Fine Art Photographs, Printed Big And Signed.

Yellowstone Moose Baby

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A cow moose and her calf move through a sagebrush meadow near flowing water in Yellowstone National Park, the calf close behind as they pause in the tall grass, with dense willows and conifers along the riverbank. Key Features: A Rare Sighting: Moose are among the least common large mammals in the park, with fewer than 100 living there. The Habitat: Sagebrush flats bordered by river willows and conifer forest give moose the cover and browse they favor, especially in the warmer months. Mother and Calf: Cow moose stay close to their calves through the summer, teaching them to forage in wet meadows and streamside plants.

Buffalo Range

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A lone American bison stands in a lush meadow of wildflowers in Yellowstone National Park, seen from low against distant mountains and a darkening storm sky that show the scale and wildness of the land. Key Features: The Herd: Yellowstone is home to thousands of bison, one of the last genetically pure herds of American buffalo. Bison Conservation: In 1907 the park's Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley took in 28 bison from Fort Yellowstone, to help save one of the last free-roaming herds in the United States. Bison Country: Herds graze and rest across the park's broad valleys, where visitors see them often.

Yellowstone Sunset

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

The sun sinks behind a bank of clouds over a dense sea of lodgepole pine in Yellowstone National Park, the darkening canopy giving way to hazy blue ridgelines that recede into the distance under a sky streaked gold and violet. Key Features: The Forest: Forest covers about 80 percent of the park, with lodgepole pine in miles of unbroken stands, especially inside the Yellowstone Caldera. The Terrain: Yellowstone sits on a high volcanic plateau ringed by rugged ranges of the Rocky Mountains, their layered peaks fading into the haze. The Light: Golden rays break through the clouds, and the thin air and long sightlines of the plateau deepen the color at dusk.

Jackson WY Scenic

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

Looking southeast across the high country outside Jackson, Wyoming, a ranch road winds through open sagebrush meadows before the land climbs through lodgepole pine and aspen to the rounded, timbered summits of the Gros Ventre Range under towering summer cumulus. Key Features: The Gros Ventre Range: East of Jackson Hole, these mountains have rounded sedimentary peaks, unlike the jagged granite of the nearby Tetons. The Valley Floor: Jackson Hole sits at about 6,200 feet, with ridgelines and foothills rising through mixed conifer and aspen forest. Ranching Heritage: Dirt roads and open meadows show the land still used for grazing and homesteads amid protected forest. The Weather: Afternoon cumulus like this is common in the Rockies in summer, often ahead of brief mountain thunderstorms.

Lake Cody Wyoming

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A small, tree-lined pond opens onto a much larger lake in the high country near Cody, Wyoming, with the ridgelines of the Absaroka Range rising hazily beyond a screen of conifers. Key Features: The Shoshone National Forest: America's first national forest, established in 1891 just outside Cody, holds thousands of mountain lakes and ponds. The Absaroka Range: The layered blue peaks are part of this volcanic range at the edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The Region: Cody is the gateway to this remote high country, prized for fishing, camping and unspoiled mountain scenery.

Cody Wyoming Mountains B&W

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

Deeply eroded volcanic spires and gullies climb the crumbling flank of Cedar Mountain, also called Spirit Mountain, just west of Cody, Wyoming. In black and white from the scree at its base, a single small cabin sits dwarfed at the foot of the slope as a lone cloud drifts past the summit. Key Features: The Name: Crow tradition called it the mountain of spirits, and settlers reported Native tree burials on its slopes. The Geology: The mountain is volcanic breccia, weathering into jagged, crumbling pinnacles. The Setting: It faces Rattlesnake Mountain across the Shoshone River gorge, near Buffalo Bill Reservoir. The Legend: Local lore ties the mountain to showman Buffalo Bill Cody, who wished to be buried there.

