The Sacred Path

I spent six days trekking through Grand Teton National Park south of Yellowstone, at a two and a half day photographic workshop put on by landscape photographer Rodney Lough, Jr. and hanging around the area after the workshop for a few days doing some additional photography in Yellowstone park. I then dropped in on my cousin Kevin and his wife, Debbie who are the owners of The Elephant Head Lodge located ten miles east of the east entrance to Yellowstone in the Shoshone National Forest.

The workshop, the group of fellow photographers, and Rodney were great, and I learned a lot. It was wonderful having someone who knew the area so well. Rodney has been photographing The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone for well over 10 years now and knows all the great spots (along with a few that other photographers do not know about).

Since all of my shooting was done on large format film, it will take some time before I can post any of my photos (develop, review, send out for scanning). I had planned on lugging my digital along, but it was just too much additional weight.

I wanted to share one experience with you though, that blew my socks off. Grand Teton National Park is one large sacred spot, and you can feel it wherever you go. On one morning after we had photographed an old barn at sunrise, we headed off to one of Rodney’s favorite spots to meet and photograph a tree he has calls The Patriarch. It cannot be seen from any road so virtually no one knows it’s there, and to get there you walk about a half mile down through three or four sagebrush and grass covered plateaus. When we got there, Rodney asked us to close our eyes and remain silent and listen for a time. As I stood there with my eyes closed, I expanded my awareness out and offered the spirits of the area my warm greeting as my eyes began to fill with tears. We then each walked out into the area to choose our spot to photograph The Patriarch.

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With our busy lives, we take less time to “stop and smell the roses” than we should. I can remember many times earlier in my life driving through beautiful areas such as the Redwood forests of Northern California, or along the Washington and Oregon coast, or Grand Teton National Park, or Yellowstone, when nature invited me to stop for a while and have a chat. In my younger years I was too busy; I had a destination waiting at the other end of the drive; I had a schedule to keep. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that the journey is far more important than the destination, and that there are many wonderful side roads and detours if you will just take the time.

I’ve been doing a lot of driving around in the Big Horns looking for “Ah Ha!” places for photography, and found myself getting too caught up in the scouting. I was reminded of that recently when I happened upon a county road I had not noticed before. I was running late so I bookmarked it and decided to check it out later.

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Early this afternoon I took a drive up into the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains (my back yard). Spring officially announced its arrival about a week ago, and the foothills are changing out their winter coats of brown and snowy white for their finest spring greens, and here and there the first wildflowers are shaking off their long winter sleep in bursts of lavender. Since this trip into the foothills was a whim on my way to the grocery store (did not make it there) I did not have my camera, but I’m making another trip tomorrow, so I’ll edit this post and put in a picture or two in a couple days.

I find that I naturally follow the seasons of mother nature – her rhythms – when not tied to a normal 8-5 job, and spring is a time of rebirth and renewal; a time to get underway. Late last year I signed up for a photographic workshop this June with an outstanding landscape photographer, Rodney Lough Jr., in Grand Teton National Park near Yellowstone. Three solid days of taking photos and trekking up and down mountains and trails in one of the most beautiful areas America has to offer.

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