Rattlesnake Mountain

Unfortunately, I haven't posted in quite awhile. The demands of being a volleyball mom, chaperone and part time employee have kept me from getting out there to shoot anything in several weeks.  Oh, how I have missed being out there taking pictures and having my "me" time to stop and contemplate the world and the beauty that surrounds me. It has been my quest since we moved here in August to get out there and find the new type of beauty that surrounds us here in the high desert. Regrettably,  I have been lacking in that pursuit so I was determined earlier this week to get out there and get after it.  

I had heard about a place called the Hanford Reach National Monument.  I decided to take a drive out there and see what it was all about.  Boy, I was not disappointed in what I saw.  It is an amazing place that seems to stretch on forever.  There is a highway that meanders its way through the sagebrush, shrubs and grasslands like a river.  The sky is so big and bold, it reminds of the saying "big sky country". You almost feel like you are in a giant snow globe!  Along one side of the highway there is the Saddle Mountain Wildlife Refuge and this is where I saw this beauty called Rattlesnake Mountain.  The very top of the mountain was dusted with snow, almost like someone had sprinkled the top with some powdered sugar!  The late evening sun was starting to cast the lovely golden tones along the sagebrush and grasses as we drove along the highway.  We found a place to pull over and the image above was one of my favorites from that evening. The road in the picture is an access road that is closed off by a gate and I imagine that the park rangers are only ones allowed access.  This is definitely an area that I would love to explore more fully. I truly get the sense that I only scratched the surface as to what the Hanford Reach has to offer in beauty and splendor.  

This long over due outing made me remember why I love photography so much.  It is so hard to describe how getting out there and capturing a moment in time, of seeing this beauty in person and actually smelling the sagebrush and grasses as they are drying out from an earlier storm in the day, can rejuvenate the mind and the soul.