Canyonlands

October 22

We have been without internet access for about a week, so I have gotten a bit behind on my posts. This may be the last post before we return home. We are currently in Zion National Park and will be leaving for San Francisco tomorrow. We expect to be home by mid-week or so.

Pothole Point. Canyonlands, UT ©David Gardner

We arrived in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park a bit too late to find an available campground so we ended up at the Canyonlands Outpost, a privately owned campground just outside the park itself. It is actually quite nice here, but it is still outside the place I really want to be. The owners are a quirky couple of middle aged hippy types whom we really enjoy visiting. Fortunately the next morning, we did manage to find a great camp site inside the park. We drove in at 9 am and trolled the grounds until we found a couple packing up. We put out our chairs and returned to the Outpost to retrieve the motorhome. It’s a shame really, that we have to resort to these kinds of shenanigans to get a space. There was a time we could be nearly the only campers in the campground. Over the thirty years or so we have been coming here, the park has grown immensely in popularity. When we first came here, the road was a thirty mile gravel trek, the visitor center was a trailer and the biggest luxury were the pit toilets. Water was gotten from a tanker truck. Today, the road is paved, there is a very nice visitor center and water and flush toilets are available. The campgrounds seem always full and encounters with noisy hikers on the various trails are much more common. My personal enjoyment of this place stems from it’s remoteness and especially it’s quietness. Sound carries miles here so that one group of loud talking people can be heard for long distances. To the park’s credit though, they have managed to keep the expansion of the facilities to a minimum. Mountain bikes are not allowed on any of the trails, except the 4 wheel drive roads, and they have not expanded the campgrounds, which keeps the visitation to a somewhat limited number. It’s the best I can hope for and I am grateful for this at least.

Needles View from Slickrock Trail. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

We timed our arrival just right. The snowstorm we had in Durango the day before, was a heavy rainstorm here in Canyonlands. The Outpost, where we stayed, was partially flooded in fact. It was the largest rainfall in this, another drought year, according to Tracy, one of the owners of the place. The rain served to clean up the air and, we hoped, to thin out the crowd in the park. We ventured out to Pothole Point to investigate the many replenished bowls of water in the sandstone slickrock. Afterwards, we hiked the 2.5 mile slickrock trail in preparation of our planed 11.5 mile hike to Peekaboo springs.

Grasses. Slickrock Trail. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

Sunset. Slickrock Trail. Canyonlands, UT ©David Gardner

There are some very appealing pictographs out at the end of the Peekaboo Springs hike that I really wanted to see again. Our friends, Don and Janet first brought us here in their jeep, but I wanted to return and really focus on the indian art. There are turtle glyphs, strange figures, and handprints in one area, and across the valley nearby, are more handprints, snakes and a few other pictographs of unidentifiable figures or objects. I think this is the allure of rock art to me. It just leaves the mind to conjure up so many possibilities. The images are at least a thousand years old. Some are layered upon others, where one group painted or pecked over an earlier groups markings.

Sandstone knobs. Canyonlands, UT ©David Gardner

Pine Tree. Peekaboo Springs Trail. Canyonlands, UT ©David Gardner

Turtle Pictographs. Peekaboo Springs Trail. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

Large Hand Prints. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

Hand Prints. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

I thought the hike wouldn’t be too strenuous, but I was wrong. The combination of hiking up and over 5 slickrock traverses and 4 canyons, took a toll on both of us. Slickrock is layered sandstone, and gets it name for how slippery it can be when wet or with just a bit of grit on it. It is also very uneven and when walking on it, one’s feet and ankles are almost never flat. This is hard on the knees and feet. There were stretches of soft flat sandy areas to recoup a bit, but overall, it was harder than hoped for. By mile 8 we were both pretty spent. But we had all day. We started at dawn and got back a bit before sunset. We were tired, but happy. A beer and a sitdown was now in order.

Cottonwood Leaves. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

Sandstone Slickrock. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

Oak Leaves. Canyonlands, UT. ©David Gardner

Silverton, Colorado

October 20

Cow Mural, Kampground of America. Alamosa, CO. ©David Gardner

From the Great Dunes, we overnighted in a Kampground of America (KOA) RV Park. I just had to shoot the above image. I love the way the trees in the background become the extension on the painted trees o the mural. The KOA’s are good for usually reliable WiFi and laundry and we try to catch up on email while here.

Town Hall. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

We spent a couple of days in the Durango area. A new storm was coming in and we thought we’d wait to see how it played out before moving on. Durango is a growing mountain town that we first visited in the early 80’s. It was much smaller then. There are many more skiing areas now and lots more housing developments. It has gotten quite busy and less attractive to us. While here, we decided to visit the town of Silverton. When we first visited the area, Silverton was virtually a ghost town. People lived here and there were businesses  – but not many – and the town pretty much closed down in winter. There is a famous narrow gauge train that runs from Durango to Silverton that is huge with the tourists and which we have taken a couple of times. In the fall, when trees are turning color, it is a spectacular 4 hour ride through the outskirts of Durango and up to Silverton several thousand feet higher in the mountains. Since most of the leaves have now dropped, we decided to just drive up to the town.

Narrow Gauge Train. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

This is also a pretty great way to get there and offers the added benefit of being able to stop where we like to photograph or just look around. We get there much quicker as well – this a good thing since the storm was coming in as we got started. By the time we got there, the snow was falling lightly and Silverton, being at the bottom of a mountain bowl surrounded by mountains, was beginning to turn white. We watched several waves of weather come in and the blow out. The snow really wasn’t sticking to the ground at this point, so we were able to move around freely.

Graveyard #1. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

We visited the graveyard just outside and above the town. The graves go back to the early 1800’s and it’s always interesting to walk around to see how the stones are decorated and maintained. Afterwards, we came back into town to warm up and take lunch at a place called “The Pickle Jar”. Their motto, “Get Pickled at the Pickle Jar”. We didn’t, but did have a nice lunch and awesome chocolate cake dessert.

Gravestone. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

Gravestone #2. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

Hillside. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

We then hiked around town and noticed how much the town had also grown. It no longer seems to be a ghost town. Many new homes, full time by the look of them now exist. Most all the really old places have been refurbished and/or cleaned up to the point where the town now seems to have less a unique character. The old city hall and a few other buildings are still there, but the place has much more of a tourist feel to it. But really, more power to them for making a go of the venture in such a difficult location. We photographed here for a while and finished by watching the train leave for the afternoon trip back to Durango. We are headed out to Canyonlands tomorrow for a few days of hiking in our favorite Park.

