Category: Sportsmobile Camping

Bad Start to Spring Break Road Trip, March 2021

My oldest son and I have a tradition of taking an annual spring break trip, usually the last week of March.  We had to postpone last year’s trip due to COVID19 concerns.  I got both of my COVID19 vaccinations in February and my son got his vaccinations just in time to make this trip.

We settled upon the Bisti Wilderness in northwestern New Mexico as the most suitable place this year.  The weather forecast for that area was for cold, freezing temperatures at night, but not so cold as to be of great concern and the daytime temps would be in the 50s.

I planned to arrive at Bisti a day prior to my son’s arrival, leaving home on a Thursday, since I was sure I could get a free campsite at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (LMNRA), my usual stop over place along this route, during the week.  The temperatures there during March are mild, so I had no need to reserve a site with electric power for the A/C and I could still use the free showers in the good restroom facilities.  Although, when I showered there on this stop over, the water was only lukewarm.  This was the first time I had experienced anything other than hot water in the showers there.

I later noted a possible problem with the automatic step on the passenger side of my van.  Sometimes the step did not go all the way back up.  I thought maybe there might be some dirt in the mechanism, so I did not worry about that.

I left LMNRA early Friday morning heading to I40 at Amarillo.  I’ve traveled this route a number of times, so I did not use the navigation system for guidance.  However,  I wanted to be sure to navigate around Amarillo, avoiding heavy traffic in the city, intersecting I40 on the western edge of Amarillo, so I stopped momentarily at a vacant parking lot at a church to verify that I was on the best route.  When I got ready to start out again, the engine starter would not engage.  I had not had any warning of a potential battery problem and the battery was not old.  So I was concerned that there might be a more serious problem than the starter.  It occurred to me that the problem with the step might be related.

I thought surely in a city like Amarillo that there would be a Mercedes Benz dealership, but there was not.  I found that the closest MB facility was in Lubbock, 110 miles south of Amarillo and not on my route.

After a phone conversation with my dealership in Plano, Texas, I got connected to the MB roadside assistance.  They dispatched a local service to come out to check the battery as a first step.  The online app said the service would arrive in 18 minutes and gave me a countdown for the arrival.  After 18 minutes, it just said “Arriving Soon” for the next hour or so.  I checked online via my phone and found that the dispatched service had a 1 star, horrible service, rating.

I then called AAA, which dispatched a service that was to arrive within an hour.  The AAA app, similar to the MB app, gave me a countdown, which expired and then it, too, said “Arriving Soon”.

About the time I thought AAA should be arriving, a work type truck, which I thought might be one of the dispatched services, pulled into the parking lot.  But it turned out to be a couple of young local workers that saw my hood up and stopped to ask if I need a boost.  They pulled out booster cables from the truck’s back seat area and we connected the cables.  My vehicle started up with no problem.  So I figured it must be a battery problem.  I drove to a local auto parts store, purchased the best, most expensive battery they had for my vehicle and installed it with help of one of the parts store employees.  But the problem persisted, the starter motor would not engage, even with the new battery.  The auto parts employee brought out a booster battery device, connected it to the positive and ground posts under the hood and my vehicle started normally.  (The engine starter battery is not under the hood.  It is in a compartment beneath the floor in front of the driver’s seat). So now I’m convinced there is a wiring problem.

Via conversations with the MB dealership in Lubbock, I learned that they do not service Sprinter vans.  The nearest Sprinter van service is in Midland, Texas, far to the south and far out of my way.  I did get to talk to a service manager at the MB facility in Midland and got confirmation that the most likely problem would be a wiring issue between the battery and starter and/or alternator.

By now it was mid-afternoon.  I called an MB dealership in Albuquerque, which was about a four hour drive along I40 and along my planned route.  I talked to someone at the dealership, learned that they are open until 5pm during the week and open again at 7:30 Saturday morning.  I was told that I can park on the street beside the dealership, if I get there Friday after they are closed.  So I purchase a fully charged battery booster device in the parts store, figuring that if I have to shut off my engine for any reason, I can boost it.  I hoped that as long as I could keep the engine running, I could drive all the way to Albuquerque.

So I began the journey.  Before I got out of Amarillo, the dash displayed an “Alternator/Battery” error message; but the vehicle continued to run as normal.  So I continued.

