Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • The Oregon Coast is renowned for its natural beauty, sea stacks, and gorgeous sunsets. I caught this rock formation in the late afternoon "golden light" and focused on the interplay between light and shadow.
    Oregon Sea Stacks in Golden Light
  • Golden late afternoon light and a beautiifully vibrant colorful sky over Rosario Strait as the sun sets behind Washington's  Decateur and Lopez Islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This view shows Blakely Island to the left and Cypress Island to the right. Photographed from Fidalgo Island in Anacortes.
    Anacortes Landscape-8
  • The last light fades over Rosario Strait and her scatttered islands. Photographed from an exposed cliff on Fidalgo Island, in Anacortes, Washington.
    Anacortes Landscape-3
  • Abstractions in nature: jerking the camera with a long shutterspeed.
    Tresses of Pure Light.jpg
  • A perfect combination of low tide, the last rays of sunlight, and a spectacular  location made for a very satisfying photograph with rippled sand and ultra-vivid colors as I waited out the sunset on Washington's Ruby Beach in the Olympic National Park on the Pacific Ocean.
    Ruby Beach at Last Light
  • Dusk settles and sea mist rises among the cliffs and seastacks at Tolovana Beach on the Oregon Coast.
    Light and Shadows
  • This first lighthouse in the Pacific Northwest at the mouth of the Columbia River was recommended to be built in 1848, and be located at Cape Disappointment, Washington in what was then the Oregon Territory. It was finally constructed, then officially lit on October 15, 1856 where it served for over 150 years. In 2008, the automated red and white flashing light was finally deactivated. An observation deck has been built since then for the US Coast Guard to monitor traffic and bar conditions.
    Cape Disappointment Lighthouse
  • This first lighthouse in the Pacific Northwest at the mouth of the Columbia River was recommended to be built in 1848, and be located at Cape Disappointment, Washington in what was then the Oregon Territory. It was finally constructed, then officially lit on October 15, 1856 where it served for over 150 years. In 2008, the automated red and white flashing light was finally deactivated. An observation deck has been built since then for the US Coast Guard to monitor traffic and bar conditions.
    Cape Disappointment Lighthouse
  • Tillamook Rock Lighthouse on Northern Oregon's Pacific Coastline.
    Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
  • The last light fades over Rosario Strait and her scatttered islands. Photographed from an exposed cliff on Fidalgo Island, in Anacortes, Washington.
    Anacortes Landscape-2
  • A truly breathtaking sunset with a wildly-colored sky was my reward for waiting out the sunset on this otherwise, hazy/foggy evening on the Oregon Coast near the Pistol River. Just as the light was fading and nearly gone, the fog cleared up just enough for me to wade out into the surf with a heavy tripod to get this shot.
    Oregon Sea Stacks in Fading Sunset
  • Sunset is almost always a dramatic show of light and shadow, as witnessed here in Cowiche Canyon, just west of Yakima, WA. Strong beams of sunlight beautifully backlit these desert wildflowers (Carey's balsamroot).
    Sunset in the Sagebrush Desert
  • Last light as the sun dips in into the Gulf of Mexico on Cape San Blas.
    Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico
  • The last light fades over Rosario Strait and her scatttered islands. Photographed from an exposed cliff on Fidalgo Island, in Anacortes, Washington.
    Anacortes Landscape-1
  • Still wet from a recent rain, this common shelf mushroom grows on the side of a western hemlock tree in the damp foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains, beautifully side-lit by the late afternoon/early evening golden light. Although inedible, it is a very important part of forest health, as it breaks down and feeds on old or dead trees, making these nutrients available after its own demise for future generations of trees and other forest plants.
    Red-Belted Polypore
  • Acarospora socialis - pale yellow<br />
Candelariella aurella - bright yellow<br />
Xanthoria elegans - orange<br />
Caloplaca albovariegata - black/dark green<br />
Xanthoparmelia maricopensis - light gray/greenish<br />
Dimelaena oreina - pale green with black "blotches" (very tiny)
    Mojave Desert Lichen Community
  • Acarospora socialis - pale yellow<br />
Candelariella aurella - bright yellow<br />
Xanthoria elegans - orange<br />
Caloplaca albovariegata - black/dark green<br />
Xanthoparmelia maricopensis - light gray/greenish<br />
Dimelaena oreina - pale green with black "blotches" (very tiny)
    Mojave Desert Lichen Community
  • An amazing late afternoon on Ruby Beach on Washington's Olympic Peninsula during the golden hour, when the light is warm and radiant while the evening cools and colors can appear both warm and cool at the same time.
