Into the Bighorn Mountains

Of the many genres of photography, the one I find most frustrating to practice is landscape. I find it impossible to capture the subtle nuances, the colors and the light that make up a spectacular view.









I bring this up because yesterday, my team left town for the first time for a hike in the Bighorn Mountains in Tongue River Canyon near the Wyoming-Montana border. While it is wonderful to wake up every morning to gorgeous mountains peeking over the horizon, I had been anxious to actually visit the peaks, to go out there and immerse myself nature. While it was by no means the most beautiful place I've ever been, I was not at all disappointed.







Fall fades into winter early in the shaded canyon, leaving the land stark and cold. Portions of the trail are peppered with patches of snow that melt in the intermittent sunlight, leaving behind soggy quagmires stained with muddy footprints. The rest is paved with chalky, white gravel and a carpet of pine cones and needles. Lining the pathway is a snarl of spiky, golden grasses, spindly branches, and brown, fallen leaves sheathed in thin wafers of ice like gossamer flotsam, remnants of colorful mountain brush and wildflowers that bloomed just months earlier.









But you have to look at the big picture to truly appreciate the grandeur and beauty of the mountains. The canyon is a collection of angular limestone facades that look like gargantuan faces watching over the Tongue River like sentinels. The black cliffs are streaked with a rusty brown, almost as if they had been painted but were washed and weathered over time. Below, the frigid green river waters froth to white over the smooth river rocks.









Our team went in the early afternoon, so the sunlight split the canyon. As we walked, we would stumble upon warmth and the unexpected glare of golden rays glancing of the pine needles and through barren branches.



Despite my best efforts, I could never truly capture for you the serenity of that excursion. But how could I not try? It's an obsessive tendency of mine to want to document everything, but who wouldn't want to capture such beauty in the mind's eye, to preserve and savor such a lovely moment indefinitely? You may accuse me of waxing poetic, but the truth is I would never be able to accurately express the perfection of God's creation, not even with a million words.



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The challenging hike was a wonderful bonding experience for the team, and great exercise. There were plenty of steep switchbacks leading to a cave tucked in the woods and beautiful bridge that provided awesome photo opportunities.