Just after passing an exit to San Jon, New Mexico, all kinds of warning messages began to show up on the dash, then the vehicle began to lose power.  The engine continued to run and the vehicle continued moving down the highway, but at a much slower speed.  I soon realized that it was highly likely that the engine would die.  So I coasted off of the highway onto the shoulder in the shadow of an overpass.  As soon as I stopped, the engine died and the dash display blanked out.

Sportsmobile dead along I40, just past mile marker 353 in New Mexico, iPhone Photo

I called the MB roadside assist again, having to be on hold for 20-30 minutes.  After I explained the problem, a tow truck was dispatched from Albuquerque, 213 miles away.

The tow truck driver called a couple of times to get details about my vehicle and my location.  The tow truck arrived after dark, sometime between 8 and 9PM.

The tow truck driver assured me that he knew exactly where to drop me off at the MB dealership, since he had done this many times.  We arrived at the dealership after midnight.  I got up early Saturday morning and went into the dealership as soon as it opened.  I found the service manager, who had already seen my vehicle parked on the drive entrance behind the service area.  He informed me that I’m at the wrong place.  The Sprinter service had been moved to another location about a mile away and they are not open on Saturday!

The service manager said I needed to call roadside assistance for a tow, as they are not allowed to call on my behalf.  Remembering how long it took to get through on the telephone to MB’s roadside assistance, I decided to call AAA.  I was told a tow truck would be there in about an hour.  The towing service called to ask for a photograph of my vehicle, which I sent right away.  The tow service called to tell me they dropped me off there last night and I’m at the correct location.  I had to inform them of their error, referring to signs posted on the building just behind my van with the address for dropping off Sprinter vans.

The tow truck showed up around 9AM and it was the same truck and driver that dropped me off last night.  He had just gotten home, barely gotten into bed, when he was called out again.

When the tow truck driver dropped me off alongside a city street, adjacent to the cement block wall around the MB Sprinter service center, he told me this might not be a good place to leave my vehicle unattended.  So I decided it best to stay in the van, rather than have my son drive down from the Great Sand Dunes, where he was currently.  (We had talked earlier and our tentative plan, so I would not waste all of two or more days, was for him to pick me up and we would go to the Great Sand Dunes.  I would call the Sprinter service on Monday morning to figure out what to do after that.  There could be more days of delay, depending upon when the service center began looking at my vehicle and if parts had to be ordered, etc.).

So I mounted my solar panels on the roof to keep the house batteries charged and stayed with the van Saturday and Sunday nights, leaving a light on to make it obvious that the vehicle was occupied.

I was tired from not getting much sleep the previous night, but I decided I might as well find a place nearby to grab lunch, since I was stuck here anyway.  I consulted my iPhone and found a food court place called Tin Can Alley a few blocks away.

After calling home to update my wife on my status, I went out looking for the Tin Can Alley.  I actually got all the way there and realized that I had forgotten to bring a mask, which was required to enter.  So I had to walk back to my vehicle, retrieve a mask and walk back to the food court.

Now really tired, I ordered a BBQ slider and coleslaw from one place, then took my order across the food court to a beer place.  I figured I had earned at least one or two beers.  Ironically, they had a pale ale on draft called “Happy Camper”, so I had one with my meal and a second one for desert before hiking back to my vehicle, where I crashed on the bed for a few hours.

To be continued,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, September 25, 2020, PM, Part 1

I stayed around my campsite in the afternoon, waiting for my son and his wife to arrive from the Denver area.  To occupy some of my time I sat outdoors, enjoying the mild weather, reading on my Kindle.

Rio Grande National Forest Campsite. iPhone photograph.

I kept seeing a curious chipmunk scampering about the campsite.  It even jumped onto the arm of my camp chair, startling me.

A curious chipmunk. iPhone photograph.

At one point, I noticed the chipmunk on the side step below the side door of my vehicle, peering inside.  This immediately alarmed me and I jumped up to shoo it away.  Even though I had the bug screen zipped closed, I had neglected to completely fasten the bottom velcro seal.  It was too late.  The chipmunk entered my vehicle.  I went in to try to find it and encourage it to go back outside.