    Ruby Beach
  • A photograph from within a cave in Southern Nevada while hunting unsuccessfully for vinegaroons while climbing the cliffs in the area. I just arrived in time for perfect light!
    Inside the Cave...
  • It was a rare morning where the temperature dipped a few degrees below freezing, and the frost on the ground looked a lot like snow in my car’s headlights. It was so worth it, as I was rewarded with the most stunning sunrise I’ve seen in a long time! Winter often offers interesting colors and hues with the first hints of light, but this was something special….. just pure beauty in all its glory!
    Dawn Over the Salt Marsh
  • Driftwood and tree stumps on a rural beach on Cape San Blas, Florida.
    Timeless Florida Coast
  • After waiting and then almost giving up due to the fog, the sun burned through enough of it for me to get this shot.
    Foggy Dawn and the Burning Sun
  • Sea oats blowing in the wind of a chilly Atlantic breeze on Bald Head Island on one of North Carolina's most beautiful beaches.
    Sea Oats & Sunrise
  • Black & White image of driftwood and tree stumps on a rural beach on Cape San Blas, Florida.
    Timeless Florida Coast
  • This beautiful sunset was photographed in North Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. The tree stumps in the water are old pine trees after hurricanes and erosion have turned the forest into coastline.
    Cape San Blas Sunset
  • A spectacular sunrise on the Atlantic coast on Bald Head Island, North Carolina.
    Sunrise on Bald Head Island
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • A Mexican fan palm growing in an unusual place: right at the edge of a pond in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in South Texas. Native to Baja California and parts of the Sonoran Desert, this very attractive palm has made it around the world in landscaped land and gardens where it can avoid frost. This extremely tough palm is drought and heat resistant and can tolerate the windiest of desert habitats.
    Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta)
  • Layers of a valley, dunes, a sandstorm, mountains and clouds in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.
    White Sands 2015-2.jpg
  • Layers of a valley, dunes, a sandstorm, mountains and clouds in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.
    White Sands 2015-3.jpg
  • A wild sun halo on a chilly winter day on the Gulf of Mexico, just south of Tallahassee, Florida.
    Sun Halo over the Gulf of Mexico
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Sometimes called the red-tinged lepiota, this attractive little mushroom is one of the first of the fall mushrooms found in the wet forests of the Pacific Northwest. This pair was found growing partially under a log near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington.
    Leucoagaricus rubrotinctoides
  • Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse - Now a museum, this Gasparilla Island Lighthouse on Florida's West Coast is said to be haunted by not one, but two ghosts!
    Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Flowers
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Flowers
  • My favorite palm! The paurotis palm is a wonderfully beautiful palm that I have a personal connection to. As I was starting to build my photography business back when I was still living back home in Southwest Florida, I worked in a plant nursery and planted many hundreds of palm trees all over the Fort Myers/Naples area. My favorite was this slender, attractive Caribbean palm found in the wild from the Florida Everglades and the Bahamas, south to Mexico, Central America and as far south as Colombia. The only species in its genus, Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - grows to about 15' to 25' tall in wet habitats and can grow into very rich and shaded thickets form wildlife havens for many species throughout the tropics. These wild paurotis palms were found in Everglades National Park in their natural habitat.
    Paurotis Palm
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • One of the world's most common mushrooms, the turkey tail mushroom is also one of the most beautiful. Typically found on rotting stumps, branches and decaying wood, these polypore mushrooms can be found in quite an amazing array of colors and hues. It has a long history of use by people, such as making blue and green dyes for clothing, being used to make a tasty tea and for a variety of medicinal uses. Recent clinical research shows that it may be useful for a variety of cancer treatments. This vibrant green colony was found growing alongside Mercer Slough in Bellevue, Washington.
    Turkey Tail
  • This incredible wild and harsh desert near the Mexican town of Sonoyta is deep in the Ajo Mountain range in Southern Pima County, Arizona. Saguaro cacti, gila monsters, rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, a searing sun are staples of this dangerous part of the Sonoran Desert, and there is a long, deep history among the remnants of the Tohono O'odham Nation who thrived here for centuries, and the ancestral Puebloans who created a vibrant culture here before them.
    Diablo Mountains, Arizona
  • The sun went behind a cloud for a moment in White Sands....
    Sky and Sand - White Sands, New Mexico
  • Layers of dunes, a sandstorm, mountains and clouds in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.
    White Sands Desert, New Mexico
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • One of the best things about the Pacific Northwest on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains is the big, open sky and hundreds of miles of sagebrush in all directions.
    Sagebrush Country and the Big Sky
  • Close-up detail of a cabbage palm frond (also known as a sabal palm) in rural Eastern Lee County in Southwest Florida.
