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The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 3

As promised in the last post, I want to elaborate upon the making of this image:

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

More precisely, I want to talk about a few of the many possible compositional variations around this scene.

Firstly, I spotted this feature from a distance and I wanted to be careful in approaching it.  If I got too close and then decided to back off, I would already have ruined the scene with my footprints in the sand.

So I began to photograph from a distance and slowly worked my way closer to the “driftwood”.  I also had some zoom capability with my 14-24mm wide angle lens.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 1.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 2.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 3.

The light changed as I approached and I tried including more sky in my compositions.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 4.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 5
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021.  Driftwood 6.

I think I’m much too far away in Driftwood 1.  So I worked my way closer.

I think I’m still too far away in Driftwood 3 and it’s a little dark.  I like the sky in this image and the lack of features at the interface between the sand and sky, giving this image a clean, simple look.  Maybe this makes it more dramatic?

I like the closeness and the angle of view in Driftwood 4, but I cut off a small portion of the driftwood’s shadow in this image.  Cutting off shadows is something that I try to avoid, whenever possible.  So I zoomed out a little and made Driftwood 5.  Zooming out here got more sky in the image, which I like.

I got much closer for Driftwood 6, but I do not think this is an optimal angle of view.

I lean towards Driftwood 2 and 5 as my favorites. I’m not sure which is best, but I lean towards 5.  I think that I could have made a better image than either of these two.  Maybe it is good to never be quite satisfied with our photographs, so that we continue to strive to get better images.

As always, readers’ opinions and critiques are welcome,

Ken

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, March 2021, Part 1

We were in the sand dunes before sunrise of the first morning of our March 2021 visit.  Hiking in sand requires some effort, but at least during the winter, some of the sand is frozen on the surface, making it a little easier to walk on.

Photographing the dunes in the early morning has the advantage of overnight winds wiping away or muting the footprints of the previous days’ visitors.  Still one might have to hunt for places to avoid remaining footprints.  Caution is also required in approaching an area to photograph, so one’s own footprints are not ruining the scene.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

Those lumpy looking features in the left center of the image above are frozen parts of the sand dunes and make good foreground objects in the vastness of the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

These dunes cover a vast area and we are barely in the edge of the dunes and well below the highest peak.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

It was good to have early morning clouds over the mountains to the east of the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

I varied my compositions by moving around slightly or carefully approaching foreground objects, so as not to trample the natural patterns in the sand as the sunrise light progressed over the dunes.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

The photo above is nearly the same composition as the first image of this post, but the light has changed with the rising sun and the shadows are longer and more pronounced.

Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021

Moving just a few feet can make a dramatic difference in an image in the dunes, as does the changing light conditions.

More from the dunes in the next post,

Ken

Zapata Falls, March 2021

Even though we had reserved our Bandelier campsites for a couple of more days, we decided to journey north to the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado, since we were not satisfied with the photographic opportunities in Bandelier at this time.

The campground in the Great Sand Dunes National Park is not open in the winter, but there is a decommissioned Colorado State Park about 20-30 minutes west of the Great Sand Dunes.  At the time we were here, this decommissioned park was managed by Colorado’s Game and Fishing agency.  To stay in the park, one had to have a Colorado fishing license.  So we each purchased a two day fishing license at a local convenience store, which allowed us to stay two nights.  Other than the cost of the license, which for an out of stater was still less than the typical fee to enter and stay at a Colorado State Park, there was no other fee to stay in this facility and there were still electric hook ups.  Having external electric power was great, since the night time temperatures were in the teens (degF).

The requirement to have a fishing license to stay in these wildlife and fishing areas were already set to change in May.  Now one can purchase an inexpensive yearly pass that will allow one to stay in such places.

Our first outing, the afternoon of our arrival, in this area was to Zapata Falls, which is a few miles outside the National Park.  We had visited these falls last summer, but it was crowded and many visitors were not wearing masks in close proximity to each other in the confined area near the falls.  So we were not able to get close to the falls, which are not visible from a distance.