There are plenty of places inside my vehicle for such a small animal to hide.  While I was searching for the chipmunk, my son and DIL arrived.  I left the vehicle to greet them, after which I continued to search for the chipmunk.  I never found the chipmunk and I feared it pouncing upon me as I lay sleeping at night.  Even if the chipmunk did not do harm itself, the shock of being pounced upon in the middle of the night might have caused a physical reaction resulting in my harming myself.  I was also concerned it might hitch a ride back to my home or die inside the vehicle.  To my relief, it apparently found its way back into the great outdoors of Colorado.

Late in the afternoon, we walked into the forest for an afternoon shoot.

Towering Aspens. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, 1/250s, f/11, ISO 200.
Forest Shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), 1/160s, f/11, ISO 640.

Our wandering through the forest eventually led us to an open area on a steep slope, above another portion of the forest below.  I saw streaks of light highlighting the grasses, similar to those I had shot, without great success, the previous day.  But today I managed to get a much better image, with the image below, my favorite from this afternoon’s shoot.  I cropped the image to remove the tops of trees and some sky in the wide angle image that distracted from the main subject, a beam of light, cutting diagonally across the image and ending at a small Aspen.

Forest Light. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), 1/200s, f/11, ISO 640.

Leaving this area, we walked back towards the utility roadway.  Until I looked closely at the image below, I had not realized that it included a portion of my DIL near the bottom left.  I was shooting up from a slope and she was just on the other side of a rise.

Aspens and Late Day Starburst. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm (before crop), 1/200s, f/11, ISO 800.
Aspens and Starburst. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/200s, f/11, ISO 200.

I shot the image above from the utility right of way, looking into the forest to the west of the roadway.

I will cover the last portion of this shoot in the next blog.

Until then,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 24, 2020, Part 3

After my morning shoot near my campsite, I drove westerly along FSR 380.  There were several possible campsites that I had noted from passing through this route earlier in the week.  I drove past the first couple of sites to a large open unrestricted camping area that seemed to be popular with hunters.  There were maybe a few places in that site that might have worked, but it was hilly, uneven, partially muddy and crowded with hunters.  So I backtracked to the only other suitable site in a utility right of way.

Rio Grande National Forest Campsite. iPhone photograph.

There was plenty of room here for my vehicle and my son and DIL’s vehicle and trailer.  They were planning to meet me here tomorrow.  So I put out a couple of cones to mark an area for them, to discourage any other campers or hunters from moving in.

The view from the Sportsmobile awning window. iPhone photograph.

As I was mounting my solar panels on the top of my vehicle, a cowboy on horseback, herding a couple of cows, approached from a little side road into the forest.  He stopped to ask if I had seen any cattle nearby.  When I said no, he then asked if I was a hunter. When I told him I was here only for photography, he told me about one of his relatives that was a professional photographer who traveled around the world making photographs.

After the cowboy moved on, I noted a few passing vehicles slow to look over my campsite, then move on.  Sometime later a pickup truck pulled up next to me, the driver asking if I was staying or leaving.  He was a hunter looking for a campsite for he and his son, who was to meet him later.  We chatted for awhile, then he went a short distance down the side road and set up his camp there.  He stopped by again sometime later to chat again and his son happened to drive up as he was there.  They soon moved on to their campsite and I did not see them again.

Late in the afternoon, I took my camera into the woods to explore the area.

Forest Shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-24mm @ 14mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 200

I had some difficult getting good images during this outing.  Part of this might have been due to my thinking that my photographs in the forest were becoming too much alike and in trying to do something different, I was just not very successful.  When I got around to reviewing my images from this afternoon, I initially passed over nearly all of them, considering them not worthy of processing.  Later, I decided to revisit those images, taking a closer look at each.  I still rejected most of them, but I salvaged a few mediocre ones.

Forest Light, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200.
In the Forest, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 200.
In the Forest, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @14mm (before crop), 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200.
Fallen Aspen leaves on old mossy log.

Until next time,

Ken

 

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 23, 2020, Part 2

Driving westerly along FSR 380, I came to a vacant campsite just off of the roadway.  This was a site that I had noted, when passing by on my trip into Del Norte earlier in the week.  The forested area around this campsite looked promising for photography, so I pulled into the site.

Rio Grande National Forest Campsite. iPhone photograph.
Forest Campsite. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/60s, f/11, ISO 200.

