Kevin Palmer

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  • The weather was beautiful while I snowshoed back from Granite Butte after spending the night there. Freezing fog had coated all the trees with thick frost and rime ice, which contrasted with the deep blue skies. This portion of the forest was burnt in a wildfire.
    Frosted Treetops
  • I went to Lake DeSmet at 3AM on a 5°F night with the hope of seeing the aurora. I didn't see it, but I saw this amazing scene instead. Fog was moving off of the lake when I arrived. It left behind a thick frost known as rime ice. The coating was about an inch thick over every single plant and tree branch, but only in this small area. With bright moonlight illuminating everything, it felt like I had stepped into another world.
    Moonlit Rime
  • I made Oxbow Bend my last stop before leaving Grand Teton National Park. I thought I wouldn't need my snowshoes since I was just going to take a few quick pictures. But the snow was up to my waist, making it very difficult to get to the edge of the Snake River. A heavy frost was coating everything along the river.
    Waist Deep Snow
  • Steam rises from the Illinois River as a new day dawns at Starved Rock State Park. The steam is formed due to the near 40 degree difference between the air temperature and the water. The subzero air caused the steam to turn to frost on the small grassy island.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 12/24/13
    Icy Steam
  • I went to Lake DeSmet at 3AM on a 5°F night with the hope of seeing the aurora. I didn't see it, but I saw this amazing scene instead. Fog was moving off of the lake when I arrived. It left behind a thick frost known as rime ice. The coating was about an inch thick over every single plant and tree branch, but only in this small area. With bright moonlight illuminating everything, it felt like I had stepped into another world.
    By The Light of the Moon
  • On a subzero morning at Starved Rock State Park, very intricate and delicate frost formed on this icy creek. I felt like I was destroying a work of art every time I took a step. The golden sunlit canyon walls are reflected in one of the only unfrozen portions of La Salle Creek.<br />
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Date Taken: 12/24/13
    Cold as Gold
  • Just before sunrise at Lake DeSmet, fog was lifting off of the water. With the temperature at 5°F, the fog left behind thick rime ice along the shore.
    Frosted Shoreline
  • Once I reached Granite Butte on top of the continental divide, the wind became stronger. The tough whitebark pine trees which grow up here are all pointed eastward, away from the prevailing westerly winds. Every single surface (including myself) was coated with rime ice.
    Frosted Forest
  • For the Geminid meteor shower I snowshoed to the top of the continental divide in Western Montana. From the Granite Butte lookout tower, the views were stunning in every direction. The weather changed by the second alternating between snow showers, gale force winds, freezing fog with zero visibility, clear skies, and brief moments of calm. The tough whitebark pine trees which grow up here are all permanently bent. They point eastward from the prevailing westerly winds which almost never stop. The low temperatures, strong winds, and fog combined to create hard rime ice, which covered every surface (including me and my camera) with a coating up to 2 inches thick. To say that shooting conditions were challenging would be an understatement. My tripod had to be carefully propped up to avoid it blowing over. And with all my batteries dying too soon, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to. This was one of the brighter meteors which shone through the fog. The lights on the right are from the city of Helena.
    Through the Freezing Fog
  • The views at sunrise were stunning from the Granite Butte fire lookout on Montana's continental divide. All the whitebark pine trees were coated with thick rime ice and fog drifted around the valleys.
    Rime Before Dawn
  • Most of the ice at Piney Creek was covered by a layer of snow. But this portion of the creek was different, and the ice had a beautiful turquoise color. For some reason the water was flowing on top of the ice here, with slush in some areas. If I stood on the wet ice for very long my boots would freeze in place.
    Turquoise Ice
  • On the last day of November I snowshoed a few miles up Red Grade Road as a storm cleared out, leaving behind a foot of fresh snow. This steep road is only accessible by foot or by snowmobile this time of year. In 2007 nearly 5,000 acres of Little Goose Canyon burned in a wildfire. 12 years later it's still easy to see exactly where the fire stopped. One of the best things about being out right after a fresh snowfall is the silence. A layer of light, fluffy snow on the ground acts as a sound absorber and dampens sound waves. But after snow melts and refreezes the opposite is true. Sound waves travel farther and are clearer when they bounce off of old and hard snow.
    Last Sunset of November
  • Orion shines above snow and rime covered pine trees near the summit of Granite Butte.
    Granite Butte Snowdrift
  • The views at sunrise were stunning from the Granite Butte fire lookout on Montana's continental divide. This is looking west where an atmospheric inversion trapped fog in the valleys.
    West of the Divide
  • For the Geminid meteor shower I snowshoed to the top of the continental divide in Western Montana. From the Granite Butte lookout tower, the views were stunning in every direction. The weather changed by the second alternating between snow showers, gale force winds, freezing fog with zero visibility, clear skies, and brief moments of calm. The tough whitebark pine trees which grow up here are all permanently bent. They point eastward from the prevailing westerly winds which almost never stop. The low temperatures, strong winds, and fog combined to create hard rime ice, which covered every surface (including me and my camera) with a coating up to 2 inches thick. To say that shooting conditions were challenging would be an understatement. My tripod had to be carefully propped up to avoid it blowing over. And with all my batteries dying too soon, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to. But this was one of the brighter meteors captured, flying in between Orion and Sirius.