During the winter, there are still visitors, but many fewer.  The drive from the paved road is rocky and rough and there was construction work along this route, when we were there.

At the end of the access road, one has to hike about 3/4 mile to the falls.  The trail is wide and rocky and slightly uphill most of the way.  It is much more pleasant hiking this trail in cold weather than in the heat of summer.  There were patches of icy snow pack on the trail, so it was occasionally slippery, requiring prudent care while walking.

The falls are contained in a narrow canyon and one has to walk in the stream to view the falls.  The stream is usually shallow, so even in the summer it is not to difficult to walk, but the rocks can be slippery.

In the winter the stream and fall freeze over on the surface, requiring one to walk on very slippery ice.  As it turns out I had ice cleats for my hiking shoes, that I had purchased a couple of years ago for a winter visit to Bandelier National Monument, where I was expecting icy trails; but there was no ice there and I had never used the cleats.  Today I got to use them and they really made it much easier to walk on the ice.  While others were slipping and sliding on the ice, we were nonchalantly walking around on the ice.  My son, being from snowy and icy Colorado, had ice cleats, too.

Setting up.

One can see how narrow the canyon is in the photo above.  The main portion of the falls are actually around the bend.  In the summer one might get a little closer to the falls, getting wet with the spray.  With the ice cover on the stream, it was not possible to safely get much closer and still be able to stand on the ice with a tripod and camera.

Getting the shot. Frozen Zapata Falls and Stream.
A downstream view from Zapata Falls.

A view downstream from near the falls, shows an exaggerated narrowness of the canyon from my point of view.  There were thinner icy covered areas of the stream, requiring care in where one stepped.  Wet feet here would be uncomfortably cold.

Frozen Zapata Falls and Stream
Frozen Zapata Falls

Next stop the Great Sand Dunes.

Until then,

Ken

Bandelier National Monument, Upper Waterfall on the Frijoles River

From the visitor center area there is a trail to a waterfall.  The trail is supposed to go to two waterfalls an upper and a lower on the Frijoles River; but the trail to the lower falls was not open, presumably due to damage to the trail and safety concerns.

The trail is not a long one, but it has some steep portions.  Still it was not overly difficult.  Initially the trail follows beside and crosses the river at one or two places, then climbs out of the river valley, going up the valley wall.

As one nears the waterfall, a deep canyon comes into view.  Geologists will find the canyon wall interesting as many layers of rock and geologic features are exposed.

Frijoles River Canyon, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021

The Frijoles River dumps into the Rio Grande at the end of this canyon.

There is a view point for the falls, after one hikes past the falls and looks back upstream.  The trail here is far above the river and there is not a way to get close to the upper falls.

Upper Frijoles Falls, Bandelier National Monument, March 2020

A big lens is required for getting a close up of the falls.  We planned to come back here again, but we never got back.  So these images are all I have.

Upper Frijoles Falls, Bandelier National Monument, March 2020

This wraps up this visit to Bandelier National Monument.

Next up:  Zapata Falls and The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.

Until then,

Ken

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 4 – Tsankawi 2

This is a continuation of a previous post with photographs from the ancient Native American site, Tsankawi, a part of the Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Trail Fragment.

Up above the main continuous trail through Tsankawi, I spotted a portion of a trail that was obviously out of place.  This part apparently broke away from its original location and lodged here many years ago.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Contemplation 2.

The depth of this portion of the trail is impressive.  The pathways are narrow, which suggests that the people that made these were not large people.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Deep, Narrow and Steep.

It took a little effort to navigate some portions of these ancient paths, especially when carrying a daypack and DSLR.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Curves and Dead End.

Interestingly, this portion of the trail had dual pathways, but one was a dead end.  Was this two lane path created by having one foot on one side and the other foot on the other side of the trail?  Each side is too narrow for having both feet within the narrow channel.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Evidence of a dwelling, Shelter or storage area.