Silverton Home. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

Shead. Silverton, CO. ©David Gardner

 

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. ©David Gardner

What a difference a couple of days and a few hundred miles can make. We arrived in Great Sand Dunes National Park today, October 15, in southeastern Colorado. As is often the case in sand dune areas, it was windy. It was quite warm though, so it is just a matter of waiting for the winds to calm down in order to walk and photograph the dunes. Indeed, the next morning, we made a predawn trek out to the dunes. It was quite cold, but also very calm and clear. We were able to get into the dunes pretty far. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong dune to climb in order to reach the top and found myself at the top of a dune that left me stranded far short of the high vantage point I initially planned on reaching. But from this vantage point, I was still able to get some really nice abstracts.

Dawn. Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. ©David Gardner

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. ©David Gardner

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO ©David Gardner

In my second attempt on the dunes later this afternoon, I did manage to get to the top of a 700 ft. dune, the second highest dune in the park. The view was quite nice of course, but I was a bit disappointed because I was looking for rim-lit dunes, and from my vantage point, it was difficult to compose. I got a couple, but not what I really wanted. I did a lot of lung busting “wind sucking” for not much pay-off today. Still, I found a couple of other nice compositions.

Rim-lit Dune. Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. ©David Gardner

Evening Dune. Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO ©David Gardner

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO ©David Gardner

After I retuned after dark from the dunes, the wind came up. I mean it really came up. The gusts were rocking the motorhome around and having been there before, I felt sympathy for the tent campers in the campground. Based on how windy it was that evening, I decided to sleep in and not to walk the dunes the next morning. But, surprise, the morning brought calm conditions. A missed opportunity. We went for a hike during the day on a trail to Mosca Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It was a nice hike and a pleasant change from dune walking. I found a nice aspen trunk with some old carving on it. The process of aging of the bark on the tree resulted in the carving taking on a much more organic sort of look. It was almost as if the carving was a naturally occurring formation, blurring the line between man-made and the natural environment.

Tree Carving. Great Sand Dunes, CO. ©David Gardner

It was also nice to see the changing colors of the autumn trees in the canyon.

Cottonwoods. Great Sand Dunes, CO. ©David Gardner

In the morning, we hit the dunes one last time. I was more carful about my path to the top this time and was rewarded with some really nice views.. The early morning cold temps formed frost on some of the dune tops creating some unusual conditions. I also got a few more really nice compositions.

Hoar Frost on Dunes. Great Dunes, CO. ©David Gardner

Great Dunes, CO. ©David Gardner

Great Dunes, CO. ©David Gardner

Great Dunes, CO. ©David Gardner

Getting Out of Town

Wind Barriers, I 25, SD. ©David Gardner

We did manage to get out of Rapid City today (October 14th). I was a bit worried about the cold temperatures which were topping out around 25º. We left around mid-day in hopes of the sun warming the roads enough to melt the black ice that tends to form on wet pavement. The first part of the day was a little dicy, with some icy/slushy roads in the higher elevations, but by the time we hit I 25, the roads were dry and clear.

One of the disadvantages of traveling in the motorhome manifested itself on this part of the road. The last several days of snow had covered many miles of the plains with a few inches of snow and driving down the highway, we wanted to stop in many places to photograph the spectacular countryside. But in the motorhome, this is nearly and impossible thing to do safely. There is a fairly wide shoulder on I 25, and in an emergency I would have no qualms of stopping. In the Rav4 that we tow with us, I would also not have a problem doing this. I could still get well off the road and feel safe. But in the motorhome, I just could just not get off the road enough to feel safe. This meant we could only shoot when I could pull off at periodic exits and/or turnouts. I did manage a few stops and it was well worth it.

Wind Barrier and Fences, SD. ©David Gardner

Side Road, I 25, SD. ©David Gardner

Traveling through a snowy landscape like this was a rather unique experience for us. As native San Franciscans, when we are in snow, it’s usually in the Sierra’s where we drive on either dry or wet roads until we hit the snow. It’s usually not that many miles till we get to our destination. Here in Wyoming, the snowy plains go on for miles and mile and as far as the eye can see. This results  in a landscape we have just never experienced before. I could have photographed along the highway all day if not in the motorhome. The snow really changed the entire feel of the plains. Now, forms that were hidden, are revealed, creating a whole new viewpoint. If not for wanting to get to warmer weather, we would have lingered here longer.

We eventually arrived in Fort Collins Colorado for the night. While here, we made time to visit The Center For Fine Art Photography. I am a member there and I recently got one of my prints accepted into the Art of Nature group show slated for exhibit later this year.

Because of the severe weather the past couple of weeks, we’ve had to change some of our plans. We had to cut out most of our time in the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. Instead, we’ve decided to head south to warmer climes. Our next main stop will be Great Sand Dunes National Park in southeastern Colorado. From there, we plan to pass through Durango CO, on to Canyonlands, perhaps Navajo National Monument, Zion and Coral Pink Sand Dunes Sate Park in Utah.

Rushmore

Mt. Rushmore, SD 2006. David Gardner 2008

October 11

Cold and snow are increasing here in Rapid City, South Dakota, and we are stuck. Daytime temps are in the 20’s with snow expected – lots of it. We had hoped to stay here only a day, but it has turned into four. The roads are very icy and while we might be OK driving, I just don’t want to chance running into problems in these kinds of conditions. The water in the exit pipe of the grey tank has frozen and I cannot dump it until we get to warmer clines. Unfortunately, it is full and we are rationing our usage. Fortunately, the black and water tank are OK. We will have to hang here until the roads dry. Looks like tomorrow will be the day.

We have come here to visit Mt. Rushmore once again. It is close to the Spearfish area and I wanted to come here again to revisit the monument. I’ve had an image of this place in my Marking project since the beginning, but it was never shot for the project. Instead, I pulled the image out of my files when I began thinking about what should and should not be included. It never really fit the way it was originally shot. As is, it is just too iconic. This is the way we always see this place. It is difficult to differentiate between the icon and how it relates to marking.

George 1. Mt. Rushmore, SD ©David Gardner

Rushmore detail. Mt. Rushmore, WY ©David Gardner

So I have returned to attempt to take it out of context a bit; to emphasize the marking aspects and show what lengths we go to in order to convey meaning. I don’t mind if the place is still recognizable – in fact, I think it should be. But I want the first thought to be about surface texture and how it changes as a result of man’s touch. It will be interesting to see how quickly – or at all, whether people are still able to pick out where it is. I really love how, in these close-up shots, how the mineral veins and textures of the rock show up. It is an interesting contrast with the man-made workings of the stone. We really don’t see these aspects when viewing from afar and I think it adds new dimension to our perception.

