Great Basin. National Park of Nevada. Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America. Updated - April Published since 1989

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1 Updated - April Where, when, and how to discover the best photography in America Published since 1989 Great Basin National Park of Nevada Aspen groves on the upper slopes of Nevada s Great Basin National Park were at the peak of their autumn color during the third week of September this year. After phoning several autumn color hot lines around the country, I decided that Nevada should be my autumn color destination this year. Hurricane Nora was soaking the southwest during the week I was hiking the trails and photographing Great Basin. This storm, which blew in from the South Pacific, brought some warm rain. When it continued into Utah, winds cleaned the desert skies. The views in all directions from the high mountain trails were spectacular, limited only by the curvature of the Earth. During my week-long exploration of Great Basin National Park, I discovered this remote national park while hiking the trails across this cool green island rising from the Nevada desert.

2 issue 48 - page 2 Eighty-five percent of Nevada s total land area is controlled by the Federal Government. Covering parts of six western states, including most of Nevada and western Utah, the Great Basin Desert is made up of over ninety basins, or valleys, separated by as many mountain ranges. No rivers flow to the sea from this low area of western deserts. All rivers and streams from these mountains flow toward the center of the basin. Most of these streams just soak into the desert sands. Some streams reach the Great Salt Lake or other smaller lakes with no outlets and eventually evaporate. One of the most beautiful of the mountain ranges separating these basins is marked by a long line of glacier-carved peaks. The tallest mountain in the range is Wheeler Peak. At 13,063 feet, this is the second-highest peak in Nevada. It rises over eight-thousand feet above the valley floor. From its summit, fourteen peaks in the park can be seen that all rise above ten-thousand feet. Nevada s Snake Range, a north-south mountain range is almost completely enclosed by the boundaries of the Great Basin National Park. Great Basin National Park in the distance Great Basin National Park, established in 1986, is one of the newest of our national parks and one of the least visited. Midsummer brings the most visitors to this cool mountain oasis rising above the hot, sage-covered Nevada desert. Great distances are the main theme of this part of America. Driving to this national park from the east or the west, you can see the Snake Range from a hundred miles away. Sixty-eight miles northwest of the park, the town of Ely, Nevada, has lodging, restaurants, and most services that visitors may need. Just outside the entrance to the park, the small town of Baker, Nevada, has a few Aspen grove along the trail to Stella Lake services and conveniences. There are campgrounds in the park and a small snack bar in the Visitor Center. The only paved road, and several unpaved roads into the park, enter the park from the east side. A road circles the entire park. Some of my maps show it as being all paved and others show some unpaved sections. If you come to Great Basin National Park prepared to drive the great distances and endure a few inconveniences, you will be rewarded with wonderful photography. I can think of no other national park that has everything you ll find in Great Basin. Lehman Caves, inside the park, are not as extensive as Carlsbad Caverns or Kentucky s Mammoth Caves, but the underground formations are even more fascinating. Up the slopes, above the caves, is an ancient bristlecone pine forest with twisted and wind-blown trees. Some specimens here are 5,000 years old. A short hike beyond the bristlecone grove is a permanent ice field. Eight-thousand feet above the desert floor and eleven-thousand feet above sea level is an ice field resting in the cool shadow of Wheeler Peak. This half-mile-long, rock-covered glacier is the only example in the deserts of the Southwest between the Sierra Nevada and the southern Rockies. From the top of Wheeler Peak, a spectacular 360 panoramic view reaches to the curve of the horizon on a clear day. A few miles south of Wheeler Peak is Lexington Arch. Unlike all the other sandstone arches in the Southwest, this spectacular aperture is formed of limestone.

