I belong.

As I said, I spent a few of my days in Portland hanging out at the infamous Burnside skatepark.
If you're a skater, you HAVE to get to Burnside at some point in your life. The place is incredible, and has a wild vibe. My advice if you go is to remember that a 6pack of cold ones goes a long way as a peace offering.

A couple of shots from Burnside. You can see all the action I got from the park here.

Jivaro Wheels' Willis Kimbel with a nice 5-0 through the pocket.





Another Oregon ripper, Mason Merlino with a nice nosegrab.


And a stupidly styled-out stalefish...


I apologize for not having more pictures of Portland, but I'm not really big into shooting urban landscapes...

My time in Portland came to a close and it was off to Estacada to meet my professor to begin our work on the Clackamas. I won't bore you with the details of our research work, but essentially we were looking for some rocks he had dumped in the river 7 years ago. The research we were doing was related the re-licensing of a dam just upstream and had implications for the yearly Salmon runs on the Clackamas. We stayed at Milo McIver state park for the duration of our 10days on the Clackamas which was an experience in and of itself. On the upside though, the blackberries were in prime season and it was pretty easy to get a bunch of them for pancakes in the morning.


Blackberries....reason 8,347 that the Pacific Northwest is better than where you live.



We spent most of the 10 days on the Clackamas sorting through river gravels looking for our quartzite. (photo cred:Peter Wampler)



Here's Peter on top of a huge pile of augmented gravel on the Clackamas.



We took a day off and drove up the Clackamas to Mt. Hood and Timberline Lodge/Ski Area. It was rad! The lifts on Hood turn through the summer and I really wanted to go riding, but I didn't have board with me. Desperate times call for desperate measures.


Testing out the rocker and flex on next years Burton "2x4". (photo cred: Peter Wampler)



It always trips me out to visit someplace I've ridden in the winter during the summer. In the winter you'd never know this rock was there. (photo cred: Peter Wampler)



After our work on the Clackamas was done we were lucky enough to score the last 5 permits on the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River in southern Oregon. The Rogue is a world-class whitewater destination and we got to spend two days running the almost continuous class II-III-IV rapids.

We were joined on this adventure by Peter's former field assistant, his girlfriend, and his Dad. Daniel and his Dad, Gary have been running the Rogue for over 20 years and know the river like the back of their hands. They were a great asset to have with us on the water, and good company to boot.

Here they are running the center chute on Rainey Falls. (not sure why there is no audio) (filmed by:Peter Wampler)



The Rogue was incredible, and I definitely hope I get a chance to get back there and run that river again sometime.
Photo cred: Peter Wampler



These next couple are from where we camped on the river. We got a little rain that morning, but nothing too major.

Star Trail





Standing knee deep in the river to get the shot that follows.(photo cred: Peter Wampler)





Scouting the very technical Blossom Bar Rapids. (photo cred: Mercy Ray)



We had jumped off some ~30ft cliffs on our first day on the river, and Gary wondered if I would be so gung ho about hucking my meat off of the alleged 65footer downstream. I made no promises as I had never jumped off of anything bigger than about 30 on my board, or into water; but when I laid eyes on the 65footer, I knew that I had to do it. Sorry for the sideways video. I don't know how to fix that...if anyone does, please let me know. Thanks.



We got off the River and had made plans to stay with Peter's brother Steve in Bandon, OR which is situated on the southern Oregon coast. Bandon is a small town and Peter and I decided by about our second or third day there that Bandon would make the perfect setting for a Steven King novel. We were there for 4 or 5 days and only had one day of sun. The rest of the time it was super foggy, in the upper 50s to low 60s, and always in the background was the sound of the harbor's foghorn. Still, coastal life is pretty laid back, and I could get used to it there. Here are some shots from our time in Bandon.

I told you it was eery/dreary...



Still, we did get one killer sunset while we were there.



While we were there, Peter and I caught crabs. (the good kind)



And picked mussels for dinner off the rocks about a 10min walk from Steve's place.



With our time on the coast drawing to an end we headed up to Coos Bay before starting our Journey back east. Our first stop on our way back East was to be Crater Lake, OR. We camped in the Deschutes National forest on the night of my birthday, and landed a kick-ass spot near a pristine little creek.


Happy birthday to me...no other way I'd rather spend it to be honest. Surrounded by big trees, solitude and a couple of barley sodas...life is good.



The water in this creek was stupid cold, and stupid good. We probably didn't even need to filter it; but diarrhea and long road trips aren't exactly ideal bedfellows.



By the time we got up to the top of Mt. Scott at Crater Lake the next day, the light was shit, but here's a shot from there any way.



After Crater, we motored on through Oregon and stayed way out in the Eastern Oregon desert. I can't even remember the name of the place we stayed, it was that insignificant. The next morning we rolled into Idaho and Boise where we met up with a friend from Grand Valley that is now a grad student at Boise State. We had lunch with her and her Dad, and another GVSU alum before hitting the road once again this time headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument.

We arrived at Craters of the moon just before the sun fell behind the huge ridge to the west, so I scrambled to get my tent set up so that I could take advantage of the light that lingers in the summer evenings.


Peter and I took a hike around Craters in the morning and I popped off a few shots under increasingly harsher light.










From Craters we rolled on up through Idaho skirting along the batholiths Eastern flanks before arriving at Lewis And Clark Caverns State Park for the night. Guess what? I took photos there too.





The following day we drove from Western Montana all the way to the Badlands of South Dakota. We arrived as the sun was just starting to drop below the horizon, but the light lingered long enough for me to pop off this shot...


here's a behind the scene's look from a little earlier in that shoot. (photo: Peter Wampler)



Peter has a tradition in the Badlands known as, "Beer, Buffalo, and The Badlands". The tradition states that any time he is in the Badlands he must make giant Buffalo Burgers, drink some beer and enjoy the beauty of the Badlands. This is the kind of tradition that becomes legendary. Here I am happily partaking in the triple B.(photo cred: Peter Wampler)



One of the toughest parts of being a landscape photography enthusiast and a late-riser is the fact that some of the best light of the day occurs within +/- 45 minutes of sunrise. However, if you wanna get good shots, sacrifices must be made. So the next morning we were up before the sun so that we could take advantage of the incredible dance of light and shadow that takes place in the Badlands.

Here are the rewards...















I really want to go back to the Badlands and spend a week or two there so that I can fully explore the area. The potential for amazing images at that location is off the charts!

We continued east through the plains before stopping for one last night along the banks of the Mississippi River near Davenport, IA. Unfortunately, our campground was located about 150ft from some train tracks that had freight coming by about every hour through the duration of the night. Aside from that small detail, it was quite pleasant.

The mighty Mississip under a full moon.



All in all the trip to Oregon was a great way to round out what has been arguably the most memorable summer of my life thus far. Thanks to everyone that took part in any of these adventures. It was a great time and we'll have to do it again sometime.