There were numerous indications of dwellings, shelters or storage areas along the pathways of Tsankawi.  Some areas were off limits for visitors, so we did not get to see everything here.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Photographing the interior of a cave.

The entrance to this cave (above) seems to have a torso with head shape.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Cave.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Caves.

There were numerous caves in some areas.  Notice the foot and/or hand holds in the rocks around these caves.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi View.

A desert view from the main trail around the Tsankawi area.

This wraps up the best photos that I managed to get in this amazing place.  Perhaps someday I will get back again, when conditions are more favorable for photography.

Until next time,

Ken

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 3 – Tsankawi 1

We visited Tsankawi again one afternoon, but we never really got to be here at the very best time of the day for photography.  Although, we did have some cloudy sky, which helped add a little interest at times.

Tsankawi is really an amazing place.  I was most impressed by the paths created by Native Americans many years ago.  Those ancient people walked the same paths so often as to wear deep trenches in the rock.  Sometimes the trenches were only a few inches deep and sometimes several feet deep.  Even though the rock may not be super hard here, it is not soft either, so it must have taken many walkers over many years to create such deep pathways in the stone.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Walking Through the Past 1, monochrome with selective colorization.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.Walking Through the Past 2, monochrome with selective colorization.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Trail.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Contemplation.  Monochrome with selective colorization.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Old Tree and Fractured Rock with Petroglyphs

One has to look closely to see the old, worn petroglyphs, of which there were many, in some of the rock faces.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021. Lone Tree.
Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Tsankawi Petroglyphs.

Viewing a larger image on Flickr will allow for better resolution of the many petroglyphs on this rock face.

Tsankawi, Bandelier NM, March 2021.  Small Evergreen Tree growing in a crack in the Tsankawi desert area.  Monochrome with selective colorization.

To be continued,

Ken

 

 

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 2

We woke up to a heavy snow cover in our campground the second morning of our visit here.  We had been watching the weather forecast and expected snow over a large area, we just could not judge how much would fall at our location, which was a higher elevation than that used in the weather forecasts .

Snow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone Photo
Snow in Bandelier Campground, March 2021, iPhone Photo

Judging by the depth of snow on the flat surfaces, it looks like 6-8 inches of cover.

After making a few early morning iPhone photos and taking care of a few housekeeping chores, I began to walk around the campground area with my DSLR.

I managed to isolate a few individual, snow covered trees against the overcast sky.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021. Tree and Clouds 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Tree and Clouds 2.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Monochrome Tree and Snow.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Skeleton Tree in Snow.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Towering Tree in Snow.

As I walked around, I tried to capture a few small features in the snow covered landscape.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Grass in Snow 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Grass in Snow, Monochrome.

And anything else that looked unique or interesting.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Crawling Snow Covered Tree Creature.

A distant mountainside was visible through the forest and I tried to frame that in a few photographs, but the 24-70mm lens did not allow for close ups of the distant mountains tops.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Distant Mountains 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Distant Mountains 2.

I think the individual trees are the best images that I captured here; but here are a few miscellaneous other images to give a feel for the general look of the snow covered forest area around the campground.

Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 1.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 2.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 3.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 4.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 5.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Snow Forest 6.
Snow covers Bandelier Campground, March 2021.  Old and Fallen, Old and Standing.

It is good that I got out early to capture the snow, since it began to melt away even as I made my way back to my van.  It was essentially all gone by late morning.

More on Bandelier later,

Ken

Bandelier National Monument, March 2021, Part 1

This post was prematurely published due to a mistake by the author, during the editing and preview process, getting my blogs out of chronological order and maybe causing confusion of followers.  Consequently, I’ve made a few edits, trying to correct poor writing and/or errors and now I will republish this item and hope there are no more glaring errors.  My apologies for the confusion.