George's Chin. Mt. Rushmore, SD. ©David Gardner

Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota

Bridal Veil Falls. Spearfish Canyon, SD ©David Gardner

October 7

Every time we go through South Dakota, we make a point of visiting Spearfish Canyon. The road is a National Scenic Byway and so beautiful this time of year. The last time we came through in 2006, we caught the weather and color perfectly. We were there on a weekend that year and because it was so nice, the road was very crowded with folks taking advantage of one of the last warm days of the year. When this road is busy, it is difficult to photograph. All the turn-outs are occupied, cars are zipping by and there is simply no peace.

For us today, it was nearly deserted. Of course, the temperature is in the 30’s and it is cloudy with the promise of snow soon. But there is nothing better than having an area all to yourself and this was the case for us. We had heard the color here was past peak, but on arrival, we discovered quite the opposite was true. This would have been a perfect day if it wasn’t for the overcast conditions. While it does allow for much more even lighting, everything was a bit dull. I’ll take it however.

Bridal Veil Falls and Birch. ©David Gardnr

Spearfish Creek, SD. ©David Gardner

The canyon is a challenge to photograph in. The walls are steep and getting to the creek is a slippery endeavor. I am happy with what I shot today. Not the greatest work ever – but nice. The waterfall there, Bridal Veil, was flowing nicely, but it is difficult to get a good angle from both the road and at the base of it. I think my best shot was of a birch branch in front of the falls. Flowing water like this is one of the biggest cliches imaginable, but it is one that still compels me emotionally enough to continue making these kinds of images. True, they often don’t make it into my portfolio, but for me, nothing conveys motion in water better than this technique.

Hillside. Spearfish Canyon, SD. ©David Gardner

Birch Trees in Snow ©David Gardner

Near the top of the canyon, the tress had passed peak and snow remained on the ground. I liked the tangled, layered look of the bare branches and trunks in the snow. Not sure the photographs I made here really captured the feel of what I experienced, but the white on white appeals to me.

Devil’s Tower

Devil's Tower National Monument, WY ©David Gardner

October 5

We arrived today at Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming. It’s hard to describe what it is about this place. I’ve not seen anything that quite compares to this landscape. For miles around it is fairly flat with only rolling hills and grasslands.  But suddenly, this tower juts from the ground. It is thought to be the clogged core of an ancient volcano: the surrounding rock of the volcano having worn away centuries ago. For the indians of the area, it is a sacred power place, and I can believe this. We hiked an icy trail around the tower and discovered many prayer bundles and flags placed by indians in the trees along the way. One needs to show respect for their efforts and I tried to photograph with this in mind. I was careful not to disturb each site and tried to convey a sense of each location. Sometimes, the bundles just look like rags thrown into the trees. Those of us who don’t have the knowledge could easily make that mistake. This is the essence of my Marking project. It is easy to see how sacred places can be desecrated unknowingly. And even knowingly by those who just don’t care.

Prayer Bundle. Devil's Tower National Monument. ©David Gardner

Prayer Bundles. Devil's Tower National Monument. ©David Gardner

Detail of Prayer Bundle. Devil's Tower National Monument. ©David Gardner

The cold weather and snow has  followed us here. It is getting unusually cold for October. Today’s hi was around 38º and later in the week the low’s are supposed to go well below freezing. But this weather is giving me a fresh perspective on each of the places we visit. It is a challenge keeping warm, but well worth the experience of making photographs in this kind of weather. Using snow as a design element is fairly unusual for me and I am enjoying the experience. I will be staying here for another day in hopes of seeing the tower in sunlight, but we need to be moving on to the Spearfish Canyon area near Rapid City, South Dakota soon.

Shrouded Tower. ©David Gardner

Snow-blown Trees. Devil's Tower National Monument. ©David Gardner

Morning Tower. Devil's Tower National Monument. ©David Gardner

First Snow in Yellowstone

Undine Falls. Yellowstone National Park, WY ©David Gardner

October 1

We woke this morning to the predicted 2-5 inches. The storm has effectively put out the fire that was burning in the park and left everything with a nice dusting of white. We got out early this morning to drive the Mt. Washburn road again, but were very disappointed to discover the road closed near the top. 2-5 inches isn’t much but it is enough to shut down the road. We had to console ourselves with the views from near the top. I really wanted to get to the top of Washburn again to see how the huge swatches of burn area trees looked in the snow. It would probably open again tomorrow, but we are pushing on to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. We did manage a trip around the upper loop of roads yesterday and visited the Mammoth Hot Springs area, Norris Geyser Basin and a drive over Mt. Washburn. We always look for black bear, moose, bison and elk over this area, but today we saw only bison.

October 2

Little Bighorn Battlefield, MT ©David Gardner

Where They Fell. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, MT ©David Gardner

Custer's Marker. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, MT ©David Gardner

We moved on to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument today. This of course is where General George Custer made his last stand against combined forces of several indian tribes. As in any location where many lost their lives, I found the monument to be a quite sad place. The way the monument is laid out, visitors arrive at the very point where Custer, surrounded by his men, fell. The spot on the hillside is dotted with stones marking the approximate spot where each lost his life. The rest of the monument is a drive along the spine of the hills with stops in various places for viewpoints of the battlefield and explanations of how the whole thing went down. More markers along the way are placed to mark where other troops and indian fighters fell.

Fallen Soldier Markers. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, MT ©David Gardner

Cankuhanska Long Road's marker. Little Bighorn National Monument. ©David Gardner

The monument also has a national veterans cemetery near the visitors center. Veterans from the Indian Wars to present day are buried here, including Marcus Reno, Custer’s 2nd in command, who survived the battle.

Marcus Reno Grave. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. ©David Gardner

Upon leaving the monument, we headed back to camp, but not before stopping briefly at the Little Bighone Casino. We didn’t enter, but I could not resist making a photograph. It is simply amazing how many casinos are now spread throughout the west. While this one seemed to have seen better days, in general, they are the biggest and newest buildings in town. Unlike in California, not all of the casinos are indian owned. It does seem to be the preferred way to generate revenue these days. In thinking about how to portray myths of the west, I’m thinking this image will have a place.

Little Bighorn Casino, MT ©David Gardner

On “Not Camping”

Hot Springs at Mammoth. Yellowstone National Park. ©David Gardner

We arrived at Yellowstone on the 28th (my birthday). Well before we got to the park, we could see the valley was thick with smoke. Yet another fire was burning and the smoke was blowing north. Because of road closures, only the northern driving loop is open for travel. There is a bridge out on one side and the fire on the other. This actually works out well for us because this is our favorite part of the park and we only planned on visiting this part on our way to South Dakota.

