Desert – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Sedona, Arizona – Part 4

On my final afternoon in Sedona in August, 2024, I decided to go back to Bell Rock and to take the trail up Bell Rock to shoot at sunset.

There were still tourist about, but not so many as during the middle of the day. I’m guessing most tourist had been out during the middle of the day and were back in town for dinner at this late time of the day.

The Bell Rock trail is a wide, gently sloped, gravely path at the beginning and becomes more rocky and steep fairly quickly. Yet, it is mostly easy, with a few big steps, with one notable exception.

I got to one point, where I was not sure where the official trail went. There was a big rock in front of me with an obvious trail marker on top of the rock. There were a couple of young, female hikers, sitting on a rock there, enjoying a late day meal. I asked them about the trail and they indicated that it had to continue on top of the big rock, but they could see no safe way they could continue. One either had to somehow climb the rock, which had a step like rock at its base or navigate a narrow crevice on the other side of the rock. They said it was their first day in this area and they did not want to risk an injury and not be able to enjoy the rest of their stay here, so they stopped at this point.

I considered my options and decided I agreed with them about the risk of continuing on the officially marked route. I looked around, considered and ruled out another option, before deciding I saw a possible route that I could access by backtracking a little.

That alternate route was still not as easy as it looked from a distance. It involved climbing up onto two rock ledges. I laid my tripod and camera up upon each of those ledges in turn and climbed up on my hands and knees (and those hard rocks hurt old knees). After a little more navigation, I got back onto the official trail. Now I had to hope that I could safely get back down.

I shot this panorama with my iPhone. The rock features from right to left are: Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, Lee Mountain and unidentified ones on the far left.

Upon getting as high up on the Bell Rock slope as I could safely do, it was still well before sunset, yet most of Bell Rock was already in the shade of features to the west. It was obvious that the light illuminating the very peak of Bell Rock was the best “Golden Hour Light” that I would get today. So I made a couple of images and moved around on the rock ledge below this feature to photography the other local features.

Lee Mountain – As seen from the slope of Bell Rock

Lee Mountain (Left) and Courthouse Butte (Right)

This wraps up my photography in the area around Sedona, Arizona in August of 2024.

Thanks for following,

Ken

P.S. Obviously, I made it back down safely, otherwise this post would not exist. I took the official trail down, sliding down that big rock on my rear end until my feet reached the step rock at its base.

Sedona, Arizona – Part 2

I had a limited time in Sedona and I had never been here previously, so I figured it best to visit the “easy” photographic targets, which were also popular ones.

I had visited the Bell Rock area on my first outing. Today, I planned an early morning shoot at Cathedral Rock. “Planned” is used very loosely. I had not scouted here, other than to drive through the parking lot one day. So I knew how to find the parking lot, but I had no idea about what was involved in hiking the trail nor did I have a scouted location from which to shoot.

There was only one other vehicle in the Cathedral Rock Trail parking lot, when I arrived in early morning dark. I could see lights on the slope at the base of the rock feature, so I figured there were early morning hikers out or maybe even one or more early morning photographers.

I had a quick snack, finished the cup of coffee I had brought from the motel, gathered my camera, tripod, headlamp and began walking through the parking lot, looking for the trailhead. In the dark, I walked past the trailhead, went into an adjacent parking area, where I encountered a small group of young people getting out of their vehicles. They greeted me in a friendly manner and I asked about the trailhead. They told me that I had just walked past it and where to find it. They also said I could follow them as they were headed that way. But I went ahead, just getting on the trail, when they quickly came in behind me. Seeing that they were experienced on this trail, had bright headlamps and were likely to be much faster hikers than me, I let them pass and fell in behind.

The trail was well defined, but rugged and a little steep as it headed uphill. After getting out of the forest on the lower slope of the trail, it became light enough that I did not need the headlamp and the young, energetic hikers rapidly gained ground ahead of me.

It was a warm, humid morning and I worked up a sweat before arriving at an open area beneath the Cathedral Rock feature. It was well before sunrise and I had a wide open view across the landscape to the east.

There were plentiful clouds in the sky and daylight was beginning to show in the distance. I made a few images of the pre-sunrise sky, then scouted around for a good place from which to shoot Cathedral Rock. I was disappointed at the views I had, looking up at that feature. The young hikers were nowhere to be seen and I assumed they had continued along the trail.

