The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

We left Denver early in the morning heading up the Interstate to Wyoming.  My four days in Denver were spent at a very vauable conference, but without my camera.  I was working.

Wyoming has very diverse topography: the high chaparral of the eastern half is contrasted by the high Titons and Yellowstone in the west.

RVs racing across the Wyoming planes to Yellowstone, apparently.

Contrary to popular myth, there IS a lot to see between Cheyenne and Casper Wyoming: Chugwater, for example.  We saw the "World Famous Chugwater Chili" sign out on the Interstate and just had to pull off.

Chugwater, Wyoming may seem to have seen better days, but it may actually be in the middle of it's best days: there is natural gas being extracted in this part of Wyoming, and the town was crawling with Haliburton trucks.

Main Street Chugwater has the charm and simplicity of aesthetic delapidation I crave.

Yes, people are actually living here.  The bright clear light and the incredible textures were fantastic.  I wonder if the residents share my indiscriminate enthusiasms.

If a local Chugwaterian were to see this photo, what might they think?  I love the symmetrical aesthetics, color, and lines of this shot.

The effects of severe winter weather is evident everywhere.

"If these walls could talk."

The old, and closed, Chugwater Cabins and Hotel had a nice new door.

Someone found a good (and ironic) use for an old "Speed Limit" sign.

I am always challenged while photographing an amazing scene to know what is the best cropping/framing. Chugwater was extremely challenging in this way.

The Chugwater Soda Fountain, founded in 1918, beckoned. I had Chugwater Chili on my mind.

I found The Chili From Heaven in Chugwater.  What a charming old place.

Lines and negative spaces in Chugwater, Wyoming.

Like habitations in vastness anywhere in the world, people pick up old stuff and drag it into town.  The old caboose was wonderful.

A new coat of red paint had been sprayed over eerything.

I love this photo: it wold print large very nicely.

Someone created a side yard Museum of Old Stuff Found Way the Hell Out There.  This scene reminds me so much of my childhood moving around America in the '50s and 'early '60s.

This may be an old shepherd's trailer from the 1940s.  Read, "This House of Sky" by Ivan Doig for a beautiful account of life out in the vast western wilderness.

We said a sad good-bye to amazing Chugwater and headed north to Casper to meet up with my old best college buddy, George, and his wife JoLynn.  I made friends with this thorn while making an unscheduled pit stop.  Ouch.

George and I have not changed one bit since we last saw each other in, er, 1974.  We looked very old when we were young.  George and I have lived very similar lives, his more remote than mine.  Although I have spent 10 years in The Congo, 17 in Thailand, and an odd 5 years in England, Denmark, and Germany . . . George has spent the same period in Lame Deer, Montana, and Hines, Oregon working with the U.S. Forest Service.  Hines and Lame Deer may be the remotest places in the USA and perhaps only exceeded by a wadi or two in the Sahara!  It was very thoughtful of George to wear a Harper Racing t-shirt for the occasion.  Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, friends like George and I have kept in contact over the years and miles.

George took us up to a iew spot above the berg of Casper, Wyoming.  He complained abut the traffic and congestion . .  I reminded him that I lived in Bangkok, a city of 11+ million people who seeming all just got their driver's licenses today and went out for a drive.

This some of what I miss by living in Bangkok: vast scenery, big sky, and mountains.

Our Sunday drive took us beside a gladed stand of Aspens where we saw young deer grazing.

We went back to George's house where he shared stories of license plate collecting out west.  George has a complete set of Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming license plates.  By complete sets I mean every year and every type of license plate ever made in those states.  Fantastic.  These are rare non-private vehicle plates form Montana.

George displays parts of his collection at collectors' conventions and through various associations organs.  We all went out  for a great dinner before we retired back at out hotel . . . we had an early morning call to get back out on the road to Wind River (George recommended the town of Thermopolis and the hot springs) before The Grand Tetons by the evening.

The drive west out of Casper took us through some breathtaking scenery.

Sometimes we would just stop the car and walk out in the vastness . . . under an emense sky.

As rain clouds gathered, we took a side trip (20 miles in, and 20 miles out) up the Wind River.