As I was walking around the camping area, I heard a loud, raucous bird, that seemed angry about something.  Thinking that I might be in danger of being attacked by an irate bird, I turned to look for the bird, catching a brief glimpse of it as it flew past me.  It crashed hard into the side of my vehicle and fell to the ground.  It was a beautifully colored woodpecker, which moved a little as I kneeled to inspect it.  I hoped it was just dazed and would recover consciousness and be ok, so I gently picked it up and placed it in the wooded area nearby the campsite.

Kamikaze Woodpecker. iPhone photograph.

Unfortunately, it did not recover.  I can only surmise that it objected to the red color of my vehicle or saw its reflection in the vehicle and thought it was another bird intruding upon its territory, or it was giving me a warning buzz that ended tragically.

Such events always make me wonder about the uncertainties of life and the random convergence of events leading to such tragedies.  Would this have happened, if I had not parked here at this specific time or had I slightly modified my parking spot or backed into the campsite rather than pulling forward into it?

I just hope that I am not the cause of any other tragic events.

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 23, 2020, Part 1

As I walked towards a valley overview for early morning photography, I went past my neighbor campers, a middle age couple, that I had correctly assumed to be hunters, as they prepared to head out on their morning hunt.  We chatted briefly, before I continued on my short hike over the open, frosty, grassy area.

Frosty Morning View. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 50mm, 0.4s, f/11, ISO 64.
Meadow Grass Morning. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 3200.

It was also a little breezy, so I had to use higher ISO than desirable (noise increases with increasing ISO) to get a sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of the grass and/or other vegetation in the images.

After the golden morning light was gone from the distant mountain tops, I continued to shoot as the shadows retreated from the broad meadow.

Cold Ground. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 28mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 1600.

I began working my way down into the meadow towards the sinuous drainages running running across it, with the intent of using the drainage as leading lines,  stopping along the way to shoot a few images of the sunlight sparkling in the morning frost.  I was largely unsuccessful at capturing the sparkle with my lens of choice this morning, although I did not try to get really up close with the lens, so maybe I should not put the failure on the lens.

Frosty Meadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/200s, f/11, ISO 800.
Frosty Meadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 250.

I found thin ice on small pools of water in the drainage, so it apparently got below freezing last night, at least in the low areas in the valley.

Cold Meadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/11, ISO 320.

The beetle killed evergreens on the mountainsides made for much unattractiveness in the scenes here and I’ve tried to minimize that impact in my images.

Sinuous. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 56mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200.

Eventually satisfied that I had achieved as much as I could this morning, I headed back to my vehicle for coffee and a light breakfast, before heading on along FSR 380 looking for my next campsite.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 18, 2020, Part 2

Continuing to drive farther along FSR 250, checking out the scenery and possible campsites, I pulled off the road, when I saw this view of a red top mountain.

A Red Top Mountain. iPhone photograph.

I made a mental note of this location, hoping to return here again, when I had more time to shoot with my DSLR.

Shortly after taking this photo, I came to Stunner Campground at the intersection of FSR 250 and FSR 380.  I was surprised to find that it was not only open, but free and no one else was there.

I pulled into the first campsite that just happened to be a  level, pull through site that would be perfect for my son and DIL’s small camper trailer.  This campsite came with a pair of hiking boots (image below).  I then staked out the next campsite just a bit more down the loop for my vehicle.

Abandoned or Forgotten Boots. iPhone photograph.

 

Stunner Campground Campsite. iPhone photograph.

Just up the hillside, on one side of my campsite, were tailings from an old mine or exploratory mine.

A few other campers began to arrive in the campground a little later with a few staying and a few driving on.

Since I had plenty of time before my son arrived, I did a lot of walking in and around the campground, scouting for potential photographic opportunities.

Stunner Campground, Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

There were many large rocks and boulders scattered around the campground.  The rocks usually had splotches of lichen growing on them in interesting patterns.

Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.
Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.
Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.

I worked my down towards the Alamosa River that ran beside the campground.

Mine Tailings and the Alamosa River at Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

The photo above was taken from atop mine tailings, looking down towards the river and across to a mountainside.  Notice that there are patches of good fall color, but most of the trees are still green or just showing signs of changing.

The beetle killed evergreen trees really spoil the scenery now all around the Rocky Mountains, but there are trees that either are resistant or maybe just not yet attacked by the beetles.

The soil in this area is mineral rich, resulting in an orange-red color in the water, staining the rocks and anything else in the water.  The water is acidic from the naturally occurring minerals and the mine tailing contribute even more to the natural elements in the water.

