If there had not been so many people climbing on and around these rocks, I might have gone down closer to the lake shore and spent more time photographing here, even though the light was harsh for getting the best images.
There were other beach areas that I wanted to visit, but this area in the summer months is much too crowded, and with numerous road construction projects along the route around the lake, getting around was slow and difficult, so I decided now was not a good time to try to get into those areas.
After lunch in North Lake Tahoe, we visited some local shops, where I chatted with a local photographer, who had many beautiful photos of this area and many of Bonsai Rocks at sunset and sunrise. He said he did not go to Bonsai Rocks in the summer, because there were always too many tourist around.
Here is a link to that photographer’s webpage, where one can see the photographic possibilities in this area: Bill Stevenson.
This wraps up photography from our August road trip.
From Yosemite we traveled to South Lake Tahoe, where we stayed for a couple of nights before hitting the road for the long drive back home. The drive to Lake Tahoe was a scenic one with the first part a long drive through the western portion of Yosemite that we had not yet seen; although, that portion of Yosemite is not nearly as scenic as the eastern portion.
My GPS changed our route after we exited the park, supposedly due to a road closure on the original route. Maybe this was a good change, since I had seen portions of the original route during a visit to that area earlier in the year. So I got to see some backroad areas that I would not have seen, otherwise and a long portion of the drive, coming down from a higher elevation, was on a steep, curvy road where the road was visible for a good distance ahead and the steep hills with the roadway winding through was a scenic, if slow drive.
I had done a little online research of the Lake Tahoe area and had a few places in mind for photography. My first plan was to photograph sunrise at a site referred to as “Bonsai Rocks”, because of the little trees growing on big boulders in the edge of Lake Tahoe. I only had indications on a map of where these rocks were located and some descriptions of where to park and follow a trail to the “beach”. So I got up early in the morning intent on going out to find these big rocks with the little trees. But I suddenly realized that I would be wandering around in the dark trying to find a place that I was not sure how to find and I decided that might not be the safest thing to do, so I went back to bed.
After breakfast, my wife and I headed out to drive around Lake Tahoe and I planned to find those rocks along the way. I used my GPS directions on my phone to navigate to the place marked as “Bonsai Rocks”, finding that the destination was a pullout along the highway that skirted around the lake. I had visualized the roadway being adjacent to a beach area, where one could see those rocks from the roadway. That is not what I found. There was no sign at the pull out designating it as an access point for Bonsai Rocks, although I saw numerous trails going down the steep bank of the lake. So I grabbed my camera and began working my way down one of the trails. There were crisscrossing trails going down towards the lake, but no markings. Maybe these trails have been created over the years by people like me wandering around in this area trying to find those Bonsai Rocks. Not only were the Bonsai Rocks not visible from the roadway, they were mostly not visible from the trails, until one lucked upon the correct one and got close to the lake. I initially went the wrong way, finding some big boulders in the edge of the lake, but not the ones I was looking for. So I kept exploring the trails until I spotted the Bonsai Rocks.
All this wandering around these trails in the daylight made me realize I made the right decision not to try this in the dark. Had I had time to scout the area first, I could have marked a trail digitally and followed that digital route or I could have probably had enough early morning pre-sunrise light to navigate by, if I had known where to go.
Not sure that I would actually find the Bonsai Rocks, I made photos of the lake, whenever I could do so along the maze of trails. I even came upon a young couple preparing to swim or sun on some of the near shore boulders and they could not tell me where the Bonsai Rocks were located.
Finally, after much wandering around and working my way northward, I spotted the Bonsai Rocks, which were covered by people, as I had expected from seeing so many kayakers and boaters on the lake.
Shooting from another point of view, I thought it would make no difference which way one turned at the T, as either way would let one see more of the awesome geology of this area.
Standing in the shadow of the massive rocks behind me, I watched as the early morning sun began to highlight the top of the rock features in front of me.
I wandered back through and over rocks and boulders to the place of my initial shots this morning. I climbed onto a massive rock and made one last image, wrapping up this sunrise shoot.
