If the trees look dead in this picture that is because they mostly are. A fire burned everything on top of Grizzly Peak several years back. To tell you the truth, I find the hike on Grizzly to be much more interesting now after the fire. Not only is the dead wood beautiful but life is springing up like crazy at the base of the trees.

You can’t really see it in this photo, but I risked my camera’s life by taking this and a few other photos as we got caught it a hail and rain storm. I was soaked and so was my camera, but it is still working fine.

The bit of town you can see is probably Medford. I think I was pointed northwest when I took this photograph. This picture looks much better on a big screen, with your browser maximized, after clicking on the image.

Posted on June 27th, 2009 under nature, only in ashland, places. Tags: clouds, grizzly peak, mountains, skywatch, trees. Comments Off on Top of Grizzly Peak

For Father’s Day we rode bikes from Lake of the Woods to Fish Lake. The weather wasn’t great and the kids weren’t up for all 15+ miles so I rode back from Fish Lake to Lake of the Woods by myself to get the car. Near the car was this scene. This is actually across the rode (near Aspen Point) from Lake of the Woods. It isn’t a year-round lake at all I imagine–just a swamp of sorts that happened to look pretty good on this day.

Posted on June 24th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, high lakes trail, lake of the woods, skywatch, water. Comments: 2

This is the fourth time I’ve shown you Mt. McLaughlin, each time from a very different angle. I think I like this one the best due to my love of clouds.

Posted on June 21st, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, mount mcloughlin, mountains, Mt. McLaughlin, skywatch. Comments: 2

In less than two months I will be moving to Tokyo for a year. I don’t want this blog to dry up and die while I’m gone. While the updates may not be quite daily while I’m away I’m hoping that with a hundred or so images from my archives and a little help from some of you who live in the Rogue Valley we can keep things interesting and fresh around here. I may even have a Tokyo week on Ashland Daily Photo from time to time while I’m in Japan.

Today’s image is the first photo from a guest contributor. This picture is of Medford, taken from the RoxyAnn Winery, and was provided courtesy of a former student of mine, Amanda Bullock.

If you have some high quality images of Ashland, or the Rogue Valley, and would like to see them published here drop me a line.

Posted on June 18th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: Amanda Bullock, clouds, skywatch. Comments Off on Guest contributors wanted

Today’s picture was taken from the highway, window rolled down, going 65 MPH. The snow on Mt. Ashland is mostly gone now in mid-June, but there was still quite a bit when I took this on May 19. The Ashland Springs Hotel is the most visible and recognizable building. My house is among the trees beyond the hotel. A great place to live…

As always, maximize your browser and then click on the image for a much better and bigger view.

Posted on June 14th, 2009 under nature, only in ashland, places. Tags: buildings, clouds, mountains, mt. ashland, nature, skywatch, trees. Comments Off on Ashland from I-5

On the way home from our Crater Lake field trip I was in the passenger seat. I took this picture out of the window while traveling at 60+ MPH on Highway 62. This body of water is known as Lost Creek Lake.

Posted on June 12th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, skywatch, spring, water. Comments: 1

For some, unknown reason our guide never took us to the lake. I think most of the kids didn’t even see Crater Lake on this Crater Lake field trip. I wasn’t going to miss it though. When you have traveled to one of the Top 10 Natural Wonders of the World you may as well look at it.

Crater Lake was in fine form on this day.

Posted on June 10th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, crater lake, landscape, skywatch, snow, trees, water, winter. Comments: 4

For some unknown reason our showshoe guide took us away from Crater Lake. Sure the views were still fantastic, like the one above of the Klamath Basin, but I hadn’t seen Crater Lake in nearly ten years. I had never seen it with snow or with the wicked, cool blue and cloudy sky that was now appearing.

I was dying inside, wanting to break from my field trip group to see the lake. But I performed my fatherly and chaperone duties and stuck with the group. I hoped the weather wouldn’t change before getting to the lake. Stay tuned to see if it did…

Posted on June 9th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, crater lake, people, skywatch, snow, winter. Comments Off on Klamath Basin from Crater Lake

After arriving at Crater Lake it appeared my luck had not changed. Once again, I could not see the lake. I was there for a snowshoeing experience with my daughter’s class as a field trip. As we began snowshoeing the thick clouds started to break up.

Apparently the snow isn’t all gone from this area until July. The above photo was taken on May 19, 2009, and there was close to 10 feet of snow under foot. The temperature in Ashland the day before hit 90.

Posted on June 8th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: clouds, crater lake, skywatch, snow, winter. Comments Off on Snowshoeing at Crater Lake