Hiking – Page 2 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Indiana Fall 2023, Part 10 – Backroads and Forest

Today I drove down backroads heading generally in the direction of a state forest and a wilderness area. Along the way I stopped at a stream and shot a few images of the stream and wooded area around it.

Fall Creek and Reflections, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Transformation, Forest Trail 1, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Shortly after getting onto a roadway in a state forest, I parked in a pull out to have a look around. I did not plan to stay long, but wanted to see what this area had to offer in the nearby woods.

Reds and Yellows, Forest Trail 2, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Even though it was late October, it was a warm day and mosquitos were buzzing around as I walked down an old forest roadway. Usually, mosquitos are not a problem here at this time of the year, so I had not brought insect repellant and frequent swatting and waving off mosquitoes was a distraction.

Holding On, Forest Trail 3, Indiana, October 27, 2023

As I wandered along the faint roadway, it eventually turned into an official hiking trail. I walked quite a way along this trail. As I got deeper into the woods the mosquitoes became less of a problem, making stopping to shoot photos more pleasant.

Forest Trail 4, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Forest Trail 5, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Purple Fringe, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Dense Fall, Forest Trail 6, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Forest Trail 7, Indiana, October 27, 2023

Fall Fashion, Forest Trail 8, Indiana, October 27, 2023

To be continued,

Ken

Indiana Fall 2023, Part 6 – Early Morning at Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana

Ogle Lake Fall 1, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

After my sunrise shoot, I hiked a short distance along the north side of Ogle Lake in Brown County State Park, Indiana getting a few fall images.

Ogle Lake Fall 2, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

Ogle Lake Fall 3, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

Ogle Lake Fall 4, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

Ogle Lake Fall 5, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

Ogle Lake Fall 6, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

Roots, Ogle Lake Trail, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

Placid Fall, Ogle Lake, Brown County State Park, Indiana, October 25, 2023

That’s it for this morning’s shoot. Until next time,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 17 – Return from the Fire Wave

On our hike back to the parking lot, we took an obvious route towards a large feature that we had hiked past on our way in. This route went alongside the rock outcrop from which the Fire Wave is formed.

That large rock feature towards which this outcrop points, is our destination for joining up with the official trail back to the parking lot.

Early morning shadow and light seem to be divided by the meeting of two different rock formations. The meeting of these two different rock deposits forms a low area, where sand accumulates and desert vegetation takes root.

I noted many small pebbles accumulated in the ridges of this rock outcrop. Initially, I thought maybe tourist were tossing these into the grooves, but now I think it is a natural accumulation. Maybe strong winds blow the pebbles along the rock face until the pebbles drop into a place that is somewhat protected from the wind.

That’s all for this hike and early morning shoot,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 16 – Fire Wave

One of the better known and most popular geological features in Valley of Fire is The Fire Wave. The beginning of the hike to this feature is well marked and apparent, but the trail soon becomes not so apparent. We found a couple of others on the trail in the early morning of our visit , at least one of whom had been there previously, and he was confused about the trail, too.

We headed in opposite directions, wandered around for awhile, found a marker telling us we missed the trail, doubled back and eventually found our way to the Fire Wave.

The two we had separated from earlier had also found their way and another photographer had arrived before any of us. Those three were occupying the best vantage point for shooting the Fire Wave in the AM, so I shot from other directions, until those arriving first vacated their spots.

The shadow of one photographer and his tripod can be seen in the lower center of this first image.

While waiting for the other photographers to finish their shooting, I wandered around to the east side of the feature to see what it looked like from there, making a couple of images.

After the other photographers were satisfied with their shots, I moved into a better spot for shooting this feature. The Fire Wave is best shot at sunset, rather than sunrise, but then one has to deal with a crowd of folks, since most ordinary visitors do not get out at sunrise.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 11

After a morning shoot, my son and I decided to take a short hike in another part of the park, before. the crowds of tourists began to get out and about.

It is not surprising that this area is a popular one in which to film portions of western movies. The image above is of the remains of one of those movie sets.

A portion of our early morning hike went through a slot type canyon. The many footprints in the sand indicates the number of people that have recently hiked this way.

That’s all for now.

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 9

More hiking and scouting photos in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

This simple photo was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page (April 13, 2023) and as of this writing has garnered 6801 views and 237 faves.

The rock layers upon which these couples are walking is the feature that forms the well know “Fire Wave” feature in this park.

Stay tuned for even more Valley of Fire and desert photography,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 8

More scouting and exploration photos in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Natural Imperfections or Non-Photogenic Nature?, iPhone Photo

Nature is messy and cluttered. Photographers don’t like clutter, even if it is a part of nature. I cropped this photo to remove some of the natural clutter, mostly on the bottom left. There remains some clutter on the bottom left and what about that unkempt looking bush and roots on the pond border? Is it really necessary to clean up a natural scene, to make a more pleasing photo? It depends upon one’s vies of the world and one’s idea of photography and purpose of the photo. Sometimes one may want to show the clutter, sometimes not. Sometimes clutter can’t be avoided.

The way my eyes look in the morning.

More desert scenes to come,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 7 – Arches – Inside and Out

More photos from scouting and exploring Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, March of 2023.

The number of arches in this area is almost unbelievable. One could spend much time here just photographing arches from inside, outside and through. I’m reminded of the Joni Mitchell song “Both Sides Now” about clouds and how it could be adapted to describe having seen arches from many sides and still not having seen all aspects of arches.

More next,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park and Nearby, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 6 – Monochrome Desert

This is a continuation of hiking and exploration in Valley of Fire State Park and nearby areas, Nevada. All of the photos in this post were shot with an iPhone 14 and converted to monochrome.