    Cabbage Palm Close-up
  • Close-up detail of a coconut palm frond on Florida's Sanibel Island.
    Coconut Palm
  • This beautiful and delicate member of the oyster mushroom family is found throughout much of North America, most often found growing on rotting logs and stumps of hemlock trees and other conifers, such as this one growing in the Olympic National Park in the Hoh Rain Forest.
    Angel Wings
  • An old, twisted pinyon tree grows atop the windy rocks at the top of a huge rock formation in a nameless canyon in southwestern Utah. It's amazing how the roots of these tenacious pines hold the rock with an iron grip as they endure summer's blistering heat, winter's bitterly unforgiving cold, and near constant wind decade after decade.
    The Old Pinyon Tree
  • A mug of lager with bread and pistachios.
    Mug of Lager
  • The rocky coastline of Cape Flattery is located at the most extreme northwestern corner of the contiguous United States. Millennia of pounding waves, tides and erosion have sculpted the landscape into something from a fairytale.
    Sea Stacks of Cape Flattery
  • The tiny Mycena clavicularis growing on a moss covered log on a chilly autumn morning on the forested slopes of Mount Rainier.
    Mycena clavicularis
  • The odd little bright yellowish-orange cone-shaped mushrooms can be found growing out of the cracks on coniferous deadwood, stumps, logs from the Rocky Mountains and West, often found in spring when the snow is melting. This colony was photographed next to a waterfall on West Tiger Mountain  in Western Washington.
    Golden Jelly Cone
  • These inconspicuous little mushrooms get a very cool name from the fact that if you break the stems, they bleed a dark blood-red fluid. I found these growing inside of a dead tree (photographed here after pulling away some dead growth) on West Tiger Mountain - just twenty miles southeast of Seattle, Washington.
    Bleeding Fairy Helmet
  • Sunset on Lover's Key in Lee County, Florida. Beautiful!.
    Lover's Key
  • Amazing rock formations at the Blowing Rocks Preserve on Jupiter Island, Florida. This limestone rock wall is an exposed ancient coral reef that gets pounded by the Atlantic Ocean incessantly.
    Blowing Rocks Preserve 1
  • One of "The Needles" - one of three tall basalt spires of volcanic rock near the massive Haystack Rock on Oregon's coast on Cannon Beach. Around about 15 to 16 million years old, these columns are very slowly eroding with every wave and every changing tide.
    The Needles at Sunset
  • One of "The Needles" - one of three tall basalt spires of volcanic rock near the massive Haystack Rock on Oregon's coast on Cannon Beach. Around about 15 to 16 million years old, these columns are very slowly eroding with every wave and every changing tide.
    The Needles of Cannon Beach
  • I once heard a joke about this mushroom: "A very bad song by Madonna is improved immeasurably if you walk through the woods singing:'Lycoperdon, puffed for the very first time . . .'" I found this beauty growing in the forest just outside of Buckley, Washington.
    Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum)
  • Not too long ago I was traveling across Oregon Coast on a nature photography trip with an old friend and one of the places he wanted to check out was Thor's Well, located about midway down the state's incredible coastline at a place called Cape Perpetua. <br />
<br />
Formed out of natural volcanic rock (basalt), this wild geologic anomaly was probably formed by a cave beaten into the cliff that eventually collapsed forming this unusual seeming deep hole in the ground but is actually open underwater to the surf. This causes water to explode violently upward through the "well", followed by the foamy water to duck back down into the depths of the earth.<br />
<br />
It was utterly fascinating, even if I did get hit and completely soaked by one of the infamous rogue waves of the Pacific Ocean.
    Thor's Well
  • A spectacular view from the 34th floor in downtown Seattle overlooking the Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island and the Olympic Mountains.
    The Puget Sound
  • A spectacular view from the 34th floor in downtown Seattle overlooking the Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island and the Olympic Mountains.
    The Puget Sound
  • The MV Tacoma ferrying passengers and car back and forth between Seattle and Bainbridge Island.
    The Ferry, “MV Tacoma”
  • This insanely colorful sunrise creates the perfect backlight to Mount Rundle in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada on a bitterly cold winter morning. The only thing that makes this better is the whole scene reflected in the open water of a natural hot spring that keeps this part of the Vermillion Lakes from freezing.
    Mount Rundle and Vermillion Lakes
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Bark
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone in Flower
  • My favorite palm! The paurotis palm is a wonderfully beautiful palm that I have a personal connection to. As I was starting to build my photography business back when I was still living back home in Southwest Florida, I worked in a plant nursery and planted many hundreds of palm trees all over the Fort Myers/Naples area. My favorite was this slender, attractive Caribbean palm found in the wild from the Florida Everglades and the Bahamas, south to Mexico, Central America and as far south as Colombia. The only species in its genus, Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - grows to about 15' to 25' tall in wet habitats and can grow into very rich and shaded thickets form wildlife havens for many species throughout the tropics. These wild paurotis palms were found in Everglades National Park in their natural habitat.