I began to work my way up a dry drainage, trying to get to a better vantage point, taking time to check out various locations off to the side of the drainage, up the steep slope, where ever I could safely do so.

I never succeeded in getting a really good, open view of the most attractive portions of the unique rock features, but being well off of the beaten path, maybe I got views that other have not. Setting up for these shots was not easy either, at times I had to abandon my tripod and shoot handheld.

Golden hour came suddenly and I was not where I wanted to be, but shot anyway and I like this image:

As I was shooting from well below these rock features, I kept hearing voices, which I hoped were not just in my head. Eventually, I realized the voices were coming from those young people I had followed part of the way up the trail and they were rock climbers, not just hikers. I could occasionally just barely make out one or two up on the rocks. That is when I realized that in the dim light, I had missed a junction in the trail that would have taken me to the base of these rocks. This is why knowledge of the area is important, when planning an effective photo shoot. So, someday maybe I will get back here and I will know where to go. But I can’t deny that I enjoyed the experience and challenge of exploring in the off trail area below the main feature.

If memory serves me correctly, I think I shot this image sitting on a narrow, slope ledge that I was able to pick my way onto above the dry drainage. The early morning clouds abbreviated the golden hour, which lasted for only a few minutes this morning.

To be continued,

Ken

Sedona, Arizona – Part 1

Sedona, Arizona is in a picturesque setting with massive, colorful rock formations all around. It is also a popular tourist city with all the trappings of such a city, many shops, restaurants and art galleries.

In the outlying areas there are many popular hiking trails, scenic destinations and places popular with rock climbers.

My wife and I drove around the local area around the city to check out the scenery. I made mental notes about possible places to return to at sunrise or sunset to engage in my photography hobby.

My first chosen destination, Bell Rock, for a sunset shoot is just off of a major road and is a popular tourist draw. As I left our motel in Sedona, an afternoon thunderstorm erupted with lots of lightening and heavy rain. The local rock features that are visible from the city streets were surrounded by clouds with intermittent breaks in the clouds allowing sunlight to illuminate those features for a short while. There would have been great photographic opportunities during the storm, if only there had been a place to safely pull over out of the heavy late day traffic and not be exposed to the heavy rain and possible lightening. I could only observe and admire the views, wishing I were able to photograph the storm.

I hoped that there would still be some of the storm around when I arrived at the Bell Rock parking area, but the storm had moved on into the far distance by the time that I arrived. The nearby sky was mostly clear, but the distant storm clouds were still visible.

There are a number of hiking trails around and near Bell Rock. Most tourists opt to hike up the slope towards Bell Rock. I decided to hike the less popular trail that went around behind Bell Rock towards other rock features nearby. I only recall encountering two or three others on this trail. The parking lot was not nearly as full, this late in the day, as it had been during my scouting pass through it earlier in the day.

As these first two images reveal, the distant clouds caused the light to constantly vary from entire shade to partial shade and the sky to vary from dark to light.

I made numerous, not so interesting, photographs of the distant rock outcrops as the late day light changed. While the distant storm clouds added interest, it was not until I noted a faint rainbow appear that I began to hope for something more interesting. Indeed, as I watched the scene that rainbow became brighter and a double rainbow appeared, seemingly terminating on the rocks with a golden glow from the late day sunlight.

As I prepared to photograph this old, majestic tree skeleton (old trees like this are one of my favorite subjects), the clouds in the sky began to glow with the golden color of sunset light. The golden cloud was perfectly positioned above the tree, as if forming a crown of honor and remembrance for the old tree.

This is not the same tree as in Veneration, but it is nearby, with more of the local environment in the background.

As I walked the trail back towards the parking lot, after my late day shoot, I had to stop to capture these colorful, post sunset clouds with the silhouette of rock formations in the foreground.

When I turned to look back at this rock feature, I noted that the color was a deeper red just after sunset. In researching this area, I had seen information that said these rocks looked best for photography just after sunset sunset. My observation confirms that statement.

Until next time,

Ken

Death Valley – Brief Visit and iPhone Photos

My son and I made a trip into Death Valley from Lone Pine, thinking we might return for more serious photography, but the distance and the timing difficulty steered us away from that idea.

Yet it was good to see Badwater Basin with the shallow lake created by the recent heavy rains. It appears that this unusual event attracted others, too. there were lots of people, more than I had seen there in previous visits, in the park.

The road to Devil’s Golf Course was closed, requiring a long walk to see that feature.