Our first day here we had temps in the 90’s. Today a storm moved in and the high is expected to be 32 with 2 – 5 inches of snow. Just a slight change. It is days like this that justify travel in a motorhome for me. On all our previous travel prior to getting the motorhome, we have tent camped. Crammed everything we needed into the 4Runner and hit the road. For almost thirty years this was the way we did it. About five years ago, while tent camping in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, we endured a fairly severe wind storm. We sat in the 4Runner watching our new dome tent bending and eventually breaking in the wind. Sand got into the zipper mechanism and rendered it useless. All this time, it was still 80º and we were sweltering in the car. I rescued other people’s tents as they were uprooted by the wind and blew through our campground.

Mary decided for us that this was the end of tent camping. There were a number of other similar experiences previous to this, but this one was the capper. The other deciding factor was that, now we are traveling for months at a time instead of a few weeks. We also found we needed to bring more and more equipment to keep up a tolerable comfort level; more air mattresses, more heating and cooking equipment, better lighting arrangements, etc. This is in addition to all the camera equipment.

Old Burn. Mt. Washburn. Yellowstone National Park. ©David Gardner

What brings all this up is that right now I am sitting, warm and comfortable, in the back of the motorhome watching the snowstorm. Inside, it is 72º. Outside, 32º. I am writing on my laptop, plugged into the internet, listening to Sirius Satellite radio. I also have the option of watching TV because I brought along my Direct TV receiver to use with the satellite dish that came with the RV. Oh yes, since we are in a RV park, I also have cable I can hook to my TV. This morning, I took a hot shower in our full bathroom. The RV holds 50 gallons of water that we use for drinking, cooking and washing. It also has holding tanks for waste water, both black and gray. For power, we have two solar panels that charge our batteries and gives us light and power for powering computers and cameras and whatnot.

This is so far from camping that I have come to call it “NOT CAMPING”. This differs from what is know as dry camping; staying in places where no hookup (water, electric, cable, etc.) are available. Staying in national parks or places with no hookups for me is still borderline NOTCAMPING, but since we are technically untethered, I let it slip.

All of this comes at a price of course. Instead of being 15 feet long in the 4Runner, we are 27 feet long, plus we tow the Rav4 which adds another 10 feet or so. All of the costs are higher. Camping in RV parks is more, fuel is way more, and plenty of things can and do go wrong in the RV(see earlier posts). But days like today make it all worth it. We may move into the park tomorrow, but if it stays cold and gray, we may stay here.

Moving On

Gallatin City Hotel. Missouri Headwaters State Park, MT. ©David Gardner

On our way down to Yellowstone National Park, we overnighted at a small state park called Missouri Headwaters. This is the place that marks the beginning of the Missouri River. Here, the Gallatin, Jefferson and Madison Rivers converge to become the Missouri. Lewis and Clark camped here and hoped to find a passage to the pacific. It was not to be. No through passage exists. Back then, it must have been quite beautiful. Today, it is still quite nice, but power lines crisscross the entire area. There is some sort of power generation plant nearby and semi’s travel through the park at 60 mph’s making deliveries to the plant. We did an early morning walk around here and were rewarded with a nice ground fog covering the area. I did manage a few nice images. A nice morning.

Morning Fog. Missouri Headwaters State Park, MT. ©David Gardner

Grasses. Missouri Headwaters State Park, MT. ©David Gardner

A Couple More from Glacier

Two more from Glacier I kinda like:

Double Rainbow, Going to the Sun Rd. Glacier National Park. ©David Gardner

Dawn. Sun Point, Glacier National Park. ©David Gardner

Juried In

White Dunes #18. White Sands National Monument, NM. ©David Gardner

I just got word from Azarie Furlong, the Exhibitions Manager at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, that one of my submissions for their Art in Nature show was selected for exhibit. The image selected is from a group of images I shot at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico during a visit last May. I showed a number of the images at a portfolio review in Santa Fe a little later in June and they were well received.

It can be pretty difficult to get work into one of their shows. This one had over 1700 submissions, from which only 50 were selected for exhibit by Juror Kathy Moran of National Geographic Magazine. Nature/Landscape work is one of the most competitive there is. SO many people work in this area and it becomes a real challenge to stand out from the pack. I am thrilled to be part of this show.

It runs from December 4 to January 9 at the Center’s gallery space in Fort Collins, Colorado. So if you happen to find yourself in Colorado in December, check it out.

Off The Grid

Eagle over Glacier ©David Gardner

Finally able to post after a week with no internet access. We arrived in Glacier National Park and have been here for the last several days. This was our first main destination on this trip and it took a little doing to get here. Traveling in a motorhome is like taking your house on the road. Think about all the things that go wrong around your home and then add rumbling down the highway to it. All that rattling has a way of vibrating things loose or causing other problems. Soon after leaving Arco, I noticed some uneven wear in the driver side front tire. This indicated an alignment problem of some sort. When we arrived in Missoula, MT on September 13, I got the motorhome to a tire shop for an estimate and repair. Turned out to be much more than an alignment problem. Both the ball joints and bushings were seriously worn and could not be adjusted to fall within specs. This required a major outlay of cash and an extra couple of days to wait for parts and installation. Once that was done, it was recommended I move the front worn tires to the rear and put two of the rear tires on the front. When the tech guy removed the rear tires, he discovered the dreaded tire rot (spider web like cracking on the sidewalls). He felt it would be too dangerous to put these tires on the front and I ended up buying two new tires at a cost of $500.00. I’ll replace the other four tires soon, but we needed to move on to Glacier.

In Glacier National Park

Going to the Sun ©David Gardner

The weather here is unseasonably hot. Highs have been in the 80’s all week. We had one day of slightly cooler weather – Yesterday, smoke from a forest fire in Idaho blew into Glacier causing really poor visibility and generally messing up the air. Our friends, Rick and Mary flew in from San Francisco for a week of vacation and we got a chance to hang out together in the park for several days. We walked a 11 mile hike to Grinnell glacier on Wednesday. The park is named Glacier for the several of them that still exist here. They are quickly disappearing however. The five mile hike up to it was through a valley that at one time was covered with deep ice. Today, what is left is a few large hunks of ice that cling to the mountain side and some floating icebergs in the glacial lake that results. The glacier is not expected to exist in the near future.