3 issue 48 - page 3 In addition to well-marked and maintained trails to all the unusual photo locations mentioned above, the park has great displays of wildflowers in the spring and extensive aspen groves that paint the mountain sides with autumn color in late September. There are alpine lakes and mountain streams that flow year round. LEHMAN CAVES There is a fee to enter Lehman Caves on one of the ranger-led tours of the underground limestone caverns. During the busy summer season, tours leave every hour from the Visitor Center. The cave walk covers a half-mile and takes ninety-minutes. The man-made entrance into Lehman Caves is located just outside the back door of the Visitor Center. The natural entrance into the caves is located farther up the hill and is covered with a metal cage that allows only bats to enter. Groups of up to thirty people are escorted through the caves. The trail through Lehman Caves There are small, low-intensity electric lamps located along the paved trail. Lamps have been placed behind some of the more dramatic formations. The light level is kept low to protect the formations. They are turned on just ahead of the group and are turned off as the group leaves one area and moves on to another part of the caves. Flash photography is permitted, but tripods are not allowed and back packs are not permitted. The limestone walls and all the formations in Lehman Caves are an off-white color. These caves are alive and the formations are still growing. The air is damp and cold. Drops of water can be seen falling from the tips of stalactites. The guide said that studies have proven that they are growing at a rate of one millimeter per year. Each large grotto is connected to the next grotto by a low and narrow passageway. Each grotto has a different formation. Some are shaped like parachutes and others like the wings of birds or angels. There are long, flowing curtains of thin white stone. Most of the large rooms have low ceilings and the effect of bounce flash might be far superior to direct, on-camera flash. The off-white surfaces in these caves soak up a lot of light. I recommend that you increase your flash output when shooting Lehman Caves. Avoid compositions that include some close-up objects in a large cavern. The subjects closer to your camera will be over-exposed. If possible, pick a camera angle that places most of the subject at the same distance from the camera for the best flash exposures. Formations on the ceiling of Lehman Caves Discovered in 1885 by Absalom Lehman, a young man from Ohio who headed west to seek his fortune during the 1849 California gold rush. He never struck it rich in the gold fields but became successful by offering tours of these caves to the public.

4 issue 48 - page 4 One mile before you reach the end of the road and the Wheeler Peak parking area, you pass a parking area marked Summit Trailhead. From here, the trail to the summit is longer but not as steep as the trail starting from the parking lot at the end of the road. As you leave Lehman Caves, you pass through the Visitor Center. Stop and purchase a copy of the guide book titled: Trails to Explore in Great Basin National Park by Rose Houk. This beautifully-illustrated booklet has full-page topo maps of the best trails in the park. It s full of personal observations and a bit of Great Basin history. These maps may be all you ll need for your explorations of Great Basin. If not, purchase one of the very detailed TRAILS ILLUSTRATED topo maps of the park. They are printed on water-proof, tear-resistant material. If you plan to explore the Baker Creek trails or drive the 4x4 roads into the high country for other bristlecone explorations, you ll need this map. Aspen grove below Wheeler Peak Wheeler Peak above the road to the top Both trails meet in an aspen grove near Stella Lake and become one single trail to the top of Wheeler Peak. THE ROAD TO THE TOP OF THE PARK Wheeler Peak Drive leaves the main road to the Park Headquarters, the Visitor Center, and the entrance to Lehman Caves at a point just beyond the park s entrance sign. Make the right turn and drive uphill past both Lower and Upper Lehman Campgrounds. It s twelve miles to the top. There are many viewpoints and wide spots along the road where you can set up a tripod. At the large paved area marked Summit Trailhead parking, there is a great view of Wheeler Peak in the distance. In September, the view is framed in yellow aspen. WHEELER PEAK TRAIL At the end of the twelve-mile road up to the Wheeler Peak trailhead, there is a large parking area and turnaround. Several trails begin at this point. I arrived at the peak of autumn color. At thirteen-thousand feet, the Wheeler Peak Trail can be brutal. Afternoon thundershowers can bring lightning strikes on the high ridges. I started my hike early in the day. I was watching for lightning and was ready to head for lower ground. The trail to the top of Wheeler Peak required an all-day, five-mile hike with an elevation gain of three-thousand feet. I was able to climb only about a thousand feet above the parking lot, as high as the timberline. Up there, constant winds over the ridge have stunted and twisted the few remaining spruce and low-growing mountain juniper.

