I’m surrounded by a strange juxtaposition today. Outside there are big soft flakes of snow falling slowly to the ground. They settle atop the spruces and cover the boot prints in the old snow. The temperature is 7 degrees here at my cabin, and I’ve spent the past day or so packing for river trip. Dry bags, pelican cases, wetsuits, sleeping bags, and life jackets have been folded, stuffed, packed, unpacked, repacked. Now, stacked in an all-too big pile near the front door are a camera case holding the photographic gear for the trip: 1 body, 17-40f4L, 70-200f2.8L, 1.4TC, 1 flash, an ultralight tripod, and assorted CF cards, gels, batteries, and other accessories. All of that stuff will be transferred over to the Pelican case once I hit the river. The duffel holds clothes, dry bag, life jacket, safety gear, sleeping bag and the rest of my personal gear. So I think I’m ready for the Grand Canyon.

Have I mentioned that yet? I’m going down the Grand Canyon. My friend Hugh Rose (http://www.hughrosephotography.com), drew a personal permit for the canyon this year, and I managed to wrangle my Dad and I slots on the trip. So we’ll be joining Hugh, Patrick Endres (www.alaskaphotographics.com) and a group of other folks for the trip. Hugh and part of the group are already on the river, they started a few days ago at Lee’s Ferry. My Dad, another rafter, and I will be hiking down the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim on the 27th to rendezvous with the group at Phantom Ranch. From there we will spend 18 days floating down the Colorado, through the biggest of the canyon’s rapids, and out to Pearce Ferry at the head of Lake Mead.

As you might expect, I’m excited about it, but it isn’t quite real yet. Fortunately, that is about to change.

After a brutally cold January, winter has redeemed itself with a sublime, sunny, and clear-skied February. Temperatures have barely snuck below zero for three weeks now, and even better the aurora has been hopping. It got going early on Saturday night. I first noticed it when I was walking the dog and saw some hazy green curtains visible in the blue light of late evening. Within an hour the display had expanded to multiple, bright curtains directly overhead. It didn’t last too long, but it was great while it did. Over the next year or so, it should just be getting better. Long-term solar forecasts indicate that sun spot, flares and other solar storms are on the increase. All that means more particles shooting out of the sun toward earth, which in turn, generate the aurora. Go storms!

About 10pm last the night the Aurora decided to have a burst of activity. The first show didn’t last long, no more than 20 minutes, but it was fast moving with waves rolling through the curtains of light. Even better, it was warm out, nearly 20 degrees here at my cabin, and  it was no hardship to stand out and watch the display. As quickly as it arrived the lights faded into a green haze that covered most of the sky, and I went to bed.

Wow, I haven’t been posting and I’m late on the February Desktop… Sorry about that, I’ll try to rectify that in the near future. Here’s the image, click for a larger version, then feel free to click on it for a larger version. Personal use only.