After setting up in the campground at Bandelier National Monument, we drove down into the canyon to the visitor center and made a scouting hike upstream along the stream that runs through the Frijoles Canyon.  Actually, the stream is referred to as the Frijoles River, even though it is usually just a narrow stream of water.  I suppose at times of heavy precipitation, that little stream can become a raging river.   We hiked an undetermined distance, but I’m guessing maybe about a mile along the river before turning back.

We decided that the photographic opportunities would be slim along that trail, unless there was early morning frost or maybe snow cover to provide more interest.

We returned to the canyon the next (first) morning of our stay here with our cameras, hoping for better photographic opportunities than we had seen on our scouting hike.

The park gate opening and closing times limit the access time to the canyon, so golden hour photography was not a possibility during our visit.  This might not matter, since the canyon walls limit the time of the sunlight arriving and exiting the canyon.  Some times of the year may be better than others.

Unfortunately, we did not get snow, nor even a heavy frost.  Nevertheless, we continued hiking and trying to get a few interesting photographs.  I was mostly unsuccessful in my efforts and I have chosen not to present any of the results of my attempts at creative photography here.

Early on the hike, we came upon several deer that seemed curious about us, but not concerned.  I suppose they were accustomed to humans.

Deer, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021
Deer, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021

A second deer, going in the opposite direction of this first one, came along and they each eyed each other in an appraising manner, before continuing on their way.

Deer, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021

There are many Native American ruins and cave dwelling in the canyon with many near the visitors’ center.  Having toured those on previous trips, we continued along the trail towards a more distant ruin called the Alcove House.  My son had visited the Alcove House during a previous visit, but it was not open when I was first here, so this was my first time to see this area of the park.

To get up to the Alcove House ruins requires climbing a number of ladders and steps up the canyon side.

Ladder & Sign, Bandelier National Monument, March 2021

Much of the area at the final destination is roped off, which limits photographic compositions.

Native American Ruins in Bandelier National Monument, March 2021

In the afternoon, we made a scouting hike of a loop trail through Tsankawi, a Native American area  near White Rock, New Mexico that is a part of the Bandelier National Monument.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my iPhone along, so I did not get any scouting photographs, which is too bad, since I think I missed opportunities to get photographs under a more interesting sky than we had during later visits.

That’s the highlight for today’s activity.

Ken

Bad Start to Spring Break Road Trip, March 2021, Part 3

Early Monday morning, I went into the Sprinter Service Center as soon as the gates opened.  I found two service technicians in the service building and explained the problem to them.  I was told by the one that would look into the problem, that the battery would be put on a charger first and then he expected to begin work on the van around mid-morning.

He then gave me a ride back to the main MB dealership facility, where I would have to wait.  The technician apparently got to work on my van sooner than I expected, as I was informed by the service manager that it was ready to go much sooner than I had expected.

The problem turned out to be a simple fix, once it was traced down.  There is a connection below the van between the battery and alternator, where Sportsmobile wired into the van battery for the automatic step motor.  According to the technician, Sportsmobile did a poor job of wiring here, pinching wires, partially insulting the connections between the wires at the terminal with shrink wrap and the nut securing all the wire ends onto a terminal stud was loose.  The nut looked like a self locking variety, so it should not have backed off due to vibration.

Had I known where to look, I could easily have cured the problem myself and been on my merry way much sooner.

Anyway, I dismounted the solar panels, packed them away, and updated my son on my status.

He informed me that the weather forecast for Bisti had taken a turn for the worse, with much snow expected and colder night time temperatures.  A little snow there might make for some interesting photographic opportunities, but a lot of snow might cover features too much and melting snow would render the clay soil a real problem to deal with.  And the snow would melt rapidly during daylight hours.

Consequently, we decided to meet at Bandelier National Monument, which was only a 2-3 hour drive from Albuquerque.  I was not elated about Bandelier, since I had overnighted there a couple of years ago and I was not overly impressed with the photography possibilities there.