Grand Teton Barn

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

The T.A. Moulton Barn stands alone in a grassy homestead field on Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park, its green shingled roof and weathered log walls facing west toward the Teton Range, the upper slopes still streaked with summer snow under scattered clouds. Key Features: Homestead History: Mormon settlers from Idaho crossed Teton Pass into Jackson Hole in the late 1800s and early 1900s and built farms along this row. Alma Moulton began his barn in 1912 to shelter his horses, and it was decades before he called it finished. A Protected Landmark: Mormon Row became part of Grand Teton National Park in the mid-1900s, and in 1997 the district joined the National Register of Historic Places. The Backdrop: The Tetons rise straight from the valley floor with no foothills, one of the most photographed skylines in the American West. Preservation: Crews and volunteers, Moulton family members among them, have repaired the barn's steep roof to keep it standing.

Jackson Hole River

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

The Gros Ventre River bends through its forested canyon east of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, seen from a grassy bluff over cottonwood-lined banks, a sagebrush slope and a weathered sandstone outcrop, with pine-covered ridges fading under a clear summer sky. Key Features: The River: Flowing down from Slide Lake through multicolored terrain, the Gros Ventre carves a scenic canyon east of Grand Teton National Park. The Rock: Where the river cut through the overlying Tensleep Sandstone, it left the rock with nothing holding it in place, shaping the cliffs along the canyon. The Wilderness: The Gros Ventre runs from lush meadows to steep limestone pinnacles, with grand views of the Teton Range. History: The canyon is near the site of the 1925 Gros Ventre landslide, one of the region's most notable geologic events.

Black Hills Stream

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A rushing stream tumbles over weathered limestone boulders in the Black Hills of South Dakota, seen low at the water so the eye follows the current as it churns white against the rock. Key Features: The Black Hills: Forested mountains rising from the northern prairie, known for granite and limestone shaped by flowing water. Trout Waters: Black Hills streams and lakes hold rainbow, brown and brook trout, managed for naturally reproducing populations, and clear, fast water like this is their habitat. The Close View: Framing only water and stone puts the force and clarity of the current front and center.

Black Hills Stream

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

Clear water tumbles over a low rock ledge into a still, tannin-dark pool on a quiet Black Hills stream in South Dakota, with tumbled granite boulders in front and ponderosa pine ridgelines and a wide, grassy meadow beyond the far bank. Key Features: The Black Hills: An isolated range of ancient granite peaks rising from the northern Great Plains, prized for dense pine forest and cold, spring-fed streams. The Cascade: Low ledges like this one form gentle falls along Black Hills creeks, which support trout fisheries. The Forest: Ponderosa pine and spruce cover the hillsides, National Forest land used for hiking, fishing and camping. The Light: Soft, overcast light gives the water its deep blue-green cast.

Cripple Creek CO

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

Terraced benches of waste rock, stained in bands of gold, rust and gray by mineralized stone, rise above a haul road curling along the valley floor at the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine, in the mountains southwest of Colorado Springs. Key Features: The Mine: For many years the Cripple Creek Mining District was a series of underground mines. Modern Operation: After 40 quiet years, the district came back to life in the 1990s with a modern open-pit mine that still produces gold every year. Historic Roots: The town of Cripple Creek was founded in 1892, after the gold strike. The Colors: The banded terraces show the varied minerals in the rock removed to reach the ore, stacked in graded benches.

Cripple Creek Gold Mine

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

The massive open pit of the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine cuts into the mountains of Teller County, Colorado, its rust-colored benches rising in tiers above a gravel floor where haul trucks, loaders and dozers work in clouds of dust, with golden aspen along the rim under a bright blue sky. Key Features: The Discovery: Gold was found here in 1890, starting a rush that made the district one of the richest gold camps in the American West. The Operation: The richest gold mine in Colorado history, and the only major gold producer left in the state. The Open Pit: Underground mining here goes back to the 1890s; the modern open pit opened in 1994. The Setting: The terraced benches expose colorful mineralized rock, ringed by the aspen and pine of the high Rockies.

