##### Hi again. 😀 You can see the first part of this post [here.](https://peakd.com/hive-113634/@oldmans/a-day-in-maupin-or-part-1-rafting-the-deschutes-river) ##### After rafting the Deschutes River in the morning we headed back to the ranch for the afternoon/evening festivities. These included libation ingestion, story telling of the raft trip, exploring the ranch and viewing a surrounding storm/sunset that was incredible. # The Giant Cottonwood Tree ##### During the exploration of the ranch we came upon this giant cottonwood tree. [//]:# (!pinmapple 45.082669 lat -121.212848 long d3scr) ***Click images for larger view***

The trunk of the tree. Someone's arm included for scale. :)

A view up the tree, reaching toward the brilliant blue skies.

A close up of the bark of the tree. # Exploring The Ridge ##### We hopped in the 4 seat ranch ATV and made a run up the ridge that surrounds the ranch.

A view from the top of the ridge looking south into the creek down below.

A more southwesterly view up the creek with the top of Mt Jefferson just barley visible in the distance.

Same view as above, zoomed in.

Looking southeast toward the approaching storm. If you look close you can see the shadows of the clouds behind us as they streak toward the ground under the storm. # Back At The Ranch

The barn and the approaching storm.

A panorama of the same view above. In the distance to the right of the barn you can see the ridge we were just on. # The Storm And The Sunset ##### I didn't get as many shots of this event as I would have liked. Back then I wasn't as focused on photography as I am now. Plus the phone I was using to take pictures with, while good in some situations didn't seem to handle the bright and contrasting colors very well.

This is looking east as the sun is setting behind us. It was incredible how much of the sky was lit up. The partial rainbow in this shot appeared like a beam of orange light shooting down from the clouds. Something I had not experienced before.

A shot looking northwesterly as the sun goes down. ***Click images for larger view***

A final pano of the ranch house and the last of the setting sun. ### Photos taken by me, @oldmans, with an Apple Iphone 4S with Lightroom post processing and artistic license applied. ***Dream your reality. Question conventional thought. Don't let people, society or institutions tell you who you are. Be the person you were meant to be.*** Feel free to leave your comments and questions. Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!