Ghost Tree Moon, Yellowstone National Park

In 1988 huge fires raged through Yellowstone, leaving in their wake expanses of "ghost forest". The trees in these forests did not die in the fire, but they were mortally wounded by it. The vascular cambium layer just beneath the bark was cooked, leaving it unable to transport fluids and nutrients. The trees actually died of dehydration and starvation long after the fires were out. As the years passed, their bark sloughed off leaving the silver ghost trees that stand today. The ghost trees in this photograph stand as silent reminders of those fires. Perhaps lamenting the loss of their greenery, they catch the last rays of a setting sun and witness the rise of an autumn moon. The photograph was taken at a focal length of 800 mm. It is a single exposure, not a composite or altered image.