We received a lot of free water last week from the summer thunderstorms that rolled through. On the fourth day, the energy in the clouds let loose producing a hail storm of nickel-sized ice rocks for about ten minutes. With that quick expenditure of energy, the storm broke up and then tried to reorganize as it floated east but it was too late in the day. That was OK as it put on an aerial show for the next twelve hours all around The Ranch. The lightning though fifteen to twenty miles away to the east was spectacular and that’s what got me out to look overhead. The sun as it squeezes over The Bitterroots produces some gorgeous sunsets but not all are a photograph. On this evening the pastels were drop-dead dreamy so I ran out with the Z 9 / Z14-24 and pointed up to make the simple click. Then as the color faded the moon peaked out, so I switched to the Z70-200f2.8 with the Z1.4x attached and made another click. With the slow movement of the storm and with the humidity so high, my thoughts turned to the morning sunrise and the possibilities.

At 05:11 I was out with the Z 9 / Z24-120 and man, the heavens put on a whole new show that was glorious! I’m so glad we have no neighbors who can see what I do as I ran up the slope beside the ravine in just sweat pants and flaps racing the bursting color. The air was still on the ground but still moving overhead changing the light and color story with every step I took racing uphill. I didn’t need any coffee, I was already pumped up enough as the heavens exploded as light streamed around lighting up the snow-covered peaks to the west and the Sapphires to the east. Wow! By 06:00 the skies were nearly bald, the clouds continuing their journey east. What a treasure to witness! There are times, you gotta point up!

Get your MIOPS out, update the firmware and head towards them storms! Its summer and the thunderheads are calling us out to play. The key is watching the winds and staying so the winds are blowing the storm along the front in front of you and not driving the storm at you. You might want to use one of the many great apps available now to track the lighting strikes as a guide where you should set up. Depending on the time of day, I use either Aperture Priority or Manual exposure mode. Daylight hours are Aperture and darkness is Manual. Otherwise the MIOPS does all the heavy lifting. Have two days of big activity coming this weekend in the Bitterroots … can’t wait!

At this point, many have heard about the floods that have scoured out the northern parts of Yellowstone Nat’l Park. While there was some real tragedy that took place, flooding is a natural event. Flooding use to be a common occurrence until man built dams in part to control flooding. In this case, the limited road system of Yellowstone took a hit in some sections prompting the closing of the park. It is now in stages of reopening with the southern loop now reopened. While this seems like a huge disaster, think of this from the perspective of the park, the trees, rocks, geysers and critters. The pandemic gave the park a chance to take a deep breath and now, with some natural house cleaning, an opportunity to renew and grow. It gets to do this without the pressure of us! Yellowstone is an amazing and gorgeous place for sure! Keep that in mind and look at the positive that the critters and the park’s infrastructure will get some sorely needed time to repair and improve!