5 issue 48 - page 5 Looking upward from that point, toward the summit, I saw nothing but large boulders of broken rock. From that point, at the edge of the timberline, the view was breathtaking. The elevation is also breathtaking. At eleven-thousand feet, the trail climbs sharply for the next two-thousand feet to the summit. Climbing the rest of the way up the long steep trail covered with loose, broken rock was not a good idea on a day with possible afternoon thunder showers. BRISTLECONE PINE GROVE There are several easier trails that begin at the edge of the Wheeler Peak parking area. All photographers who have traveled this far must make the hike up through the Bristlecone Pine Grove. Head south on the trail marked Bristlecone Pine Grove starting on the edge of the parking lot. The trail climbs through a forest of dark pines and spruce to a trail junction. The trail that leads to the right climbs a short distance to the edge of Teresa Lake. The most interesting sights that you ll find on this mountain lie straight ahead. Continue climbing toward the Bristlecone Grove. In the Bristlecone Pine Grove It s two-miles farther with a climb of about six-hundred feet. Soon you ll break out of the trees and catch sight of the tall, narrow tower of stone to the left of Wheeler Peak. The 1500-foot vertical walls of the north-facing glacier-carved basin above are partially backlit in the morning. Afternoon light is most effective in lighting the ragged towers and many peaks along the left wall in the distance. The trail to the Bristlecone Pine Grove climbs a few switchbacks up and into a landscape of large broken boulders. When you stop to catch your breath, you ll see the first of the ancient bristlecones along the trail. Some of the best examples are in this section of switchbacks. They can easily be photographed from the trail. Bring a good range of lenses for this hike because your viewpoints will be limited. Some of the ancient bristlecones here in the Snake Range are much older than those in the bristlecone groves on the White Mountains of the eastern Sierra. In 1964, a bristlecone on Wheeler Peak was cut and the rings were counted. It was proven to be 4,900 years old. It was still living when it was cut. There are others in the same grove that are thought to be even older. The oldest bristlecone in the White Mountain s Schulman Grove is dated at 4,600 years old. A short distance beyond the top of the switchbacks is a large plaque pointing out the interpretive side trail to the left. Some of the trees are marked with signs pointing out their age. One of the signs points out the difference between the bristlecones and the nearly identical limber pines in the grove. Another sign identifies the two different species of bristlecones found in the mountains of he American West. The pinus longaeva grows only here in the Great Basin between 9,000 and 11,500 feet. John Muir described these ancient trees as being irrepressibly and extravagantly picturesque. In the Bristlecone Pine Grove

6 issue 48 - page 6 Covering the slopes of Wheeler Peak are large boulders of light-colored quartzite that was once pure quartz and silica, the beach sand on the edge of a Paleozoic sea, about six-hundred million years ago. Along the trail to the Rock Glacier below Wheeeler Peak As a species, bristlecones have been in the Great Basin for about 40,000 years. The oldest example still living is believed to be almost 5,000 years old. The trail zig-zags through the bristlecones so that it is possible to choose different backgrounds for the most dramatic examples a cloud-filled sky, the gray walls below Wheeler Peak, or the deeply-textured walls of scree above the trail. I photographed the grove for most of the morning while looking for the best light and then found completely different lighting effects on the way back down the trail in the afternoon. THE ROCK GLACIER and ICEFIELD The upper end of the Bristlecone Pine Grove extends to the lower edge of the immense gray cirque below Wheeler Peak. In that vast amphitheater lies a permanent ice field. Geologists have called it both a glacier and an ice field. Much of it is covered with loose rock that has fallen from the peaks above. A marked trail climbs up onto the rock glacier until it reaches a sign warning against further travel. Loose rocks can fall from the vertical walls above the ice field and flowing melt water, running in the spaces between the boulders adds to their instability. There is a lot of exposed ice visible beyond the end of the trail. At the end of the trail, I checked my map and found that I had climbed another 600 feet above the bristlecone grove and was over a mile beyond the last bristlecone, below me on the edge of the timberline. I was breathing harder in the thin air but hardly noticed that inconvenience. The photography up there is spectacular. The Wheeler Peak Campground is located just below the parking area at the end of the road. After photographing along most of the trails around Wheeler Peak, I believe that sunset is the best time of day to photograph the area. Strong, directional light starts to bring out the deep textures on the east wall of the cirque below the peak by late afternoon. Colors and textures get stronger as the sun drops in the west. Clouds over the peak catch the colors of the setting sun. Early morning light strikes the smooth, Along the trail to Wheeler Peak vertical wall on the other side of the cirque below the summit of Wheeler Peak. The lighting effects are not as dramatic in the morning. Afternoon light through the aspen groves around the basin can be very dramatic. Most of the aspen are on the west side of the loop trail connecting Stella Lake and

