John Day Fossil Beds Painted Hills National Monument

May 16 - It was time to say good-by to Bend. We could easily have spent much more time here, but we have other places to see before the GTG in Baker City. John Day Fossil Beds is actually 3 different sections of the same monument. The one we want to see most is the Painted Hills unit. We headed out to Mitchell, OR. This town is one of the smallest living towns I’ve ever seen. There is a cafe, an auto-body shop, a gas station and an expresso hut. A few other abandoned buildings along with a few other “closed for season” buildings also are here. But they do have a little community park at one end of town that has 3 RV spaces, 2 with electric hookups for $17 a night. Water is available, but no dump and the limit is a 3 night stay. It is just 3 miles from the entrance to Painted Hills and a perfect place to hang for a couple of days. Unfortunately there is no cell signal so we’ve been feeling a bit isolated and haven’t been able to update the blogs.

We got there early enough to get set-up, relax for a couple of hours and go into the monument for the afternoon. It’s been cloudy since yesterday’s weather system came in, but the rain has mostly held off. I think this place shows best in bright sunlight though. You really need the light to show off the amazing colors of the mud hills. I thought so anyway. The overcast skies made the light kind of flat, and it seemed like the pictures we were taking would also be flat. But they processed really nicely and the cloudy weather helped add another interesting element to the landscape. Surprise! We spent several hours walking the short trails along the rim of the formations. This is a small monument compared to others, but huge and beautiful views all around. There are 4 trails you can walk – only one of which is more than a half mile one way. The view of the hills are just amazing and we spent several hours in photo heaven.

May 17 - It rained most of the evening last night and I am hoping it will clear later in the day so we can see the hills in sun. The formations are made of Bentonite – a mineral used in many consumer products, including kitty litter, toothpaste and… chocolate?! But what it is really known for is how slippery and sticky at the same time it is when wet. Off roaders know this stuff well as many a stuck 4 wheeler will attest. You slide off the road and get stuck in the muck. You just don’t go driving in wet Bentonite. So I think our hike up a Bentonite hill we planned for later today may be off.

The road into the monument was in good shape though. It is pretty much paved right up until you get the the actual designated area of the Painted Hills. It turns to well maintained gravel from there. Stray off the gravel though, even into the turnouts, and you’re in bentonite. It seems firm at first, but put your foot down for a minute or two and try to pick it up and you will also pick up half the monument stuck to you shoe. Your tires will pick up and throw gobs of the stuff into your wheel wells and when it dries (which it does pretty fast) it is like cement.

So after an evening of rainfall, we decided to check it out. It might be really interesting to see the hills when they are wet. It was still overcast, but seeming like it was getting thinner. We went back in around noon and drove up to the main overlook. We brought coffee & snacks & books and decided we’d just hang out to see if the sun would make an appearance. After an hour or so, the sun did begin to break through and we hurried out. The main trail along the rim was in fine shape, so we were able to walk that part all the way. I shot nearly 100 images. A little later we moved over to a smaller area called Red Hills. I shot another 50 or so images. I think that may be a new record for images in one place. Now I just have to weed through them to post a few. It will be tough.

While hanging out at the main overlook, we got to talking with a ranger who happened by. He was going to be leading a photo group out into the hills and he eventually invited us out with them for a sunset excursion and also again in the morning for sunrise. By this time we were pretty much ready to call it a day. The clouds that had been around all day looked like they were thickening again and the thought of slogging through the slippery bentonite convinced us it probably was not a good idea. In the morning, clouds again obscured the sunrise so our decision turned out for the best.

All Around Bend

May 12 - We left Florence this morning, headed for Bend about 180 miles away. This is our longest drive of the trip so far. It has really been nice not doing so many long drive days. The things to do and see just seem to be so much closer to one another. Even though we are not staying very long at each stopping point, we certainly could spend more time at each of the them. The drive through the Cascades was nice if not a bit windy. It was pretty amazing how many cars were leaving the Bend area as we arrived. There is a lot to do with mountains, rivers and tons of hiking trails all around, but the same could be said for many areas of the state, so it was pretty surprising that there was such an exodus this Sunday morning. It turned considerably warmer as we drove inland and when we reached Bend around 1PM, it was downright hot – well into the 80′s. We pulled into Tumalo State Park – a nice park we had stayed in before – and were really fortunate to get the very last full hook-up site in the campground, just beating out an Airstream who turned into loop B as we moved on to loop C. There were plenty of other sites available, but on a day like today, electricity is really nice to have. We ran the air conditioner the rest of the afternoon until it cooled off.

May 13 - Our 24th wedding anniversary! It comes a week after Mary’s birthday. She chose that date originally to distract her from the fact she was turning 40 that year. I guess it worked. We didn’t really celebrate especially other than opening one of the special wines for dinner we brought along with us. I did make a special post to Facebook to her which read, “On a beautiful afternoon in Woodside, California 24 years ago today, this wonderful woman married me. Mary, I love you more today than ever before. I love our ongoing adventure and looking forward to many more years together.”  Along with that, I posted the portrait I did of her on our hike at Sweet Creek Falls. She “liked” it.
In the morning we headed out to explore. Our first stop was to Tumalo Falls which is really nowhere near Tumalo State Park. It was kind of a long drive out there, but the river was high and the falls were really falling. Most of the river on the way up is not all that beautiful to look at, but at the falls it is quite impressive. At the first viewpoint, we got a really tremendous look at the nearly 100 ft drop of the falls. The way the quarter mile trail to the top is laid out, there are also several other impressive views along the way. At the top are great spots to look over the edge to really experience the power of this waterway. We happily clicked away with the cameras as the light constantly changed. By now it was lunchtime and getting quite windy which was causing havoc with Mary’s contacts. We returned to the car and ate inside before moving on.

We moved on to Paulina Lake from there. There is  an obsidian hike through an old lava flow that we did on our last visit that we wanted to do again. It was pretty cool last time, with a lake with nice grasses along side the flow. This time however, the pretty little lake was now more of a murky puddle and the obsidian trail was still snow covered in parts. We tromped through patches using our tripods as snow picks for awhile, but soon the patches became larger and eventually impassable, so we turned back. It was late afternoon by now so we headed the 40 miles back to camp.

May 14 - This started out as chore day for us. It took all morning. Washing and grocery shopping mostly. I also had to find a replacement battery for my satellite radio. The one in there now has been slowly expanding over the past few months to the point now were I can’t even close the cover over it. The little on/off/sleep switch on the side of the radio had stopped engaging without using a lot of pressure some months ago. I didn’t realize it was because of the battery expanding and putting too much pressure on the mechanism. Eventually, the back of the radio popped off. Looking at the battery now, it is bulging out like Oliver Harty. So it was off to a Radio Shack. Of course none of them carry this battery. On store tried to have one delivered to them from the website, but apparently it showed “discontinued” so he couldn’t do it. It would allow me to order it myself, but where to send it? One of the problems of getting stuff while on the road. So it will be waiting for me when we get to Baker City for the Lazy Daze GTG next week.
After finishing with the chores, we headed out for an afternoon walk along the Deschutes River just outside of town. The river actually goes right through town and there is lots of hiking all around. We picked a starting spot that a very helpful volunteer at the local visitor center recommended. As we turned off the road, a coyote crossed out path – the first one we’ve seen on this trip. I wasn’t expecting much from the hike. How good could a hike be that runs through a managed forest next to a city be? Well it turned out to be really nice. The trail was very easy and very picturesque. On one side of the river is a large volcanic flow with only very scrubby brush with an occasional tree popping up. The other side is very nicely forested with an easy trail and lots of views of the river.

Unexpectedly, there are lots of rapids too. It was great fun photographing the raging water from the shore. As we walked along, around each bend was a new set of rapids. There were a number of rafters shooting the rapids. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to capture any in progress. We could hear the hoots and hollers as they made their runs, but we always seemed to be in the right spot at the right time. We saw several just as they had finished a section. We also spied several Osprey and a nest on the other side. I’m told river otter are also common and we heard woodpeckers along the was as well.

We ended up not walking all that far – maybe a mile and a half – before turning back. It was getting a little late and we weren’t prepared for a long hike. Smoke from controlled burns up north had moved in and while it served to soften the late afternoon light it also mucked up the air. We returned to camp.
May 15 - Today we decided to to a more difficult hike out at Smith Rock State Park. This was also on the recommendation of the Visitor Center volunteer we’d talked to earlier. We probably would have never found this place otherwise. Smith Rock is largely a climbers paradise, but the trails in and around the formations are great for just hiking as well. The park is setup so that as you arrive, you are on one side of the Crooked River about 300′ above it. Huge rock formations rise from the other side of the river with trails snaking all around and through them. We had planned out a 3+ mile loop course which would take us down to and across the river, well up into the formations, then back down the other side and along the river around the formations and back across the river and back up to the starting point.

According to the elevation lines on our map, it was about a 300′ drop down to the river then back up into the formations. I think they left out a few of the elevation lines, because while it was about 300′ down, it was also more like 700′ up into the formations.  I guess the name of the trail was a pretty good indicator – Misery Ridge Trail. It was difficult and pretty warm at the start. On the horizon we could see a weather front beginning to move in over the mountains. Once we got to the top of the formations it got much easier and the rest of the trail was simply a joy. But it was also the hottest part of the day. From the top there were amazing views all around. It was just wonderful. We could see the weather system getting closer, but it was also cooling off nicely.

The hike down was steep but not too bad and hiking around the river was also very nice. Sections of the formations were off limits to climbers because of nesting falcons and bald eagles, but we didn’t get any close views of either. There were geese though. We also saw lots of climbers. There were tons of them all over the place. Where there weren’t climbers, we could see caulk marks where they had climbed and permeant pitons embedded in the rocks.

We reached the river crossing bridge and began the hike back up to the start. The 300′ climb up seemed easy compared to hiking over the formations. It was considerably cooler too as the weather front moved in. We felt the first drops of rain as we sat with our coffee and cookies at the top looking over the scene. Another wonderful day.

Sweet Creek Falls Trail

Well, it really should be called Sweet Creek Falls’s. There must be 10 little falls and many more drop-offs and cascades in this 1 mile (one way) hike. At the end there is a very nice double falls. The trail is one of the easiest I’ve ever been on short of being paved, and since it is a bit off the beaten path, it’s not heavily traveled. We were there on a beautiful Saturday morning and in the 4 hours we spent on the trail, we saw maybe 4 other groups of people. On our earlier visit in 2011 we were there on Labor Day. I’d have to admit it was crowded on that day, but we got there early in the morning and others didn’t show up till a couple hours later.

The day before, the weather was very overcast all day and was supposed to be the same for this day. – in fact showers were predicted. This was going to be exactly what I wanted. Photographing water the way I like to do it requires that no sun actually hit the water. If it does, it creates hot spots in the image and ruins them. The other thing is that I cannot do long exposures in sunlight – too much light. We woke in the morning to bright sunlight. Absolutely no fog to be seen. Only some wispy high clouds. This was pretty disappointing, but we gotta make due. We were out the door by 9 AM and got to Sweet Creek by about 9:30. The stream itself runs through a pretty thickly forested area so, while it was sunny all around, most of the actual creek was still in shadow. There actually was a really nice benefit to the sunlight. Many of the pools of water were reflecting the light coming off the surrounding trees. This created some really unusual green reflections in the water. I loved it! Lots of my images for the day include neon green water that was just as I saw it.
There was only one other car in the parking area when we started out, and that person was just leaving as we were taking off. Right away we found a nice area to start photographing and we pretty much didn’t stop for the next 4 hours. The trail meanders along just above the stream and offers numerous spots to get right down to the water. Wooden walkways and bridges make for easy traverses over more difficult areas. The trees and ferns and wildflowers are lush this time of year and it was a true pleasure walking along the path

As I said, it took us 4 hours to make it up to the main falls overlook. This was a nice area for lunch and afterwards we walked the short distance up to the upper falls overlook. Unfortunately you can’t actually see the upper falls very well from the overlook without jumping over the wooden guardrails. It didn’t look particularly dangerous, but I decided not to do it. I could see another overlook through the brush on the other side of the stream, but didn’t see a way to get to it. That probably meant I would have to jump the creek which I wasn’t in the mood for. We’d gotten enough nice images already. At this point we could either take a short spur trail to the road and walk it back to the trailhead, or retrace our steps back down the trail. It was such a nice walk, we retraced our way back down the trail, again seeing only a handful of people on their way up. We were back in less than 30 minutes.

This was our last hike on the coast for most of the rest of our trip. We are headed inland now and plan to spend several days around the Three Sisters area of central Oregon before meeting up with the Northwest Lazy Daze group at Baker City next week.

A Hike in Jedediah Smith State Park

We did another short jump up the coast to Crescent City on Monday, May 6. We pulled into Village Camper RV Park a little off Highway 101 for a couple of days. This was our second choice as the first one a bit south of town was essentially a parking lot just off the highway. At Village Camper, with our Good Sam discount, we got in for the same price and it’s way nicer – very quiet and park-like. We spent the rest of the day on chores with the idea we would do a nice hike on Tuesday, Mary’s birthday.We had several hours of light rain during the night and Mary was not enthusiastic  about hiking in the wet, but I convinced her it would make it better. The rain had passed by morning and while everything was wet, it was also very fresh feeling. We headed into Jedediah Smith State Park for our last hike in California. We chose the Boy Scout trail. It’s a 5.2 round trip hike through the forest to a nice little waterfall, named Fern Falls (what else). There is a little unmarked side trail that starts near the waterfall that leads to a large tree named “Boy Scout Tree”. We chose to skip that part. From what I read, it is a large downed tree with a bunch of smaller trees growing out of it. Sounded kinda cool, but maybe next time. Once again the forest was very still and quiet. Such a pleasure to hike in these conditions. On the drive to the trailhead there were a couple of areas where fog had descended into the trees and I had high hopes that we would find conditions like this while we walked. It can give such a nice quality to the forest and a very different feel.
The trail itself was quite easy. Only around 200′ elevation up or down and very gradual. We had hoped to find blooming wild Rhododendrons somewhere along the way, but so far it’s been just a bit too early. We did find one blooming on this trail though. Hopefully more will be found later. We had the trail mostly to ourselves with only a couple of groups passing us along the way. We tend to dawdle a lot early photographing on these trails, that it usually takes us 2 – 3 hours to get a few miles. But that’s what it’s all about for us. This morning everything looked so good that we stopped often. About halfway to the falls, we moved into an area where the fog had moved in. I wish there was more, but I did what I could with it.

