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March 11
Up at 5:30am. Super cold this morning. Found out later it was -21
degrees, which is not surprising, since my car had an absolute seizure
when I tried to start it, rocking back and forth like the cylinders
and rods were about to come through the hood. After a 15 minute
warm-up, I was off. Saw a beautiful sunrise at the Window. Started
to take pics along the Castle Trail (just across the road from the
Window), and somehow just kept going, despite achingly frozen feet.
It was just so beautiful with the bright sunshine on blinding white
snow, jagged pinnacles rising 200 ft into a clear blue sky.
Animal tracks everywhere. Grasses (56 species here) coated with
frost and glistening in the sun, standing out starkly against deep
blue shadows in the snow. It was calm again at sunrise, but the
wind picked up with time (as usual). My feet would begin to warm
as I trudged through the snow, but then I'd stop for photos and
they'd freeze again. Hard to walk when you can't tell how deep the
snow is. I'd get surprised from time to time, sinking in to my hip.
Walked out to the old Northeast Road, then back along the main road,
taking pics, until I got back to the car. Had a frozen snickers
and bagel while I cranked the heat. After that I did the Saddle
Pass Trail up to the top of the Wall. Cool mushrooms (cap rock)
along the way, and wind-blown cornices on top. Often I see mule
deer footprints outlined in blown snow as if fossilized...
...left at 2pm to drive out to the Pinnacles
Overlook for sunset. Sunny, but the wind was screaming, shaking
the car. Snow was blowing up the cliff and over my car. In many
spots in the distance I saw snow blowing up and over various ridges
and pinnacles. Spotted two bison far away munching, oblivious, on
a sod table. Amazing how the cold doesn't seem to affect them. So
well adapted. As usual, clouds screwed up the sunset at the last
minute, so I returned home and played volleyball with coworkers
and locals at the school in Interior.
March 12
It was much warmer when I walked out the door at 5:15 this morning
than it was yesterday. Nice change. The near full moon was obscured
by a bank of clouds, but the lower edge of the clouds was lit white
by beautiful rim light as the moon began to appear from underneath.
In the east, the sky hinted the approach of daylight. I drove out
the old NE entrance road, and started out Castle Trail to the west,
quickly trudging through the snow. I finally got into position to
shoot the full yellow moon as it descended towards the snow-covered
buttes. In the distance, the dark shapes of mule deer bounded away,
like Pepe LePew, when they became aware of my presence, their white
rumps visible before they disappeared behind a sod table. Around
me, birds sang and trilled to bring in the new day. The prairie
breeze hushed through the dormant grasses, bowed over to the south
in submission from the incessant northerlies. Somewhere, a pack
of coyotes let their voices be heard. They barked, howled, and screamed
like banshees at the setting full moon. From another direction,
a second pack answered these howls with their own, and the exchange
between the packs lasted for some time. I continued on, shuffling
through the knee-deep snow, so light and fluffy that it seemed to
flow around me as I walked. Behind me, the sun was struggling to
emerge from behind scattered clouds. It intermittently lit up sections
of the Wall to the south, and added flickering bits of candlelight
to the high cirrus clouds above. The ramparts and spires to the
west suddenly became bathed in yellow light. The mule deer that
had earlier scattered before me stood in dark silhouette against
the well-lit backdrop. Again, they bounded away at my approach.
As the sun broke free, the sparkling snow turned from a pastel blue
to a blinding white, dramatically setting off the clearest, deepest,
sky-blue imaginable. It was a winter wonderland I had all to myself...
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