Mine Tailings above the Alamosa River. iPhone photograph.

There were numerous other indications of old mining operations around the campground and I even saw newish claim stakes in one location.

Stunner Campground View. iPhone photograph.

That little Aspen tree in the photo above really caught my eye, so I had to photograph it with a green evergreen tree as background.  I tried other compositions and close up views, but this one is most pleasing to me.

Mineral stained driftwood along the Alamosa River. iPhone photograph.
Alamosa River at Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

When my son arrived, he said the fall color in this area was the best he had seen on his trip from the Denver area and that there was much smoke from forest fires visible during most of the drive.  There seemed to be little, if any indication of smoke in this area.

We drove around a little after they arrived to decide where to go for a morning shoot the next day.

This is open range country, so there were cows wandering around the forest.  A small herd of cattle moved into the campground during the night, sleeping in the open, grassy meadow of the campground.

Early morning frost and curious cattle in Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

The darker spots in the grass of the photo above are places where the frost did not form, because an animal was laying there during the night.

Much more on this trip to follow,

Ken

 

Colorado, September 2020

I had a small window of time in which to visit Colorado in September, 2020, hoping for good fall color in the Aspens.  It is always difficult to determine the best area to target for the best fall conditions with all of the variables that affect the fall foliage and the weather and/or other environmental conditions that may impact travel.  After much online research and consultations with others, I decided to check out the nearest area, Rio Grande National Forest, to me first, and if that did not look promising, to move on farther north into Colorado.

Since it is a long road trip from my home in Texas to Colorado, I like to make it a two day trip to avoid very long drives.  A convenient stop over location for me is Lake Meredith National Recreation Area northeast of Amarilo, TX.  While I would  like to drive a bit farther on my first day, there are scant camping choices farther north in the Texas panhandle, without driving much longer than I would like.

There are several campgrounds around Lake Meredith, with only one having a few reservable sites.  If I expect hot weather, I will reserve a site so that I can have electric for running the air conditioner in my camper.  Otherwise, a free campsite is fine, since I can get by with my own water and battery power.  The campsite I target, also has nice restrooms and showers, which are available to all campers.

In mid-September the night time temperatures in this area of Texas are cool, so I took a chance on finding a free campsite, which I expected to be in plentiful supply in the middle of a week.  Friday and Saturdays are always busy here, but mid-week is usually not crowded.

When I arrived, there were plenty of free campsites available, but many of the reservable sites were filled.

Free Campsite at Lake Meredith NRA. iPhone photograph.

After settling in, I walked the loop around the camping area to stretch my legs, after the long drive.  One of the campsites on the opposite side of the loop had a group of 6-8 large deer grazing.  The deer seemed wary of my watching them, but they did not run away.

Deer in Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Campground. iPhone photograph.

I had only my iPhone with me, so I could not get good close up shots.  The image above is a zoomed in iPhone shot, so it is low resolution.

I had a long drive on the second leg of my trip, so I got an early start for the second day of my drive.  I was not sure where I would find a spot to camp on the second night, either, so I need plenty of time to search for a suitable overnight spot before dark.

My oldest son and his wife were also planning to meet me somewhere on the third day of my trip.  So I first had to not only verify the suitability of the fall color in the Rio Grande National Forest, but secondly to find a suitable campground for all of us, if we decided to stay in this area.  Otherwise, they would drive north and I would have to drive to meet them elsewhere.

I arrived near the edge of Rio Grande National Forest about mid-afternoon, so it was looking good for having plenty of daylight for scouting out a campsite.  On the discouraging side, I saw much freeze damage (brown, shriveled leaves), caused by an early season storm that came through a few days earlier, on the Aspens between Walsenberg, CO and my destination.

The drive became much slower, when I departed the paved route and went into the forest via Forest Service Road 250, which was rough, even though fairly well maintained.  There were also many downed trees from the strong winds that blew through in that early season storm.  The fallen trees had mostly been removed from the main portion of the road, but some still hung low overhead or protruded into the roadway and had to be avoided.  (I have a long superficial scratch, aka Colorado Pin Stripe, along one side of my vehicle as a result of moving over a little too far, to allow room for an approaching vehicle).

The fall color was spotty, with some good patches, but many trees were still green or just beginning to change.  I was not convinced that I would remain here.