Cripple Creek Gold Mine Country

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

Weathered red corrugated metal buildings still stand among the tailings of the historic Cripple Creek mining district, on the west side of Pikes Peak in central Colorado. Two rusted mine houses sit against a golden slope of waste rock, framed by aspen under a deep blue high-altitude sky. Key Features: The Gold Rush: In 1890 Bob Womack found gold here, setting off Colorado's last and richest gold rush. The Landmark: The Cripple Creek Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District on the National Register of Historic Places, preserving its mining-era buildings. The Setting: Old headframes, mills and sheds remain scattered across the high hillsides of tailings near Pikes Peak. The Legacy: Gold is still mined in the district today.

Cripple Creek Gold Mine

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

Terraced benches of blasted rock spiral down in tan, rust and gray bands into the vast open pit of the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine in Teller County, Colorado, as switchback haul roads climb the slopes and timbered ridges frame the dig under a wide Rocky Mountain sky. Key Features: The Legacy: The richest gold mine in Colorado history and the state's only remaining major gold producer. Underground Years: Underground mining here declined as the gold ran out and stopped in 1962. The Open Pit: Large-scale pit mining began in 1994, and by the 2000s the mine was producing hundreds of thousands of ounces of gold a year. A Living Boomtown: Cripple Creek is one of the few historic boomtowns in the West with an active mine.

Cripple Creek 1000 Feet Down

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A thousand feet underground in the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek, Colorado, a wooden sign marks the Julian Davis Drift, one of the mine's named tunnels, above the drilling gear, cable spool, gear wheels and rail tracks left from its working decades. Key Features: The Discovery: The mine is named for Mollie Kathleen Gortner, who in 1891 became the first woman in the Cripple Creek camp to discover gold and stake a claim in her own name. The Depth: The vertical shaft drops 1,000 feet, about the height of the Empire State Building. The Tour: It is the only 1,000-foot vertical shaft gold mine tour in the United States, with original drills, winches and drifts still in place.

Cripple Creek CO

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A weathered timber headframe and ore house from one of the district's turn-of-the-century gold mines stand among gravel tailings in a wooded gulch on the southwest flank of Pikes Peak, with golden aspen and evergreen slopes rolling toward distant peaks under a deep blue sky. Key Features: The Gold Camp: At about 10,000 feet on Pikes Peak's southwest shoulder, Cripple Creek is the world's highest major gold mining district. The Mine Structures: Headframes and ore houses like this hoisted ore from the shafts below and still dot the hillsides. The Landscape: Aspen and pine, gold in autumn, now reclaim the tailings and old wagon roads. The Legacy: A National Historic Landmark since 1961, Cripple Creek calls itself "the World's Greatest Gold Camp."

Cripple Creek CO

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

The rusted hulk of a vintage flatbed dump truck sits low on flat, cracked tires among the waste piles of the Cripple Creek mining district in central Colorado. Its cab windows are shattered and its body streaked with rust, blue paint and green oxidation, and faded lettering on the door still names a garage in nearby Woodland Park. Key Features: The Location: Cripple Creek, a historic gold camp high in the Rockies southwest of Colorado Springs. Mining Heritage: Cripple Creek was named a National Historic Landmark in 1961, preserving its gold rush character. The Truck: A retired work truck from a Woodland Park garage, now a relic of the hauling that kept the mines running.

Cripple Creek CO

by Rick Billings, M. Photog., Cr.

A stone and brick barrel-arched powder magazine with a heavy rusted iron door is set into a hillside in the Cripple Creek Mining District of Teller County, Colorado, among autumn grass and pines along an old mining trail. Small fireproof vaults like this kept dynamite and blasting caps safely away from the mine workings. Key Features: The Structure: Larger mines built brick magazines for their explosives, with heavy metal doors locked against theft. The Purpose: Mines often kept two, one for dynamite and one for the primers that set it off, apart from the working shafts. The District: With gold found at Victor and Cripple Creek in the late 1800s, this became the second-largest gold mining district in the country. The Setting: Weathered stone, a curved tile and brick roof, and scrub oak and pine make this one of the district's many mining relics in the Colorado high country.