    Paurotis Palm
  • My favorite palm! The paurotis palm is a wonderfully beautiful palm that I have a personal connection to. As I was starting to build my photography business back when I was still living back home in Southwest Florida, I worked in a plant nursery and planted many hundreds of palm trees all over the Fort Myers/Naples area. My favorite was this slender, attractive Caribbean palm found in the wild from the Florida Everglades and the Bahamas, south to Mexico, Central America and as far south as Colombia. The only species in its genus, Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - grows to about 15' to 25' tall in wet habitats and can grow into very rich and shaded thickets form wildlife havens for many species throughout the tropics. These wild paurotis palms were found in Everglades National Park in their natural habitat.
    Paurotis Palm
  • My favorite palm! The paurotis palm is a wonderfully beautiful palm that I have a personal connection to. As I was starting to build my photography business back when I was still living back home in Southwest Florida, I worked in a plant nursery and planted many hundreds of palm trees all over the Fort Myers/Naples area. My favorite was this slender, attractive Caribbean palm found in the wild from the Florida Everglades and the Bahamas, south to Mexico, Central America and as far south as Colombia. The only species in its genus, Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - grows to about 15' to 25' tall in wet habitats and can grow into very rich and shaded thickets form wildlife havens for many species throughout the tropics. These wild paurotis palms were found in Everglades National Park in their natural habitat.
    Paurotis Palm
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • Haystack Rock on Oregon's Cannon Beach is one of the world's biggest sea stacks  and is a must-see on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, just at the perfect moment of low tide, sunset and as a storm was coming in at full speed!
    Cannon Beach
  • An insanely vibrant and colorful sky over Rosario Strait as the sun sets behind Washington's  Decateur and Lopez Islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This view shows Blakely Island to the left and Cypress Island to the right. Photographed from Fidalgo Island in Anacortes.
    Anacortes Landscape-15.jpg
  • One of the many intensely beautiful coastal locations of the Pacific Northwest, the waters around the San Juan and Orcas Islands look like nowhere else in North America.  This view overlooks Rosario Strait from Washington's Fidalgo Island.
    Anacortes Landscape-14.jpg
  • One of the many intensely beautiful coastal locations of the Pacific Northwest, the waters around the San Juan and Orcas Islands look like nowhere else in North America.  This view overlooks Rosario Strait from Washington's Fidalgo Island.
    Anacortes Landscape-13.jpg
  • An insanely vibrant and colorful sky over Rosario Strait as the sun sets behind Washington's  Decateur and Lopez Islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This view shows Blakely Island to the left and Cypress Island to the right. Photographed from Fidalgo Island in Anacortes.
    Anacortes Landscape-7
  • An insanely vibrant and colorful sky Rosario Strait as the sun sets behind Washington's  Decateur and Lopez Islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. About 35 miles due west in this direction is Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
    Anacortes Landscape-6
  • An insanely vibrant and colorful sky Rosario Strait as the sun sets behind Washington's  Decateur and Lopez Islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. About 35 miles due west in this direction is Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
    Anacortes Landscape-5
  • An insanely vibrant and colorful sky Rosario Strait as the sun sets behind Washington's  Decateur and Lopez Islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. About 35 miles due west in this direction is Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
    Anacortes Landscape-4
  • A coastal douglas fir forest trail winds its way up the hill near the cliffs of Fidalgo Island on Washington's Puget Sound.
    Anacortes Landscape-9.jpg
  • The Chisos Mountains of West Texas is the southernmost mountain range in the United States, and is surrounded by the Chihuahuan Desert on the US-Mexico border. Located wholly within the borders of Big Bend National Park, this incredible view of this ancient volcanic mountain range was photographed on a late spring afternoon as the sun began to set in the "golden hour".
    Chisos Mountains of West Texas
  • One of the many great rock formations in the Chisos Mountains in Western Texas' Big Bend National Park and is known as the "Mule Ear Peaks." These twin peaks  are formed from a part of a dike-like intrusion of relatively young rhyolite, and rise about 1040 feet (3,881 above sea level) above the desert floor.
    Mules Ears
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • Surprising in the Easter-egg lilac/blue/purple color of this mushroom alone, these stood out in sharp contrast to the forest greens and rich browns on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington's Cascades Mountains on a cold and wet November morning alongside the Greenwater River. Upon closer inspection, the sudden intense odor of rotting fruit, wet dog, and those orange circus peanut candies came to mind. The underside of these mushroom was cinnamon brown, and so was the spore print I made from one of them.