Shallow water covers the salt that appears brown and the salt protruding above the water is white.

The salt is showing indications of forming geometrical patterns typical of this salt as it dries. The heavy rains have destroyed or muted such patterns.

We stopped a little short of the turn in the road, which goes by the traditional Devil’s Golf Course, but this rugged salt is what we would expect to see there. The rains have muted some of the sharp features that I recall from previous visits.

Back in Lone Pine, we had Pizza and Beer for dinner. This IPA seemed a fitting choice after our time in Death Valley.

Until next time,

Ken

Alabama Hills, California – Part 4 -Photographic Scouting

After hiking the Mobius Arch Loop, we continued our photographic scouting in Alabama Hills, seeking out the better known features first.

Boot Arch, Alabama Hills, California, March 17, 2024

This arch is so named because it is supposed to look like a boot. Maybe the base looks a little like a boot, but I’m not quite seeing this strongly enough to have it so named.

Alabama Hills, Broad Valley, California, March 17, 2024

Cyclops Arch, Alabama Hills, California, March 17, 2024

I can partly see the naming of this arch, but I’m thinking another name like “Lobster” or “Crayfish” might be more suitable, especially when other view points are considered.

Cyclops Arch Frontal View, Alabama Hills, California, March 17, 2024

Those foreground rock features look more like lobster claws to me.

Cyclops Arch and Moody Sky, Alabama Hills, California, March 17, 2024

Cyclops Arch – Wider view of the setting, Alabama Hills, California, March 17, 2024

After today’s scouting, we have several possibilities for returning to at sunset and sunrise.

Until then,

Ken

Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 6

In rural U.S. it is not unusual to see bullet holes in abandoned objects and road signs. This is perhaps a sign of the U.S. love affair with guns. Shooting at such objects as this abandoned vehicle could put other in danger, since there are still a few people in this area and many vehicles pass through on I-40.

Cuervo Ghost Town – Abandoned Automobile

One can see in the image above an indication of the traffic along I-40 through Cuervo. I usually tried to wait until there was no traffic in the background of my shots, but sometime that required more time than I had the patience for.

I made the shot of the kitchen area of this abandoned house through an open window, I think (or doorway, I don’t recall which).

I made this last shot as I walked back towards my vehicle.

This concludes this series on the mostly abandoned community of Cuervo, New Mexico. More history of this ghost town can be found here.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 5

To be continued,

Ken

Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 3

Cuervo Ghost Town – Gravitational Distortion

Cholla cacti converts this abandoned washing machine into a planter. This image was chosen by Flickr for its Explore page.

Cuervo Ghost Town – Even the Trees have Ghosts here

To be continued,

Ken

Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 2

This is the old church that first drew my attention to Cuervo, New Mexico, as I drove by along I-40, some years ago. This time I took time to stop and photograph portions of this mostly ghost town.

To be continued,

Ken

Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 1

Cuervo, New Mexico is a small community along interstate I-40 in New Mexico. It is mostly a ghost town, having been established as a railroad stop in 1901, then drying up when the railroad chose another stop in Tucumcari, NM.

I’ve driven this stretch of I-40 past Cuervo numerous times, first making a mental note of this place, when I spotted an old, picturesque church as I drove by at 75mph, thinking that someday I might want to stop in to photograph that old church.

I had spent the night near Gallup, NM, waking up to a snow covered vehicle and campground with temperature in the low 20s. I drove through intermittent snow and rain that heavily overcast morning. I figured the overcast sky would create the perfect environment for photographing in Cuervo, so I determined to take time to stop here today. Atlas, as I drove along not paying attention to where I was, I drove past the only east bound exit for Cuervo. I had to drive 7 or 8 miles to the next exit, make a U-turn and backtrack to Cuervo. By the time I got back to Cuervo, most of the overcast had cleared and it was mostly bright and sunny. But I was here and decided to walk around the small town, photographing the abandoned homes, anyway.

The old church is still somewhat maintained, at least. The roof appears to be relatively new.

To be continued,

Ken

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Tag: Desert

Sedona, Arizona – Part 4

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Sedona, Arizona – Part 2

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Sedona, Arizona – Part 1

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Death Valley – Brief Visit and iPhone Photos

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Alabama Hills, California – Part 4 -Photographic Scouting

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Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 6

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Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 5

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Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 3

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Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 2

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Cuervo, New Mexico, March 2023, Part 1

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