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Plants lit by the moon. (click to enlarge image)

I heard a condor yesterday, or rather felt it. I was at the Cape Royal overlook, about a 20 mile drive from the cabin scouting out locations that would make good night photos. It was just me and two other young men on an outcrop of rock, I heard a whooshing sound like wind through trees. Suddenly the sound was directly overhead then ahead of me, like the Doppler effect of a car or plane. I looked up and saw the huge wingspan of a black bird receding in the distance – a California condor. It had glided on an updraft and flown over the viewpoint astonishing me and all the visitors. I, of course, was too startled to take any photos. But the North Rim information guide says the condors are making a comeback after almost disappearing in the 1980s.

The moon is a great source for illuminating big landscapes at night. In photographs the light can enable you to see details of the earth while still seeing the stars. The main problem is you have to go by the moon’s schedule. Last night/this morning it meant waking up at 1:30 am and heading out to Bright Angel Point for the 2:25 am moonrise. It rose looking very orange from haze on the horizon, casting a warm glow over the formations. The air was very still so I experimented with shooting a close-up of a plant (picture above). The exposures are 15 seconds long, so the slightest breeze can blur the subject, it was remarkably calm so the plants came out very sharp.

Moonlight on the rocks.

South Rim Village lights glaring on the horizon.

This looks like a pretty good view to me but maybe a better one 100 yds down the trail.

Me in the Volunteer outfit in front of the artist cabin. The canyon is off to the right side. (Click on images to enlarge)

After driving through occasional downpours on my way from Flagstaff, I arrived to a sunny North Rim on Wednesday afternoon. I’m here for three weeks as the artist-in-residence, a great honor since they only picked five for the summer season. Ranger Robin Tellis filled me in on the details and issued me volunteer uniform tops (long and short sleeves), a fleece jacket, a rain jacket and a cap. Plus an Artist-In-Residence name plate. I’m semi-official looking, though I hope no one asks questions about the Vishnu Schist or various layers in the canyon.

A cloud floating UP out of the canyon.

They house the artist in a rustic cabin among the various cabins that the staff live in. It’s great, a nice work room/kitchen plus a separate bedroom. It’s also hard to beat the location, the cabin is about 100 feet or so from the canyon rim. I met my neighbors, rangers who work in different jobs around the north rim, all really friendly. I took a short walk along the Transept Trail, which goes along the edge of the rim. The view was pretty spectacular, no matter which direction you looked. Occasionally wispy clouds would float up out of the canyon like fog. I walked past some campsites next to the trail that had amazing views. It wasn’t quiet, the dull roaring noise was the wind blowing through the tall pine trees, but it was almost a relaxing sound. I hear it at night from inside the cabin. For the sunset I drove to the Visitor Center/Grand Canyon Lodge complex and walked out to Bright Angel Point, which looks out south, with views to the west and east. Orangish light illuminated the tops of the distant formations in the east while billowing clouds provided an equally amazing view to the west.

Sunset from Bright Angel Point.

Sunset and Juniper branches.

The sky cleared and it was a nice but breezy night for stargazing. I walked out to Bright Angel Point, just out from the Grand Canyon Lodge which is a really impressive historical hotel made from wood. Walking along the rim trail I looked through the pine trees and saw bright “clouds”, which turned out to be the Milky Way. Coming out on a clearing the whole expanse of the galaxy was seen. It was quite an impressive sight, every feature could be clearly seen. At over 8,000 feet and after the storm cleared through the air was nearly pristine. Around 1:15 am in the morning the clouds began returning and I headed back to the cabin.

The Milky Way arching across the southern sky.

We have really met all kinds of people here in Cody and Powell and today we met the son of a man who applied for cattle grazing rights on Mars. That is the planet Mars, as it is referred to in 1946 documents. He was rejected and instead was offered land on Pluto. Russ Rauchfuss remembers growing up on the homestead established by his father and mother along the main highway between Cody and Powell. The May 19 blog had a picture of a red, white and blue tank next to a barracks building. Russ painted that in 1968 or ’69. But the real story for the blog is Herman, Russ’ father. Herman served as a pilot in the Pacific during WWII, returned to Wyoming and found himself one of the first recipients of a homestead in the Heart Mountain District and bought a barracks for $1.00. His wife was a model and stayed in Wyoming to help Herman work the land. Russ continues to live part-time in the house composed of a former barracks.

