South of the Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Center at the end of the paved road is the Capitol Gorge Trailhead. We hiked a short distance down the canyon, then up a short, steep trail to check out natural water tanks formed in low places along a water drainage.
I captured a few images in the canyon in route.
Capitol Gorge and Hiker/PhotographerCapitol GorgeStanding Tall – Black and White with Selective ColorizationDefiance – Trees atop Canyon Walls – Black and White with Selective ColorizationReflection in a Natural Water Tank
The snow like blobs in these photos are foamy floaters in the water.
Water TankIcy Water Tank and ArchGreen Gold – Tree adjacent to the tanks – Black and White with Selective ColorizationArch below Tanks
Water flow has cut through rock forming a small arch along the occasional stream bed.
Old Visitor Register – Enhanced to bring out faded writing
Early visitors in this canyon left their names and dates high up on the canyon wall. These marking are much higher than anyone other than a giant can reach. Maybe some stood on horses or wagons to leave their mark here or maybe the canyon was not as deep many years ago?
Parched, Hopeful – Capitol Reef Desert Scene
I cannot recall where in the park this final photo was taken, but I think it was shot along the unimproved dirt road that continues past the end of the paved roadway from the Capitol Gorge Trailhead parking area.
Capitol Reef National Park in Utah is a narrow, but long park. During our first visit here years ago, we saw a limited portion of the park centered near the most visited area around the park headquarters. We were determined to see more during this visit and consequently had to spend much more time driving many miles to and from others areas of the park. So much of our time here was spent in a scouting mode, rather than being in a particular place at the best time for landscape photography.
Strike Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
This view of Strike Valley is in the southern portion of Capitol Reef National Park, accessible via a 3 mile, rocky, 4 wheel drive road, followed by a 0.3 mile hike through forest and over slick rock. The photos taken here were during a scouting visit, when it was mostly overcast with rain threatening, so the light was uniform with interesting clouds.
Strike Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
I paused along the quick hike back to the trailhead to snap photos of the clouds overhead with occasional drops of rain coming down.
In late March of 2022, I drove to my oldest son’s home north of Denver, Colorado and we drove together to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. We lodged in the small town of Torrey, just west of the park.
Since we arrived late in the day, we only got out for a brief visit to the park visitor center and a stop at a nearby overlook trail, where we shot a few handheld images.
Past PrimeMonochrome Tree
The sky was overcast, the light well suited for muted monochrome images.
Rock TreesAbstract (Rock Texture)Old and GnarlyTruncated
This old tree stump looked different, depending upon the angle of view.
Dancing among the Rocks
The color image of this old tree stump with this angle of view reminded me of a dancer’s torso, but when I showed this one to my grandson, he saw two dogs back to back. I have to admit that I had a similar initial interpretation, but only seeing one blunt snout dog with long ears trailing behind it. I still prefer the dancer interpretation.
80% ExpendedLife on the Edge
I have not had time to go through all of my photos from this trip and just barely got time to write this initial post, more will follow; but I may not be able to keep up with my preferred schedule of two posts per week. (Every trip leads to much to do to catch up at home).
I found the T. C. Steele Historic Site marked on an online map of the area around my operational base in Indiana. I had never heard of T. C. Steele, so I did what I usually do in such situations. I searched for information on the internet and discovered that T. C. Steele (1847 – 1926) was an American Impressionist painter, and a member of a group known as the Hoosier Group of painters. I decided it worth while to check out this historic site.
The site is located at the actual home and studio in the countryside, where T.C and his wife lived and worked. There were maybe a couple of more visitors at the site, when I arrived at a fair sized, newish looking parking lot that even had an electric vehicle charging station.
As I walked towards the visitor center, I stopped at the wagon with iron rimmed, wood spoked wheels that served as T. C.’s portable studio. The wagon is a custom built, enclosed wagon with a wood burning stove in one corner. I made a few iPhone images of the interior and exterior, but none were sufficient to fully capture the utility and quaintness of the vehicle.
There is a modest fee, payable at the visitor center. There are scheduled tours that one can take to see the interior of the studios and there are hiking trails around the grounds, garden and through a portion of the Hoosier National Forest across the road from the site.
I elected to walk the grounds on my own, then take a trail through the forest.
Golden Tree, T. C. Steele Historic Site Grounds
The grounds and gardens are attractive and pleasant to walk through. I was impressed by the large hardwood trees on the site, but my attempts to photograph those trees and showcase the grounds did not work out well.
I chose a forest trail and hoped for better photographic results in the woods.
Yellow and Green, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021Woodland Path, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
The sheer volume of objects in a forest make it difficult to get really unique images (at least for me). I went through my photos a number of times, thinking most were a lost cause, before finally beginning to choose a few to edit.
