View allAll Photos Tagged rowenacrestviewpoint
Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
The Tom McCall Preserve at Rowena is open from March 1 to October 31 due to the high risk of erosion and ground disturbance in the wetter months. The preserve is named for Oregon's late governor, Thomas Lawson McCall, whose commitment to conservation in Oregon remains an inspiration. It is a spectacular location to overlook the Columbia River Gorge and is filled with colorful wildflowers in spring such as balsamroot, lupine and buckwheat.
One early morning in May, I hiked Tom McCall Point Trail and surprisingly found myself alone in the entire wildflower wonderland. With the endless sea of balsamroot and lupine, the area seemed to offer abundant photography opportunities. However, after scouted almost all the spots near the cliff, I realized that finding a fresh group of flowers with a good mix of yellow and purple colors and coming up with a clean and balanced composition with the Columbia River Gorge in background is not as easy as it looks. With multiple attempts, I was fortunate to find a good spot to catch the first light of a gorgeous sunrise kissing the flowers in the foreground. It was quite challenging to capture such a high dynamic range scene with many flowers dancing in the breeze. The final image was accomplished through both focus stacking and exposure blending. I spent multiple hours for the entire processing, because I needed to manually clean the misalignment of the flowers across the stacked photos due to the wind. But the final result is rewarding. This is such a dreamy moment I'll remember for a long while.
Rowena Heavens -
A dream shot of mine for almost 20 years, maybe longer..
I drove from Denver to Rowena Crest Viewpoint in about 17 hours to arrive just after the sun went down with enough light to capture the foreground. I then waited till it got dark and started shooting a timelapse
I used the timelapse images to stack the sky for noise reduction and create this image.
This image is 100% real . Our cameras could never capture a single image like this with as much detail and visual clarity as you see here.
We use various techniques when out in the field to help us create the best high quality images when we get back home.
In the timelapse you will see the raw images captured at night and how horrible they look on their own. By blending/stacking multiple images we can create more detailed images.
Have a good night.
Sometimes you wake up at 5:30 AM and feel the need to jump in your car and drive east until you meet the sunrise.
I set out early yesterday morning searching for a good spot to shoot the sunrise. I headed for Oregon's Columbia River Gorge, a deep river valley containing some of the most magical and picturesque landscape in the Pacific Northwest. The early parts of the Gorge, just outside of the city were covered in thick fog and clouds with intermittent rain. So I kept driving.
The first glimpse of twilight came as I approached Hood River. It was then that I knew I was destined for Rowena Crest - a series of cliffs and bluffs high above the river with the historic Highway 30 spiraling between the cliffs. There are tons of photos of the popular Rowena hairpin turn, seen from the main overlook. This shot is taken from the western side, just along where the Rowena Trail starts. A view I haven't seen often, but includes a view down the Gorge, overlooking The Dalles.
The clouds held as the sun rose, with little peeks of orange and yellow as they undulated like the ocean. Around 7:45 AM, for two minutes and two minutes only, a small break let a brilliant beam of vivid orange light shoot straight down the Gorge like a beacon. I know this was the shot I was meant for. Two minutes later, it was gone, hidden behind blue and purple walls. Over in an instant, but I'll never forget it.
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SoulRider222 © 2025
BNSF #87 Skagit River track geometry theater car
ATSF Atchison BNSF 5 (Business Car) BNSF 88 (MofW Equipment)
4219 = GE ES44C4
3986 = GE ET44C4
BNSF ODIN
Safety goes into everything we do at BNSF, including something tucked in the undersides of a locomotive. It’s called ODIN, short for Onboard Defect Identification & Notification, a system housed in an aluminum box that analyzes track conditions as the locomotive is used to pull freight. The ultimate goal of ODIN is to reduce derailments originating from track geometry defects through increased inspections.
ODIN has a combination of sensors that analyzes and surveys the track as the locomotive passes over the rail. Angled lasers from each side of the box measure the gauge (distances between the two rails), cross-level, alignment and track surface (the profile of the track). Measurements are taken every foot.