Josephine Lake, Glacier National Park. ©David Gardner

The photography has been a bit difficult. I haven’t really tried to do much serious imaging. Doing serious work requires pre-planning, though, willingness to wait for the right light, and quite often just being in the landscape with no distractions. With friends along, I decided to just have some fun and take what was there. We did run into some nice opportunities however. On our hike to the glacier, we bumped into a number of moose, mountain goats on ledges, and on the way back to the campground, a grizzly and black bear. I got a few nice shots of the moose and mountain goats, but the bears I just decided to watch.

Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park. ©David Gardner

After our friends left, Mary and I did some sunrise photography at Sun Point and more drives looking for wildlife. I’m not really setup for wildlife photography, but it is on of the great attractions of this park. I don’t have the mega lenses required to pull in distant animals, but sometimes one just needs to experience wildlife in the wild. So we mostly just look and enjoy. This day we saw a couple more bears and more mountain goats. We have another day here before we head off the Yellowstone for a few days.

And here are a few more images of the wildlife we saw while in Glacier:

Female moose. ©David Gardner

Moose calf. ©David Gardner

Mountain Goats, Glacier National Park. ©David Gardner

Lone Bison, Waterton National Park. ©David Gardner

Lazy Bison, Waterton National Park. ©David Gardner

Wet Moose. Cameron Lake, Waterton National Park. ©David Gardner

Viewing the wildlife. Cameron Lake, Waterton National Park. ©David Gardner

On Moving Forward

Charles Waters State Park, MT ©David Gardner

This trip through the upper western states is a bit different than most of the trips I’ve done durning the past 3 years. I have no special agenda for photographing this time around, although I am continuing to work on “Marking Our Place”. All of my  previous excursions have been with the “Marking” project in mind; looking for those places where people have interacted with the landscape in some way. When I began this project, I felt there should  be an end to it at some point. I feel differently now. The longer I look and find places that I think work well for the project, the more I see that it just doesn’t need to end. In fact, I see it getting stronger as I find places that convey my ideas more clearly. I can see how some of the themes I covered could be spun off as a sort of new stanza or canto (thanks RM). I am scaling back how much I shoot for it however. It will continue to be in my mind as I move through the landscape, but not be the main objective.

But that leaves me with the quandary of what to do next. I want to use this trip as a vacation of sorts. I want to just react to the landscape and keep open about how to to engage with it. In these past few years, I have become much more sensitive to how I (and we) relate and interact with the landscape. So I want to trs to portray the landscape that could reflect this in a new way.

National Bison Range, MT ©David Gardner

Traveling up I15 in Montana the other day, we drove past a certain spot on the highway that got me thinking about how the west is perceived today. What I saw off to the side of the road was a rather moving view of a bison at the crest of a hill. In my mind, I saw a deep red sunset with the animal silhouetted against the sky. Such a cliched notion I know, but moving none-the-less. As we approached, it was clear this was a buffalo cut-out stuck into the ground at just the right spot.

It was an advert for a dude ranch of some sort. But it started me thinking more about perceptions. I was born and raised in the west. I got my first exposure to the outdoors here in the west. I have been lost in the wilderness of the west. I have strong ideas of what this place is and where I fit in it. But when I see things like the bison cut-out I think, “It’s a myth”. It is not what this place is anymore. The only bison you will see is on preserves or in national parks. It feels like we hang on to these myths instead of acknowledging  the consequences of our actions.

Peak of Church, Bannack Ghost Town, MT ©David Gardner

So I want to explore the notion of myths of the the west. If I can find images that convey this idea in ways that perhaps haven’t been seen before, maybe there is something to say here.

Arco, Idaho

September 9

Number Hill. Arco, Idaho. ©David Gardner

Another uneventful day of driving has brought us to Arco, Idaho. This is the home of the first functioning commercial nuclear reactor in the world. Also, the home of Number Hill as pictured above. It is a quirky little town. We overnighted in a pleasant little KOA (Kampground of America) where we enjoyed an ice cream social in the evening. Eariler in the day, we explored the HIll. I wanted to see if it might fit in my Marking Place project, and so made a number of images at various locations around the base of the mountain.

I’m not going to say how it has come to be covered in numbers. People always want to know where and what the images are about. That is normal I guess, but it tends to shift the conversation away from what I want it to be. To me, it’s not so important what the markings mean. The value in experiencing these places is to help gain an understanding of how we are using symbols to communicate. That we don’t always understand what is being communicated emphasizes the flaws in this system. This place only has meaning to those privy to the translations. The rest of us are left to wonder. I think I have some good images of the place and it will probably make its way into the project.

Jackpot!

September8

Tumbleweed. Jackpot, Nevada ©David Gardner

These first few days of driving tend to be a bit of a drag. After leaving California, the terrain of highway 80 through Nevada gets pretty mundane. Having the distraction of the Burning Man parade as we drove yesterday helped pass the time, but today, only a few remaining dust covered cars passed us by. Toward the end of the day, we arrived in Jackpot. Here, the town consists of about 5 casino’s, a couple of liquor stores, a post office and an air strip. There is a bit more to it – but not much. Jackpot is about mid-way to Arco Idaho, and eight hours of driving is about all I tend to want to do in a day. There is no big rush. But what is in Arco you may ask? I’ve recently heard about a place called number hill. It is what it says. Actually, it’s a small mountain covered in numbers. Why? Well I’m not saying – at least for now.

While driving today, I got a call from Carol Buchanan, the exhibits coordinator for the California State Fair. I entered my “Balance #1″ image this year in the Fine Arts competition and won an Award of Excellence for my efforts. Todays call was a surprise. She called to tell me my print had sold. I love doing the competition every year. It’s for California artists only, and the level of work is quite high. I don’t get in every year, so when I do it is pretty gratifying. We go up to Sacramento for the preview and stay for the opening of the fair the next day. It was a really nice bit of info to start off our trip.

No Love lost in Lovelock

Rest Stop. Jackpot, Nevada ©David Gardner

September 7

This marks the start of a new photo trip. Over the next two months, Mary and I will be traveling through parts of Idaho, Montana, South Dakota an Utah. I kind of lost interest in blogging toward the end of my last road trip, and I have been spending time trying to figure out my reasons for wanting to blog in the first place. What I am thinking now is that it can serve to help me digest what I have done on a particular day of shooting. Often I will shoot a new subject or area, and after downloading, not really go over the work for some time. If I don’t write about the images quickly, I may forget some of the impressions that drew me to the place to begin with.

The start of our trip was delayed about a week because of a leak in the black tank of our motorhome. It wasn’t a big leak, but it had to be dealt with before leaving. I had to scramble around to find someone to fix this problem and it resulted in our having to cut out a visit to Mt. Lassen in Oregon and a few days in Idaho visiting my cousins.

