My February 2017 Photo Of The Month is Fog Bow, an image made in Joshua Tree National Park.
Fog Bow Background
This image was made on an awesome trip with my friend Alex to see Joshua Tree. With stormy weather throughout the park, I suspected we could encounter something dramatic if we headed to the lower elevations of the park.
At first, I thought we would be socked in, but we were able to discern an edge to the fog and some of the clearer elevations. This just happened to be near the Silver Bell Mine, which I had wanted to explore.
Because the Pinto Basin had a rare air inversion was totally fogged in, we thought the mine would be a great place to see it. There was enough fog that it took us a minute to find the trail, although once we picked it up, we could see it was simply the old Jeep road that went up to the mine.
As we climbed the grade to the mine, we were shocked to find a Fog Bow developing. It started as pure white, until showing the entire kaleidoscope, before disappearing completely. This happened over a couple minutes time. It would have been easy to have missed this phenomenon. It was one of those “I was in such aww that I almost forgot to take a photograph” moments.
Such are these fleeting moments. But when they happen, they are truly extraordinary to see. I have never witnessed a Fog Bow, which seemingly was pointed North from our vantage point as the sun was rising from the East. As most people know, rainbows are almost always 180 degrees from the Sun relative to you. This fog bow was quite unusual!
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the image.
Further Viewing
Photos of the Month Portfolio Gallery
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.