After shooting from behind these rock features, I began to wander around the area, looking for other photo possibilities, but you will have to come back again to see how that search turned out.
After leaving the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, my next primary destination was Toadstool Geologic Area in Nebraska. Since the drive between these two destinations was long, I had plans to break up that drive with a couple of overnight stops along the way.
I stopped in Kansas at Lake Scott State Park the first night. The campground is adjacent to a lake with hills surrounding it, which I had hoped would be scenic enough for a few good photographs. I was disappointed. The campground was ok, but nothing special. The park is old, in need of updating, the lake was not scenic and some facilities, such as docks, were in great disrepair. Long grass and weeds along part of the lake had been recently cut, but the clippings were littering the grounds and walkways. It did not appear that the caretakers were concerned with the general appearance of the park.
My second planned overnight was a dispersed and free camping area at Clear Creek State Wildlife Management Area along the North Platte River in Nebraska. When I checked the weather report for that area there were warning of severe thunderstorms and I knew from research into this site that rain might render the dirt roads into the area impassable. I decided it best to bypass that site and make a long drive on to Toadstool Geologic area.
There are only six first come, first serve campsites at Toadstool. I wanted to arrive early enough in the day that there might still be campsites available. This is the main reason that I had not initially planned to drive directly from Lake Scott, Kansas to Toadstool. If I arrived late in the day and the campsites were taken, I would have to backtrack to other possible sites, with no guarantee of finding a place to stay nearby.
The final stretch of roadway into Toadstool is a 16 mile gravel roadway. That roadway was rough and extremely washboarded, when I drove in, requiring slow driving.
Luckily, when I arrived at the campsite, there were at least 4 sites available. I had planned to stay two nights here, but it was hotter than usual here with daytime temperatures in the nineties. Nighttime temperatures drop into the upper fifties, making for comfortable sleeping. There are no water or electric hookups here. I had plenty of water, but electric would have been good to have with such hot daytime temperatures.
I decided that having to hang out during the heat of the day would not be pleasant, so I only registered for one night. If, after exploring the area, I decided another day would be beneficial, I could always extend my stay.
After registering at the campsite kiosk, I finished setting up my van for the overnight stay, raising the penthouse and opening all the vents, opening the side and back doors to allow air to circulate through to help reduce the inside temperature.
In the meantime, others arrived and soon all the sites were taken. It was fortunate that I did not arrive any later this afternoon.
I had plenty of time prior to sunset, so I hiked into the area around the campsite to scout locations for photography. I found a few possible location in the hillsides to the south, but none of those really appealed to me. Eventually, coming back down into the valley below the hillsides to the west of the campground, I found interesting features and decided this was the best place to return for sunset and maybe even sunrise.
King of the Hill
When I returned to the area I had chosen for sunset photography there were a few young people and a photographer, shooting what I think were engagement photos, that I had to work around. Eventually, that group left and I had the place to myself.
Supporter or OppressorSupporting Cast
I shot a number of images of the rock features with variation on the compositions and the clouds moving overhead.
As I headed back into the heart of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, I spotted a massive granite outcrop with large boulders strewn around on it. I stopped to investigate. My initial impression was that the slope up the slick rock granite was too steep to safely navigate. Yet, I decided to cautiously proceed.
Wichita Mountains Granite and Long Boulder, iPhone Scouting Photo
I went up a portion of the slope that was the easiest to climb. Looking down I saw a heart shaped rock on a pedestal that was not visible from below, since it was behind brushy growth at the edge of the roadway.
After some initial exploration along the lower, less steep slope, I back tracked and went through the brush to the portion of the slope where the heart shaped stone is located. The incline beyond was very steep and I had to consider how best to attack it. I decided that a switch back climb would be the safest approach and proceeded upward.
The contours in the massive granite seemed to be enticing me to come on to see what was above.
About this time, an official park vehicle came by on the roadway below. The driver yelled at me to warn me that I would fall. I waved an acknowledgement of the message. The vehicle continued on its way, as did I.