So we left San Francisco around 9 am this morning and headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge. Not only was the Bay Bridge closed for several days for earthquake work, the north route is visually a much nicer way to drive. Getting back on highway 80 for the trek through the sierra’s, we soon began to notice some strange vehicles being towed behind trucks going west. The trucks, and quite a few cars going that way, were also covered in what looked like white dust. I realized these were returnee’s from Burning Man that wrapped up Sunday night. The white stuff the result of the alkali wind storms that are common on the plya at Black Rock. We saw a giant propane powered snail, some really odd looking rocket cars and even a giant Groucho type mustache, nose and glasses atop a jeep, complete with bald head. We knew we had reached the junction where returning attendee’s hit 80, because now instead of seeing the vehicles going west, they began passing us as we drove east through Nevada, each and every one of them covered in alkali dust. On the backs of many cars was the Burning Man symbol to further clue us in.

Just past the town of Lovelock, we pulled into Rye Patch Reservoir state recreation area. As soon as I opened the motorhome door, I was enveloped with the desert dry perfumed scent of sage. I always forget how wonderful an aroma it is. The only other experience that comes close is that of smelling the smells of a redwood forest for the first time. Rye Patch is a nice little camping area. The reservoir of course was quite low, as is every water pocket in the west, but being the day after Labor Day, the place was only sparsely occupied. There were a few egrets, a smattering of herons and a selection of other waterfowl I couldn’t get close enough to identify to keep us company. We chose a campground in an overflow area above the real campground because of it’s higher location which gave us a nice evening view of the lowering light over the desert.

New Honors

Low Tide. Vancouver Island, Canada. ©David Gardner

March 24

Just learned that my image, “Low Tide, Vancouver Island”, above, was nominated for “Abstract of the Year” in the 3rd annual Photography Masters Cup, aka, The International Color Awards. Although I did not win, getting the nomination is an accomplishment by itself. There are hundreds of entries, and thousands of images in many categories, so I am quite pleased to get this.

I was also notified by Center in Santa Fe, that my Marking project, entered into the Project Competition and Review Santa Fe portfolio review, made the top 24% of those entered. Again, I did not win any of the top awards, but placing in the top quarter within a group of such highly considered photographers is something positive to take away.

I am number 12 on the waiting list to go to the review, held in June, and I’m hopeful to be eventually included. I think the project is quite close to completion, and being able to show it to the group of reviewers who will be there is a step I want to take at this point. They take around 100 of the top entries. I am on the 50 person wait list, hoping someone has a change of heart.

Petroglyphs at V-V

March 20

Petroglyphs at V-V. ©David Gardner 2009

We had been wanting to see the petroglyphs at the V BAR V Ranch Heritage Site in the Coconino National Forest, located not far from Sedona. This is the largest known petroglyph site in the Verde Valley and one of the best preserved. As it happened, we arrived on the 20th – which just happens to be the vernal equinox. We didn’t know this was also a newly re-discovered calendar site. That is, at certain times of the year, the sun will line up with certain of the carvings indicating significant events. The Sinagua, who created the petroglyphs maybe as early as 850 A.D. used this calendar (it is thought) to let them know when to plant their corn, when to harvest, and a number of other events.

Light ray striking double circle. ©David Gardner 2009

So this site has been known to exist for nearly 100 years, but it was only recently that the calendar was re-discovered. As we are a species that uses signs and symbols to communicate with one another as really our only form of communication, I think it really points out what a flawed system we have. In order for things to be recognized as signs or symbols, it requires large groups of people to accept them as such. This works fine as long as there is someone around to pass along the information. It breaks apart when the link is lost and the meanings disappear. Even more, different groups can assign different meanings to the same sign or symbol further complicating matters.

Sea Turtles. ©David Gardner 2009

I find it astounding that mankind relies on such a system. We have seen throughout time and history how much is lost when different cultures become extinct. In many cases, we never fully understand how lost cultures worked or what their body of knowledge consisted of. In the case of petroglyphs and pictographs, archaeoastronomers can only theorize as to meaning. They are theories based on educated guesses, but the bottom line is that we still just don’t know for sure. I try to imagine what a system of communication would look like that would not relay on the sign/symbol model, but it is almost inconceivable to me. How would we do it?

Arcosanti

Arcosanti today ©David Gardner 2009

March 19

Mary was interested in seeing Arcosanti, an “urban habitat” created by Paolo Soleri in the Arizona desert near Phoenix. Soleri was invited to Taliesan West by Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 50’s. He had the idea that communities could be created in a compact urban structure that would utilize land in a much more efficient way than traditional urban sprawl. In 1969 he began designing and building Arcosanti, a prototype “arcology”. It was to eventually house 5,000 people by “combining compact urban structure with large-scale solar greenhouses”. After 40 years of work, it currently houses around 80 or so people. They conduct teaching workshops and rely primarily on volunteers to forward the progress. The final plans are impressive, but the reality falls pretty short at this point. Still, the work goes on and there is a foundation formed to continue the work once Soleri (now 90) passes.

Ceramic wind chime and bell examples. ©David Gardner 2009

The primary source of income is bronze or ceramic windbells that are created onsite. They basically press bell molds into bins of “silt”, then pour molten bronze into the forms to create many of the bells. The designs on the bells are sculpted into the silt forms before pouring and the resulting bells exhibit the designs. I thought this was an interesting turn-around of making marks in the land. The resulting marks are visible only on the bell. They use the land to create the designs. This is also evident in the structural design of Arcosanti. They created designs in large scale land molds, then poured concrete into the molds. When the concrete was lifted, the resulting surface took on the sculpted design and color of the land it was poured over.

Bell foundry dome detail. ©David Gardner 2009

Back On The Road

Tax and Spend ©David Gardner 2009

March 20

I’m back blogging again after 3 months home in San Francisco. The last trip ended up with a dash across the Southwest to Joshua Tree National Park for a second look at Samuelson’s Rocks – a pile of rocks where an old immigrant (Samuelson) tried to homestead for severals years before being booted off the land by the U.S. government. I couldn’t really improve on what I had shot the first go round (see above). Even though I was there early in the morning, the lighting was harsh, with deep shadows and too bright highlights. While the sky was a nice blue, which is what I was hoping for, I couldn’t make it work to my liking.

On the way north to San Francisco, I did pass another pile of boulders along the road in the Yucca Valley. This is a place where climbers, partyers and, judging from the various paraphernalia, drug users hang out to do their things. It took some work the get these markings on the rocks. Some were too high to just be able to stand on another rock to paint. Others were quite artistic, but most were just the typical graffiti one sees. The scale was larger however. I chose to include some chairs in my composition that were in the foreground to give some scale to the overall scene.

