Virginia Cascades And Big Skies

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The night sky with 30s exposure. I must focus manually, and of course the earth turns substantially already in 30 seconds, but still. We saw the milky way every night, and we watched as the falling stars of the Perseides rained on earth.	DSC07586.JPG	Some impressions from our spot in the Norris campground, a primitive campground inside the park. This suits us so much better than a KOA.
DSC07597.JPG	Michelle's vacation reading which was fitting (the heroine passes by Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood hiking the Pacific Crest Trail).	DSC07600.JPG
This is a one-way road that goes by the Virginia Cascades, visible in the background. We stopped and climbed down to the river which was beautiful.	DSC07605.JPG	By the cascades
DSC07612.JPG	DSC07614.JPG	Change of location: This is at the banks of Yellowstone River close to the base of Tower Falls, at the mouth of Tower Creek. (The base of the fall was inaccessible due to trail maintenance.)
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DSC07625.JPG	DSC07627.JPG	A panorama of the majestic clouds in the big sky. I think it's snowing or hailing below the center, but it turns to rain a few hundred feet above ground. There is actually a faint vertical rainbow segment above the boulder in the center of the field. On a few occasions we had the last remains of hail, for a minute or two (the park is around 8000 feet high, perhaps 2500 meters, which was just below snowfall during this time).
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As always, big versions of the pictures can be found in the folder big.