Seneca Creek Photography by Allison Pluda

Photos, thoughts, and adventures from a Geologist, Photographer, Climber, Skier, Tenkara Fly Fisher, Backpacker, and enthusiast for Nature, Life, and the Truth Within

Permalink The lights from camp, a southbound cruise ship, the glow of the set sun, and the cosmos behind Coleman Tree in the Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CanadaSince I’ve been looking at the night sky a lot recently, I thought I’d share this one from my latest travels. I took this from where I camped for 2 weeks in the beautiful Comox Valley on Vancouver Island right on the ocean. The sun had already set but there was a faint glow on the western horizon plus the lights of a cruise ship coming in from the north down the Straight of Georgia. I had many nights of watching the sunset turn to darkness with only the sound of the crackling campfire, the lapping of the ocean, and conversation with good company. Watching the lights of the huge cruise ships go by became a nightly activity. Life is good on Island Time!
Permalink Afternoon Nap in front of the Snowy Range, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, Black and White Self PortraitThe woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before” - Albert Einstein
Permalink Wyoming Skies Along the Road“If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?” -Carl Sagan The Wyoming skies were even more beautiful last night without a moon.
Permalink Venus and the Forest at Twilight on a Full Moon, Happy Jack, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” -Vincent Van Gogh
Permalink Perigee Moonrise, Happy Jack, Medicine Bow National Forest, WyomingI went out last night to see the perigee moon (Supermoon) but unfortunately it was cloudy. By the time the moon peeked above the clouds it was already far above the horizon and looked much smaller. Nonetheless it was nice to take the Jeep and my dog miles into the hills on rocky dirt roads to watch the moonlight take over the night.
Permalink Antelope at Sunset in the Wind River Valley, Dubois, Wyoming“The Western Home” Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play; Where never is heard a discouraging word And the sky is not clouded all day. Oh, give me the gale of the Solomon vale Where life streams with buoyancy flow, On the banks of the Beaver, where seldom if ever Any poisonous herbage doth grow. Oh, give me the land where the bright diamond sand Throws light from the glittering stream; Where glideth along the graceful white swan, Like a maid in her heavenly dreams. I love these wild flowers in this bright land of our; I love, too, the curlew’s wild scream. The bluffs of white rocks and antelope flocks That graze on the hillsides so green. How often at night, when the heavens are bright By the light of the glittering stars, Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed If their beauty exceeds this of ours. The air is so pure, the breezes so light, The zephyrs so balmy at night, I would not exchange my home here to range Forever in azure so bright. Original poem by Brewster Higley
Permalink Sunset from Fontenelle Reservoir, La Barge, Wyoming“Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson I forgot just how beautiful Wyoming can be! This is a image from a sunset I had long forgotten about until stumbling back upon it today. Myself, a friend, and our dogs were camped out by Fontenelle Reservoir in South West Wyoming on the open plain while doing some field research in the area. This was the home we came back to after a long days work of taking measurements in remote places, 30 miles in on winding dirt roads. This particular sunset was especially beautiful and was a nice way to relax before sitting around the fire and waking up early the next morning to get to our outdoor “office” early to take some more samples. There is a certain beauty that the openness and barrenness of the rolling sage brush hills of south west Wyoming has that is, in my opinion, a unique landscape that sure has grown on me.
Permalink Barbed Wire on the Plains, Laramie, WyomingThis photography may look like a nice pleasant sunset out on the plains of Laramie, Wyoming, but photographs don’t capture wind very well (at least not this one!). In Laramie, where the wind is always blowing, my walk across these plains just outside of town was through 40 mph winds that added a significant wind chill and tested the endurance of the warmth of my cheeks. I enjoy following the long stretches of barbed wire fence east across the wide plains until I am forced to turn south. There is a barrenness to these plains that gives them a rugged beauty and its days like these that when I see a fox or jackrabbit on these plains, I stop to give them a little more appreciation for their endurance as I think about getting into my warm sheltered car. “Although love dwells in gorgeous palaces, and sumptuous apartments, more willingly than in miserable and desolate cottages, it cannot be denied but that he sometimes causes his power to be felt in the gloomy recesses of forests, among the most bleak and rugged mountains, and in the dreary caves of a desert.” - GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO (1313—1375)
Permalink The Dirt Road Home, Happy Jack, Wyoming I took this photo about a month ago. We have had such a warm winter, that miraculously the dirt roads leading into some of my favorite places are clear enough for my car to get through! I loved the texture of the dirt and the snow as the setting sun cast a warm glow on everything.
Permalink Sunset on the Big Horn River in Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis, WyomingAs I’m in the last stages of writing my masters thesis on two years of work on the geology and chemistry of the Thermopolis hot springs in central Wyoming, I decided to re-visit some of my field work photos. Sitting here typing in front of the computer made me forget that I am actually studying a very beautiful and unique area and should be thankful to be able to say that this is the ‘lab’ in which I collect my samples :) Oh yeah, and if sampling went well enough, I would get to fish the Big Horn River while the experiment finished. Not too shabby!