Yucca Valley Rocks ©David Gardner

So that was the end of this 3 1/2 month trip around the country. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the work that came from the travels. I really expected to see a more varied range of marking sites than I came across, but I did get a number of very unique images that have really enhanced my project.

The time back home has been spent catching up on three months worth of correspondence and mail – not everything gets handled through email. My exhibit at the San Francisco Airport Museums needed to get printed and delivered. It is now up and available for viewing provided you have a ticket – the show is beyond the screener checkpoints and only ticketed passengers are allowed through.

SFO Exhibit Announcement

March brought news of my acceptance and third place award in the Spiva Art Centers 33rd annual PhotoSpiva Photographic Competition. This is the oldest continuously running competition is the U.S. It was juried by Associate Professor of Photography at University of New Mexico, Jim Stone. Jim selected the above image as well as “Balanced Rocks #1″, below.

Balanced Rocks. Pemigewasset River, NH ©David Gardner 2008

Also on tap for March, the release of exposure, the journal for the Society for Photographic Education. My project, “Marking our Place” will be a featured portfolio for the Spring 2009 edition. Doreen Schmid wrote up a terrific review of the work and I am really looking forward to seeing it in print. Unfortunately, being on the road for the next two months means I won’t get to see it for awhile. If anyone gets to see it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

At the Gates of the King

The Gates of Graceland, Memphis. ©David Gardner 2008

On our way back to San Francisco, we decided to go through Memphis so we could stop at Graceland, the home of Elvis, for a tour of the mansion and grounds. I didn’t have high expectations going in, but I was actually pretty surprised at what I saw. Really, the house is not all that large. While I expected a really kitsch sort of environment, it wasn’t nearly as “out there” as I might have expected. Sure it had all the elements – the jungle room, the fabric covered pool room, the porcelain monkey collection – but not nearly as crazy as I pictured. Especially considering the times (70’s).

Brick graffiti, Graceland. ©David Gardner 2008

But the biggest surprise for me was on entering the grounds from the street through the gates. As we drove past, I got just quick glimpse of the graffiti covered walls in tribute to Elvis. That is, every brick in the gated entrance, and every stone in the 100 yard wall that fronts the street, had at least one, and usually more written tribute to the king. After the tour, we walked back down to the perimeter wall to photograph what was there.

Long view, Graceland wall. ©David Gardner 2008

Looking over the wall carefully, we could find no entry older the about 1999. Although it is true that there were not all that many dated markings, it was clear many had faded out, or had simply been written over with new sentiments. Judging from those people just hanging around the outside of Graceland, I doubt most of the people making marks were even alive during Elvis’ time. His attraction is still so strong.

Graceland wall detail. ©David Gardner 2008

The messages ranged from the typical, “I was here” to rather moving ode’s, and even marriage proposals. There were also many repeat treks to pay homage. As usual, the markings had expanded to the sidewalk and even the light poles. On both sides of the busy four lane Elvis Presley Blvd, markings continued. I found it to be a rather sweet tribute.

The Nickel View

 

The Nickel View, 2008 ©David Gardner2008

We are in Virginia, at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, father of the U.S. Constitution. His home stands as a testament to his stature as an intellectual, statesman and innovator. We took the tour of the house and spent a couple of hours walking around the grounds. Finally we happened upon the small graveyard where he and family (and slaves) are buried. His grave sits at the lower end of the graveyard, under a large oak tree just as he had requested. It is a rather impressive monolith – but what really attracted my attention were the coins strewn around the base.

Thomas Jefferson Headstone, 2008 ©David Gardner2008

Tributes to TJ, 2008 ©David Gardner2008

At first I thought this a rather strange way to pay tribute to the man. What relationship could there be between him and coins? I can’t say I’ve ever see money thrown on a grave stone before. In fountains, yes. On this trip, I’ve even seen coins tossed beside waterfalls, and in streams beds at certain points. but never on a grave. But then I thought back to the docent who was our tour guide. At one point she suggested we go outside after the tour and look at the rear of the house from the garden. This she said, is “the nickel view”. Ah! It came to me that in tribute to Jefferson and his presence on the U.S. nickel, someone had probably thrown one or several coins onto his grave. Others, perhaps misinterpreting this, began adding their own change. Over time, the meaning of the gesture has changed to something very different than what was probably intended. To me, it really doesn’t mean anything now.

But again, the meaning of the coins is merely a symptom of what I am after. A major theme of the project is the seemingly hard-wired compulsion we express to join in, and how it changes over time. In this case, the meaning becomes murky, because people haven’t agreed upon the meaning of the symbol (the coins). If everyone had gotten the idea, we would have seen nothing but nickels. Some may have gotten it, but others just threw what coins they had. They wanted to join the conversation, but they didn’t understand the language (the coins again). They essentially are conversing without knowing what they are talking about.

New Additions

 

Balanced Rocks. Pemigewasset River, NH ©David Gardner 2008

October 15

It’s been very nearly a full month since my last post. It is not for lack of wanting to post – I just really haven’t been able to find, and photograph in a meaningful way, subject matter that fit into the parameters of my project. What I have found in abundance are areas where people have carved their names into whatever surface is available, using whatever tools are available – usually a sharp instrument of some sort. I want more.

Balanced Rock, Pemigewasset River, NH ©David Gardner 2008

What I have hoped to find were areas where marks or manipulations of the landscape have been made, and how that place evolves over time. At the core of the project for me was the frustration I have faced in trying to make landscape photographs that don’t include signs of human intervention. It has become more and more difficult to make these kinds of photographs and as a reaction to this, I began this project. So now I am looking for the results of how we alter the landscape. I am looking for variety – for uniqueness in how we mark and come together afterward to add to and embellish it afterward.

Balanced Rocks2, Pemigewasset River, NH ©David Gardner 2008

With this in mind, I am posting a few new images of a place I just came across the past two days. Mary and I were hiking along the Pemigewasset River in New Hampshire this past Columbus day. When we came through an opening in the brush and hit the river, there before us, and stretching out for maybe 30 feet on each side of us, were a series of balanced rocks. There were maybe 50 or more rocks balanced on other larger rocks in the stream. Many were skillfully set and really showed a commitment of time and care. Others were obviously place in a less skillfully way, using sand and small pebbles as wedges and supports to hold up the rock. Again, proximity comes into play here. The originals were seen and the process mimicked.

