snowed out

I went up to the flat tops to shoot some waterfalls and was greeted with this at 1:30 in the morning. It took a minute to register that my plans were a bust after 3 and a 1/2 hours of driving. So if anyone is headed up to the high country you better make some calls first.

I did get this sunrise at 4:00 am so it wasn't a complete loss.

Funny thing, I almost headed up to shoot "Hackett Falls," but really didn't feel like driving an hour of interstate, followed by 20+ miles of dirt road, only to be stopped miles short by a drift like that. I'll bet there will still be a good flow in a few weeks, once the road clears out.

Perhaps one of the resident meteorologists can confirm, but if shot #2 was taken at 4am, could those be noctilucent clouds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud)?

Wikipedia says they normally occur at higher latitudes, but they certainly look like other images I've seen around the web.

Yea Todd, I guess only one of us was foolhardy enough to try it this early in the season. And I'm sure the flow will be spectacular. Thanks for the info stephen, I had no idea what kind of clouds they were but they were unlike any I had seen before. I was amazed at how bright they were for that early in the morning.

And that was enough to stop you? A friend and I opened up the road to South Colony Lakes one early summer using a couple shovels and a chainsaw. Ha!

Many decades ago, as a foolish youngster. I tried to drive a van across a similar "short" drift while trying to cross the Uinita Mountains. My excuse was that there was one set of tire tracks.

Michael I was blocked by the same snow drift. It never occurred to me to call and check on the road. I love your 0400 image.