Mars grazing rights? (Click on image to enlarge, easier to read the clippings)

Clippings and a letter from 1946, articles from 1976 after the Viking landings on Mars.

In February 1946 Herman and friend Henry Schmidt applied to the local office of the U.S. grazing service for grazing rights on Mars. Unfortunately they were rejected, but District Grazier James S. Andrews offered Herman and Henry rights on Pluto, described as approximately 3 ½ billion miles from Wyoming. Apparently they also expressed a desire to obtain the street car franchise on the Moon. The commissioner of the General Land office in Washington, D.C. wrote to tell Herman that “Neither of these proposed land uses is under the jurisdiction of this office”. So, not exactly a rejection from the precursor to the Bureau of Land Management. In fact, the commissioner left open the possibility that if “…lands on Mars, the Moon or other planets…” are designated public lands of the United States, the pair might have an actual claim! Read all about it in the many newspaper clippings saved by Russ.

Russ Rauchfuss in a former barracks building, used as a “honey house” for the family beekeeping business.

As Sharon and I were driving on a small back road later in the day, we saw a small group of deer bounding through the brush off to our right. They came close to the road and stopped and stared at us as we drove. I stopped the car and the deer stood there, ears alert, just staring at us. It was quite eerie to see them close and not afraid. So we took a few pictures and drove on. I wonder what the deer were thinking?

Curious deer.

Heart Mountain signs. (Click image to enlarge)

Pouring rain limited our outdoors work yesterday to pretty much nothing. Got lots of editing done and organizing of the photos by subject matter. It was interesting to go over all the images to see how many homesteaders we photographed and how many barracks. Still need to work on getting the right light on a few scenes of barracks and Heart Mountain, maybe we’ll get better weather on Memorial Day.

In the meantime, I had shot a series of signs that incorporated “Heart Mountain” or a graphic image of the mountain a few days ago. The peak is very distinctive and it sounds like Heart Mountain has been used to refer to this region for quite a while. The May 20 blog has the Powell Tribune logo. Three of the signs in today’s photo are from Powell, the blue community sign that lines the main streets, the Skyline Café and Crosswalk Center, a Christian library. In Ralston, a tiny town between Powell and Cody are the Heart Mountain Hearing Center (which shares space in a former barrack building with St. Nick Knaks). Just down the road is the Heart Mountain Pub, which had two great signs, one that calls it “Jimmy’s Heart Mountain Pub” (above a taxidermy sign) and the other a nicely psychedelic version with our mountain peak at the center.

Hatsuko Mary Higuchi talks about “Manzanar Guard Tower” and “Unfinished Business: Hardship and Suffering”. (Click on images to enlarge)

Sharon and I are really hitting the cultural circuit here. We attended an exhibit of art by Hatsuko Mary Higuchi Thursday evening at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. She was in the Poston, Arizona camp as a child and has recently done paintings and multimedia artwork on the incarceration experience. Many incorporate text or concepts like camp blueprints as the base of what she paints over. Higuchi gave a nice talk about her personal life that was followed by questions.

Afterwards, I asked her which Poston camp she was in; that particular camp was so large it was divided into three sections. My parents were in Camp 3, so was Higuchi’s family. She asked me if I knew a photographer named Sachi Cunningham, I said, yes, that I know her from the Asian American Journalists Association annual conventions. Sachi is Higuchi’s niece and we were both surprised by the coincidence.

Lois Spiering with son Kelly and daughter-in-law Sylvia, the daughters planting the garden.

Earlier in the day we met with Lois Spiering and her family. Her and her late husband Jim homesteaded and son Kelly still runs a farm on the family land. It’s increased now to over 600 acres. A daughter who just returned from college in Virginia couldn’t wait to get back to working on the farm. Kelly’s wife Sylvia said another daughter went away to school and said she missed the wind of the Big Horn Basin. “Who could ever miss the wind?” asked Sylvia. We took the portrait of Lois, Kelly and Sylvia with several of the daughters planting the garden, ponderosa pine trees planted as a windbreak by Jim almost 70 years ago towering in the background.