Balanced Rocks3, Pemigewasset River, NH ©David Gardner 2008

In the Adirondack Mountains

 

Lean-to. Copperas Pond, NY 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

 We’ve been staying in the area of Lake Placid for the last several days. Yesterday we hiked a rather drizzly but very enjoyable trail around Copperas Pond. At one point, we came upon a lean-to shelter created for campers. Inside, the shelter was covered with carvings of the various visitors. This again is the most common type of markings I’ve come across – especially here in the east. But I am bit surprised at how few markings I am finding. Is it because so much of this land is privately owned? Being so much more densely populated than the west, I might have expected many more markings. Perhaps because of density and ownership, the opposite is true.

Lean-to detail. Copperas Pond, NY. ©David Gardner 2008

Carving detail. Copperas Pond, NY. ©David Gardner 2008

More Markings

 

Rail Scratching at Effigy Mounds, Iowa. 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

Finding the sort of  markings I have been looking for has proven to be more of a challenge than I would have suspected. Other than in the West, I have found few of the “grand statements” on the landscape that I thought I would. The reasons could be many. Perhaps the larger concentration of people in all of the areas west of the Rocky Mountains could have some effect. Larger concentration of people yes, but perhaps more so, fewer of the wide open spaces of the west. As I move east through the country, less and less of the land seems to be public, and public land is where many of the marks I seek seem to occur.

The image above is from the Effigy Mounds area in Iowa. Here, people scratched initials into a railing at a lookout point. At another similar location, this one at Taquahomen Falls in Michigan,carved initials and names appeared on this bench as well as the railing. Again at the lookout point of the falls.

Taquahomen Falls Overlook. MI 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

Another spot was discovered at Lighthouse Park at the end of the peninsula above Traverse City in Michigan. These two trees in the image below, were virtually the only marked trees in the area – and they were covered. The search goes on. I will be traveling to Canada to visit Montreal and Quebec City, via the Adirondack Mountains in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Carved Trees, MI 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

Effigy Mounds

August 20

We made it to Effigy Mounds, in Iowa today. I wanted to visit this place to see if I could make an effective image I could add to my project. The mounds are pre-historic in origin. Earthen effigy mounds began to appear around 1,400 years ago. Maybe they were religious sites or clan symbols used in seasonal ceremonies. We don’t know for sure. Some mounds are in the shape of bears or birds. Others are cone or conical shaped. Still others have a compound composition (cone joined by linear).  Some mounds contain evidence of fire – probably ceremonial – in the “head,” heart,” or “flank” of the mound.These mounds once numbered in the thousands throughout the eastern U.S. but have been largely plowed under over the years.

Big Bear Mound. Effigy Mounds, Iowa. ©David Gardner 2008

Including some of these images in the project is a bit problematical. The theme for these images would be Historical (or even prehistorical). They would fit with the Miwok Grinding Rock image I shot in late 2007, and probably grouped with the markings made by pioneers and emigrants in the late 1800’s. The problem I have with including these is that most of the mounds are best seen from the air. They range in height from 2-4 feet and, if it wasn’t for the park service mowing the grass around the mounds, they might not be noticeable at all.

Miwok Indian Grinding Stone, CA ©David Gardner 2008

I’m not sure at this point if I will include any of these images in the final project. I think I need to live with them for awhile, come back to them from time to time and decide later.

Effigy mounds view 2, Iowa. ©David Gardner

 

Ta-POC-ka-ta, Ta-POC-ka-ta

Corn Palace. Mitchell, South Dakota 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

August 18-19
Ta-POC-ka-da. Say that several times over and over again. Imagine the POC sound to be a bump in the road. This is the ride we had for major parts of the two days of driving on I 90 through South Dakota and Minnesota on our way to Effigy Mounds here in Iowa. The road was in very poor repair and everywhere around us was almost nothing but corn fields. The one benefit was that gas stations provided ethanol blended fuels that were higher in octane and lower in price than regular unleaded gas. Really, 20 cents a gallon less expensive for Super unleaded than for regular unleaded.

That little bit of excitement and, oh yes, the Corn Palace in South Dakota, have been the highlights of the past two days. The Corn Palace has been around since 1892 and there is a large festival just about this time of year. The outside walls are adorned with murals made from corn and corn parts with revolving themes from year to year. Last years theme was, Everyday Heros. This year’s theme has a travel thread, with panels depicting the likes of the Crazy Horse Monument, the Golden Gate Bridge, the St. Louis Arch and Grand Canyon – all made from corn!

Corn Field. Minnesota, 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

The morning of the 19th, we awoke to the sound of an airplane engine as it strafed our campground. Well not exactly. The campground was in the middle of – you guessed it – a corn field and the biplane was crop-dusting the fields. We go out of there shortly thereafter.

Crop dusting our campground. ©David Gardner 2008

Evening in The Badlands

 

Last Light on Badlands Formation, 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

 August 16

We are overnighting in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. We are told this has been an abnormally wet summer in this region of the state, It is unheard of for the park to be so green this late in the year. There is so much tall grass, the local bison have become fat a lazy. Good Times! We have been fortunate in terms of weather as well. Temperatures are in the low 80’s instead of the usual. high 90’s-100’s. We spent an enjoyable evening photographing at an overlook of badland formations. The land is so flat around here that last light comes in at a very low angle and lights up the formations in a very appealing way. We will spend a second day here tomorrow before making a dash across the rest of the state. Our next stop will be effigy mounds in Iowa.

More on themes

 

Crazy Horse, SD 2008. ©David Gardner 2008

Mt. Rushmore, SD 2006. David Gardner 2008

August 12

We are in Custer, South Dakota for the next couple of days. The first time through here in 2006, I photographed both the Crazy Horse Monument and Mt. Rushmore. Later on, I determined both places would fit within another of the themes of the project – Man’s domination of the landscape. Both demonstrate how man attempts to bend nature to his will by literarily blasting and chipping away at the rock to reveal human form.

After thinking about it for a while, I began to believe these two places also fit into the theme of Proximity. Once the Lakota tribes saw how the U.S. government was honoring people important to them at Mt. Rushmore, they wanted to demonstrate that their people had great figures important to them as well. The Lakota even retained the services of one of the lead sculptors from Rushmore, Korczak Ziolkowski after he was fired by Gutzon Borglum because of personality conflicts.

Crazy Horse, Detail. 2008 ©David Gardner 2008

Another image from the project is the Tree Tunnel, shot at Calaveras Big Trees in California. This image shows a certain disregard for Nature. We cut a hole through a tree simply  because we can. Once the hole is there, visitors come by and carve names, initials and other reminders of their passing through. Once again, Proximity.

Big Trees Tunnel, CA 2007. ©David Gardner 2008