Bad News? iPhone photograph.

After seeing the sign in the photo above, I was also concerned about finding suitable camping areas.  There are free, dispersed campsites in unrestricted areas, but these can be small.  So even though I might fit into one, my son might not be able to easily get his vehicle and trailer into one of those.

It was also hunting season, so many of the free camping areas were crowded with hunters’ tents, trucks, RV trailers, flat bed trailers, and horse trailers.  After much driving around, I finally went back to a dispersed campground off of FSR 247 past Platoro Reservoir that I had passed up earlier, where there was still some open space in the camping area.

Dispersed Camping, Rio Grande National Park. iPhone photograph.

This was in a high elevation area and it had become cloudy and colder.  I walked around the campsite, checking out possible photograph viewpoints, and began to feel the effects of the altitude.  So I decided it best to restrict my physical activity this evening and give my body more time to acclimate before moving around too much.

I believe that the mountain peak on the right side of the image above is Conejos Peak and this campsite is just before FSR 247 crosses the Adams Fork of Conejos River.

With no cell signal, I communicated with my son via messages on my InReach Explorer GPS device, expressing my concern about the suitability of this area for our purposes.

This post is getting lengthy, so I will continue later.  Stay tuned to see what evolves.

Ken

 

Pre-Sunset and Night Photo Preparation, Southeastern Colorado, July 31, 2020

We returned to our vehicles, after our hike up to a saddle in a volcanic dike, to have dinner and prepare for sunset and set up for night photography.  The weather was threatening with heavy clouds being blown in by strong winds from the northwest.

Late Day Storm iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I’ve always liked the way the light changes just before a storm.  We were a little concerned about the prospects for sunset and night photography, but the weather report showed decreasing chances of rain as the evening progressed and only a slight chance of overnight rain.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The sky was mostly covered with thick clouds in all directions.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a modest dinner, we gathered our gear and hiked up onto the volcanic ridge to the south and picked our spots for sunset and night images.  We used applications on our iPhones to determine when the moon would rise and set, so we that we could program our remote shutter releases to shoot in that time interval.  We also knew where the moon would be in the sky, so we could decide which direction we wanted to shoot to take best advantage of the moon for lighting the landscape.

Night shooting setup iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see that the cloud cover is still heavy, but it seems to be clearing, with the clouds blowing to the southeast.

Cloudy sky. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The image above is to the south of my selected location.

Sunset sky view. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Looking back to the northwest from my position, the clouds are much thinner now.  Our vehicles are just visible in the center left of this image.

Anchored leg of tripod for extended night shooting. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a few sunset images, I finalized my night composition and made sure the tripod was stable and added a few rocks around one leg for additional security.  One can see that the standing room is tight and requires care in moving around here.

That’s all for now.  I will have the sunset and night image results in the next post.

Ken

 

Sunrise Photography, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 29, 2020

My son and I camped on BLM land north of Del Norte in July, 2020.  We chose a location adjacent to a volcanic ridge, where we would photograph at sunrise and sunset.

Arising early in the morning, we only had to hike a short distance to our first photo location.  I initially chose to go to the south side of the ridge, looking for a good view of the large ridge with interesting foreground objects.

I first chose a tree as a foreground item, but I did not like that location, as it seemed too far from the ridge.  I then moved up the slope towards the ridge, to a large boulder to use in the foreground.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

This early image was made as the sunrise light just began to illuminate a portion of the ridge, with all of the foreground still in shadow.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64

As the sunlight progressed over the ridge, I changed my composition, moving to the left of the boulder.  Note that sunlight is just beginning to highlight the small tree in front of the boulder and a little of the grass clumps in the foreground.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64

Eventually, the early morning light moved down the slope, highlighting more of the foreground.  When I saw the light hitting the small clump of cacti on the boulder, I knew I had the shot that I wanted.

My son, who was shooting from the top of the lower portion of the ridge, called to me telling me that I should move up to the ridge crest.  So I picked my way up the steep rock covered slope, where I made the image below.

Sunrise Ridge, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64

I tested a few other compositions from this location on the ridge, but none of those worked out very well.  There were some impressively long shadows in the valley to the south of this ridge.  I made a few exposures with those shadows in the landscape image, but all of my compositions from this vantage point were disappointing.