Fern Falls. Diminutive, but nice.

A resting point on the trail perfect for a “We were there”.

In the evening to celebrate Mary’s birthday, we headed into greater Crescent City to find a nice fish dinner. The Chart House was supposed to be good – closed. There really wasn’t much else. We decided to avoid the casino’s even though they promised better food. They tend to be smoke filled and we don’t like the vibe. We ended up at a joint called Fisherman’s Restaurant. It was surprisingly good despite the special board being somewhat lacking. Somehow I figure I still owe her a night out.

Specials?

We are now in Oregon. We moved up here on Wednesday and pulled into Bullards Beach State Park. The first thing we did after crossing the border was stop for gas. It’s about 50 cents a gallon cheaper here. Naturally I forget about not pumping your own, but the attendant was not too crabby about this. I must remember to let them do it though. I really wish they would do the windshield too. After setting up, we took a short drive out to the beach and visited the Coquille Lighthouse and strolled the beach looking for beach glass and interesting shells before returning home for dinner.

You’ve probably noticed the square format images I’ve been posting lately. They are iPhone photos shot using Instagram, an iPhone photo app with a bunch of preset filters that give the appearance of various “aged” snapshots. I can add borders, blur portions of the image and change the contrast at will. I’ve warmed slowly to using it, but I kind of like it now. I’ve been posting them on Facebook mostly. I can do it directly from the phone wherever I am, so it’s convenient and quick. My best images will be seen on the blog first, but the Instagram shots will be on Facebook first.

Thursday we were out to tour a few of the beach parks along the coast. We stopped briefly at Seven Devil Beach before moving on to the Rhododendron Gardens at shore Acres State Park and the strolled around the rest of the grounds. Oregon parks RULE!

Arms of the Monkey Puzzle Tree.

The bay at Shore Acres State Park.

We are moving another 50 miles north to the town of Florence next. One of our favorite hikes in nearby. It’s the Sweet Creek trail. There are many little waterfalls all along the trail and one larger one at the end. We spent several hours slowly walking up the trail in the fall of 2011 and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

Prairie Creek State Park

Editors note: Due to half a bottle of wine and some earlier rum, I managed to overwrite my description of the Fern Canyon walk we took in Prairie Creek State Park. Following the first paragraph of this post is what should have been included instead of the repeated 1st paragraph. Just proves you should blog THEN drink!
We moved another 30 north to Prairie Creek State Park, part of Redwoods National Park apparently. I say apparently because the state park is actually within the national, and because of this we were able to use our National Parks seniors card for half-price on our camping fees. It is really nice in this case because of the $35 per day state parks charge (same as outside RV parks). So, $17.50 is a lot better. Still pricy in public park terms, but it is so much nicer to be in the park than in some outside RV park and paying half price makes the choice easier. The downside is that even with our Wilson cell booster, the Verizon signal was only 2 bars of roaming – to week to use for effective internet beyond checking email via cell phone. Not a big deal though. So we pulled in and got ourselves set up. The park has a couple of loops open right now. One was in deep forest. All the sites were pretty roomy and very pretty with some backing up to a stream running through the campground. But we really needed full sun for as long as possible to get our batteries charged. I’ve suspected one of the 2 house batteries might be bad, since Van Damme SP, because it seemed like even though the solar charger read full, the batteries would discharge way too quickly. To the point where we couldn’t even get the Direct TV receiver to stay on for more than 20 minutes at a time without resetting – something it does when there isn’t sufficient charge. Fortunately, loop 2 was wide open in full sun. It only had about 6 sites in the entire loop, but 3 were available when we arrived and I picked an ideal spot where I would get sun all day. This did the trick and now I know our batteries are fine. I really need to install a battery monitoring system.
We got in early enough that we decided to check out Fern Canyon in another area of the park. Fern Canyon is reached by taking a narrow, twisty, pot-holed gravel road named Beach Road, 8 miles through forest first, then along the beach to the Fern Canyon trailhead. Before reaching the trail though, there is a nice, rustic campground. Unfortunately all the sites are pretty small and the road to get there, while doable, I really wouldn’t want to. It was pretty much all tents or small vans occupying the sites. I don’t think the park recommends anything larger out here, but it would have been great to be so close to the beach.

Once out of the car and onto the trail, we discovered pretty quickly that half of this short .6 mile loop trail actually goes right up the stream canyon. There really is no trail per se. We just had to sort of pick our way up the stream bed, hopping over shallow parts or walking over rocks poking out of the water. Sometimes we could just walk through the stream without getting very wet. A pair of shin-high rubber boots would have solved any of the crossings. But Mary’s biggest fear is crossing water over rocks – no matter how shallow. Swinging through trees? No problem. Stepping through 3 inches of water over rocks? Ahhhhhhhhh! She did bring along her walking sticks, and they helped greatly in getting over.
The canyon was every bit as amazing as was advertised. We quickly moved into it and saw how the sheer 80′ walls of the canyon were covered in fern of every kind imaginable. It was pretty easy walking except for the occasional need to leap a stream. While it was pretty hot outside the canyon, it was cool inside. Cool enough I wish I’d brought a long sleeve shirt. But the ferns and moss covered canyon kept me distracted most of the time and it didn’t bother me much. Photographing was a little difficult because of the deep shadow everything was in. It was the breath of a breeze that caused the problems. Long exposures of between 3 – 10 seconds were necessary to really get the depth of field for sharp images and the breeze caused these featherweight ferns to sway just enough to blur in the pictures. Lots of waiting for calm moments and lots of blurred images later we came to the end of the canyon section.

We came to a point where large logs had fallen across the stream which kind of complicated matters. The water pools were a little deeper and the path, what there was of it, was unclear. Some Germans came along and hopped up on one log, then leapt over to another. Mary got one look at that and decided she’d had enough, even though that wasn’t actually the way to go. I eventually did find another route that didn’t require any tree leaping, but it did involve jumping over some deeper pools. Mary wouldn’t go on even though I was pretty sure the trail would soon rise up to the surrounding forest. She decided to turn back while I moved on. Just around the next bend, about 30 yards more, was the trail that lead back to the parking lot. It was an easy stroll back through a very pleasant forest. I eventually hit the stream entrance again and met Mary part way back up the canyon. A truly wonderful (and mostly easy) hike I would highly recommend.
Coming back into camp, we discovered some elk had decided to graze the grassy area all around us. It was a nice way to end our busy day. The one big damper on the day was my discovery just as we were leaving for Fern Canyon, that one of my new hearing aids was no longer in my ear. Somewhere, either in Fortuna or here, it had popped out and we could find it nowhere. I even went back the 30 miles to Fortuna to look for it the next morning, but no deal. It is lost.

Saturday morning we woke to a warm sunny day. We decide on a 7-mile James Irvine Trail hike – our longest to date on this trip – to get us in better hiking shape. It was all in the thick shady cover of the forrest and we thought it would be cooler. It was still very warm – hot even. If not for the heat it would have been a terrific hike. Moving through the Coastal Redwoods is very interesting. Large drapes of Spanish Moss clings to many of the trees, lots of views of the big trees, major burls of uprooted redwood all along the way. It sounded quite breezy up high, but down on the ground it stay vey calm. This is deceiving though. From time to time, a branch or two would fall somewhere near us, and once we heard off in the not too distant distance, we heard a huge cracking and smash as a large tree apparently came to earth in a big way. This was just a little nerve wracking. We finished the hike and were happy to shower and enjoy another cold Cuba Libre as the day finally began to cool off.


My friend Don M sent me this quote when he read about my difficulty photographing the Redwoods:

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”

I was saying much the same thing but in a much less elegant way. Part of the problem is the harsh light we’ve been experiencing this whole trip. To photograph in the forest requires, I think, soft even lighting to see into the deep shadows bright sun creates. Sunday promised to be just that kind of lighting, so we decided to stay another day and do more hiking. We chose the Cathedral Trees hike for today. It was supposed to be a 1.4 mile hike, but because of unclear maps, it actually turned into a 2.3 mile hike. We were really wiped from the day before, but this hike was pretty easy and the day was much cooler due to cloud cover, so it turned out really well.

I was hoping for conditions exactly like this all during the trip. I may be the only guy in the world who prefers cloudy skies to sun drenched, but it makes for such better result in the forest. The light becomes soft and even, and with the very still air, I could do long exposures and expect good results. This trail had a great mix of Redwoods and Broad Leaf Maples all along the way. Lots of Redwood Sorrel too, and a few stream crossings (with bridges).

We finished the hike, had lunch and decided to do a short drive on a scenic road  called, Coastal Drive, that runs through the park. Along the way we came upon a beach where there was a Pow Wow was going on. This is May Day and I guess the nearby tribe decided to celebrate here. We moved on a bit up the road that rose sharply above the beach to some nice overlooks. We were pretty bushed by this time, so went back to camp for the afternoon.

I was up early on Monday because I wanted one last hike before we left. The clouds were persisting and I wanted to take advantage of it while I could. Mary opted to stay in bed. I know it’s Northern California and soon Oregon, but it has just been too sunny for me. I wanted to hike the Prairie Creek Trail at least partway. A low ground fog greeted me when I got out of the LD so I photographed at out campsite as well as a few places along the road to the trailhead. The trail itself was as nice as I had hoped. It was even calmer than yesterdays hike so once again I could photograph in great conditions.

I hiked in about 1.2 miles, crossing over the stream from time to time and giving me the opportunity to photograph from bridges which gave me nice open views before dipping back into the forest. I left the LD at 6:30 AM and walked until 8:15 before zipping back to the campground. I think I made a few really nice images on this walk and I’m glad it did it. After breakfast, we packed it all up and headed for Crescent City where we will be for the next couple of days.

Zipping in the Redwoods

We made camp in at White Widow Creek RV Park. Not a bad little place as these parks go. It is right off Highway 101, but far enough off where virtually no freeway noise is heard. There are a fair number of long-term campers here. The owner explained that loggers come in early spring and leave at the first rain in the fall. Most of the sites are largely grass, open or with some shade and pretty narrow. But it works for use for the 2 days we will be here. We were in early enough to where we had plenty of time to check out some of the local sights.
We first went off to an Azalea State Reserve to see if it was in bloom yet. No dice. Only a few of the bushes had any booms at all. It was also very hot so we decided to check out some of the beaches instead. We headed out to Moonstone beach because Mary had read some good things about the place. It was closed because of a commercial shoot going on – A truck (GMC I think) )was doing it’s splashing thing along the surf line and we were not allowed in. We later found out that it got stuck in the sand and water and wasn’t able to be removed till next morning. They tied it off so it wouldn’t go out to sea, but it was a total loss. I can think of one driver who will probably have a tough time finding another gig soon.
Anyway, we decided to try another beach, this one called Trinidad a few miles north. It was still very windy as it has for the past several days, but it was also a pleasant departure from the heat. We took a nice stroll along the very nice beach checking out the shells and rocks along the way before calling it a day.
In the morning, over breakfast I notice we were being watched. Outside our window attached to a tree was a carved head of what Mary called a gnome, but I think was more of a campground wizard. We asked the manager about it, but in the 10 years he had been there, had never seen it before.

Also while outside talking, our neighbor came out to chat. He goes by Jolly Eubanks, but let me know his real name involved about 10 more names that he rattled off. He was quite the character. One of those guys who talk in a stream of consciousness kind of way where you ask him a question, and his reply involves one tangent after another and he never actually manages to answer what you asked. He would go on for 5 minutes before I would interrupt him to re-ask the question that he would never actually answer. But he was a happy guy and I asked to photograph him for the Nomads project. He pulled out his fighting knife and a bottle of cinnamon whiskey and was only too happy to oblige.
Then it was off to our zip-line adventure. Mary had found the item in “101 Humboldt Things to Do” and thought it might be fun. The tour was to take 2-3 hours which included instruction while on the ground, climbing up a 70′ redwood tree to a platform that is attached by cable to 2 other platforms in other trees. We met our guide, Adam at 2 PM and he proceeded to harness and helmet  and glove us in. We went through the three pages of waivers, about 30 minutes of safety training, learned what to call the various pieces of equipment, (lobster claws = harness clips, keeper = that thing that hold the pulley so it won’t fall 70′ to the ground while it is being transferred from one cable to the next), learned our safety checks – safety check 1, safety check 2, ready to zip – Zip On!
But first we had to get up the dam tree. We walked over to “Eureka” – yes they name their trees – and saw dozens of steel staples embedded up the 70′ to the platforms. They stuck out about 5 inches and served as both hand and foot holds. Mary was to go up first and Adam attached a rope to her harness so he could help belay her up. I had my doubts about how well she would make it up the tree, but like a tick on a hairy leg, she scampered up like a pro. She was huffing and puffing, but so was I by the time I got up.
It was pretty crowded up there with the 3 of us, and a little confusing too. Ropes and pulleys and clips and maneuvering made for a bit of skepticism, but Adam did a good job of talking us through the process. Adam would stay on this platform while we zipped off to “Arcata”, the next tree about 30′ away, then we were on our own to figure out how to get around to “Trinidad” and back to “Eureka”. The first zip we had to practice breaking in mid-zip, then hand over hand back to the platform before actually zipping to the next platform. That was clumsy, but we both did it and finally got to do a full zip which took about 7 seconds.
By the second platform we had it down pretty well. The next zip was more like 50′ away and went better because the cable was at more of an angle coming in. On the first zip, we both stopped short of the platform and had to hand over hand to reach it. Not so on the second. 10 seconds later we finished the second zip. The final zip was the biggie – about 60′! 11 more seconds and we completed the circuit. Adam asked if we wanted to go again. Mary was done but I jumped on the opportunity and pretty quickly did another circuit.