I think this could be a good place for sunrise photography and maybe I will get back here at another time; but now it is time to end this and find my way down,
The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge campground hosts recommended Mount Scott as a place for sunset photography and so did the rangers in the visitor center, so I drove up the scenic drive to check out the views.
The steep drive up Mount Scott passed by large boulder fields and scenic views across the Oklahoma landscape. I stopped at a number of pull outs to check out the local views.
View From the slope of Mount Scott, iPhone Scouting PhotoLichen on Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
Many of the granite boulders here are covered with yellow and grey lichen, forming interesting patterns on the rock faces.
Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
There are massive granite rock faces along the route to the top of Mount Scott.
Yellow Wildflowers and Yellow Lichen, Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting PhotoShoe Rock, Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
I’ve labeled this photo “Shoe Rock”, since I can see a shoe shape in the rock on the bottom left.
Blocky Rocks and Sky, Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
When I reached the parking lot on the top of Mount Scott, I initially walked around the perimeter of the lot, looking out over the views. I was discouraged to see much litter in the area around the parking lot. I picked up a few plastic bags and put them into my trash. I did not see any trash receptacles in the area. When I am shooting photographs in such public areas, I often have to remove trash from the scene, prior to shooting.
The Duck, Mt. Scott Tree Remnant, iPhone Scouting PhotoView from Mt. Scott, iPhone Scouting Photo
From the parking lot, I worked my way down and into the area just below the parking area.
Mt. Scott Tree, iPhone Scouting Photo
This sprawling tree offered a number of photographic opportunities.
Artistic Sprawl, Mt. Scott Tree, iPhone Scouting PhotoPom Pom Tree, Mt. Scott Tree, iPhone Scouting Photo
After this brief scouting of the area, I decided that I did not like all of the human infrastructure that would be visible in wide angle images across this area. I decided not to return here, during this short visit; but I still wanted to explore more, in case I changed my mind or came back another time. I retrieved my DSLR with 24-70mm lens from my vehicle and began a more extensive exploration.
With a final destination of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, I needed stops in route to break up the long road trip. I searched the maps of the states I would travel through to get to the Badlands for possibilities. The first place that I noted in Oklahoma was the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, which is only a few hours drive from my home base. I searched online for information about the refuge and looked for photos taken in the refuge. The results of that research convinced me that I should spend a couple of nights in the refuge RV campground.
Prior to this visit, I had no idea that such a place was so close by and that there were actually old granite mountains in the southwestern part of Oklahoma. Since I was traveling just after the busy summer season, there were plenty of RV sites from which to choose. After consulting the online campground map, I chose a site that looked like it was conveniently located near the restroom facility and near hiking trails from the campground.
It turned out that my campsite was just across a campground road from the campground hosts. I stopped by to chat with the hosts, let them know that I had arrived, get updates on the campground rules and conditions and get their advice on locations for sunset and sunrise photography.
I find that most non-photographers have completely different concepts about sunset/sunrise photography than do photographers. Still it is good to get local knowledge, especially for first visits to a location. After checking out the locations on the refuge map of the hosts’ suggestions, I decided that I should check out the area around the campground first and scout the suggested areas the following day.
I walked around the campground to get my bearings, find the trails originating in the campground and check out those trails. The refuge map is sketchy. Others that I encountered during my exploration of the large refuge area, expressed the same frustration with the refuge map.
Hole In One, Wildflowers, iPhone Photo
There were pretty wildflowers growing in the campground area.
Spider Like Wildflowers, iPhone Photo
After some effort and hiking much farther around the campground, than should have been necessary, I found the trail that I wanted to explore. The trailhead was visible from my campsite, but the trailhead was not marked! There were also branches along the trail, some branches clearly traveled trails, some branches not so clearly used and it was not even clear that those branches were actually trails and there were no markings along the trails.
It was not an area that one could get lost in, during daylight at least, so I did not mind exploring and I eventually found my way to my chosen destination.