7 issue 48 - page 7 Teresa Lake Teresa Lake. In the area where the Summit Trail joins the Lake Loop Trail for a few hundred yards, there are some excellent autumn scenes for photographers. TERESA LAKE STELLA LAKE Between the trail to the Bristlecone Pine Grove and the Wheeler Peak Trail, a loop trail connects two very beautiful lakes. Teresa and Stella Lakes are shallow tarns that freeze solid in the winter. Teresa Lake is fed by a nearby spring. A thick green carpet of grass and wildflowers, including phlox and primrose, grow along the stream that flows into Teresa Lake. Stella Lake has a stand of aspen growing on its western banks. Morning light is best for reflections of the autumn color on Stella Lake. Start at the trailhead on the edge of the parking lot and follow the Lake Trail in a counter-clockwise direction. For a distance, the trail follows a stream through the woods. Two small footbridges cross the stream. I set up a tripod on the bridges for high-angle photographs and down in the water, closer to the small cascades. I used all my focal lengths as the sun dropped lower and backlit the tall yellow grass on the banks of the stream. A dozen mule deer crossed the stream. SNAKE CREEK Five miles south of the town of Baker, there s a well-marked side road off Highway 487 that heads west along Snake Creek. This unpaved road climbs three-thousand feet in eight miles to reach Shoshone Campground. Large aspen groves surround small meadows in these mountains. At the end of the road, Johnson Lake Trail follows an old jeep road for another five miles to Johnson Lake, on the south side of Pyramid Peak. This remote section of the park has some of the finest aspen groves and the best autumn color in Great Basin National Park. Snake Creek still had a strong flow of cold mountain water in late September. I spent several hours photographing the aspen groves. I drove up a side road a few hundred yards east of the road s end and found another stream dropping down the mountain, through a dense grove of spruce. Back on the paved highway, I turned right and continued driving south. Just beyond the road to Snake Creek is a large Welcome to Utah sign on the border. Across the border is the town of Garrison, Utah. It s even smaller than Baker, Nevada. Six miles farther down the road (it s called Utah Highway 21 on this side of the border), just beyond Pruess Lake, is a well-marked right turn to Lexington Arch. Allow at least a half-day for this exploration. Remember that morning light is much better than afternoon light on Lexington Arch. LEXINGTON ARCH Utah is full of natural stone arches. This example is located on the Nevada side of the border. It is twelve miles west of the pavement, just a few feet inside the southeast corner of the Great Basin boundaries. It looks like the boundaries were drawn to include this formation. Lexington Arch

8 issue 48 - page 8 Eleven miles of dirt road lead to the trailhead to Lexington Arch. As you leave the pavement, look toward the west. You can see the arch about halfway up the distant canyon twelve miles away. There are three wellmarked forks in the road that climbs into the Snake Range. Watch for the Lexington Arch signs along the way. The road gets rougher as it climbs. The only obstacles are a few miles of washboard surface and some medium-sized rocks. Any two-wheel drive vehicle with fair ground clearance can make this trip. There is a marked parking area with several large shade trees just below the trail register box. The trail follows the left side of the canyon. About halfway up the thousand-foot climb, the trail leaves the open, brush-covered hillside and enters a thick spruce forest. This shady forest would be a great relief on a hot summer day. Several hundred yards into the woods, a large arrow made of many small stones laid out on the ground points to an opening in the trees above the deep canyon. Fifty feet off the trail on a rocky point, I found a great place to set up a tripod. It s at just the perfect distance and just the right angle for your first photograph of Lexington Arch. I used most of the focal lengths on my 28-85mm zoom lens, trying to capture the details of the tall spruce trees growing above and below the opening as well as the whole landscape surrounding Lexington Arch. Back in the woods, the trail continues up the canyon past the arch. The trail finally drops to stream level where a wooden bridge crosses the stream bed. At this spot, hikers are at a point below and to the side of the arch. The opening, high above, is not visible from the bridge. The trail continues up another series of short switch backs, climbing a short distance up the back side and into the opening of the arch. The ceiling of the arch is seventy-five feet over your head and the span of the arch is one hundred-twenty feet wide. Orange lichen spots cover dark gray rocks that appear to have fallen from the ceiling above. The opening frames a view of the Snake Valley and low ranges of mountains reaching into the distance across the state of Utah. My 17mm super-wide lens was able to capture the full width of the opening. Beneath the span, there aren t many places to set up a tripod and I wasn t able to back up very far. Flare from the sun was a major problem. From some angles, long streaks of sunlight across the viewfinder were impossible to block even with a sunshade. BAKER, NEVADA Great Basin National Park is located halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. It is four miles west of the Nevada-Utah border near the eastern end of Nevada s Highway 50, called the Loneliest Road in America. The town nearest Great Basin National Park is Baker, Nevada. Just barely large enough to call itself a town, the place does have a post office, one restaurant called The Outlaw, plus a snack bar in the small convenience store called T & D s. The Outlaw has a good variety of burgers on the menu and T&D s makes a pretty good pizza. There is only one motel in the town of Baker the Silver Jack. The Silver Jack is open from April through September. Call ahead for reservations at (775) before making your travel plans. For atmosphere and convenience, stay in Baker, unless The Silver Jack Motel in Baker, Nevada you are camping in the park. There is a good selection of motels, restaurants, and other services in both Ely, Nevada, located 68 miles west of Baker, and in Delta, Utah, located 106 miles east of Baker. It seems remote, but Great Basin National Park is located on the most direct route between San Francisco and southern Utah s national parks.