Then it was time to get down. We were to rappel down with Adam manning the belay rope. I think Mary had more trouble with this than anything else. Something about stepping off the platform backwards did not sit right with her. She was not happy with the way her harness fit around her butt and was fearing an atomic wedgie if she let go. She did not want to leave the comfort of the main cable,. But after several false starts, she did let go – and immediately rolled around backward dangling from the rope. She managed to get turned correctly and Adam was able to lower her down. My rappel went much smoother and I actually kicked off as I was lowered down the tree.
Back on the ground while we were doing the wrap-up talk, a couple of stoners came by and asked what we were doing (This is Humboldt near the University after all). Adam explained that we were zip lining from “Eureka” to “Arcata”. They looked at us with rather confused expressions and asked, “You mean there are zip lines that go all the way to Arcata?” When Adam explained that those were the names of the trees, it didm’t seem to make much difference. They eventually wandered  off…

So it was a pretty fun experience all in all. I was disappointed that each zip was so short though. I guess I had visions of moving through a redwood forest for a minute or two at a time. Here, the few seconds of each zip left no real way to look around and enjoy the view. I had to pretty much be ready to land as soon as I took off. If I do it again, that will have to be a precondition. But I’m glad we did it.

Ferndale & The Lost Coast

We’ve been staying about 40 miles north in Ferndale for the past 2 days. We moved up here to get an early start for a road trip to The Lost Coast, via Highway 211.The Lost Coast is a very remote area where few people go just for the heck of it. Sounds about right for us. The road is very narrow and curvy and not in great shape, but still easily drivable. It winds through the coastal mountains before spilling out onto the coast. We were up early-ish and soon out on our way through Ferndale. The road headed steeply up the foggy mountains into very rain-forest like conditions, with spanish moss hanging from trees and misty views from occasional breaks in the cover. All along the way we could see large spreads of private land. Seems like most of this property is owned by other than the government.

Once we broke through to the top of the first peak, the trees and fog largely disappeared and what was revealed were long lovely views of green rolling mountains, with occasional views of the coast itself. Turnouts were few and far between, so we used them when we could, but also just stopped in the road as close to one side as possible when we wanted to photograph, making sure we were well in view from either direction. This whole area seems mainly traveled by people who live here and are working folk. I really didn’t want to become a bother to them. When they did come by, almost everyone gave a wave so we didn’t feel like we were hindering them much.
Further along the way, the road would dip into forested areas and break free again into wide open views. I was actually surprised at how little forest there  was. Much of this land seems devoted to cattle and probably clear cut ages ago. Not huge herds, but they were in evidence all along the way. We eventually descended sharply to the coast – a pretty spectacular ride itself. This whole journey was dreadfully windy though – a cold wind at that. The coast was very nearly as bad, so we didn’t get out much to photograph. It’s too bad to, because it was very nice scenery. There were black sand beaches (well grey sand anyway), loads of wildflowers and very cool tinted ocean water. I really loved the way the water sort of blended into the sky at the horizon.

We continued on to the small hamlet of Patrolia which was about the half-way point if we were going to do the complete loop. We decided against that since we figured it would be about the same kind of terrain going out as coming in. So we turned around and headed back.

Just outside of town out in a pasture, I noticed what looked to be a small group of horses. Closer inspection revealed that two of them were striped! Seems traveling to the Lost Coast transported us to Africa. We stopped to photograph and were quite surprised when the whole group of horses and zebras came over to greet us.

Yeah, they were just hungry, but a very friendly hungry, and they let us pet and pat and were happy with the longer grass we fed them that they couldn’t reach for themselves. The horses were not entirely happy with the zebras though. They tolerated them, but if they got too close there would be conflict.
Back in the town of Ferndale we stopped to check out the Kinetic Museum, which we found with various notices to vacate within 30, 10 and 3 days, plastered all over the windows. Guess they weren’t quite kinetic enough.The town itself is quite nice. Loads of victorians and rhododendrons in full bloom. We stopped for a short while in the extensive cemetery. Mary especially loves to photograph what people put in and on their graves. There was also a pretty nice view from the top of the hilly location.
Then it was back to the Riverwalk RV Park, named as far as we can tell, for the street it is located on. No river to be seen – nearby anyway. Earlier, the day before, we went out to a bird sanctuary near us that did have a river running through it – more of a slough/river really, but it’s been so windy the past couple of days that there were few birds present. We did a short walk along the banks but it was pretty uncomfortable so we ended it after about a mile. We will be moving again just a little further north to McKinleyville. We are thinking about a zip line adventure 70 ft up in the redwoods. We’ll see…

More From Around Mendocino

Wednesday we woke to a very foggy morning. The warm sunny weather couldn’t last forever, but truthfully, the fog really evens out the light and made our next hike a bit better for making photographs. Todays hike is in Russian Gulch State Park, just a few miles north of us. The hike is Fern Canyon – at least one of the Fern Canyon’s. There appear to be several. The hike was a very easy 2.5 miles or so. The first part of the trail was pretty much paved and flat and suitable for bikes, of which a few passed us. It moves along a small creek with lush undergrowth all around. Surprisingly there were few mesquites to be seen. Maybe just a little too early in the season just yet. This made hiking really enjoyable. About halfway in, the bike trail ends and the trail becomes, well, more trail-like, with gentle ups and downs and still lots of nice views of the thickly treed and vegetated slopes of the canyon. It wasn’t long before we came to our destination – the waterfall. The trail continued on for a several more mile loop, but Mary’s knee was bothering her so we opted for lunch and a rest before heading back
Mary opted to not bring her camera hoping that less weight would make it easier on her sore knee. So while I photographed around the waterfall, she moved up the trail to the top of the waterfall to look around. Soon I see her scurrying back at an unusually quick pace for a lady with a sore knee. She comes right up to me and says she thinks she saw a bear just 20 or 30 yards beyond the waterfall, but she wasn’t sure. She just saw something black moving around before she hightailed it. I decided I needed to have a look and as I moved up the trail, I could hear a rather agonizing growl – not a bear, but Mary not wanting me to go. Getting to the top of the waterfall, I looked around but there was simply no sign of anything but a large black stump and it wasn’t moving. Maybe she did and maybe she didn’t – we will never know.
Anyway, we soon headed back, rested up a bit before heading back to Mendocino for our dinner at Café Beaujolais. We dined here many years ago and had  some pretty terrific food. We also discovered Ferrari Carano Chardonnay. It was old style, big, oaky and buttery. The just don’t make em like that anymore. Really, nobody makes them in this style anymore – not even Ferrari Carano. Now they are all fruity things. But this time at Beaujolais, Ferrari Carano was not on the menu. Frank Family has replaced it. We visited Frank Family Vineyards a number of years age and told them about our love for Ferrari Carano. Their response was, “Well, if you like their’s you’ll LOVE ours.” We said yeah, right. Well, Wow! The were right. It was actually better. More like what we were after. We bought a case on the spot and rationed them for a couple of years after. This night, Frank Family was still a good choice. We may have to visit the vineyard again soon. Our dinners were as good as ever. Mary had Duck two ways, and I had the Sturgeon in truffle sauce. And yes, there were desserts. Coconut Cream Pie for Mary and Molten Chocolate Mousse and ice cream for me.
On Thursday, we got up early and hiked another Fern Trail. This one left from our own campground, so we just had to step out of the motorhome and start walking. It was actually pretty similar to the last hike, so we walked for a mile and a half or so, then turned around. A little later we left Van Damme and headed further up Highway 1 to Myers Flat where we plan to be for the next 4 days.

Myers Flat Area
We found a very nice little place to stay called Giant Redwoods RV Park. It is not officially open yet, but new managers Michael and Jody, decided that since they were here, they might as well open the place to visitors. They are getting the place ready for the official opening later in May, so some of the amenities are not operational and they have given us some discounts. They are both very friendly and after talking with them for a while, I asked if I could photograph them for the Nomads project and they agreed.
Our first stop after getting settled, was The Avenue of the Giants visitor center. There we got some great tips on places to hike along the Avenue. We’ve been here before and done some of the big tree hikes and frankly, while they never cease to amaze, after the first few, it sort of becomes a “seen one, seen em all” kind of thing. They are a little hard to comprehend somehow. Really hard to photograph effectively. They really only feel special when you see a person next to them – in pictures or live. So on first sight they are jaw dropping, but soon it becomes huh, another big tree. Until you see a person next to them again. Making photographs is also a challenge. What I like to do when a scene is just too big to really understand, is to look to the details and so I started looking at the underbrush more.
We were recommended to a walk called Druy-Chaney Trail. This turned out to be really nice. Another 2.5 mile loop through the forest, but what made this one different was the lush undergrowth. It was thick with blooming Redwood Soral, and moss covered everything else. This created a sort of green rolling terrain. The hike started out pretty overcast but the sun soon broke through and created a more difficult lighting situation wit hot spots in the dark environment. Still, it was a wonderful hike with so few people we felt we had the place to ourselves. In just another month or so, this place will be crawling with people – and bugs! Much better to be here now.

Saturday we got up earlyish and did a riverside walk. It was not nearly as nice as the previous days’ hike. Very little undergrowth and the river views were nothing special, so we went for a mile or so before heading back. The rest of the day was spent catching up on blogging and some computer troubleshooting and maintenance.

Carpe Diem Goes North

The blog is alive and living and headed north. We left San Francisco on a gorgeous Monday morning, April 22. Leaving San Francisco on our Spring and Fall trips is always bittersweet. It is great to get away to the places we love, but the best weather in the City is always in these two seasons. But right now, it is also amazing weather up here in Mendocino – the destination for the first few days of our 2 month trip. We will be spending a couple of weeks along the north coast of California, and the southern Oregon coast. Then it’s inland a bit to Baker City, Oregon to join the Northwest Lazy Daze Get together. This is a great group of folks who all own Lazy Daze RV’s, so we (and Carpe Diem) will feel right at home. It looks like around 32 rigs will be showing up for this meet and it will be fun seeing many of the people we met the last time we joined up with this group. Our main destination for this trip is once again the Palouse area of eastern Washington. We visited in the fall of 2011 and were blown away by the undulating  terrain. While it was impressive at that time of year, I really wanted to see it in spring when everything that was brown in fall will be vibrant green. So looking forward to these views.

It was a pretty leisurely drive up to our first campground at Van Damme State Park. Taking highway 128 from 101 to highway 1 required a bit of focus because of the twists and turns of this wavy road, but once on the coast, it was a shot cruise to the Park. Van Damme is located about 8 miles south of Mendocino and right on the coast. The weather is perfect right now and we feel pretty fortunate to be able to enjoy what will be the next few sweltering days in California, in the very pleasant coolness of the coast. Our plans for this area? Hiking some of the coastal trails, the Mendocino Botanical Gardens, an expected terrific dinner at Cafe Beaujolais, more hiking, some sitting and sipping of wine, or Glenlivet, or limonchello – so many sipping options. Oh yes, we’ll be taking a few pictures as well.

After arriving and getting situated on Monday, we took a stroll along the beach across highway 1 from Van Damme. Not really a lot of note, but we did see a couple of Canadian geese along with their chick nibbling on seaweed and whatever else they could get down their gullets. The chick was very cute. Also there was a small group of Black Oystercatchers frolicking along the waterline.

Canadian Geese at Van Damme State Park, CA

Black Oystercatchers at Van Damme State Park, CA

Tuesday we drove north about 5 miles to the Mendocino Botanical Gardens. The gardens didn’t actually open until 9 A.M. so we stopped for a while at the Mendocino Cemetery. We can usually find something of interest to photograph. This time I found an interesting fence and a few gravestones.

Cemetery at Mendocino, CA

The gardens are 47 acres divided into 2 main sections – the cultivated gardens and the more rustic canyon/bluffs section What happens to be blooming is dependent on what time of year your are here. It’s a bit early right now, but the Rhododendrons are going strong and a number of the other perennials as well. The succulents garden is always a favorite of mine and I spend a good deal of time making abstracts out of the various varieties.

The trails eventually lead out to bluffs overlooking the ocean. The path is dotted with places to sit and enjoy the views. On a day like this, how could you not?

We returned to our campground only to find the road work in the park that was to have be finished by 1 P.M. was not going to be done until after 2. We had to park the car at the visitor center and walk to our campground. Not a big deal, but it was still a little noisy while they finished up the paving around us.

 

 

Take Me Away

The opening for Take Me Away, the group show for which Alice Shaw, Rebecca Horne and I were featured artists, came off without a hitch at San Francisco City Hall last Wednesday night. I was really amazed at the tremendous turnout for the show and it was so good to see so many familiar faces there. Even my parents came up for the evening.

Thom Sempre, Director of PhotoAlliance, and my friend Chris Okon.

Mom and dad, along with our friend Sue, made it up for the opening.

A good turnout for the opening.

Alice Shaw

Alice showed work from her long term project, “People Who Look Like Me”. I enjoyed her images very much.

Rebecca Horne (right) and friend.

Rebecca was showing a variety of work from a recent project.

Ann Jastraub (left), a board member of PhotoAlliance as well as Gallery Director of RayKo was there for the opening.

Monica Deneian was showing some really strong work from Burma.

I love this work by Jamil Hellu. From his project, “Guardians of the Golden Gate.”

Meg Shiffler (Center), the Gallery Director for San Francisco Arts Commission, put on a fine show.

Outside San Francisco City Hall. Decked out for a 49er win.

 

A Short Trip to Santa Barbara

I am just back from Santa Barbara where Mary and I attended the opening of Beautiful My Desire, the “New Directions” exhibit one of my prints was selected for. Wall Space Gallery, where the show is hung, is a photography only gallery space owned and operated by Crista Dix. Crista works hard to bring quality photography to public attention. She is someone I’d love to work with, but it has to be the right situation and I have been trying to figure out what of my work would appeal to her. She has a good eye and is quite savvy when it comes to the business of presenting artists. I have found her to be a straight shooter with advice and was looking forward to getting to see and talk with her again.

Afternoon respite on the veranda at the Indigo Hotel.

