The Enchantment

When the fires of 1989 swept through Yellowstone National aPark, millions of Lodgepole Pines died in the conflagration. When I visited in November 1990, the graphic, blackened trees against brilliant white snow reminded me of a charcoal drawing.

Early one morning after a windless, cloudless night, the temperature hovered around zero. I got up early and went into the park just before daybreak, where I found heavy hoar frost decorating every branch of every tree. Then I spotted the ridge shown in this photograph. With the pale winter sun rising behind the ridge, the frosty trees were strikingly backlit, creating the illusion of a ghostly forest. The little sparkles in the sky are ice crystals dislodged and sent airborne by the slight shiver of a breeze.

Lee Rentz