9 issue 48 - page 9 Have a great trip and send me a postcard!

10 issue 48 - page 10 The Zone System With a hand-held, one-degree Pentax spot meter, I took close-up readings of the aspen trunks. I wanted to properly expose the bright autumn scenes on Wheeler Peak. A fine, dusty texture covers aspen trunks that is easy to lose by over-exposure. A straight meter reading would give me an exposure that would under-expose the light trunks and the bright yellow foliage. I did not want the trunks to appear middle gray. By increasing the meter reading by 2 stops, I was able to retain all the details in the highlights, including the clouds drifting over the summit. I could have achieved the same results by setting the exposure compensation dial on my 35mm camera to +2. The great advantage of the one-degree spot meter, is that it reads a very narrow angle. A photographer can be very selective in taking exposure readings of very small areas. Most light meters take in a wide field of view and will give an average reading of that general area. Pentax V - 1 spot meter After setting the proper ISO for the film I m using, I point my hand-held spot meter at the subject and place the small dark circle (a 1 angle of coverage) in the viewfinder over the desired area in any scene. Pressing the button on a digital spot meter lights up a red LED number. Pressing the button on an older-style analog meter, moves a needle to line up with a number on a scale usually from 1to19. That EV (exposure value) number in the viewfinder represents the reflectance the lightness or darkness of a specific area in any composition. By rotating the meter s dial and lining up that EV number with the index mark or whatever type of reference point is used on the meter, the meter gives its recommendation of the correct exposure setting. The correct exposure might be a high shutter speed and a large f-stop or a long exposure time with a small aperture or anything in between. The resulting exposure will be just an average that will reproduce the area measured as middle gray. This is the same way all light meters operate. They have no brain and can t tell whether a subject is black or white or middle gray or some other color in between. A light meter can only give you an exposure setting that will reproduce the area metered as middle gray. From there, it s up to the photographer to interpret the scene and determine whether to compensate. Darker subjects require less exposure and lighter subjects require more exposure to avoid reproducing them as middle gray. The key to the use of Ansel Adams Zone System is the visualization of the final print or transparency before an exposure meter reading is made. Instead of compensating for an exposure reading after it is metered, a photographer determines before taking a meter reading exactly where, on a scale from pure black to pure white, a certain part of a composition, landscape, scene, portrait. etc., should be placed. A close-up meter reading of an 18% gray card should be placed on Zone V exactly half-way between black and white. The clear north sky, weathered wood, gray stone, green grass should usually be placed on Zone V. Dark stone, dark foliage, landscape shadows, unbleached demin, etc. can usually be placed on Zone IV (one stop darker than middle gray). Caucasian skin, shadows on snow, light stone, sand dunes and other subjects with similar lighter-than-middle gray areas can be placed on Zone VI. Ansel Adams Zone System is a very useful method of exposure when used with a spot meter. Several brands of hand-held spot meters can be modified with the simple addition of a Zone System scale printed on a sticky label. When attaching the paper scale to your meter, the center of Zone V is placed directly over your meter s reference point or index mark. After visualizing the final image, a photographer takes a close-up spot meter reading of an area that is determined should be placed on a particular zone. I wanted the white trunks of the aspen trees to appear in the final image as white, but still retaining a bit of visible texture. With some practice, I know that means Zone VII. After setting the EV number that appeared in my meter s viewfinder opposite Zone VII on my scale s meter, the meter displayed a combination of f-stops and shutter speeds. I selected the f-stop that gave me the depth-of-field I needed for the aspen scene and used the shutter speed opposite that f-stop. I placed the highlights in the aspen scene on Zone VII. Other values in the same scene, that fell within the film s latitude range, were properly exposed. It is possible to expand or contract the contrast