The show opened on Friday, January 4th so we took off on the 3rd to get ourselves down there and have a chance to look around and relax a bit before the opening. We planed this to be a multi-day trip so we could attend the show and take a leisurely route back home along the coast. We got a pretty early start on a beautiful morning, stopping in Paso Robles for lunch and a bit of a leg stretch before moving on to Santa Barbara. We got into town around 4:00 PM and checked in to the Hotel Indigo. Most hotels in Santa Barbara are pretty pricy in any of the decent locations. This one was actually pretty reasonable. It was located just around the corner from Wall Space and right in the middle of the downtown/wharf area. It is reasonable because it is “European Style” – that is tiny. The room really wasn’t much bigger than our motor home – just shaped a little differently. It was probably 12 x 12 and with the king size bed in there, left maybe 2 feet of space to walk around. A small closet with drawers, and desk filled out the room. The bathroom was also the shower. That is, you swing a glass door away from the wall. It buts up to the toilet and you pull a curtain across to make the shower. While it is small, it really works quite well. The 1st floor rooms all had small but nice patio’s to help expand the room. On the 2nd floor we had a view of the train station that runs quite close to the hotel. This really was not a problem. Only a couple of trains run by during the day and evening and it was actually quite nice to hear and feel the train as it stopped and then passed by. Everything was clean and new and actually very nice. I wouldn’t want to spend a week here, but a couple of days was very nice. There were several public spaces to hang out in as well. Two balcony/patio’s on each floor were prefect to hang out in on nice days. There was also a reading room and a meeting room for business. The lobby and halls had nice art and floral arraignments, and a new restaurant had just opened in the same building. A very pleasant place to spend our days while here.

2nd floor landing.

After unpacking we decided to walk over to find the gallery. Crista had moved locations some time ago into the current spot and it had improved the walk by foot traffic to her space. The fact that it is next to several wine tasting rooms I’m sure helps things as well. It took a little time to actually find her space. She is on the 2nd floor and had no sign at street level that I could see. When we walked in, she was knee high in boxes from unloading late arriving prints. She was just finishing mounting the show and we got a nice little preview. I didn’t want to keep here, so we left to check out the Art Walk in the downtown area and find some dinner.

Because of the Art Walk, The Museum of Art was free and open so we got a nice look at the an exhibit of Impressionist painting on loan from the Armand Hammer collection. We found a frame shop gallery showing some really nice landscape photography. My only complaint was that it was all printed on canvas. I really don’t like that look for photography. Another gallery was showing paintings of California done in a sort of asian style. The galleries we chose to visit we pretty far from each other and we tired pretty quickly. Fortunately the Tupelo Cafe was before us at the right time. Crista had recommended an Italian spot, but it was getting late and we just wanted something light. Afterwards, we headed to our little room and crashed.
Friday dawned another beautiful day, and with the help of fresh french press coffee and breakfast in our hotel restaurant, we headed out on a typically Mary & Dave excursion. Our first stop was the Andree Clark Bird Refuge just a few miles from our hotel. It’s quite a nice spot, but on this day there were more homeless than birds, so we had a short visit before moving on across the street to the Santa Barbara Cemetery. This location is up on a bluff with a grand view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is quite large and we found interesting compositions both inside and outside some of the crypts and mausoleums. On this trip I am testing out my new camera. I got a Canon 6D recently and was itching to see what it could do. The important improvements from my previous 5D is the larger sensor – now 20 mp as opposed to 11. Also much improved low light sensitivity. I shot a lot at ISO 10,000 and the results were very impressive. Normally I would shoot at ISO 50 or 100. There is still obvious noise, but in many cases, the images are still quite usable.

Santa Barbara Cemetery.

From there we headed over to a place Mary found while researching Santa Barbara. Frog Alley is actually a rock retaining wall on Paterna Road. It is a little know spot in a hilly residential area of Santa Barbara. I don’t know how she finds these places, but she leaves no stone unturned looking for them. As with other places like this, it got it’s start from someone placing a frog statue or stuffed animal or some other frog trinket on the wall along the street. Others see these pieces and decide to make their own contributions. Over time, it has grown to literally hundreds of placed items. While we were there, a car stopped in the road and two young girls jumped out of the backseat rushed to the wall and placed several little frog figurines, giggling the whole time. I really enjoy looking what people create. This is old style social networking at it’s best.

Frog Alley in Santa Barbara.

Back down the road a bit, we found the Santa Barbara Mission. By this time it was mid-afternoon, so we walked around the grounds photographing for a time before heading back to the hotel to have a little rest before the opening.

Santa Barbara Mission.

Before I left San Francisco, Crista had agreed to meet with me before the opening to look over the rest of my Nomads project. I already knew that the project really wasn’t her thing, but she knows people and can make recommendations and offer suggestions. I also brought along some new abstract sand dunes I’ve been working on. So while Mary rested up at the hotel, I walked over with my portfolio and had a nice meeting. I was hoping for maybe a half hour, we ended up talking for at least an hour and some good things may well have come from it. I also got to meet her father, Jim, who has been a big part of her success over the years.

A little later we returned to the gallery for the opening. Ann Jastrab, the juror for the show what there. She runs the RayKo Photo Center here in San Francisco and has been a great supporter of my work. She is great fun to shoot the breeze with. It was good to see everyones work on the walls and I got to meet several of the other photographers. After hanging out there for awhile, it was again time to eat. Crista recommended the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company out on the wharf as a good place for dinner. It’s really just a shack, but oh the food was good. The evening was very cold, but no wind still allowed for a pleasant walk back to the hotel.
In the morning we started our return trip home. On the way up to Morro Bay our destination for the afternoon, we stopped at the Monarch Butterfly preserve in Pismo Beach. This is the time of year to see them here, but due to the lack of sun and cool temperatures, they were not too active. They were all gathered in just a couple of trees. Quite impressive, but not real photographable.

Monarch Butterfly Preserve, Pismo Beach.

Next to the preserve is Pismo State Beach and Campground. We decided to walk down to the shoreline for a little exercise. Even though it was cool and cloudy, there were quite a few people out and about. An interesting effect was visible in the sky. A large light ring circled the sun and was very prominent and very weird.

Arriving in Moro Bay, we found our motel and then found lunch. The beer was the highlight of the day, but the  big rock ain’t bad. The weather got dreary as we kicked around town a bit, but it later started to rain, so we packed it in for the day.

After a quick continental breakfast in the lobby of the motel, we headed out. It was still raining a bit when we left, but soon began to clear. We stopped often to photograph along the way to Monterey because of such dramatic lighting. Another stop at Moonstone Beach for a nice walk and more photos.

We had to stop quite a few times for photos along the Big Sur coast. It is just too compelling a sight to not stop. It took several hours of driving and stopping before we reached our last stop before Monterey – Point Piedras Blancas where Sea Lions had come ashore to pup. There were hundreds of females either about to pup or already pupped. Most every one we saw had a pup attached or very near to a teat. Only a few males could be seen. It was quite amazing to see the interaction among the group.

The wind was up here and very cold at that. We stayed for a while then finished our drive to Monterey. We had thought we’d go to the aquarium there in the afternoon, but we were so late in getting there that we decided to wait till Monday, get there at opening and take our time. It really made sense to do that. We felt refreshed in the morning and the aquarium was quite empty for a good long while. We headed straight to the jellyfish first. There were a couple of different displays of them in different parts of the building and both were fascinating.

I especially enjoyed photographing the long sinuous tentacles of one variety of jellyfish. They looked like lacy strips of cloth. Using my 6D ability to shoot and focus in low light, I shot some really nice images. I spent most of my time at the various tanks.

To finish our visit, we stopped at the seahorse and penguins tank with a final visit to the huge fish tank. It’s always a cool scene.
But it was time to head back to S.F. and we returned home all the way along the coast via Highway 1. The day was very sunny making the drive pleasant but much less dramatic. It was not only a fun little trip, but may well have some lasting developments. I’m very happy I made the trip down. Later this week, I need to drop off my prints for the City Hall show. One of my images is being used for the announcement card for the show, as well as the poster, and I am looking forward to picking up a bunch.

The Essence of Escapism

Dry Camping. Anza-Borrego, CA

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at home in front of the computer working on images from the latest road trip when the phone rings. It’s Thom Sempre, the director of San Francisco Photo Alliance, asking me if I’d be interested in taking part in the yearly group show put on by them and the San Francisco Arts Commission. It is mainly a juried competition, but is to be anchored by three photographers, me being one of them. The others are Alice Shaw and Rebecca Horne. Each of us get 10 prints in the show, the rest will be chosen from a general call for entry pool. The exhibit will be be titled Take Me Away, and will be on view at the San Francisco City Hall exhibition space starting January 30.

My contribution will be from my Life on Wheels: The New American Nomads project. I am looking forward to seeing what edit the jurors will be taking. Escapism can be viewed in many ways I think. I guess I haven’t really considered the practice of full-timing as escapism. They are just living their dream – something most people only think about. But those on the outside might see this lifestyle as one of escape – leaving all their troubles behind. I don’t really think that is what happens though. Yes, they leave, but also yes, life follow along and must be dealt with while on the road. It’s an added complication, but actually serves to keep people in the Now and better grounded. I have found most full-timers to be more open and equipped to handle whatever is thrown their way. It just comes with the territory.

If they are escaping, it’s in the sense of not doing the expected.

Jerry. Traveling CPA. Valley of Fire State Park, NV

This by no means is an absolute. I have met a number of full-timers who were obviously running away from something. Jerry, the traveling CPA, told me straight out that he couldn’t stay in one place very long without getting antsy. He doesn’t know why, but has to move on to somewhere new. Slab City near the Salton Sea is full of those one might say are escaping. People here can live free of rent and rules and do what could not be done anywhere else. It is an unforgiving environment, but for those who can tough it out, it is home and seems to work.

In the context of the City Hall exhibit though, escape is more about getting away from it all on a more temporary basis and doesn’t necessarily mean leaving town.
From the Prospective:
The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries and PhotoAlliance are inviting submissions of photography that depict images of escape and escapism. When you step away from your day-to-day, where do you go? Where do you escape or where do you dream of escaping?  It could be somewhere just around the corner, or beyond the city limits. You might instead escape to a fantastical place that manifests in your mind or in virtual space. We’re interested in knowing where you go, or would like to go, and are calling for images that will also inspire viewers to consider their own relationship with escapism.

If you are a Bay Area resident and are reading this, you should enter this no cost call for entry. The gallery space in the basement of city hall is huge and accommodates up to 100 photographs. The jury will be selecting between 3 and 8 images from each selected photographer and the show will run for more than 3 months.

End of Day. Valley of Fire State Park, NV ©David Gardner

I’m also in a number of other exhibits coming up in the near future:

January 4th is the opening of the group show, Beautiful My Desire at Wallspace Gallery in Santa Barbara, CA then traveling to Seattle, WA in February for showing at Wallspace there.

Later in January is the opening of Box Squared, another group show at The Center For Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO.

Both of these exhibits will be showing the same print, End of Day. Valley of Fire State Park, NV.

Still later in the year, the Center/Forward show formally at C4fap will travel to San Francisco and will exhibit at RayKo Gallery from May 30 – July 5. Lots going on. It looks like my year will be starting off hot!

Sweet Home San Francisco

An Ely kind of morning.

We arrived back home in the City by the Bay Just over a week ago on Friday as we had hoped. It took us 4 days to drive from Moab to SF and included 1 300 plus mile day and a couple of 250 days. We stopped in Torrey, UT on day 1 of the return drive to watch Game 7 of the Championship series. It was a great win over St. Louis in the rain at San Francisco. We had to plan carefully to be sure each place we stayed could get the Fox network – probably the only time in our lives we would ever want to be sure we could watch FOX.

From Torrey, we made it to Ely Nevada, and the next day to Fallon. Usually this is the most boring part of the trip. A dash across Nevada on Highway 50 from Ely to Fallon is almost alway pretty dull. But this time, when we awoke in Ely we were greeted by an inch or two of new snow. Pretty much the first snow we had seen the entire trip. We both brought all sorts of cold weather clothing because we have always run into some mighty cold conditions somewhere during September/October. Not this year. I think I only wore a long sleeve shirt maybe 6 days the entire period – and half of those were to protect from sun exposure. But it was pretty chilly that morning as the first of the years storms came through. The roads were all clear, the snow not really sticking to any pavement.

The best part of the drive this time was watching the changing clouds as the storm broke up and began clearing. All the way across Nevada we drove through intermittent snow showers. It looked like rain from a distance, but as we approached, it was either snow or sleet. The clouds were simple amazing and the lighting on them caused us to constantly photograph while moving and occasionally stopping for more steady shots. It felt like the quickest drive ever, but it was still 6 plus hours. The time change back 1 hour helped as well.

We did stop for a short while at the shoe tree – or whats left of it. On New Years Eve of 2010, some yahoo came along and cut down this 80 cottonwood. Now what’s left is a much lesser cottonwood that has become the de facto New Shoe Tree. It’s not nearly the same feeling, and the place has sort of taken on a darker feeling. The wash the tree used to grow out of has been burned out leaving just the chard remains of the former tree and revealing all the tossed bottles and burned brush.
I photographed here again more as to document the progression of the site than anything else. Taking a closer look at one of the limbs, I noticed something hanging from a lime that didn’t quite fit.
I used my telephoto to take an even closer look and saw better what had caught my eye. Someone had thought it very clever to hang a deer leg from the tree. I guess in redneck/hunter thinking, it was pretty funny, but it totally put me off. There is just something too disrespectful about this sort of display. Yes, I eat meat, but I find treating remains in this way plain wrong.

We arrived in Fallon in time to watch the Giants win Game 1 against Detroit and in the morning took off for California. Our final stop of the trip was just outside of Sacramento where we watched the Giants once again take it to Detroit. Something told me that Obama was not going to bail out Detroit this time.

In the morning, we did our final clean out of the LD before making the easy final drive home. Over the weekend, we very much enjoyed watching the dismantling of Detroit. If the Series had gone on longer, I would have been able to attend Game 6 or 7 in person, but I’m just fine with them winning it all early. We also really enjoyed the parade down Market Street the following Wednesday. Giants Rule!

Happy to be back in the Sierra’s

 

Moab and Away

Saturday we did chores and later met our friends from La Sal, Don and Janet, for dinner at the Moab Brewery. Pretty good burgers and ribs there and it was great to catch up with our friends. We’re hanging around to watch Saturday’s baseball playoff game between San Francisco and St. Louis. It’s do or die for SF and if they win it will change our plans a bit. They did win – and win big – so we decided to start our run back home a day early just in case they win Monday’s final game and get to the World Series. If they lose, we will extend our trip a little longer in the Capitol Reef/Escalante area before traveling home.

