Stories

  • Shoot for the Stars

    Last night, I had some folks over from the photo club for a little get together and fun. We grilled burgers, sat around the fire, and played with our cameras. We were mostly interested in shooting the night sky. I’ve shot the stars before, but last night might be my most successful attempt yet. Shooting the night sky is rather difficult, but it can be quite rewarding. One can end up with an image with more stars in it than the eye can see. The problem is that stars are not very bright, so to capture enough light, you have…

  • Upper Basin Trail

    View Upper Basin Trail in a larger map The Upper Basin Trail is a 5 mile loop in the upper basin of Elk Creek just north of Elk River The trail is near the giant western red cedar, thought to be the largest tree in the U.S. east of the Sierra-Cascade crest. The loop is also near the Morris Cedar Grove, another grove of large old-growth red cedar. unfortunately, the road to the Morris Grove was closed and blocked off on Saturday. If you’re looking for a difficult challenge, the Upper Basin loop is not for you. The trail was…

  • Bad Ass Sunset

    Last night was full of bad-assery. Yeah, that’s right, it was so bad-ass that I made up a word to describe it. After a cold spell, temperatures quickly rose into the 80’s yesterday making for a hot and somewhat muggy day. The conditions were ripe for evening thunderstorms. As I arrived home, I heard reports on the radio that there were some severe storms just west of Orofino. But looking around, all I saw was sunshine and blue skies. The storms were passing to the south of us. As I was washing my car, dark clouds crept in over the…

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    Kamiak Butte

    The Palouse, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. The Palouse is made up of rolling hills covered in wheat and barley fields. This area was historically a prairie, so there were few trees to begin with. A few of these hills rise up well above the rest, remnants of a time when the region was more active volcanically. Kamiak Butte is one such high point, located less than 10 miles north of Pullman. The north slope is covered by a lush and beautiful forest, protected as a county park for all to enjoy. The park offers a picnic area, a campground,…

  • Hells Canyon

    Panoramic View from our vantage point, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. This story begins with Luke and I itching to get out into the backcountry. Although it’s the middle of June, the combination of an unusually cold and wet Spring with the very productive winter has left many of the high country destinations (above 5000 ft.) still buried under 100+ inches of snow in places. And even some of the lower areas are still blocked with impassible snow drifts on the road. This makes our options quite limited. The one place we’re sure to have access is Hells Canyon. With…

  • Personal Updates

    It’s been an eventful week, and I should have posted more often, but I’ve been busy and tired and uninspired to write. So I’ll give you the update on the past week, and then some. Last Monday was our actual anniversary, and even though we celebrated the week before with a getaway to Oregon, we still wanted to make the day special. We decided to drive up to Spokane, spend some time at REI, and have a nice dinner. For the longest time, I’ve been desiring a GPS unit for the trail, in part because trail maps for Idaho are…

  • Weekend Getaway, Part III

      Day 3: Canyons It’s a week later and I’m only now getting to the end of our romantic weekend away to celebrate our anniversary. Saturday was our third and final full day in Oregon. Thursday we had a nice scenic road trip to Enterprise. Friday, we explored the mountains. And Today (a week ago), we explored the canyons. Hells Canyon is a remarkable geologic feature. It’s deeper than the Grand Canyon, and on both sides it’s flanked by two major canyons. On the Idaho side, it’s the Salmon River with the Seven Devils creating the wall between the two….

  • Our Weekend Away, part II

    Sacajawea, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. Day 2 Friday morning, I woke up in time to catch the sun rising over the Seven Devils. I went outside with the camera to catch the morning glow on the snow-capped peaks of the Wallowas as the sun rose in the sky. It was a beautiful morning, and quite warm, even at 6:00. We were told that it was the first time this season that breakfast was hosted outside. Breakfast was amazing. Each breakfast starts out with fruit and yogurt with their own home-made granola. Erin had some toast from her bread. I…

  • Our Weekend Getaway: Wallowa Country

      Introduction Almost one year ago, I married the most wonderful girl in the world. Unfortunately, we did not have time to take a nice honeymoon. We spent the night after the wedding at the luxurious Bedford Springs resort, but that was it. Our intentions were to take a trip later in the year, but as winter break approached, we had neither the time nor the funds for a romantic getaway. The winter was long and cold, and still we weren’t able to get away. But finally, as the semester ended and Erin had some long weekends in her schedule,…

  • Home Theater

    A few weeks ago, we received our federal tax return, and with the First Time Homebuyer tax credit, we got quite a hefty sum. The bulk of that money is going right back into the property with a few home improvement projects. But we took a small chunk and set it aside to complete the entertainment system. So I went ahead and bought a receiver and a set of speakers. What a difference it makes. I’m not new to the 5.1 surround scene. In college, I had a shelf stereo system that was actually an all-in-one theater system: a 3…