Mount Magazine, part
2
May 19 through June 6, 2004
With little over two weeks until the photo
contest deadline I was starting to get worried. More butterfly
species visit Mount Magazine than any other place in the state,
yet after six trips I had seen few and photographed less.
Friday evening, June 4, Stacey and the boys were off visiting
some friends so I left work a little early and headed back up
to the mountain even though it was cloudy and gray here, and
the weather radar showed the same for my destination. I drove
through a few patches of light rain on the way.
As I was pulling into the State Park
visitor center I could see that Signal Hill was actually in the
clouds. I parked the truck and started hiking down Will
Apple’s Road trail. It was great to be hiking in the
woods again! What they say about Mount Magazine being 10
degrees cooler than the surrounding areas is not publicity
hype.
I came upon a big patch of woodland
sunflowers and was pleased to see several small butterflies
hanging out. These were the same kind I’d seen last
weekend, but at least they kept still long enough to have their
picture taken.
I’d only hiked half a mile, very
slowly because I was butterfly hunting, when I decided it was
time to turn around and go back. I wanted to find a way down to
the bluffs below Brown Springs. The clouds started breaking up
around the time I got to the truck and I could see patches of
blue sky here and there.
There weren’t any trails down to the
bluffs. I had to bushwhack through a maze of blackberry vines
and big old cedars, and I was just wearing shorts and a
t-shirt. But it was a short walk. I had a great view of Cameron
Bluff to the north, and I was pleased to see that the sun was
far enough north that it would set clear of the bluffline I was
on. As the sun sank lower and lower it turned the haze down in
the valley to the northwest a wonderful soft orange. I put a
telephoto lens on the camera and got a great shot of Horseshoe
Mountain and Short Mountain, next to Paris, rising up out of
the haze.
The sun turned a deep red just before it
set, and the clouds above some amazing reds and oranges.
I’m sure glad I didn’t pay too much attention to
the gray clouds a couple of hours earlier.
I made my eighth and final trip to Mount
Magazine early Sunday morning, June 6. Again I got up at 4 so
that I could make it to the mountain before sunrise. Once at
the park I decided to take another look at the nature pond near
the Petit Jean River valley overlook. There wasn't anything to
get excited about at the pond, though I’m sure most of
that was because I was so tired. I hiked back to the truck and
drove East to see if there were any places with a view of the
sunrise. There weren’t. The wind was also blowing quite a
bit for it to be so early, which depressed me even further so I
just turned around a drove over to the Brown Springs picnic
area to take a nap. I opened the passenger side door so that my
feet could stick out, laid down in the front seat and slept for
two solid hours.
When I woke up, a cereal bar and a cup of
coffee didn’t improve my attitude any so I decided to
just head to the house. Somewhere along the road between
Overlook Drive and where the loop drive around Signal Hill
splits there were several patches of bright orange Butterfly
Weed. I spotted lots of butterflies flying from cluster to
cluster so I pulled the truck off the side of the road and
wound up spending the next two hours shooting pictures. I left
a lot happier than when I arrived.