  On Sunday we decided to take a trip out to Rainbow Rocks near the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands. It’s a little difficult to find and not really marked as any kind of a landmark on any maps I’ve seen. The area is on BLM land off a couple of different dirt roads. The roads are good up till you get to the rocks. Only a couple of sandy areas and a few rocky ones to have to deal with. All easily traveled in our Rav 4. You can go all the way around the formations and eventually back to the main highway, but the road becomes much more 4-wheel like once past the formations themselves. At a certain point, 4-wheel and high clearance in a must as some of  the drop-offs and stair-steps are too difficult in anything but.

The weather was bright sunlight if a bit windy. Normally I wouldn’t care for that much direct sunlight especially at high noon when we got there, but in this case it’s actually best. The rocks simply gleam in the sunlight and at noon, the deep shadows direct sun would cast are minimized. I used a polarizer on my lens to cut some of the glare and deepen the colors a bit, but a little goes a long way and I didn’t want to deepen the colors to much – the rocks don’t need it.

The rocks are the most unusual conglomeration of colored sandstone I’ve seen anywhere else in the west. There layers of bluegrey, peach, yellow, white, and red sandstone all plopped one on top of the other. We were able to drive to within about 1/8 of a mile of the base of the formation. We probably could have driven closer, but the road gets rougher past the point we went to and it’s just as easy to walk from here.

It’s an easy walk to the formation. There are a couple of fairly easy points go get up on the formation, then pretty easy walking along various benches along the length. So many different photographic opportunities all along the way. I concentrated on abstract compositions of the layers of sandstone. The sinuous waves of stone was so attractive to me and here all the various colors mingled to create really unique scenes. We spent a couple of hours climbing and walking all over the stone before heading back to the car and camp.

Sunday evening was a wonderful will for San Francisco, and come Monday, we moved our location to Torrey, about 150 miles closer to home. The win in the rain Monday night was a terrific celebration for SF – it was the first time the Giants won a seven game clincher at home. They got to celebrate among their fans. It was great to watch. I’m not sure they even felt the rain. But St. Louis sure did.

So now we will hightail it home so we can watch with our friends. We will probably be back in town by Friday. I’ll have a final trip post in a few days.

Along the Colorado River, Part 2

Along the Colorado River, Part 2
Wednesday, October 17Today we left Hittle Bottom Campground and moved into Portal RV Park in Moab. Portal is not in any of the RV books we own. We found it many years ago and like it a lot. It’s not cheap – $35/night – but the grounds are well kept, the WiFi works well and the owner are nice. All amenities are available and it is the closest to downtown Moab. They’ve recently expanded the property to include ownable and leasable lots in a separate part of the park. Since then, the RV part has become sort of a second class citizen. We don’t have access to the pool or club room, but we really never use those sorts of facilities anymore. Almost right next door is Silckrock RV Park. It is not quite as neat as Portal, but it does have much shadier sites and is a bit cheaper. The WiFi can be a problem here, but our cellphone hotspot now negates this problem. We ended up there later during the week when we couldn’t extend our stay at Portal. Anyway, we hung out the rest of Wednesday at Portal, watched the Giants lose again in the evening and planned our hike for Thursday.

Lots of wildflowers can still be found along the trail.

Thursday’s hike is Negro Bill Canyon. Not a real nice name in these politically correct times, but considering it used to be called Ni**er Bill, it is an improvement. Who knows, in 30 years or so it may change to something like Black Bill, or African American Bill. But I think I would prefer Brother Bill Canyon if it came right down to it.

This is one of the most popular hikes in the Moab area, so we got started by mid-morning to beat the crowds. It is a 4.5 mile roundtrip hike that runs along a stream for much of the way. It is mostly level and pretty easy, but there are around 7 stream crossings in the middle third of the hike. In the final third of the hike, the trail rises and falls a few times no more than 100′ before reaching Morning Glory Arch. The arch is kind of hidden but pretty spectacular. It is right up against another sandstone cliff and probably several hundred feet above the ground. Every time we’ve been there, climbers have repelled from mid-span to the floor. They have to hike overland to get there, then hike out the 2.25 miles to the canyon entrance.

This time in, we didn’t go to the end. We were most attracted to the stream and plant life growing along it’s banks anyway. There was nice fall color in the oak and Cottonwoods and other various trees along the way, and the canyon walls reflecting in the stream at various places was enough to keep us occupied for several hours. The last part of the hike to the arch is a little bit of a trudge with little shade, and frankly, unless you are there with few other people, it gets a little irritating with the echoing kids and barking dogs. So we decided the first 2/3 would be fine for this day.

In the evening we watched the Giants lose yet again. Their backs are against the wall AGAIN. Now they must win the final 3 games to get to the World Series – a mighty big feat. On the positive side, if they lose on Friday, we will not need network TV the rest of the trip and will be free to camp where ever we wish.

Friday we planned on taking the La Sal Loop drive. This is a 60 mile drive that winds through the La Sal mountains and later comes down through the Castle Valley. Very picturesque. We were thwarted however as the road through the mountain portion (40 miles of the road) is closed, probably through December, for repairs. As our back up plan, we just drove the Castle portion up to a viewpoint. It was a nice view, and a new area we hadn’t looked before. Quite a bit of dispersed camping up toward the top, but too far away for anything we would want to do. When the road turned to gravel, we stopped at a turn-out/camping area and took a short stroll to the edge for the view and also discovered dinosaur tracks in the rock.

The view from above Castle Valley.

Mary tries on a dinosaur print for size.

So we are back in camp now awaiting another Giants game. If they lose, we are off to Island in the Sky for a few days. If they win, we will have to figure out how to manage our locations to be sure we can watch the final games taking place back in San Francisco.

Along the Colorado River, Part 1

Monday October 15

Fisher Towers

We drove the 100 miles or so from Grand Junction to HIttle Bottom campground on the Colorado River in Utah near Moab today. It’s a nice little riverside campground with 12 sites. It is primarily a put in point for rafters, kayakers and the like, but it is very open and not in a really narrow part of the canyon so that we get sun earlier than a couple of the other campgrounds closer to Moab.

Climbers love to stand at the tops of these pinnacles.

We are just a couple of miles from one of the hikes we wanted to do while here. Fisher Towers is a 4.5 mile hike that skirts the base of some pretty amazing sandstone spires. Climber flock to this place, and seeing them standing on the tops of some of the pinnacles is worth the visit alone.The hike is considered moderate, but it has quite a bit of the up and the down rocky hiking that can really stress the knees. We hiked it on Tuesday afternoon. We waited till afternoon because the way the towers are situated, much of their faces would be in deep shadow in the morning. Of course this means starting in the heat of the day. This time of year is not as bad, but the temps are still in the low 70′s. That doesn’t sound so bad, but the deep red sandstone really soaks up the heat during the day and radiates it back on the hiker. So even though there was a light cool breeze, we still both sweated like crazy. It was quite a bit harder on Mary than me, and she finished the hike as, shall we say, not a happy camper.

But though it was hot, it was pretty amazing as well. We only saw a handful of hikes our entire time out, and none actually went out as far as us. The trail steadily rises over the course of the 2+ miles out, with an occasional drop into, then out of, a wash. There are nice long views of the desert and Colorado River to one side and close up views of the spires to the other.

View back to the Colorado River from the end of the hike.

Out at the end of the hike, the trail moves away from the towers a bit to reveal more great views of the surrounding desert with better step away views of the towers. We stopped here for a while and watched the light get lower and colors get deeper. But now we needed to head back. Marys knee was beginning to bother her and the heat had her feeling pretty crummy. She soldered on however and even stopped for an occasional photograph. We were both pretty happy to finish the hike.

Since there was no broadcast TV signal at the campground, we couldn’t watch Game 2 of the Giants playoff. We did learn that they won by checking the web. There was enough of a cell signal because of the booster we now have, that I could keep up on the score. So the day ended well. The Cuba Lebre’s helped.

View of Fisher Towers from trail’s end.

Fisher Towers and the La Sal Mountains reflect in the Colorado River.

Colorado National Monument

Freeze dried MoHo.

Grand Junction
For the past 4 days we’ve been hanging around Grand Junction. It’s about the biggest town we’ve seen on this trip. Not really much to do here, but I needed to find an RV store to pick up a few repair items for my little towing mishap. I found Centennial RV very near the RV park we chose right off Highway 70. I needed to replace the electrical tether that was damaged when the towbar became disengaged. Since it was just the plug itself that was damaged, I hoped to be able to just replace it instead of the entire tether. A new tether would cost $70 or more. A new plug for the end, more like $5.00. As it turned out, the store was out of 7 pin tethers, but did have a replacement plug. The were kind enough to not charge me any labor to change out the plug. I actually could have probably done the switch-out myself, but this is not something I wanted to take a chance of mis-wiring.

While we were there, I found a pretty cool Freeze-dried RV that we are considering down-sizing to. Just add water and presto! Full size to go. This one would easily fit into our garage in SF.

We got here on Thursday and pretty much just hung out. Friday was chore day and we managed to get everything done we needed to. It was also clouding up during most of the day and started raining by late afternoon. We wanted to tour the Colorado National Monument on Saturday, but the rain continued on and off most of the day. Often this is preferable to us – The cloudy, rainy weather often produces dramatic lighting. The the overcast was solid and dark up on the monument, so we decided to go to a movie instead. We saw Seven Psychopaths, staring Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and Chistorpher Walken, with a cameo by Tom Waits. Directed by Martin McDonagh. It was hilarious, but bloody, but more cartoon bloody. A surprising and kind of touching story. Walken is at his best, and Colin and Harrelson are really good too. If you can stomach the violence, then do go see it.

Along the trail to Devil’s Kitchen.

On Sunday, we finally got it together enough to head up to the monument. The Colorado National Monument is actually a hugh sandstone mesa that rises above Grand Junction. It’s a little bit of Utah red rock in Colorado. There are tremendous views from all along the scenic drive that winds around and over the monument. We had hoped for clearing cloud cover for our excursion, but come dawn, there was not a cloud in the sky. Nice weather for hiking, but too harsh for effective photography. Photographing in this light gets you either black shadows, or blown highlights. What this place needs is a partly cloudy sky that allows for more dramatic light.

We started off anyway and decided to try some of the short hikes. We first found the Devil’s Kitchen hike. It was only a .75 mile hike to a sandstone room of boulders, so the guide says. It started out easy enough, but after rising around a 300′ rise to the room, but somewhere along the trail, we managed to take a wrong turn and ended up hiking more like a mile and a half in the wrong direction. The trail eventually petered out and we had to turn back. We were not the only one’s to miss the correct route. We passed several groups as we retraced our steps. Eventually, we came across a couple who had found it and we discovered where we went wrong. Even they were not sure they had found the place, but after looking over the trail, it was clear they had. We did get to the rock room, but it certainly was not worth the effort. Oh well, at least we got in a good walk, just not as enjoyable as we had hoped.

The Coke Ovens.

After the hike, we did the rest of the 25 mile drive over the mesa. Nice views at many turn-outs, but overall not very exciting. We had thought we might stay at the very nice campground here in the park, but knowing the light was not going to get any better tomorrow or the next day, we’ve decided to leave Colorado and head to Moab in Utah. We plan to camp along the Colorado River at a couple of places, and do some of the hikes we know are there and should be nice with the changing Cottonwood trees and red rock cliffs.

Part of the reason we stayed here so long was to watch the first of the divisional playoffs between the Giants and Cardinals. We have to have network television for these games and the only way to do that is over the air TV. Satellite won’t work for this when we are out of the Bay Area. Unfortunately the game didn’t go our way. It was a good game, but disappointing. Hopefully we will get the local stations at our next camp, but if not we may just stay in Moab for a day or two.

So we say good-by to Colorado for this trip. It’s been everything we hoped it would be and I’m sorry to have to move on.

Grand Mesa – Squeezing Out the Last of the Color

We kept driving along, but it was clear the best color was right at the start of our drive. We won’t be staying longer in this area, and in fact, this probably marks the end of our fall color excursions. Our trip is not over however. We’ve decided to spend a few days at The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Only this trip we will be on the north rim. We’ve never visited the north side, and while I don’t think there will be huge differences, it will be a new look.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison
October 9

We arrived yesterday, Monday the 9th. This side of the canyon is by far the less traveled side. There is a nice little 12 site campground perched near the edge of the canyon and most well suited for the LD, though large juniper and pine trees throughout present a bit of a challenge for solar exposure. But the place is nearly empty. There were only 4 sites occupied by rock climbers when we arrived on Monday, and by morning all but one were available. Late in the afternoon, we took a short walk to the Chasm overlook that leave right from the campground. It is really an amazing view from this point. You can see the visitor center over on the other side of the canyon – it is really only about 1000′ away as the crow flies, but several hours of driving to go by car. At it’s deepest, the canyon is 2,400′ deep – and it is like straight down. The shear drop always gives me a screwy feeling in my stomach, but I am compelled to step to the edge and look over.

Dawn at the Chasm

Tuesday morning, we woke before dawn and again took the short walk to Chasm overlook to watch the sunrise. Again I had to sort of sidestep my way close to the edge. Even with the guardrail there I have to do it slowly, then grip the guardrail to feel secure. I’m gripping my camera and lenses in a effort not to drop them and trying to make a photograph. It is a breathtaking view, but photographing sunrise here is difficult because of the harsh difference in light between the top and bottom of the canyon. Still, it’s great to experience this place with no one around.

Later in the day we took a hike out to Exclamation Point. It’s a 3.5 mile roundtrip hike to the point on the North Vista Trail, and we could have added another 3 miles onto this hike by continuing on the trail up 840′ to Green Mountain. A bit too strenuous for us and we planned another hike tomorrow. But the hike out to the point was quite pleasant with a number of nice overlooks. Being out of hiking shape, this was plenty for us. We we got back, it was Cuba Libre’s and chips and the Giants in the playoffs.
Wednesday morning we were off on our other hike. This one to Deadhorse Point. All of these hikes are along the rim and so not all that difficult. This one wasn’t all the great. Most of the way is in high chaparral and we had to take a 1 mile side trail to actually get to a couple of overlooks – but it was worth it for different looks at the canyon walls. The endpoint was a big disappointment. The trail just ends at a certain point at the edge of the canyon. There is a view, but not as compelling as those of the other closer overlooks. But it was a good hike for hiking purposes.