11 issue 48 - page 11 Zone VII Zone VI Zone V Zone III Zone IV range of some black-and-white films by over or under development. This is not possible with color films. Ansel s Zone System also involves the visualization of the entire scene, including the expansion or contraction of the range of zones. A more contrasty scene has fewer zones, a less contrasty scene has more zones. If, after placing the shadows of a scene on a particular zone, it is determined that the scene s highlight details will fall on a zone that will reproduce them as too light and lacking in detail, it is possible to increase the development time of that sheet of film and increase the number of printable zones. Ansel used the designation Normal-Plus or Normal-Minus development. N+1 development expands a film s range by one stop or one zone more latitude. N-2 reduces that latitude and increases contrast by reducing the film s latitude range by two stops. This additional use of the Zone System to control contrast is only useful when shooting large format black-and-white sheet films. Each negative must be developed separately. This is not possible with 35mm or medium-format roll films. Because of this, I only use the Zone System to increase the accuracy of my exposures. I am not able to control my film s contrast ranges and therefore do not manipulate the development time of my films mostly roll films and color films. All this information can be simplified and easily used for exposing color slide films and color print films in this way: When I m exposing color transparency film, I want to avoid over-exposing the highlights and washing out details in the lightest areas of a composition. I take a spot meter reading of the brightest area to retain detail and place that reading on Zone VII. When I m exposing color negative film, I avoid under-exposing the shadows and losing details in the darkest areas of a composition. I take a spot meter reading of the darkest area that I still want to retain detail and place that reading on Zone III. Basically, those two simple tips will allow you to greatly improve your exposures using the Zone System. Visualizing your final exposures does take some practice but it is the key to the use of the Zone System. Ansel Adams book, The Negative, has an excellent chapter on the Zone System. Zone 0 Total black Zone I Black without any texture Zone II Black with slight suggestion of tonality Zone III Darkest areas that still retain some visible detail Zone IV Average shadows in landscapes or portraits Zone V Middle Gray - 18% gray card Zone VI Average Caucasian skin - Shadows on snow in sunlit snowscapes Zone VII Lightest areas in any scene that still retain some visible detail Zone VIII White areas with slightly visible textures - Highlights on Caucasian skin Zone IX Glaring white surfaces - Highlights without any texture Zone X A light source (records only as the maximum white value of paper surface) Zone 0 Zone I Zone II Zone III Zone IV Zone V Zone VI Zone VII Zone VIII Zone IX Zone X f the,range,of,most,slide,films g

12 Internet Resources U. S. NATIONAL PARKS / STATE PARKS Great Basin National Park: Lehman Caves: LODGING Stargazer Inn, Baker, NV Rustic Inn Motel, Ely, NV Ramada Ely, NV CAR RENTALS WEATHER CONDITIONS The Weather Channel: The National Weather Service: SPECIALTY CLOTHING CAMERA EQUIPMENT My life-long career in photography began at San Jose State University in After college, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving as a photographer and darkroom technician. In Germany, my skills and experience with equipment and lab work were developed and polished. I took the opportunity to photograph the beauty of nature in the Black Forest. Returning to California in 1965, I produced industrial and military training films for Raytheon Electronics and began showing my color nature prints. From 1969 through 1981, my photography was exhibited and sold in West Coast galleries. During the early 1980 s, I taught color darkroom workshops, then expanded to include field trips. Former customers, who had purchased my framed photographs, wanted to learn photography. My Pacific Image Photography Workshops offered adventures to the Pacific Coast, the Southwest deserts, national parks, Hawaii, New England, Canada, England, and the South Pacific. The workshops evolved into writing and sharing my adventures with others. Photograph America Newsletter provides information on where, when, and how to discover the best nature photography in North America. Photograph America Newsletter is published quarterly (four issues/year) by Robert Hitchman assisted by technical associate/wife, Katherine Post Office Box 86, Novato, CA All contents of this newsletter copyright Robert Hitchman Please don t make copies for your friends. This is a violation of Federal copyright laws. This newsletter survives on subscriptions.