Early morning sun on the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

Even earlier in the day I got up to see the sky relatively clear and a chance to have some blue sky in the photos and not gray rainclouds. As I drove towards Powell, I saw an amazing sight, a layer of fog above farmland just below Heart Mountain. I pulled over to get some shots of the scene, then drove on to the Interpretive Center to try an idea I saw earlier in the week. The sun rose brightly illuminating the barrack shaped buildings and the mountain top.

The camp hospital boiler room smokestack.

Just before the art exhibition, I wandered around the camp hospital boiler house smokestack, which still stands on a hill above the interpretive center, Heart Mountain visible on the horizon. The dramatic structure, preserved through work of local people, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and grants, provided endless opportunities in the late afternoon sun.

The Bright family homestead sign. (Click on images to enlarge.)

We spent a few hours in Powell today and had lunch with Rowene Weems, the director of the Homesteader Museum. Turns out she is an avid photographer so we talked cameras for a bit. Back at the museum Sharon spent time copying many of the historic photos they have in their digital archive, so I walked around the town taking photos of all the Heart Mountain related signs.

Awning at the Powell Tribune.

The mountain is such a presence in the area it becomes an icon that people identify with. The distinctive silhouette of the peak shows up in many logos and signs. On the masthead and the front of the building of the Powell Tribune is a rendering of the mountain. I’ll post more in the next few days.

American Legion flag box.

We had seen this mailbox earlier in the day outside the American Legion Hughes-Pittinger Post #26 and I returned to photograph it. Turns out it is not a mailbox, but a collection box for flags. Inside the door at the top of the box it states, “Not a mailbox”.

The sun, which we hadn’t seen in days, began to peak out from the clouds, so we took advantage and headed out to photograph the Bright homestead, where we were yesterday. They have a really whimsical sign hanging from a tree as you enter the property, calling their land, Bright Acres, Homesteaded 1949. (See top photo). In the whole scheme of things 1949 doesn’t sound very old, but the date is significant since it means they were one of the original Heart Mountain District homesteaders.

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

I’ve mentioned the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center but haven’t shown a photo of the whole building. It’s quite striking, resembling three barracks in a row in the dimensions of the original structures. This view to the southeast towards highway 14A give you an idea of the size of the museum and the setting among the farms on either side of the road. It’s a remarkable center and well worth seeing.

The line to buy an autographed book from Phyllis Preator. (Click on images to enlarge).

On Tuesday we find ourselves back at the Sunset House Restaurant just a few blocks from our rental house in Cody for a luncheon of the Park County Historical Society at the invitation of Ladonna Zall, a board member of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and curator and docent at the interpretive center. We saw some familiar faces from last nights’ Pahaska Corral Westerners meeting. We were introduced as today’s guests and Sharon gave a plug for our homesteaders/barracks project. Phyllis Preator, author of “Behind the Shadows- McCulloch Peaks, Early History and Stories”, about the nearby mountain range, was the featured speaker. She was wore a striking fringed leather vest and recounted her early days in the area and riding horses in the McCulloch Peaks.

Three generations of Brights in the original homestead house.

Later in the day we headed to the Bright homestead as rain began to fall in Cody. Harley and Alison Bright had homesteaded in 1949 but live in Powell now. Their son Gary and his family now live in his parents original home made from a barrack on the homestead land. Gary brought his parents to the house today and we got to meet most of the family. They knew a lot about the history of the Bright homestead and about the barracks that became the house. Gary’s wife Sharon showed us where the Japanese American incarcerees cut vents next to the window frames in the walls of the barracks for ventilation since the windows would not open. The vent was long covered on the outside, but the Brights had kept the screen in place and the small wood door that could close off the vent.

Inside door of a vent (open) on the right and closed on the left.

The Pahaska Corral of Westerners during the Monday meeting. (click on images to enlarge)

We got home late Monday night, so I’m posting Tuesday morning. We attended the monthly meeting of the Pahaska Corral of Westerners at the Sunset House Restaurant in Cody last night. The featured speaker was Brian Liesinger, executive director of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, the group that runs the Interpretive Center. We had met Brian last week at the center and then in Shell where we photographed the barracks that the center plans to move to Powell.