We again got back to camp in time to watch the Giants pull out an unlikely victory over Cincy in their typical heart attach fasion. It is sometimes really nice to have the satellite receiver with us for situations like this. Watching Giants baseball in the middle of nowhere is quite nice. Our neighbors must wonder what the screams coming out of our RV are all about.

Kneeling Camel Rock

Thursday morning it was up and out of Black Canyon. We got to Grand Junction in time to watch the Giants finish off Cincy to clinch the Western Division. Sunday starts the series for the National League Championship. Then, hopefully, the World Series after that. While in town, we have a few maintenance items to take care of and want to spend some time in the Colorado National Monument. Rain is supposed to move through the area sometime tomorrow, but I’m not sure how much or how long yet. We will probably be back in Utah by mid-week next week for the last of our trip.

McClure Pass Area

Blustery days around McClure Pass.

October 3-5
For the past 3 days we’ve been camping in McClure Campground, a little known forest service campground near McClure Pass, off highway 133. It is set in a wonderful aspen grove that is at peak and only a few campers are here. Most of the 12 sites are big enough to hold us plus our Rav, but only a few are open enough to allow good sun exposure  to keep us powered up. Because of daily intermittent cloud cover, we’ve been running the generator for an hour in the evening just to be sure we have enough power for The Daily Show and whatnot. No internet or cell service here either.
Before leaving Carbondale, we stopped for propane and groceries. Turning off the highway to City Market, I noticed something very strange going one with the Rav we tow. There were odd sounds coming from behind the RV and looking into my rear view mirror, I could see the Rav was not tracking as it should. I immediately pulled over to the curb and as I did, I could see the Rav bump up onto the curb. Not good.

Getting out and inspecting the tow hitch, it was clear one arm had disengaged from the car. The pin that keeps the arm connected to the car was missing and the noise I heard was it swinging around. It punched a hole in our new bumper and managed to break the metal connector of the electrical tether that powers the lights and lube pump. We had already driven a couple of miles, stopped for gas and propane with no problem, so that told me I lost the pin somewhere between the station and this turn-off – about another 1/2 mile. We walked the road back to the highway and I found the pin in the road right where we turned off – about 50 yards from where I first noticed a problem. It stayed in all the way to this point. No sign of the other locking pin that holds this pin in place. I don’t know if I never put it in place, or if I neglected to lock it down if I did. That is probably the case or the pin would probably have fallen out long before.

In any event, now I had to fix things. There are no RV stores anywhere near us in Carbondale. The closest is in Grand Junction – a long way off. There was an Ace Hardware just across the street. Since I found the connecting pin, all I needed was the locking pin. Ace happened to have one – just one – that fit. I could have gotten by with any number of other kinds of locking pins, but getting this one felt lucky. If I’d lost the connecting pin I would have had a bigger problem.

The electrical cable was another matter. The swinging tow arm had broken the metal housing of the 7 pin connector so that the wires were showing. It looked like all but one wire was still attached OK and I managed to reinsert that one back into the connector. The connector itself is a bit deformed, but still able to fit into the plug. After a lot of duct tape it seems to be holding together well enough to get me to a hitch shop or RV store so I can replace the whole cable. We were very lucky in so many ways. What if it had come detached on the highway? What if the electric cable had been cut completely? It would at best put a real damper on the rest of the trip.

I have purposely created a mental checklist for attaching the Rav. I do all the steps is the same order every time – down to starting on the same side of the car. Well almost every time.  Sometimes by necessity or connivence, I’ll do thing slightly differently. This was one of those times. The water pressure at the RV park was low and flushing the tanks was taking a long time. I do the dumping and Mary is in the bathroom with a hose filling the black tank after emptying so we can get a better flush. I decided to hitch the car while Mary filled the tank. This caused me to start and stop a couple of times and broke my routine. So, DON’T DO THAT!

Looking over the north side from McClure Pass.

After calming down a bit, we moved on.

Each day we’ve set out on a different road excursion. Really not getting much hiking in, but it’s the nature of the beast this time around. Much of the area is past peak color, but many spots of intense color still remain – we just have to get to them. On Wednesday, after we arrived, we spent time going up and down 133 photographing from the highway. Loads of great views and changing light gave us many nice shots. In this area, it was just past peak and color was great.

We also took a dirt spur road called Ragged Mountain Road, that traveled through ranch land dotted with cottonwood, birch and aspen. It was mostly flat, but eventually the road becomes Buzzard Ditch Road (I love these road names) and does rise into the Grand Mesa area – out next area of exploration. Based on what I see around here, I don’t expect much color left up there, but it will be a “first Look” for future trips. There were some terrific view from along this road.

Thursday was a little cloudy in the morning and we got up a little later. We headed down the north side of 133 today. More terrific views of the mountains and trees around us. We retraced our route a bit back to the historic coal town of Redstone. We noticed a long row of coke ovens as we originally drove by and wanted to check them out a little more closely. Much of this part of 133 moves along the Crystal River and has a lot of nice scenic spots. The town itself was kind of nice – not as cutesy as some and the General Store had fresh pastry and let up fill our thermos with fresh coffee.

Properly refueled, we drove up to the town of Marble. Guess what they do. This is a really small actual working town. There is tourist trade here, but the marble quarry up high in the mountains is still producing as evidenced by the hugh blocks coming down the hill and the many blocks of white marble all over the place. We stopped here and there photographing the lakes and trees and such.

Coke ovens at Redstone

We then headed up the mountain toward the quarry. A narrow dirt road took us high above the town where we had great views of Mt. Sopris and the valley before it. After returning to camp, I set out again for a late afternoon visit to an Aspen grove I’d seen earlier. While out I found another dirt road I thought would make a nice hike for Friday.

On our way back to camp, we stopped to photograph Aspen leaves blowing across the road. It gave the effect of snowflakes, but yellow. What did mom say about yellow snow? Oh well, this is different anyway.
I took off again a little later to photograph in a grove of Aspen near our camp. I saw it as we pass by and though it would be a nice place for some Aspen trunk shots. This spot, and one across the road proved to be pretty nice to work in.



Friday we woke to a decidedly cooler morning. Quite windy with fast moving clouds overhead. We set out on a rare hike up the forest service road I’d seen yesterday. It started out quite nice with views of the northern valley, but soon rounded a bend and just became an OK hike. It was steady uphill, but easy to walk and it did have some nice views of the changing forest. After a few miles, we stopped for lunch, then headed back and were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to camp.

All in all, it’s been a really nice 3 days out. We are now in Hotchkiss to resupply, then it’s up to Grand Mesa to see what condition the landscape is in up there.

Maroon Bells

Maroon Bells

On Sunday we moved our camp in the mountains to the town of Carbondale. I needed an internet connection so I could apply for the Photolucida portfolio reviews in Portland in April. There is only a 48 hour window in which to apply so we had to move to where I could get online. We also needed to do laundry and shop. Carbondale wasn’t our first choice, but it is the closest we could get to Aspen for camping. There are almost no RV parks in this entire area, and most all Forrest Service campgrounds are closed for the year. We stopped in at an forrest service information center to ask about dispersed camping and were told that very little exists and what is available is usually at the end of 30 miles of dirt road.
We wanted to visit the Maroon Bells Wilderness Area for a day. It is located just outside Aspen and is the location of one of Americas iconic landscapes. If ever you are nearby, you should see this place. In fall it is a zoo of course, but that’s just the way it is. Photographers flock to this place to get their version of the mountains and aspens reflecting in the lake. So much needs to come together to get the ideal shot and only the very lucky or determined get it.

I’m not that interested in the perfect shot here. It already exists, Just google Maroon Bells to see. But I’ve only been here once before back in the 80′s, and it was a cold rainy day. So I felt it was time to see it again. The trees are well past peak here, but there is still considerable color. The weather is terrific still so why not check out the area?
We arrived in late morning. This is actually a good time to be here for photographs. If too early, deep shadows weight down the left side of the picture, if too late, harsh light can wash it out. We took out time driving up the road. The first thing we discovered was that there are actually 4 campgrounds here. One was closed and the others are really not suited for an RV of our size. In fact, only one was designated for RV’s. It only had a couple of sites I’d consider useable and they were occupied.
There was some nice color on the way up to the lake, but few pullouts. Even without color the bare trees were interesting to photograph and we stopped where we could for a few images. At the lake itself there is a large parking lot. It was nearly full – kind of surprising given the past peak condition of the trees. But this is an American Icon site, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. We did a short walk out to the lake, got our shots, and walked the trail a bit for some exercise. We might have stayed longer, but we really weren’t prepared or inclined to do a longer hike today. We had thought to return here another day, but the condition of the trees and inconvenience of getting here from Carbondale changed our minds.

Ashcroft

Instead, we decided on another drive up a backroad (Castle Creek Rd.102) to an old mining townsite called Ashcroft. This was another nice drive, but we really didn’t see much we hadn’t seen before in terms of foliage. The townsite was kind of interesting. Really just a handful of buildings remain in various states of repair, but it is interesting to read how people lived and worked in these places. It was a hard life.




We are headed back into the mountains today, so will be out of contact again for a while. We found a very nice forrest service campground on highway 133 at McClure Pass that is still open. It is right in an aspen grove that is a peak color. It only has around 8 sites, but when we came through on Sunday, there were several still open. No cell reception there which is why we didn’t stop originally. The whole pass area is just a little past peak, so we want to hit it now. It is supposed to get very cold in the next day or so, and the trees will not be holding their leaves for much longer. We haven’t decided what we will do after this week. We still have around 3 weeks left in our current trip. The time is speeding by. Being so busy has made the trip seem short.

Kebler Pass, part deux

September 30

Different day, different light.

As planned, we were out the door by 7 AM and on our way up to the pass. The low morning light gave a really nice look to the aspen forests we saw on Friday. We actually stopped in the very same places we stopped at before, but the different light gave a different feel.

I spent more time looking into the groves and focusing on the trunks alone. Lots of different looks to evaluate and explore. It’s really hard to believe that a particular landscape can look so different on different days, but it is true. I could probably drive this same road everyday for 2 weeks and come up with unique images. It’s challenging and frustrating – but always fun.



We stopped for lunch at the same beaver ponds we left off at on Friday. Our scheme to get out early worked out perfectly. There was very little traffic early and not until we got in 14 miles down the road did we really start seeing lots more cars.

Beaver pond day 2.

Tomorrow we head out to the Maroon Bells near Aspen.

Kebler Pass

September 28
Todays is my birthday and we are spending it pretty much offline and out of touch. Not a bad way to spend the day.
We said goodbye to Montrose today and headed out for the Kebler Pass area which is about 60 north of here. We started out on 50, then turned off on 92 in Delta through Hotchkiss, then onto 133 until we reached Country Road 12. We found a nice little Forrest Service Campground called Erickson Springs about 6 miles in on the dirt road. There are about 18 sites here, most all suitable for a class C. At least half were open enough to allow sun most of the day. All services are now off, but the good news is that it is free to camp. There is a pleasant stream that flows nearby and a nice trail we can hike. The downside to this camp are twofold: First, there is a large mountain that butts up against the campground on the east side. This means no sun till 11 AM this time of year. Once it gets over the hill, we have sun the rest of the day. Two, no internet or phone signal. But this is true in all the mountain areas around here till you get close to one of the larger towns. But the real draw is the Kebler Pass area anyway. This is supposed to be the largest aspen forrest in the world and we’ve heard it is near peak right now.

Aspen everywhere.

So we arrived at Erickson Springs around 1:30, got ourselves situated and hung out for a while. Around 3 PM we headed out for our afternoon aspen hunt. We were not disappointed. After rising up around 1000′ from the campground, we rounded a bend and were confronted with aspen as far as the eye could see in all states of color. It was simply amazing. CR12 winds for around 20 miles through this colorful landscape. What makes this road so different is that it is easy to stop and photograph. The trees are all very accessible and easy to see into, and there are many pull-outs to stop in. The road itself is quite wide also, so just pulling over is easy enough. This creates so many opportunities to make images. Leaving late as we did, the sun was lower and as it streamed through the trees, it created ever changing combinations of light and shadow. Come around another bend to another incredible view.

Hill alive with aspen.

From the side we started on, the road was not  heavily traveled, but as we got further in, more and more cars were evident – coming over from Ohio Pass Rd. and Crested Butte. Less than ideal yes, but most everyone was there for the same thing so people were not driving fast or being discourteous. Plenty of places to turn out and lots of periods of quiet where no cars came by. We got in about 14 miles, stopping so often I lost count. By now it was past 5 and we began loosing the light. We decided to turn back and pick it up where we left off another day.

Beaver pond reflections.

I’m really glad we did this on a Friday afternoon. I’m sure Saturday and Sunday will be crazy with cars and people. It goes with the territory though. If you want to see these places, you simply have to accept it. Once the leaves fall, we will have everyplace to ourselves, so I can put up with this for a while longer. It’s actually kind of fun in some ways – sharing an experience that everyone is enjoying so much. I’m not sure if we will attempt it again on Sunday. We may just wait till Monday and goof off Saturday and Sunday.

September 29

Dark Canyon and Anthracite Creek.

Saturday we decided to go for a hike partially up the 17 mile Dark Canyon trail and stay away from the Kebler Pass area. We had a leisurely morning before heading out. The hike starts off with a fairly level 4 mile path along Anthracite Creek before heading up a series of switchbacks called The Staircase. We only planned on going to the start of The Staircase at most. We have not hiked much on this trip and are not in the best of walking condition, so a shortish hike was all we were up for.

The trail was very nice but because of the recent rains, there were quite a few muddy spots. Not really very hard to negotiate, but we had to keep an eye on the trail. This is also apparently a horse trail, but it didn’t look like horses had been on it for quite some time. Save one. It left a few presents for us, but overall was not bad.

Fall color reflects in the creek.

We plan on driving to Kebler Pass again on Sunday. I’m sure there will be much more traffic than on Friday, but we plan a dawn take-off time so we should be mostly through by early afternoon and shouldn’t have much trouble with crowds.