But the campground in Bandelier is very nice, usually not crowded, especially at this time of the year, which is good, since the campsites are first come, first serve, with no reservable sites.  There are also clean, newish,  heated restrooms, but no showers.

I arrived at the campground first, drove through both campground loops and picked out two campsites that looked suitable, then went to the automated reservation kiosk and reserved those two sites for a couple of nights.  We were not sure how long we would stay.

My son came into the campground shortly after I pulled into my site.  After we got set up, we went down into the deep canyon, where the visitor’s center is and most of the Native American ruins are located.  This is the most visited portion of this national monument.

We hiked for about a mile along the stream/river that runs through the canyon to scout for possible photographic opportunities for the next day.  We were expecting some snow and we decided that snow would improve the scenery here.

We then retreated to our campsites for the night.

So finally the “bad” part of this trip was over and we were making plans for the remainder of this Spring Break Trip.

More later,

Ken

Bad Start to Spring Break Road Trip, March 2021, Part 2

Stranded with a vehicle electrical problem in Albuquerque, at least I had my Kindle Reader and other reading materiel to occupy some of my time, especially at night, when I had to stay in my vehicle.

I had a full day in Albuquerque on Sunday and I needed to find something to do.  I checked a map application on my phone, looking for some place within walking distance to visit.  I noted a number of places of interest, but most were long walks there and back.  I suppose I could have called a Taxi, but I needed exercise, so I looked for places not excessively far away.

I found a “Wildflower Park” on the map not too far away, so I headed there.  The park was much smaller than I expected and there were no wildflowers.  Most of the trees were still barren, too.  There was a small group of several people flying a drone around the park and a lady walking her dog.

I walked to the far side of the park, crossed a bridge over a drainage canal and checked my map app again.  I found a hot air balloon park on the map not too far away.  Rather than walk back through the park, the way the map directions suggested, I walked along the canal, since it appeared that could get to another street and a shorter route to the balloon park that way.  When I got near the street of my destination, there were high fences on my side of the canal.  I had to cross the canal to get to the street.  The sides of the concrete canal were steep, but there was no water in the canal and there were iron loops set into the concrete where I crossed, which I suspect are there for emergency egress from the canal.  I did not need to use those bars to walk down into the canal nor up the other side.

After a short walk, I got to the edge of the balloon park, with metal bar gates across the street entrances from my side of the park.  I could either go around the ends of the barrier or step over from where I stood, so I stepped over and walked along a dirt path beside a fence until I came to a street and I could see a large building in the distance, which turned out to be the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum.

Hot Air Balloon Museum, iPhone Photo

I paid the nominal entrance fee and went inside, wearing my mask as required.  There were interesting exhibits, photographs and much information about the history of hot air ballooning in this museum.

Hot Air Balloon Camera, iPhone Photo

I used my iPhone to capture some of the more interesting and easily photographed items.  There were many large displays that did not lend themselves to being easily photographed.

I captured my reflection in a number of the photos, such as the one above, but I cropped my head off in the post processing.

Poster in Albuquerque hot air museum, iPhone Photo

In the early days of hot air ballooning, entrepreneurs used them to provide entertainment, as depicted in the poster above with the young lady in the swing hanging from the bottom of the balloon basket.  She seems rather scantily clad for that era.

Poster, Albuquerque hot air balloon museum, iPhone Photo

I have to wonder, if the poster above is realistic or just a come on.  The parachute seems rather small and hanging onto that small handle with one hand, while dropping from 8000 feet seems rather risky.  Better have a good grip and no sweaty palms.

Hot air balloon trapeze, iPhone Photo

This display contains one of the actual swings used in these balloon trapeze acts.  It looks rather small, too.

When I finished my tour of the balloon museum, I walked back to the Tin Can Alley food court, where I had a late lunch, early dinner BBQ sandwich and a couple of pale ale draft beers, then I went back to my vehicle for the remainder of the day.

To be continued,

Ken