    Catching a Gem
  • The morning dawned bright and clear on top of Granite Butte. The sun doesn't make it above the horizon until after 8AM this time of year. When I arrived on the summit the evening before, visibility was limited to 50 feet. But now the freezing fog had settled into the valleys, trapped below an inversion layer. Underneath that fog is Montana's capital city of Helena. Between shooting meteors all night and keeping the wood burning stove going, I didn't get much sleep. But a sunrise like this makes it easy to wake up. The weather can be extremely harsh up here. It was at a pass 16 miles away where the coldest temperature in the US (outside of Alaska) was once measured at -70°F. While it wasn't quite that cold on this morning, I was still glad to have a fire lookout tower to stay in and escape from the nearly incessant wind.
    8:09 Sunrise
  • The weather was a lot clearer this morning compared to the evening before. But freezing fog still occasionally drifted past Granite Butte, obscuring the valleys below.
    Morning Freezing Fog
  • It was only October, but it looked like winter at Sibley Lake in the Bighorn Mountains.
    October Midwinter
  • On the last day of November I snowshoed a few miles up Red Grade Road as a storm cleared out, leaving behind a foot of fresh snow. This steep road is only accessible by foot or by snowmobile this time of year. In 2007 nearly 5,000 acres of Little Goose Canyon burned in a wildfire. 12 years later it's still easy to see exactly where the fire stopped. One of the best things about being out right after a fresh snowfall is the silence. A layer of light, fluffy snow on the ground acts as a sound absorber and dampens sound waves. But after snow melts and refreezes the opposite is true. Sound waves travel farther and are clearer when they bounce off of old and hard snow.
    Buried In White
  • The Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout Tower is just 25 miles west of Denver and has a great view of the city lights coming on. The fog and clouds quickly cleared out as it got darker.
    Denver At Twilight
  • The views at sunrise were stunning from the Granite Butte fire lookout on Montana's continental divide. All the whitebark pine trees were coated with thick rime ice and fog drifted around the valleys. I had to use my widest lens to capture all the color.
    Morning on the Divide
  • The views at sunrise were stunning from the Granite Butte fire lookout on Montana's continental divide. Red Mountain is the tallest peak on the left.
    Red Mountain Morning
  • The trees at the top of this peak in the Big Hole Mountains of Idaho were permanently pointed eastward, against the prevailing winds.
    Winter Stillness
  • While driving home from the Tetons on New Years Eve, I encountered freezing fog that slowed me down near Riverton. The thin layer of fog lowered visibility and caused some slick spots on the roads. But once the fog cleared, the frosty trees contrasted with the deep blue sky to create a winter wonderland. When water droplets from fog or low-hanging clouds freeze directly to the outer surface of an object it's known as rime ice.
    Riverton Rime
  • The temperature was somewhere around 10 to 15 degrees below zero when I went for a hike besides Piney Creek in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains near Story. There were all kinds of interesting ice formations along the edge of the creek. Delicate frost feathers had formed on top of the clear layers of ice and all the boulders were simply lumps of snow. The water flows fast enough that I didn't see any parts of the creek that were frozen over completely. Standing above snowy trees at the entrance to the canyon is this colorful stained cliff. It doesn't see any sunlight until late afternoon.
    Piney Creek Cliff
  • In mid-September I went backpacking at Crystal Lake. This small lake is located at the edge of treeline at nearly 10,000 feet in the Bighorn Mountains. It was a chilly night with frost forming on my tent immediately after sunset. But soon after that the full moon began to rise out of sight to the east, illuminating the peaks to the west. Across the lake a waterfall tumbled down the cliffs and an early snow lingered above a rockfall of massive boulders. I left my wider lens behind, so I had to shoot a panorama to capture everything.
    Crystal Clear
  • On this day I headed up into the mountains with one goal: to capture the snow and fall colors together as two seasons collided. A snow storm occurring when the colors are at their peak is not something that happens every year. I wanted to be there the moment the storm ended and the sun came out, because fresh snow does not stay looking fresh for very long. Temperatures remained in the high 20’s all day and rime ice caused by freezing fog had coated the forest as well. The sun finally came out shortly after 5PM and then soon disappeared behind a nearby ridge. Aspen trees are not as widespread in the Bighorns as they are in other parts of the Rockies. Large clusters of them can be hard to find, but this stand across from Antelope Butte is one of the larger ones that I’m aware of. All the trees in an aspen stand are actually clones of one another. They are connected underground by a vast root system. This makes aspen trees some of the largest living organisms on Earth.
    Autumn Frosting
  • With snow up to my knees, camera screen and viewfinder frosted over, and batteries dying prematurely, astrophotography in winter is not without its challenges. Even a simple task like adjusting my tripod becomes tricky with bulky gloves and numb fingers. But it's worth it to be able to see this mountain lake and forest in a way that few people do. The silence and solitude on this perfectly clear night was incredible. It was the night of winter solstice, the longest of the year with over 15 hours between sunset and sunrise. When the crescent moon made it above the treetops at 3AM, the powdery snow began to glimmer and sparkle much like the stars above. It was as if there was another galaxy of stars hidden in the snow, waiting to be revealed in the moonlight. Trailing below the moon is the planet Jupiter.
    A Glimmer of Hope
  • The light of sunrise illuminates one of the first snowfalls of the season in the Bighorn Mountains near Dayton.
    Frosted Slopes
  • Frosted Web