I spent a bit of Sunday afternoon sorting photos from our Grand Coulee trip whilst watching Misha explore the porch, and found these photos with a dragonfly. I swear that it’s there! See if you can spot it. You needed an excuse to procrastinate on something, right? I’m here to help.

This is a photo I took when we were hiking the desert around Frenchman Coulee. We’d just come from a delightful shady place against the canyon wall where about six billion schoolchildren were being taught how to climb basalt columns. It’s very hard to navigate a trail full of middle-school kids – they’re so wrapped up in their own stuff they don’t notice you until the last instant. But they were adorable and sweet and did eventually clear enough space for us to sneak through. Poor B gets his anxiety triggered by thick crowds of humans, so it was a relief for us both to emerge into the deserted desert beyond, even though it was super-sunny. There was a nice, cool breeze, and it was only in the middle seventies (that’s mid-twenties to you Celsius-using people).

There were very many flying things. There were about eleventy-bazillion swallows or swifts darting here, there, and everywhere – pretty much impossible to photograph, they were so speedy – and a bunch of large dragonflies swooping mellowly about. They were also very difficult to photograph. But I pointed the camera at this one, and clicked away, and actually captured it on my spiffy new SD card.

(Speaking of SD cards, if anyone knows how to repair them, I’d love to hear about it. The plastic case on my old one broke while I was trying to get our Snoqualmie Falls photos off of it. The chip with the metal bits is perfectly intact, and I’d imagine there’s some way to recover the data. I ordered an el cheapo card of the same brand, and plan to try stealing its case, but I’d be thrilled if there were an easier way. There’s nothing utterly irreplaceable, but it was our first trip to the lower viewpoint, and there was also a spiffy log balanced atop the falls that will probably never be there again, so I’d like to get those photos if I can.)

So here’s an image of the dragonfly as it curved back towards some short cliffs. You can see some neat features in this photo once you’re done straining your eyes for an itty-bitty dragonfly. If you look down along the cliff, you can see where the floodwaters from the Missoula Floods carved into the bedrock. It left lots of scabby basalt and many abrupt cliffs behind. That cliff on the left is a mini-version of what happened to the coulee walls. We’re basically on the rim of Frenchman Coulee here: it’s just over the low hill. Down the gully, you can see the shadowy bulk of the basalt hills at the foot of the Cascades. You can also see the orographic clouds caused by moist air being forced to rise up the Cascade mountains’ slopes and condensing. Other than those few, this was pretty much a cloudless day. Just fantastic.

Okay, final challenge picture:

It’s silly, but I hadn’t realized Frenchman Coulee was so close. It’s only a little over two hours from my place. The Missoula Floods weren’t all that far from me! I plan to get back out there and spend more time – we had to push on for Grand Coulee, so we missed Potholes Coulee and the giant ripple marks nearby. There’s an uber-long path along Babcock Bench, too. If you ask very nicely, someday, I may post the Doctor Who fanfic scene I set there. It’s part of why I have such a fondness for the Bench, which I only just saw this time round. The other reason I love the Bench is because it’s got gorgeous views of the Columbia River, all the lovely foldy basalt mountains, and it’s stuffed with erratics left by the Missoula Floods. It’s also a damned convenient spot to have the TARDIS land and hijinks to ensue.

Right. There’s your possibly fun and enjoyable challenge for today. Did you find the dragonfly? Do you need a hint? You can check out my Photobucket* album for annotated photos and crops showing the wee little dragonfly in all that brilliant blue sky.

*Flickr isn’t willing to upload tonight. Sigh.