The Road Between Ouray and Silverton

We have been in an internet and phone blackhole for the past 4 days, so I have a bit of catching up to do.
September 26

Guarding the entrance to our campground

We moved down to the town of Montrose today. It is about 40 miles south of Cimarron where we were staying for a couple of days. We found an RV Park on the south end of town which would serve as our base for the next couple of days while we explore the roads to, and around Ouray and Silverton. We haven’t been here during fall for many years, but I remembered how dramatic the aspen were on the sheer cliffs between the two towns. Our arrival day was pretty dreary. Heavy cloud cover gave way to a steady rain that lasted all day. We had a forced “down day” which allowed use to catch up on blogging and shopping etc. We took a little stroll around the RV Park – the grounds here are actually pretty nice. The park backed up next to a river and there were several large ponds with wildlife. A resident owl greeted us and later, a small flock of sheep from a nearby farm munched their way through the campground.

On the way to Ouray

September 27
In the morning, we set out on another road trip. Highway 550 to Ouray from Montrose travels through a largely rural landscape which is nice, but not particularly photographic to us. We were happy though, to see lots of new anti-deer fencing going up along the way. As you approach the town, you begin to wonder how a road could possibly go through there. It seems to be blocked in by the looming mountains all around. But a road there is. We stopped briefly to get some road info from the visitor center, then headed up the hill.

The town of Ouray laid out before us.

Can’t remember seeing the waterfall ever before.

Of course we stopped many times along the way. There seemed to be a newly constructed turnout and viewpoint about halfway up. A walkway had been added that allowed us to actually walk out over the cliff to a point where we could observe a pretty amazing waterfall that, for the life of me, I could not ever remember seeing before. It really isn’t visible from the road until you actually drive over the bridge that crosses it, and then it’s just a brief flash of water – until you get out of the car. Other stops were for canyon shots, waterway shots, more aspen shots and a few mountain view shots. All spectacular – to us anyway.

Toward the top the aspen were getting pretty much past peak, but I found plenty to play with. I am finding I really like the sparse areas where just a few aspen are still in color. I really like the bare trunks and lacy looking entanglements their branches create. The partly cloudy skies over the mountains were also creating nice highlights in ever changing ways.

Some areas resembled fire in the tree tops.

We spent so much time just getting to Silverton that it was nearly 2 PM by the time we stopped for lunch at the Brown Bear Cafe. They had a really nice Octoberfest beer from the Silverton Brewery that even Mary approved of. The burger and fries we both had were really good as well. I’m not sure what the alcohol content was of that beer, but by half pint I was already feeling it. Probably the altitude had something to do with it as well.

Dropping down into Silverton.

After lunch we walked around town a bit before heading back. The town has really lost a lot of it’s appeal for me. Back in 1983 when we first visited, it really was nearly a ghost town. A few people lived there, a few businesses survived, but the town was largely a bunch of abandoned buildings. Much more appealing to me then. Today there are a couple of RV Parks and most buildings are occupied. There is even a newer housing development. I didn’t even take out my camera and Mary took just a couple of shots. The only paved road is Main St. The rest remain hard-pack dirt. Some things have not changed. The old library (which is still an operating library) and state building are worth seeing still.
Heading back over the mountain, we were both pretty tired, but I wanted to stop at a spot we stopped at on the way up. Cloud cover had come over while I was setting up and turned my hoped for composition dull, so I wanted to try on the way back.

Rainbow down in the valley.

It was actually raining when we got back to the spot, but I decided to wait a while to see if it would lighten up. The rain was getting lighter as we came down from the summit and I thought it a good chance a break would occur long enough to get my shot. I got out and set up while a few drops continued. Mary called out that I should look off to my right, and when I did, I saw a really nice rainbow had formed a little further down the canyon. It was quite intense and soon there were a half dozen cars pulled to the side, but we had the best location. It just goes to show how being willing to wait for a shot can turn into something wonderful.

We pretty much headed back to camp afterwards. We took a short country road detour we had heard about and while it was nice, the cloud cover had obscured the view of the mountains and kind of spoiled it. But we were done for the day anyway.

 

Cimarron Road

Tuesday, September 25
We had hoped for a sunny morning, but it wasn’t to be. It was pretty cloudy, but looked like it could break up. Still a little worried about rain on the dirt road at high elevation, we had a “discussion” about what to do and where to go. After talking with the RV park owner who knew the roads well, we were convinced that Cimarron Road would be fine as long as there was no snow on the ground at Silver Jack Reservoir. There was snow at the highest elevations from the night before, but nothing at the 10,000′ level. The Rav with it’s “all wheel drive” does well on dirt and a little mud, but I never like pushing it too far. No compound low and wheel clearance, while better than most cars, still does not meet real off-road standards.

As it turned out, we had no problems. Aspens all the way up the mountain were in peak or near peak color. I am really not sure at this point how well we did conveying the expansive beauty we saw, but we shot plenty. I’m so glad photography is digital these days. I would be a very poor person with all the money on film I would have spent.

Silver Jack Reservoir.

Arriving at Silver Jack, it was clear how little rainfall Colorado has gotten. The reservoir was very low, but the road was spectacular with wide views and amazing vistas around every turn. We traveled through dense aspen forests, and moved through areas just below massive cliffs. The changing light and cloud cover continued to add interest.

The road began to get steeper and windier as we approached the summit. The last 1000′ or so was in the clouds and it began raining, then sleeting. The views disappeared as the trees kind of closed us in. Nothing to do but drive over and begin the ride down. Once down about 500′, the rain let up and the skies brightened again. It was still pretty closed in, but occasionally there was a break which exposed amazing views of the countryside.

As we worked our way down, we came to a viewpoint where I could see a clearing down below. In it were 2 Lazy Dazes and a third rig obviously boon docking. We stopped in but nobody was home. On the fake windows of one was written Skylark. Now where have I heard that name before? I couldn’t place it, but I remembered it had to do with the Life With Lazy Daze Yahoo group. I left a business card in the door and we headed back through Montrose and back to camp. It was just after we started off again that I remembered who belonged to Skylark. It is Andy Baird, the moderator of our group. I’ve been wanting to add him to my Nomads project and was hoping to run into him somewhere along the way. I’ve emailed him and hoping he is agreeable to a meet up.

Our next little trip on Thursday will take us to Ouray and Silverton.

Leaving Gunnison

Monday, September 24

Last day in the campground at Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Our plan was to drive the 60 miles or so to Montrose and from there explore the Ourey and Silverton areas for fall foliage. There were some rain showers during the night and in the morning quite a bit of cloud cover remained. It looked like more showers were on the way even though that wasn’t supposed to happen till the evening . We packed up and were out on the road by mid-morning. With the cloud cover over the water, the rest of the Blue Mesa reservoir was pretty interesting, but as the road began to rise, it got even better.
I saw numerous places I’d like to stop, but once again there was little room in most turnouts to do so in the LD. As highway 50 dropped down into a canyon it got still better and we began to think maybe we should hang around the area a little longer. Mary began checking the camp books and found a small, family run RV park called Black Canyon. It is situated about 20 miles from Montrose in a lovely valley with amazing views all around. Being too close to the highway means it’s a little noisy during the day, but at $25 a night, not a bad spot for a couple of days. Virtually no cellphone coverage here, even with the booster, and their WiFi is not good, but we expected to be pretty busy so it really didn’t matter.

Birch trees along Cimarron Rd.

Clouds begin to pile up along Cimarron Rd.

With the interesting lighting because of the cloud cover, we chose Cimarron Road to drive first. This is a 27 mile hard pack dirt road that rises around 3000′ to Silver Jack Reservoir and Owl Pass. The road becomes Owl Pass Road from the pass and drops down 3000′ back to the main highways. After getting situated, we started off, but as we began to drive up the mountain, it was clear stormy weather was on the way. We stopped for lunch at a pullout and watched as the thunder and lightning came our way.

Back on Highway 50.

It looked pretty thick up where we were headed, so we decided to turn back and retrace our highway 50 route since it was on paved road and not dirt. We went straight to the Blue Mesa reservoir overlook before turning back and stopping at every spot we saw originally. This was pretty great except for the large trucks that came roaring by making it a less than enjoyable experience. When we got back into the little canyon, we found another dirt road that seemed to go up into the hills. It was called Alpine Plateau Road and promised to be a better choice to photograph from than 50.

Alpine Plateau Road.

And it certainly was. It gently meandered up into some terrific rolling hillsides covered with aspen in various stages of color. Lots of summer homes and ranches up here. Very quiet with wide expansive views in many places. While the cloud cover was increasing, the main body of the rain and thundershowers seemed to bypass the area and we had a very enjoyable ride and shoot kind of afternoon. We decided to leave Cimarron Road for tomorrow.

Ranch houses along Alpine Plateau Rd.

After coming back to highway 50 and heading back to camp, we came upon this evening scene. A nice way to finish the day.

Gunnison Area

The Shores of Blue Mesa Reservoir

For the past 4 days we’ve been camping a little west of the town of Gunnison. Thanks to our LD friends Jim & Gayle for writing about the Stevens Creek Campground next to the Blue Mesa reservoir in the Curecanti Recreation Area. The reservoir is actually quite low – down to 60% of capacity – but the receding water created a really nice scene where grasses sprouted along the edge. We mostly had the place to ourselves after the first day. It has a commanding view of the entire area and is very open, so getting a full charge on the solar panels is easy. It’s also very quiet here – a great base of operation.

The Shores of Blue Mesa Reservoir

The ride over Monarch Pass on the way here really got us motivated for fall color photography. In many places it was simply spectacular. It killed me not to be able to stop right then and there at any number of pullouts, but driving the LD and towing made it a difficult proposition. It is pretty steep in places and we chugged up at around 40-45 mph. Going that speed did allow us to look around a lot and I decided I would return in the next few days to photograph what I missed. Once over the top, there were far fewer patches of gold aspen, but still a beautiful view everywhere we looked. We resupplied in Gunnison and got set up at Stevens Creek.

On Friday the 21st, we set off on our first drive into the mountains in the area. Crested Butte was our first choice as we had heard the color was at or near peak. We were up and out by 9 AM and headed back into town planning on going north out of Gunnison on Ohio Creek Road (CR 730). Driving along Highway 50 as we got near Gunnison, I noticed a motorhome coming the other way flashing it’s lights at me. Normally other Lazy Daze owners will do this to say Hi. Otherwise, it’s a warning of something. The RV wasn’t another LD so I started looking around as to what the warning was. Yes, another deer in the middle of my lane. A big one, probably twice the size of the last one that hit us and probably only about 20 yards away. It blended perfectly with the surrounding brush. I hit the breaks hard and swerved. I don’t remember hearing a screeching sound so I assume my anti-lock breaks did what they were designed to do, and unbelievably this deer did the unexpected – it moved out of the way. Way too close. These surprises are getting pretty old. On the way home later that day, we say another large deer dead on the side of the road at right about the same spot we encountered ours. It may have been the same one actually.

The aspen began appearing soon after we gained a bit of altitude and we stopped often for pictures. Doing this kind of subject matter is far harder than it seems. The trees all look great when standing at the side of the road, but it is a real challenge to get interesting compositions. I look for pattern in the foliage, odd shapes in tree trunks and combinations of both. Finding the right open spot in order to isolate sections was difficult on this road. Many of the views were outstanding, but difficult to compose, but it is great fun trying.

Crested Butte.

We eventually ended up in the town of Crested Butte. Mary tends to like these trendy little mountain towns, but I find them a bit boring. This one is pretty upscale. One clue was the $17 burger, another were the many weird gourmet dishes like beef cheeks with asparagus foam and such. We kicked around town a bit before moving on. We followed a couple of other mountain roads through Mt. Crested Butte and Gothic looking for more color, but didn’t find much to photograph. Still very nice scenery, but not “blow you away” type stuff. It was a long drive home since Mary took over and would not drive over 45 mph even in the 60 mph areas – too deer freaked.

On Saturday we caught up on laundry, washed the car and did more food shopping. We figured the roads would be full of leaf peepers today so decided to stick close to home. We did hike in the morning at the Neversink area of Curecanti. Not a very long hike, but it got us out a little. Part of the Gunnison River flows along the trail, and though very low, we had a pleasant time photographing trees and reflections all along it.

Later we drove up a road we saw a whole caravan of cars drive up the day before. It seemed like maybe it was a photo group going somewhere off the beaten track, so worth an investigation. It was Mill Creek Road and it turned out to be quite nice, if not a bit rough. It is more of a 4-wheel drive track, but we just did a portion that was pretty drivable. We came across some nice groves, people out picking colorful brush, hikers, bikers and hunters. Seemed like a real slice of Colorado life. In the evening, because I brought along the satellite receiver, we watched the Giants clinch the western division. More playoffs to look forward to.

Sunday, I decided I had to go back to Monarch Pass. If we would have encountered amazing scenes of color in the mountains around us, I probably would not have wanted to. It’s a 50 mile drive back there and I wasn’t at all sure it would still be as great – which it turned out not to be. Once again, still very nice, but the trees had dropped enough leaves so that it had just lost that extra edge. I still did stop many times and got some nice images, but the quest continues for outstanding scenes. Weather is supposed to cloud up with a chance of thunderstorms in the next few days, and in fact we got a little rain just last night (Sunday). We are headed south a bit today (Monday) to Montrose. We read some good write-ups of some drives there. More to come.

Past peak but still very nice on Monarch Pass.

Zapata Falls

After walking the dunes twice in one day, I needed a little break from slogging through sand. We hung around the campsite all morning, then in early afternoon took a little ride up to Zapata Falls, located outside the park about 10 miles. In all the years we’ve come here, we never investigated this place. I guess I just always thought it would be at the end of a 30 mile bad road and not be very interesting. Turns out, it’s kind of a cool place.

In reality, it is only about a 1/2 mile hike after a 2 mile drive over a pretty good dirt road. There is also a BLM campground up there with pit toilets but no water. Quite a few level sites and many with great views of the entire valley. It wouldn’t be a bad place to camp if the Dunes campground was full or the private campground just outside the park was not to ones liking.