We soon retreated to our campsite for breakfast, after which we will do a bit of scouting in the general area during the mid-day hours, then return here for a sunset shoot.

Until then, stay safe,

Ken

 

 

 

Cathedral Creek Trail, Scouting Photographs, July 2020

I left Teal Campground, heading towards Del Norte, Colorado, expecting to meet up with my son somewhere in that area, after he drove down from Denver to spend a few more days with me in the southeastern portion of Colorado.

When I got back into a cell phone coverage area, I got a message from my son suggesting that we meet at Cathedral Campground north of US 160 between South Fork and Del Norte.

After driving miles on narrow, rough forest service roads, I arrived at Cathedral Campground, found a suitable campsite with an open site, which I claimed for my son, across the campground loop from my site.  It would be several hours before my son arrived, so I decided to hike a portion of a trail that went up the mountainside along Cathedral Creek to scout for possible sunset and/or sunrise photography locations.

Embargo Creek Crossing at Cathedral Campground. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I immediately had to cross Embargo Creek, which ran along the east side of the camping area.   A short distance along the trail, it intersected Cathedral Creek and continued to follow the creek uphill.

Cliffside alone Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After hiking a fair distance, there were views of cliffs along each side of the trail.  So I began to look for good, unobstructed views of the rock outcrops and estimate the potential for getting late day or early morning light on those cliff sides.

A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

All of the views from the trail were obstructed to some extent by trees.

A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I could see the possibility of hiking through woods to maybe get beyond some of the near trail obstructions, usually requiring a creek crossing and/or new route finding off of the official trail.

Cliff view, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

 

Cliffside, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The views to the west, like that above, might be good for sunrise photography.

An obscured view of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were many beetle killed trees, which spoiled the views, along the trail.

Cliffside, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

It was a partly cloudy afternoon with more clouds building up, as is normal in the late afternoons in the mountains.  A late afternoon thunderstorm would not be good to be out in here.

Cathedral Creek, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were a number of creek crossings along the trail.  This one was the prettiest.  I took the above photo, while standing on rocks in the creek and the one below after crossing the creek.

Cathedral Creek, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I made an iPhone video of the creek at this crossing and it can be viewed here.

I failed to bring along my hiking stick, so I had to balance on logs and/or rocks at a number of creek crossings.  At one such crossing, I had to stoop over, putting my left hand on a small log for balance as I crossed.  After getting across, I noticed a young couple watching from just up the trail.  They congratulated me upon my safe crossing.  I decided that I needed to find a suitable stick along the trail to use as a hiking stick to balance myself at the crossings on the way back down the trail.

The couple told me there were views of cliffs a little further up the trail, but the views were from just below the cliffs and the views were all obstructed by dead trees.

I continued up the trail for a while longer, before deciding to turn back.

An obscured vies of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
An obscured view of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I can see that one might cross the creek, hike to the west through brushy areas and maybe get beyond the major obstructions.  But these views were a long way up the trail from the campground.  The best views were to the west, which meant hiking up the trail in the early morning dark to be at one of these locations for sunrise.  The trail ran between two mountain ridges, so it was likely that the rock outcrops to the west might not get the golden hour sunlight.

The views to the east of the trail were not as good and the golden hour sunset light would be limited, at best, and one would have to hike back down the trail in the dark after a sunset shoot.

Wildflowers along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were a few scattered wildflowers near the creek.

An unidentified moth, iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I spotted this colorful moth spreading its wings on a plant beside the trail.  I tried to identify it, but I could find none that looked like this on a number of websites.  I submitted this photo to one site that supposedly would help identify moths and butterflies, but it has been weeks since posting and I’ve gotten no response.

As usual, the hike down took much less time than the hike up the trail and this time I used a stick that I picked up along the trail as an aid in balancing at the creek crossings, making those crossings much easier and faster.

I checked my GPS device upon arriving back at my campsite to get an estimate of the change in elevation from my campsite to the highest point I hiked to on the trail.  The elevation of my campsite was  9400 feet and the highest elevation I had recorded on the trail was 10,114 feet.  So I had climbed up at least 714 feet in elevation.

My son arrived soon after I returned to my campsite and after a short discussion about the photographic possibilities here, we decided to move on to another area north of Del Norte that my son had explored during an earlier visit to southeastern Colorado.

More on that later,

Ken