Garrett Fisher

Author, Pilot, & Adventurer

Email subscription form header
Subscribe
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Powered by FeedBlitz
  • Writings
  • Documentary & Interview
  • Press
  • Economics
  • Maps
  • Flying Videos
  • TEDx Talk: Forget Economics
  • About Me

Powered by Genesis

Archives for August 2016

Column: Summer Color Changes in Yellowstone

August 20, 2016 by Garrett

This post originally ran in West Yellowstone News.

Summer in Yellowstone is a season of continual transition, one that surprises me each time that I view it. Situated at high altitude, it is no mystery that Yellowstone is extremely snowy and cold in the winter, so much so that the park is substantially closed except for snow sports for the majority of the year. As spring rolls around, snow melts at an increasingly fast rate, even though late season snowfalls can still happen, and in rare instances, some of the mountains can get snow any time of year.

Like most of the West, summer arrives at the flip of a switch. Terrain known for survival in the cold becomes incredibly hot under the strong, high-altitude sun, and famous Western dry air prevails for the majority of the time, so much so that it is a wonder that it rains at all. Then, on certain occasions, it rains profusely, bringing the bite of cold air back, leaving clueless tourists to fend off hypothermia while nursing yesterday’s residual sunburn. Hopefully a bear hasn’t broken into the same person’s camping food while meteorological misery abounds.

From the air, it is evident that the colors of the park are in continuous evolution during the course of the summer. For those who visit for days or a week at a time, the color of Yellowstone viewed on that trip is mistaken for the park as a whole, denying a visitor the opportunity to understand how variable the colors of Yellowstone are. Further, the view from the ground lacks the magnitude for year-round dwellers that can be afforded from the air. A few dried out plants here and there can be difficult to distinguish from the continuity of forest.

As the white of winter melts off, the brown of spring replaces it. Brown gives way to a green hue as summer approaches. When the switch is ideologically flipped to summer heat, flowers burst forth amongst a deep and profound green, the product of the rainy season in late spring and early summer as well as residual soil moisture from snowmelt. For those that like to avoid snowfall, cold, and anything associated with winter, this is the prettiest time of year.

By midsummer, yellow and gold mixes with the green as the heat of summer wears on. Even in “rainy” years by Western standards, the long-term heat of the sun and dryness of the air makes life for grasses and small deciduous plants difficult, and they begin various seasonal die-offs. By late August, golden is the dominant color, which begins to give way to a late season brown, which has more of a wheat-like appearance than the brown of early spring. There is still life in the final stages of summer, even though it is one of struggle against the elements and the heat.

Not too long after summer transitions from vibrancy to tired age and fatigue, the switch flips, fall colors set in, and winter follows on its heels with dramatic speed and intensity. Don’t let the weather and color of today fool you. Yellowstone changes its clothes on a regular basis.

Garrett Fisher photographs from his 1949 Piper PA-11 aircraft, has published 9 books, and blogs extensively about his flying at www.garrettfisher.me. He is currently working on two books about Yellowstone from above, the Yellowstone River, glaciers of Wyoming, glaciers of Montana, Grand Teton National Park, and many other projects.

Midsummer color, beginning to turn from green to golden.
Yellowstone (1)

Illustrious early summer green. Snake River, southern Yellowstone, Grand Teton on the horizon.
Yellowstone

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Magnum Opus of Cartography

August 5, 2016 by Garrett

I was too busy flying and moving to Germany for the past year to bother to update my lovely map on the front page of the blog site (www.garrettfisher.me). The general idea when I started the blog was to have an erotic map filled with pushpins denoting locations where photographs were taken, including a preview of the image for those who clicked on the pin. That was all well and good until I ran into a bit of recursion cycle: too much flying meant not enough time for updating the blog, which meant that actually updating the blog would be even harder. I suppose that is the same cycle crackheads deal with (you say tomato…..).

I have finally added hundreds and hundreds of pushpins, bringing the blog entirely up to date. Since most people will not actually click on something yet still expect free intellectually (and sometimes physically) stimulating content to magically arrive and stimulate their minds without any effort, I included some static images below of the locations on the map.

To get a full screen version that you can pan, zoom, and click on previews, click here.

To see the map of European flying (what little there is), go to the front page of my blog and scroll to the bottom.

The whole shebang: all USA photos posted on the blog.
Screen Shot 2016-08-05 at 10.39.42 PM

Basically, this is my flying last summer, with the exception of the flight over the Black Hills of South Dakota. After writing that last sentence, it occurred to me that next to no one can identify the Black Hills from this map. 
Screen Shot 2016-08-05 at 10.40.18 PM

Don’t forget: you can get the live thing by clicking here (and you won’t because let’s face it: readers are too inert, and my bitterness is doesn’t help even though it is strangely attractive).

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • Español
  • Français
  • Català

Blog Posts

  • Flights: Spain, Switzerland: A Crazed Aeronautical Bender…Seven Years Later January 25, 2023
  • Flight: France: Surfing the Wave December 19, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland: A Mystery on the Eiger, 700,000th Photo November 16, 2022
  • Flight: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands: Losing My Flying-Over-Water Virginity October 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Sognefjord, Longest Fjord in Norway September 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Hardangervidda, Largest Mountain Plateau in Europe September 17, 2022
  • Flight: Norway: Galdhøpiggen, Highest Peak in Northern Europe August 20, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Jostedalsbreen, Largest Glacier in Continental Europe August 7, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Flyraseri ikke Flyskam July 17, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland, France, Italy: 2,000 Hours & FL160 July 9, 2022
  • Flight: Day 4: Sweden, Norway: 56N to 59N July 6, 2022
  • Flight: Day 3: Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden: 53N to 56N June 27, 2022
  • Flight: Day 2: France, Belgium, Netherlands: 44N to 53N June 19, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1: Spain, France: 36N to 44N June 4, 2022
  • Flight: Spain: Rock the Casbah, Sierra Nevada, Africa on the Horizon May 8, 2022
  • Flight: Portugal, Spain: Promontorium Sacrum, Last Sausage Before America April 26, 2022
  • Flight: Spain, Morocco: Spanish Africa, Pillars of Hercules, Southernmost Point in Europe April 18, 2022
  • Flights: Spain: The Antipope, Package Holidays & A Clandestine Metropolis April 11, 2022
  • Flights: Days 2 & 3: France, Spain, Portugal: España Verde, Galicia, Aggressive Eucalyptus & Andalucía April 3, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1 of 3: Switzerland, France, Spain, Andorra: Alps, Mediterranean, Pyrenees & Atlantic March 30, 2022

Archives

  • January 2023 (1)
  • December 2022 (1)
  • November 2022 (1)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (2)
  • August 2022 (2)
  • July 2022 (3)
  • June 2022 (3)
  • May 2022 (1)
  • April 2022 (4)
  • March 2022 (1)
  • February 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (2)
  • November 2021 (3)
  • October 2021 (1)
  • September 2021 (1)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • May 2021 (3)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (5)
  • November 2020 (5)
  • October 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (2)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (4)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (4)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (5)
  • July 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (5)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (5)
  • October 2016 (4)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (4)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (4)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (8)
  • August 2015 (8)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (8)
  • May 2015 (4)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (5)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (3)