When the Harvest Moon rose above Mono Lake that evening, I was high above the lake shooting panorama shots of the Mammoth Craters under a stormy sunset. In fact, the moon snuck up before I realized it. I threw my gear in my car and raced back down the mountain to the lake. Tuning off the highway on to a local road, I parked behind another car with a man, camera on tripod, shooting the moon, as his wife stood patiently nearby, protected from the cold with jacket and mittens.

I grabbed my camera and tripod and slogged through sage brush, marsh, and trees, and forded a small stream to find this single bare tree near the water’s edge. It’s amazing what you can find in the dark. I snapped a few photographs and then decided it was time to get some supper. It was then that I discovered the private (dry) road that lead back to my car.