According to the Billing Gazette, “The Pahaska Corral of Westerners is the local chapter of Westerner International, an organization dedicated to stimulating interest and research in the history of the American West.” We weren’t sure what the meeting would be like, but it turned out to be a nice dinner (no host) at the Sunset House. I bought Sharon and me a raffle ticket for $1.00 each to win a book on Wyoming mining, but we didn’t win. You are obliged to wear western duds, if you don’t you are fined one quarter. My denim Uniqlo shirt and Eastern Mountain Sports trousers didn’t qualify, so I placed a quarter in the jar, which you also contributed to if you cussed.

Before the dinner, Sheriff Jeremy Johnston (not an actual sheriff but the president of the corral) led us in a salute of a buffalo skull, which I think was referred to as Buffalo Bill. New attendees introduced ourselves, so Sharon was able to put a plug in for our project.

Brian gave a very nice talk on ‘misery” but weaved interesting connections with romanticized views of the west and hardships undergone by camp incarcerees, homesteaders and others. The audience of about 35 were receptive and asked many questions about the camp and its relation to the Cody-Powell region.

“Tiny” Collar by her home, a former barrack.

Earlier in the day we met “Tiny” Collar at her original homestead where the 88 year-old still lives in the former barrack transformed into a house. She described two of the storage buildings on the property as being reconstructed by her late husband out of reclaimed lumber from other barracks.

A couple of shots from Monday.

A patriotic tank next to a barrack with extensive renovations on the main highway.

Tar paper peeling off a barrack at the Jolovich farm.

The Big Dipper points to Polaris near the roof of Laverne Solberg’s garage. (Click on image to enlarge)

We had a great day of discoveries in our search for barracks. Despite the cloudy weather, I observed the Big Dipper and Polaris this morning! Pulling up to Laverne Solberg’s house I looked up at the front of his garage and saw stars. Long ago while renovating the barracks that would become the garage, he had placed stars in the pattern of the Big Dipper, with the two stars in the ladle pointed correctly at Polaris. At first I thought the other stars were the Little Dipper, but they don’t form that asterism. I’ll have to find out what they represent.

Sharon wanted to video tape Laverne to include his thoughts in a documentary she is making about the homesteaders and the barracks. I made an attempt with my Sony a7S camera which produces a pretty high quality video. After that we used an invaluable list of barracks in the area made by Mac Blewer which had addresses, GPS coordinates and photos of what to expect.

An apartment building on Sixth Street in Powell.

One unusual use we saw was an apartment in Powell. Three units were made from a whole 120 foot barrack, situated on a quiet residential street in the town.

A black faced sheep curious about the camera lens.

Our next destination was a farm north of the main highway between Powell and Cody. A few days ago we had seen a short barrack building in mostly original condition on the property that had two sheep in it. Today we met Lee and Jamie Bressler, the young couple who now own the property. Their daughter is raising lambs for her 4-H project. The lambs are adorable, they will walk up to you and sniff around like dogs do. One started to chew on my vest. The Bresslers were interested in the history of the barrack and Jaimie had learned about the Heart Mountain camp and the homesteading in history courses at nearby Northwest College. Part of their barrack was decaying so they had to tear it down a few years ago. But the lambs now occupy the remaining half. It was fascinating to photograph the details of the wood, the windows, even some tar paper still nailed to the exterior. Poking around in the dirt, Lee found some square nails used in the original construction and gave them to us. We were happy this turned out to be a productive day.

Jamie and Lee Bressler.

Square nails used in the original construction of a barrack.

Barracks and tree in meadow, Heart Mountain on the horizon. (Click on photos to enlarge)

Here’s another attempt to get the barracks with the tree in the best light. After waking before 6:00 am to catch the sunrise on the meadow, the front of the building was too dark. I returned about 10:00 and for a few minutes the light was nice on the barrack and dramatic on Heart Mountain. But maybe there are too many clouds in the shot. The light was either good on the barrack or good on the mountain, but rarely both. I’ll have to try again.

Cumulonimbus clouds forming east of Cody.

Wyoming weather is often quite dramatic and never boring. While waiting for the perfect light, I looked to the east and saw these spectacular clouds, which I wish were over Heart Mountain. In black and white the drama was enhanced, there are endless shapes and tones in the clouds.

Barbed wire shadow.

So what do photographers do when they are bored? They take photos of anything in front of them. The barbed wire from the fence in front of me made a nice shadow on the wood post. I used at 50mm lens with a wide aperture that produced a very shallow depth of field. So your attention goes right to the shadow, but elements of background are still visible.