Imaging the Natural World

Baxter Park Revisited

I promised to add more images from this fall’s adventure to Baxter Stake Park to photograph the moose. As I mentioned in the last installment, the morning of the 8th was pretty dismal at Sandy Stream Pond . No moose were sighted. But as always, the pond lends itself to some nice early morning photography.

Early Morning at Sandy Stream Pond

After several hours at Sandy Stream we spent much of the rest of the day checking out Stump Pond and traveling the Golden Road in search of moose. Instead of moose, I contented myself with photographing the foliage which was near its peak.

Fall Reflections

The morning of the 9th was to prove to be much more productive. Again we hiked the short path to Sandy Stream Pond before daybreak. The emerging sunrise allowed another capture of the pond, this one processed from 7 RAW images using high dynamic range (HDR) processing

Sandy Stream Pond Rendered in HDR

Not only were we rewarded with a very placid lake -side scene, but a bull moose too!

Our first bull moose sighting this fall

The next and final installment from this years trip will provide a gallery of images.

Back from Baxter State Park

Ardie and I returned from our visit to Baxter State Park on Saturday. We began the 8 hour drive to the park on Wednesday at about 6:30 in the morning. After checking in at the park entrance and arranging for a drive-up lean-to for our first two nights, we headed directly to Stump Pond to check out the moose scene. It rained heavily for most of our drive to Baxter and was raining at Stump Pond when we pulled in. We did see one lone cow in the middle of the pond but between heavy rain and poor light, we didn’t even pull out our camera gear.

We turned around and headed back down the six miles of the Tote Road to pick up the road to the Roaring Brook camp site where we had lean-to #4. On arriving, we were advised that there was a bear that had a habit of entering the camp ground and to keep all foods locked in the car. After an early dinner we turned in in anticipation of  a  hike to Sandy Stream Pond before dawn.

Fall Foliage at Baxter's Sandy Stream Pond

We awoke on Thursday  to a very cool and extremely windy morning. At first we were encouraged by the light of a very bright moon, but the clear sky quickly gave way to a heavy overcast and very flat lighting. After about 5 hours of waiting we finally gave up on any moose visiting the pond. There was a break or two in the weather and I enjoyed turning my lens onto the foliage which was about at its peak.
After leaving Sandy Stream Pond, we revisited Stump Pond and then rode along the Golden Road checking out moose hot spots from other years. There were no moose to be seen. Fall foliage was plentiful and I satisfied my urge to press the shutter release by capturing more fall images.

Baxter State Park Foliage

All-in-all Thursday was a disappointing day. After all, I was there to photograph moose. Friday is another story but I will have to continue that after my return from New Mexico next week.

Baxter Moose

I will be heading to Baxter State Park in northern Maine on Tuesday. This annual trip is to photograph the moose during the rut which normally occurs between mid-September and Mid- October. A good friend and fellow nature photographer will be accompanying me on the 7-1/2 hour trip. We have  a lean-to reservation at the Roaring Brook campground which puts us within a short walk of  Sandy Stream Pond pictured below.

Baxter's Sandy Stream Pond at Sunrise

We will be spending several days in hopes of photographing the magnificent bull moose that often visit the pond and can be found in many locations in the park.

Baxter State Park Bull Moose

I will be posting a description of our 2009 trip along with some images upon our retrun