BNSF’s Technical Research & Development (TR&D) team in Topeka, Kansas, with the help of the Central Repair Facility in Kansas City, Kansas, produces the ODIN units, which are about the size of a large microwave oven. Once the units are assembled, they are installed below the selected locomotive’s draft gear.
The information ODIN collects is processed in real-time and if a defect is found, action is quickly taken to protect or correct the issue. In addition to looking for defects, ODIN evaluates overall track condition, which helps us better plan our track maintenance.
We introduced the system in 2023 as it was going through a pilot phase. In the two years of testing, ODIN has proven to collect more precise data than our track geometry cars. Once we moved past the production and testing phases, the first in-service ODIN registered a defect in September of this year.
Since the original ODIN, we’ve upgraded the software. We now have 30 ODIN units in service, monitoring the majority of our 32,500-mile network. We plan to have four more installed by end of year and another 24 coming online in the first quarter of 2026 for 100-percent coverage of our network.
“The changes we’ve made have been to improve software accuracy as well as add smarter defect-detection algorithms,” said Justin Devine, director of Track Measurement. “Now that we’ve proven ODIN’s accuracy and ramped up production, we anticipate increasing our annual track inspections tenfold, from 400,000 miles a year up to an estimated 5 million miles.”
Eventually, the ODIN-equipped locomotives will replace our four unattended geo cars, freeing up the track time and train crews needed to operate them as well as saving fuel.
In addition to mainline track, ODIN units are also covering industry tracks, yard tracks and sidings.
SoulRider222 © 2025
BNSF #87 Skagit River track geometry theater car
ATSF Atchison BNSF 5 (Business Car) BNSF 88 (MofW Equipment)
4219 = GE ES44C4
3986 = GE ET44C4
BNSF ODIN
Safety goes into everything we do at BNSF, including something tucked in the undersides of a locomotive. It’s called ODIN, short for Onboard Defect Identification & Notification, a system housed in an aluminum box that analyzes track conditions as the locomotive is used to pull freight. The ultimate goal of ODIN is to reduce derailments originating from track geometry defects through increased inspections.
ODIN has a combination of sensors that analyzes and surveys the track as the locomotive passes over the rail. Angled lasers from each side of the box measure the gauge (distances between the two rails), cross-level, alignment and track surface (the profile of the track). Measurements are taken every foot.
BNSF’s Technical Research & Development (TR&D) team in Topeka, Kansas, with the help of the Central Repair Facility in Kansas City, Kansas, produces the ODIN units, which are about the size of a large microwave oven. Once the units are assembled, they are installed below the selected locomotive’s draft gear.
The information ODIN collects is processed in real-time and if a defect is found, action is quickly taken to protect or correct the issue. In addition to looking for defects, ODIN evaluates overall track condition, which helps us better plan our track maintenance.
We introduced the system in 2023 as it was going through a pilot phase. In the two years of testing, ODIN has proven to collect more precise data than our track geometry cars. Once we moved past the production and testing phases, the first in-service ODIN registered a defect in September of this year.
Since the original ODIN, we’ve upgraded the software. We now have 30 ODIN units in service, monitoring the majority of our 32,500-mile network. We plan to have four more installed by end of year and another 24 coming online in the first quarter of 2026 for 100-percent coverage of our network.
“The changes we’ve made have been to improve software accuracy as well as add smarter defect-detection algorithms,” said Justin Devine, director of Track Measurement. “Now that we’ve proven ODIN’s accuracy and ramped up production, we anticipate increasing our annual track inspections tenfold, from 400,000 miles a year up to an estimated 5 million miles.”
Eventually, the ODIN-equipped locomotives will replace our four unattended geo cars, freeing up the track time and train crews needed to operate them as well as saving fuel.
In addition to mainline track, ODIN units are also covering industry tracks, yard tracks and sidings.