We drove through the wildly beautiful Wind River Canyon to get to Thermopolis.

The canyon continued to narrow as we went further in.

A railroad line followed the river on the far bank.

Construction of the railroad must have caused many sleepless nights for the engineers.

The railroad must require constant maintenance against rock falls.

At some points the canyon was so narrow there were tunnels on both sides, for cars and trains.

The Wind River Canyon eventually opened out as we neared Thermopolis.

What a beautiful place.

Thermopolis was a tourist town centered around hot springs developments, most of which seemed to be from the 1930s or 1960s.  The formally developed hot springs commerce was not too attractive, although there was one nice National Parks hot springs facility.  The park, however, was well maintained.

Geography buffs will appreciate this:  it seems the Wind River was "discovered" by two separate explorers on each side of the Wind River Canyon and was, therefore, name as two distinct rivers . . . to this very day! Even though it is the same rier (the Wind River), it is called the Bighorn River  (in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque) at Thermopolis . . . after a "Wedding of the Waters" somewhere up stream.  Amazing.  The park had a nice pedestrian suspension bridge over the Bighorn River.

The bridge proided a good vantage point for photographing the surrounding geological marvels.

Billed as the "Largest Hot Springs In The World," it was mighty impressive.  There were some amazing mineral pools and cascading mineral deposits running into the blue Bighorn River.

The Bighorn River as it seeks it's way to the sea.

The light was very bad for photography, overcast, but I did manage to find some interesting subject matter, like these thermal pools.  Notice the white rock sign on the side of the hill announcing, "World's Largest Thermal Hot Springs."

Sometimes the cascading hot mineral waters would leave a pattern of scales on the rocks.

One of the most interesting things I saw on the entire trip might be these life forms living in scalding hot thermal pools.  These things attract NASA exobiologists like free money.  If there is life on other planets, it'll look like this for sure . . . and what feeds on this stuff on another planet is anybodie's guess!  We stopped at a grocery store in Thermopolis for supplies (anything without sugar . . . which is NOT easy in the USA!) before driing back through the Bighorn/Wind River Canyon.

Once out of the Wind River mountains, the countryside spread out again into arid wilderness.

I love this kid of nature; so grand . . .

. . . and mile after mile of it.  As we drove to the northwest, our altitude rose.  The countryside began to change.

The earth became more red in color, the flora changed as well; more sagebrush now, and the occasional green oasis.

The geology of the hills became streaked with red.  Magnificent.

Like something out of a cowboy movie!

This dirt road was soooo tempting . . . . but we wanted to get to the Grand Tetons National Park before dark, and a rain storm was gathering.

As we rose in elevation the road often cut through rocky passes with mammoth monuments of red stone.

The American West in all its glory!

A storm was gathering over the red stone bluffs.  We drove faster and stopped less often . . . .

The road became very steep as we ascended into the Alpine meadows of the Grand Tetons . . . where it was raining a gentle, and cold rain.

The rain was becoming very steady as we reached the entrance gate of Grand Teton National Park.

By the time we reached our park cabin check-in it was dark and raining.  We had a nice meal (trout) in the central lodge.  We awoke to a perfect day . . . .

. . . a glorious morning . . .

. . . among the pines.

Our log cabin had been comfy and cozy.

What is it about a log cabin in the pines that makes one feel so . . . welcome?

We were late enough in the summer for wild flowers to be blooming at altitude.

We could have spent a week in the Tetons, but we were booked into Yellowstone for the next several days.  We hit the road early, and stopped to take a look at The Grand Teton mountains themselves across Janet Lake.

There couldn't have been better weather . . .

The Teton peaks were shrouded in billowy clouds.

The clouds would part now and then to give a glimpse of one peak at a time.

Fantastic!

An old high school friend of mine, Marty Stewart, spent months backpacking in the Tetons . . . and raved about them.  Now I see why . . . forty years later.

The whole of the Tetons; GRAND indeed!

We somehow pulled ourselves away from Lake Janet and the reflected high Tetons and headed up i altitude to Yellowstone National Park . . . and ever more natural beauty.