Bobby Socks Cathedral

Winter in Yellowstone National Park is harsh. Deep snow, ice, steam, and extremely cold temperatures create an environment that is surreal, otherworldly. That is exactly why I go.

In the firm grip of winter, the landscapes in the park are sculpted into something astonishingly beautiful. To visit in any other season, I promise you will encounter an abundance of beauty in the valleys, rivers, and meadows. You will be happy. But nothing looks as dramatic or captivating as winter, not even the trees. Photographing wildlife in Yellowstone during January is highly appealing and the main reason most photographers go, but there is much more to Yellowstone than wolves and bison. The environments in which these and other wild animals live are worthy of our creative attention. One stop that every winter visitor must make is at the Bobby Socks Trees. These dead lodgepole pines, aptly named Bobby Socks Trees due to the lower portion of the tree trunks being bleached white from silica deposits in geothermally heated water, are found in various parts of the park, but there is one particular expansive stand that is unique. I have been fortunate to stand in some beautiful, ornate man-made cathedrals around the world, but there is no cathedral that can compare to the Bobby Socks Trees on a morning when the temperatures are well below zero, and everything is shrouded in fog and steam as the rising sun begins to burn through. To stand there, in silence and reverence, is humbling and profoundly spiritual.

There are no words. If you know, you know.

Photograph What You Feel

Bobby Socks Trees at Dawn

Light and Shadow in the Bobby Socks Trees

Moving Trees

Silent Cathedral

Moving Moments

Hushed Moment

The Strength of Many

Among the Trees

Sentinels