    Gassy Webcap Mushroom (Cortinarius t..nus)
  • Surprising in the Easter-egg lilac/blue/purple color of this mushroom alone, these stood out in sharp contrast to the forest greens and rich browns on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington's Cascades Mountains on a cold and wet November morning alongside the Greenwater River. Upon closer inspection, the sudden intense odor of rotting fruit, wet dog, and those orange circus peanut candies came to mind. The underside of these mushroom was cinnamon brown, and so was the spore print I made from one of them.
    Gassy Webcap Mushroom (Cortinarius t..nus)
  • Surprising in the Easter-egg lilac/blue/purple color of this mushroom alone, these stood out in sharp contrast to the forest greens and rich browns on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington's Cascades Mountains on a cold and wet November morning alongside the Greenwater River. Upon closer inspection, the sudden intense odor of rotting fruit, wet dog, and those orange circus peanut candies came to mind. The underside of these mushroom was cinnamon brown, and so was the spore print I made from one of them.
    Gassy Webcap Mushroom (Cortinarius t..nus)
  • Surprising in the Easter-egg lilac/blue/purple color of this mushroom alone, these stood out in sharp contrast to the forest greens and rich browns on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington's Cascades Mountains on a cold and wet November morning alongside the Greenwater River. Upon closer inspection, the sudden intense odor of rotting fruit, wet dog, and those orange circus peanut candies came to mind. The underside of these mushroom was cinnamon brown, and so was the spore print I made from one of them.
    Gassy Webcap Mushroom (Cortinarius t..nus)
  • Surprising in the Easter-egg lilac/blue/purple color of this mushroom alone, these stood out in sharp contrast to the forest greens and rich browns on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington's Cascades Mountains on a cold and wet November morning alongside the Greenwater River. Upon closer inspection, the sudden intense odor of rotting fruit, wet dog, and those orange circus peanut candies came to mind. The underside of these mushroom was cinnamon brown, and so was the spore print I made from one of them.
    Gassy Webcap Mushroom (Cortinarius t..nus)
  • Mushrooms can be truly strange and weird-looking, but when it comes to the group known as elfin saddles, strange takes on a whole new meaning. Found across much of Northern Europe and parts of North America, this completely irregular white elfin saddle mushroom was one of many found in the heavily wooded Cascade Mountains in Washington State just southeast of Enumclaw on a chilly, rainy, November afternoon at mid-elevation.
    White Elfin Saddle (Helvella crispa)
  • Mushrooms can be truly strange and weird-looking, but when it comes to the group known as elfin saddles, strange takes on a whole new meaning. Found across much of Northern Europe and parts of North America, this completely irregular white elfin saddle mushroom was one of many found in the heavily wooded Cascade Mountains in Washington State just southeast of Enumclaw on a chilly, rainy, November afternoon at mid-elevation.
    White Elfin Saddle (Helvella crispa)
  • El Capitan in West Texas' Guadalupe Mountains (100 miles east of El Paso) is the world's premier example of an exposed fossil reef from the Permian Era, dated at about 260 million years old - much older than the golden age of dinosaurs. This whole part of Texas back in this time was once covered in a shallow sea that geologists call the Delaware Sea, in a time when all of Earth's continents were still joined into one supercontinent that we call Pangaea. The entire top of El Capitan is made of limestone formed from the fossilized remains of aquatic plant and animal remains such as corals, algae, shellfish and plankton, and now stands at just above 8000 feet above sea level. The base is formed by layer upon layer of sand laid down over millions of years, in the manner you would expect from the ocean floor resulting in a very typical sedimentary rock formation,  further eroded by millions of years of desert heat, rain, abrasion and wind.
    El Capitan, West Texas
  • This commonly-encountered, weird cup-shaped mushroom is a type of cup-fungus. Like whenever looking at mushrooms - what you are actually seeing is the above-ground fruiting bodies of the year-round fibrous strands that are actually the real mushroom. These were found growing near the summit of Little Mount Si in North Bend, Washington, and are edible, but may have little to no taste.
    Orange-Peel Fungus
  • This commonly-encountered, weird cup-shaped mushroom is a type of cup-fungus. Like whenever looking at mushrooms - what you are actually seeing is the above-ground fruiting bodies of the year-round fibrous strands that are actually the real mushroom. These were found growing near the summit of Little Mount Si in North Bend, Washington, and are edible, but may have little to no taste.
    Orange-Peel Fungus
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