Entrance to Zapata Falls near Great Sand Dunes, CO

So Zapata Falls is actually located in a chasm hidden from view unless you walk up to it through the ice cold stream it creates. In summer it’s a pretty cool waterfall. In winter it freezes and, they tell me, is really cool. Most guidebooks I’ve read say to not bother with your camera – it will get wet, but I just had to make a picture.
I rolled up my pants but kept my boots on. The water is not deep this time of year, just too cold to be in it for long. There is a cable attached to the cliff on one side to help steady oneself, and plenty of rocks to balance on to get up to the falls if you are careful. I used my extended tripod leg as a hiking pole to further steady me and eventually got to the face of the falls. A wind the rushing water created as it spilled over the cliff also caused a steady blowing mist which coated my camera immediately. I set my camera and tripod up, took a light reading and made a quick exposure. I wiped off the lens, and repeated. I managed one good shot, then bailed.

A little downstream

Outside the chasm, the stream made for some nice water shots. After the short hike back to the car and the ride back to camp we took it easy the rest of the day. An interesting trek, but now I want to see it frozen.

Another Day, Another Dune
September 18
I was ready to hike the dunes again after taking it easy yesterday. The mild storm had passed and the weather was warming up again. Yesterday was nice, but still a bit of a cool wind – which probably meant windy up on the dunes. Better to wait a day anyway. This morning dawned calm. I was up at 6 AM again and out the door quickly (Mary stayed in bed again). I chose my route more carefully this time and made it up and over to the smooth, untouched areas of the dunes in a much easier fashion than the previous try. It is so different when it is calm. The quiet stillness, the long uninterrupted views really is inspiring.

Approaching Dawn on the Dunes

Early morning moisture gives many of the dunes a two-tone appearance and creates odd patterns in the sand. Soon after the sun rises, they dry up. I stopped and photographed often and the sun came up, it created even more interesting patterns of light and dark. Being on the less traveled side of the dunes was pure photographic joy. While there was still some amount of footprints, the dunes were largely smooth and I really enjoyed the whole morning. This was a perfect morning on the sand. After a while, I just stopped and enjoyed the views before heading back.

Later in the day we took a stab at the 4-wheel drive Medano Pass Primitive Road. It skirts along Medano Creek, a seasonal waterway that has always had at least some water running when we were here. In spring it runs all the way around the dunes, sometimes disappearing before reemerging further down. There are always interesting photographic opportunities with the sand and water and leaves.

Wind on grass creates patterns in the sand.

This year it was completely dry. We only drove a little way over the road. It was really not too bad. Early on, as the road follows along the stream bed, it is quite sandy, but not undoable in the Rav. There really was just not much point since the creek was dry. We stopped at one of the picnic sites, got out and explored a little before heading back to camp. We enjoyed a wonderfully warm evening and will be moving on to the Gunnision area in the morning (Today).

Great Sand Dunes

September 18

The past 2 days here in Great Sand Dunes have been great. We have been living right in terms of weather. Every place we’ve been, we’ve had a minor storm come through while we’ve been there. Here at the dunes we arrived on Sunday to a picture perfect sunny warm day. Perfect for hanging out, sipping a little whiskey and generally relaxing. Monday I got up at dawn to climb the dunes and photograph in the morning light. The weather front was supposed to arrive in the evening and hang around during Tuesday, so I wanted a chance to photograph a nice sunny morning before weather had a chance to change things. I got up at six (Mary chose to stay in bed) and was out on the dunes by 6:15.
As usual, it was a lung busting climb up the dunes. The cold air I was breathing in burned, and I struggled at this higher altitude. I didn’t chose my path well and ended up never reaching the high point I planned on. At sunrise, the wind started up and got progressively stronger as the minutes passed. High clouds also masked first light.

The wind is one thing, the fact I couldn’t get over the top before dawn is another. The big problem is that there are so many footprints on the campground side of the dunes that making any kind of interesting image free of marks is impossible. Everywhere I looked, footprints spoiled the view. It’s still spectacular of course, but making photographs is what is most important to me and combined with the wind, which was now pelting me and my camera, meant the morning trek was a failure. I turned back.

Back in the campsite, Mary had the coffee ready so we just hung out most of the rest of the day. But the forecast weather began coming in by mid morning and really changed the character of the day. First it was just high clouds. We went down to the visitor center to check things out. There is a really great view of the dunes from there and as I watched, the light got more and more interesting. We decided we had to take advantage of this development, so back to camp for the cameras and then off to the dunes we went again.

The clouds causes a “God Rays” effect as we started out but soon got more dense. We began our climb up and soon started feeling a few drops of rain. At best they were just light showers – mostly virga in fact, but it looked like it could get worse. We continued the climb and passed a ranger coming down the dune who said he intended to hike to the top, but turned around because of the rain. I’m thinking what rain? Still just a few drops, but there was the potential for more. We were about half way up the 700′ dune when we heard the first clap of thunder. Uh oh. Everyone knows to get off the dunes when lightning is present, but for me, it takes more that one clap to turn me around. Then the second clap sounded. OK, now that got my attention. Watching where it was coming from, it seemed like it was just one small thunderhead moving away from us. It was in fact on the other side of the mountain.

Mary in the dunes.

Clearing Storm

We kept going, but I was ready to bolt if it got any worse. Several other couples ahead of us headed back down. Then the third clap, this time more distant. I’m pretty sure now we were safe and felt good about continuing. I know lightning can travel many miles to find you if it is so inclined, but I liked our odds. There was no more thunder after that and the cloud continued to move off. I could see the sky clearing out beyond the dunes to our west and was now sure we were in for an amazing sunset. I was right.

The storm moves off.

We continued to get little rain showers – and I mean just a few drops. The light changed constantly and got ever lower. First sunny, now cloudy, it just got better and better. We reach a high point and could now photograph the mostly smooth clean dunes. We walked along the spines of several dunes as we made our way along. Spying more dark clouds behind us, I though it best to head back. Probably nothing to worry about, but we got what we wanted out of the afternoon, so we started down.

More great light on the way down so many more stops. Upon reaching the parking lot, a partial rainbow and light shower greeted us. We were both pretty tired by now and headed back to camp for a nice dinner and another terrific sunset. We are a lucky couple.

Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods

September 13 – 16

Pikes Peak from 12 miles away.

We headed off from Rocky Mountain Park this morning aiming for Colorado Springs for a couple of days before a longer stay at Great Sand Dunes. Really, we are just biding our time for peak aspen color in the Gunnison area. We avoided I-25 and opted for a slower drive through the mountains. Listening to the news at home before the trip made it sound like all of western Colorado was burning, but traveling through very little evidence is seen. Our drive today was very nice. Plenty of changing aspen at the highest elevations, say 8500′ and above. Lower they are still only just beginning to show color. Another week should put us in a great position to see the hight of fall color. It should be fun.

We stayed at the Golden Eagle RV Park south of Colorado Springs. $30 per night, but it is away from the town and highway and very quiet. We needed laundry done and fortunately, because of the rain the past day or so, they had reopened it. The drought here is real. The fishing pond at the RV Park is a mud puddle and everything is bone dry.

The lake from near the top of Pikes Peak.

Some changes were evident since our last visit. The road is now paved all the way to the top. Before it was paved only to about 10,000′. The road was always good, this just made it easier and a little cleaner to get out and in the car for pictures. The only part inexplicably unpaved was the very top parking area and visitor center. Still dirt, er mud and snow. Maybe it just never clears off long enough to pave.

Cog Train in station.

Anyway, we made it to the top and did notice the difference in the ability to breath. Mary was light headed and headachy and in need of food – at least that was her excuse. Lunch was had, not good, but it didn’t make us sick, and we watched from the comfort of the cafe as the cog train arrived and disgorged it’s 40 or so passengers.

At the entrance to Pikes Peak, they warn you to have 1/2 tank of gas for the journey. We arrived with 1/4 and thought it would be plenty. Lets just say it was enough – juuuuuuust barely. My little gas light was lit for the last 5 miles down. But once leveled off, it also went off. I probably had a gallon or so to spare. Plenty right?

Garden of the Gods.

Sunday we visited Garden of the Gods. This is sort of a big community park but quite spectacular with lots of red rock spires jutting out of the forested landscape. We got a later start than I would have liked. I got another print accepted into the member show at Newspace Gallery in Portland, and had to get it assembled and FedExed off. Yes, I brought my prints and framing stuff, mats and shipping box along just in case I was accepted. So that took a while.

But we eventually got there. It was warm and getting warmer and it being Saturday, lots of people. I didn’t mind so much here though. It’s kind of fun seeing who comes out to use their park. Climbers are big here, families, young couples, tourist, all seem to enjoy the place. Saw a couple of other photographers working doing family portraits and weddings and prized locations.

By noon we’d had enough and found a cool spot for lunch. We decided to do a longer drive out to Cripple Creek to check out the scenery. Bad idea. 40 miles in Mary found what she thought would be a shortcut across the mountain back to Colorado Springs. We stopped at a visitor center to confirm the route, then immediately got lost. You’d think we’d have learned our lesson and had a full tank of gas for this – NOT. Then our basic relationship flaw reared it’s ugly head. Mary’s penchant to give up and go back, and my bullheaded need to finish what I start. This created an unenjoyable experience until there was no choice but to return – again with less than 1/4 tank. But until then, it was pretty nice! Lots of great scenery.

It was a very quiet drive back 60 miles home. When upset with each other, we have pretty much learned to not say anything until we cool down. That and a couple of Cuba Libre’s afterwards helped immensely. We decided we each were to blame somewhat and succeeded once again to never go to bed angry with each other.

In the morning, we packed up and headed out for Great Sand Dunes.

 

 

Punting in the Rockies

Wednesday, September 12

Aspens at Bear Lake

We had worked out an extensive and exhaustive 10 mile hike that would take all day and involve more than 1000′ elevation gain. But with the weather forecast calling for 50% chance of rain in the morning and only slightly tailing off during the day, and thunder shower in the afternoon, we decided a change in plans was probably a good idea. Instead, we worked out a much more diminutive hike. Our plan was to start off at the Bear Lake trailhead, pretty much the same starting point as our hike 2 days before. Only this time, instead of heading to the left up to the three lakes, we would go right, and hike around Bear first, then take a branch trail up to Bierstadt Lake, then down to the main road and take the shuttle back to our car in the Bear Lake parking lot.

Reflections in the still lake.

It was a very overcast morning when we awoke. Not raining, and not really looking like it would rain, but you can just never tell – especially in the mountains. We were up and out by 8:30 AM. No need to rush anything today. We just had to be sure to get into the construction area by the 9:00 AM cutoff. Getting to Bear Lake, it was clear way fewer people would be coming in. The threat of rain scared many people off I guess. I figured that even if we did get wet, we’d only be a few miles from the car. The total hike was now about 4.5 miles and we could bail at a couple of different points and return if it was too miserable. We dressed warmly, had our rain gear and set out.

Grasses in the lake

Pika on the rocks.

It was simply an incredible hike. The gray overcast was low over Bear Lake. It would rise and fall over the mirror-like water and present and ever changing scene. There was no wind and it really wasn’t very cold. There were other people strolling on the path. Far fewer than I would have expected and it was easy to ignore them. Around the lake is largely evergreen trees, but there is also a couple of large swaths of aspen in peak color. This was a bonus we didn’t expect. The cool even light, mist over the still water and showy color caused us to spend an easy 90 minutes just in the .5 mile path around the lake. There were reflections, colorful trees, interesting rocks and even a pika. By the time we finally got to the trail junction to Bierstadt, the sky was looking like it would hold it’s water. We headed up the trail.

Aspen grove on the way to Bierstadt Lake.

We had seen the aspen from the heights of the previous days hike. The trail to Bierstadt went right through it. The trail was wide and open and offered many vantage points to shoo the trees. Not a sole ventured past the trailhead. We probably took another hour just in this next .5 mile through the aspen grove. The hike was already a success.

Picasso tree on the trail

Once out of the grove, the trail became more of the rather expected and mundane forest walk. It was still really nice. Quiet, calm, cool and mostly level after the initial uphill trek. After about 2 miles, we arrived at Bierstadt Lake. Up higher here, the lake was shrouded in an ever changing fog and mist. Also dead calm, the lake was surrounded in grasses the sort of melted off into the distance.

Grasses at Bierstdat Lake

We stopped for lunch lakeside and were joined by a couple of Gray Jays. These birds are known for their fearlessness when it comes to begging. They would swoop in close, hop closer and hope for a handout. We resisted for a long time, but finally, they got a little bread. I made them work for it though. First, I would hold it in my fingers and make them take it mid-flight. Then I put it in my palm and one would land on my fingers, grab the bread, then take off. When one grabbed my thumb after the bread, I decided that was enough. No pain, just a little surprised.

Gray Jay at Bierstdat Lake

After lunch, we continued around the lake photographing. The trail down was all long switchbacks, but long gradual one’s. It being a horse trail, it was pretty easy to navigate. No horses have been on it for some time so it was very pleasant. The path down went through an old avalanche that now was populated by aspen in near peak color. The views from this steep hillside were nothing short of spectacular. The only downside was the overcast that still covered all the peaks around us. Bierstadt’s painting of the lake I’m sure included a spectacular mountain sunrise or set, but you would never know it today.

Mary on the trail

We got down to the trailhead and waited around 15 minutes for the next shuttle. Once back at the car, we refueled with coffee and goodies before starting back. Our day was not finished though. Just a couple of miles down the road, we encountered a big group of elk. The big bull was busy in the trees scraping his antlers in the branches or something. He was aggressive with his girls, bulging and huffing and keeping a bead on the several other males hanging around. At one point, I thought he was charging us in our car. He came right at us – and he was the biggest I’ve seen so far – but he veered off  and charged across the road after one of his charges. Mary got a short video of his action that starts off as a vertical then switches to horizontal in the way only Mary can do.

The big guy

Who YOU lookin’ at?

We watched for a while, then headed off for one more stop along riverside to a spot I had seen on our way up. Another cascading river shot was the way we ended our day. Our hike today ranks as one of the all time best. We never got rained on, saw spectacular scenery and wildlife, and only saw one other hiker the whole day. And it still took all day. We got back to camp at 5 PM. Amazing what a little rain and the willingness to brave it will lead to.