Vermilion Cliffs Excitement

Trip Delayed...

Due to some family issues my trip home has been delayed for a few weeks. I'm now intending to leave around February 17th and return to Crimea at the end of April. That's a few weeks shorter than I'd planned but sometimes that happens. I'm in the process of developing my itinerary and will post it to this blog and my trip map when it's finished. I won't be rushing all over the west like last cycle but will concentrate on Southern California, Arizona and some spots in New Mexico. Still a very aggressive schedule but not nearly as much driving. I blew through 10K miles last time and that was far more than I'd expected. All those side trips to find a McD for internet access and getting out of town to find a place to sleep really piled up the miles. I'm hoping I won't have to do that as much this time as my schedule has me working at night and sleeping during the day. I would expect I can find many places to sleep when the sun is shining and won't be hassled by the cops as much. We'll see.

Vermilion Cliffs Excitement

I applied for a permit to get into the 'Wave' at Vermilion Cliffs but was unsuccessful ... over 650 applications representing almost a 1000 people fighting for 10 slots. The odds were just too against me. I may, if I'm in the area, swing by the BLM office there and see if I can get in during the daily lottery. They have 10 spots open for that and I'll probably have better luck as you have to be physically present for the drawing ... and the office is really out of the way. We'll see.

Anyway, I really like this area even without the Wave as it's truly spectacular. I spent a day last cycle wandering the slot canyon network (over 10 miles of canyons ... dwarfs Antelope Canyon big time) and took a huge number of pictures. I've only posted one so far and that's a shame as there are so many beautiful formations to record. I may go back even if I don't win the lottery just to wander the right branch of the canyon heading south ... I didn't even touch that one during my last trip. Hopefully it won't rain again and I won't get stuck in the mug like I did last trip. You really need a big tire off-road vehicle to make sure you can get in and out on the crappy dirt road they have there. Sometimes the BLM takes the 'wilderness' designation a bit too seriously and that causes big troubles. Every year some people die in the 'wilderness' because they can't find their way back out due to a lack of trail markers. If you don't have a GPS tracker it's really easy to get lost up there. And some people shouldn't even go there as their health isn't good enough to endure the strains of hiking the steep terrain.

I took this image on the dirt road south of the parking lot for the Wave. I really love the colors in this part of the Great Basin. You can see a large pallet of minerals in the many colors (and layers) in the lower half of the image. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was low in the west (over my shoulder) so the colors really pop. And it's like this the entire 30 mile drive! You want to stop every 100 feet and take pictures. I only saw one car in the entire time I was making the drive. If you are in the area I highly recommend you take the time to see this. You can park in any of the trail heads and walk in as far as you want. Just be aware of the heat (especially in summer) and the potential for rain as some of the canyons can fill up with runoff very quickly. You won't be disappointed I promise.

Vermilion Cliffs Excitement - 93mm(1.6 crop),f/22,1/13 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Painted Desert

Almost done in Albuquerque

Arrived in Albuquerque this morning after another night on the road. Was able to get my little Canon's sensor cleaned which is a big relief. Had worries that the contamination was so bad it would be hopeless. Also visited the shop that ordered my cap and they are sure it's on the way and will arrive sometime tomorrow (Friday) and I might even get it installed. That means I can blow out of here tomorrow night and start the long trek to California. Really antsy to get to LA and start working on my big project which I will talk about more once I get there (it's kind of a secret maybe). Also got the new Wacom tablet and wireless kit but haven't tried it yet (it's charging and needs 6 hours to finish). And, just like that, it's ready so I'll see how good it works before going to bed. All in all it's been a good trip so far.

Painted Desert

Driving down I40 in eastern Arizona I saw signs for the Petrified Forest National Park around exit 285. I was ahead of schedule and wanted to see this small but very special park. The southern part is the petrified forest, a 220 million year slab of rock covered with the crystalized remains of ancient tropical trees. A long time ago this area was a swamp filled with trees and ancient amphibians related to alligators. According to the resident experts, when these trees fell, the geology was down south around Peru and a whole lot warmer and really wet. But conditions changed and the trees, along with their resident creatures, were buried under high silica content sands. The silica kept the trees from decaying and, over millions of years, converted the trunks into crystalline rock. Time and erosion brought them all to the surface where they were discovered by settlers and railroad surveyors. Unlike most national parks, this area is as much a scientific laboratory as a place for the curious to visit.

The northern extent of the park is the painted desert. Vermillion reds mix with other colors to create a riotous range of impressions ... like an artist's pallet. In full sun, of course, the colors are muted and not much to photograph. Unfortunately, the park closes early and I didn't want to be driving after dark so I was resigned to getting nothing but luck was with me again ... there were lots of clouds in the area and rain. Clouds can create the most interesting patterns while muting the sun's full intensity and the rain gives any image a darker and more interesting texture. So, I pulled out my camera (with the very dirty sensor) and did a single row panorama. There weren't deep chasms to lend a more ominous aura so it made little sense to waste shutter cycles photographing dirt under my tripod. The result is interesting and certainly pleasing to the eye. You decide if you like it ... I do.

Painted Desert - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Nothing really all that different with processing. In photoshop I did use some overlay layers to bring out the reds and greens (selected using the color range tool from the Select menu) which were muted even in the HDR panels. That's the only divergence from my usual workflow on panoramas. This is a 3 image bracketed series. You know the drill for the rest.