One branch of the trail went around nearby Quanah Parker Lake. After hiking portions of that trail, I could see no good views for sunset photography, so I chose a branch that went away from the lake. That branch took me through woods to the other side of the lake, which looked more promising for photography.
Quanah Parker Lake, iPhone Scouting Photo
There were plentiful Prickly Pear Cacti in this area.
Prickly Pear Spikes, iPhone PhotoLooking towards Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
In addition to checking out the lake, I was interested in the map feature referred to as Little Baldy. I was not really sure what to expect of Little Baldy nor where exactly it was, given the sketchy map, but I figured I would know it when I saw it.
On the way to Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
There were many granite rocks and boulders scattered around, so I experimented with using those as foreground objects and tried to visualize how the scenes would look at sunset and sunrise.
Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
When I spotted Little Baldy, I explored around and up its slope, trying to pick vantage points from which to shoot at sunset today and for sunrise the following morning.
Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting PhotoView from Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
Shooting with the sun low in the sky, one’s shadow often becomes a problem to deal with. Sometimes a desired composition just can’t be obtained without one’s shadow and compositional adjustments have to be made.
View from Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
Now that I know where I want to be at sunset, I just have to figure out the timing for departing my campsite and getting into place prior to sunset. I’ve now got a good idea of the most direct path from my campsite to my intended location, so all I have to do is time the hike. Doing so as I returned to my campsite, it turned out that the hike is only about 10-15 minutes. That is really convenient and means that I can return to camp after sunset shooting without hiking in the dark and I can even hike back for sunrise photos and not have to hike in morning darkness, either.
On my return trip from the Grand Canyon North Rim, my first overnight stay was near Gallup, New Mexico at Red Rocks Park. There were large red rock formations around the park and I thought this would be a good place to check out. It was not a bad place to stay for one night, but much less interesting than I had anticipated. At least the weather was mild, due to overcast and rain during the day, just before I arrived at the park, then a booming thunderstorm at night.
My second overnight was at Texas’s Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo. I had been through the park many years ago, but never spent much time here. My campsite was deep into the canyon. Even though it was late July, the weather was only mildly hot in the day and cooled down nicely at night.
After settling in, I walked around the area to scout potential locations for sunset and possibly sunrise photography. All of the scouting images in this post were made with my iPhone.
The Sportsmobile in Palo Duro Canyon Campsite.Small Cacti in Palo Duro Canyon
As in most western US deserts or arid places, cacti abound and one needs to watch where one steps.
Dinosaur Grafiti, Palo Duro Canyon
Visitors to this area have a penchant for carving into the rocks, which I assume must not be very hard rocks. I found this image of a dinosaur in a narrow space between large boulders.
Rock Grafitti, Palo Duro Canyon
Many of the boulders near the campsite had graffiti, initials, names and/or other scratched in symbols.
Rock Signings, Palo Duro CanyonBoulders and Hillside, Palo Duro CanyonBoulders, Palo Duro Canyon
I captured images, testing compositions and to use as reminders, at locations that I thought might be good to return to with my DSLR at sunset.
Palo Duro Canyon ScenePalo Duro Canyon TopagraphyLife on a Rock, Palo Duro CanyonCacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro CanyonCacti and Red Hills, Palo Duro CanyonScrubby Vegetation and Red Hills, Palo Duro CanyonTilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro CanyonTilted Hoodoo Palo Duro CanyonHilltop view near campsite, Palo Duro CanyonPalo Duro Canyon Pano
I posted this panoramic image to Flickr, not because I thought it was a great image, but to share with others that may want to know what the area looks like and because I intended to use it in my blog and wanted to have a link to a larger image. Much to my surprise, this image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page and is now my most viewed and faved image on Flickr. Maybe I’m just physically abusing myself carrying around that heavy DSLR camera and other gear, when a simple iPhone image garners this much attention.
Rock Registry, Palo Duro Canyon
Apparently, lots of people have scrambled up the steep slope to the top of this hill, since the boulders there all had some initials, names and dates carved into them.
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.