Deep Woods, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021Hillside, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
Photos in forest can seem so much alike, that I get easily discouraged trying to capture the scenes.
Intimate Hillside, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021Green Profusion or Intimate Forest, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
In the end it seems that forest photos are mostly about colors, textures and light, since most of the objects in the photos are so much alike. I struggle to come up with good titles for images, especially the forest ones. I could not decide which title was best for the image above, so I gave it two.
Woodland Creek, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021Leaves, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021Path to the Light, Hoosier National Forest at T. C. Steele Historic Site, Indiana, Fall 2021
I returned to the old outlook tower that I found earlier, where a trailhead into the Charles C. Deam Wilderness originated. This time I was prepared to hike with my DSLR.
Into the WildernessSplit DecisionParty’s (long) OverMossy LogThe Light BeneathRed GoldAge SpotsForest LightCommiserationRavine Shadows
While examining a digital satellite map image of the forested area near my operational base in Indiana, I noted one area designated as a wilderness, so I decided to drive into that area and check it out.
All of the photos in this post are via my iPhone.
Almost Peak Color
I pulled off of the forest road through the Hoosier National Forest on my way to check out the Charles C. Deam Wilderness area at a camping/picnic area to look around. There were restroom facilities, shelters, picnic areas and a few visitors. I noted a hiking trail that went into the forest from here, but I did not take time to check it out. There were a few colorful trees in near peak fall color, so I made a few iPhone images, with the one above the best.
I continued down the forest roadway, spotting a number of “No Parking” signs along the way.
Steep Fine, Gentle Hillside
This roadway is narrow, so parking along it would impede traffic and probably would create a danger, since visibility over hills and around curves is limited and one could easily crash into a parked vehicle that appears suddenly in the narrow roadway. The $80 fine seems steep, but maybe necessary to discourage parking here.
I found a parking lot just off of this roadway at an old fire lookout tower that is no longer in use, but open for visitors to climb.
Descriptive Sign, Hoosier National Forest, Oct 2021
Apparently, there were farmlands in this area at one time, but those have been taken over by the forest, after this area was designated a wilderness area.
An old fire lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, Fall 2021
I chose to climb the 133 steps to the top to get an overview of this area. As I started up the first flight of stairs, I had second thoughts about my choice as the stairs wobbled with each step. After a brief hesitation, I continued the climb.
Note on stair rail
Near the top of the tower, I noted that someone else had the same reaction as I did to the wobbly stairs.
A view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Fall 2021
I shot a few iPhone photos from the observation floor of the tower. Being above treetop level, I had a good overview of the vast forest around the tower.
A view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Fall 2021A view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Fall 2021A panoramic view from an old lookout tower, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, Fall. 2021Top flight of stairs of lookout tower
After enjoying the view, it was time to descend the “sketchy” stairs and get my feet back on firm ground.
Wilderness Marker
I saw a trailhead marker near the tower, so I walked over to check it out. I was not prepared to hike in this wilderness today, but I decided to come back another day for more exploration.
Near a trailhead into the Charles C. Deam Wilderness, Indiana, Fall 2021Information Sign, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, Fall 2021
There was an old road beginning at the end of the tower parking lot that was blocked off with a steel gate. I walked over to take a look down the roadway and found this sign about an old cemetery that was apparently here prior to the wilderness designation. There was no indication of how far it was to the cemetery, but I decided to walk the roadway, hoping to find something interesting.
I found remnants of old structures that were mentioned in the information sign at the tower and continued to walk the roadway for awhile. I never found any indication of how far it was to the cemetery and I eventually turned back, since I did not see any noteworthy reason to continue.
A view into the Wilderness
This final image, looking into the wilderness woodland, was taken somewhere along the route.
This is a continuation of the previous post of my fall 2021 photography along Indiana backroads.
Early Fall Forest, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, October 2021Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, October 2021Bent Tree Fall, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana, October 2021
After shooting along one section of a gravel forest roadway, I continued driving looking for other prospective places at which to shoot. I stopped at a trailhead and considered a short hike along that trail, but rain was threatening, so I decided it was best to leave this hike for another day, thinking I had time to return again, but I never got back to this location. I will try to keep this possibility in mind for future visits to this area.
The gravel road ended at a paved roadway, which led to a more major backroad. Shortly after getting onto that route, I saw the walker that I had seen earlier on the forest road. We waved to each other as I passed his home. That was miles from where I had seem him hiking, so I’m assuming he drove into the forest for his exercise routine.
Clouds and Beans
Along the paved roadway, I could see the dense clouds sweeping in from the west. I knew I had to stop to shoot the clouds over the farmland and forest, but the roadway was narrow with few places to pull over. Finally, I found just enough space to safely get off of the roadway. I walked across the road and a very short distance along a farmer’s field road to shoot across a bean field.
Rain’s a Coming
Back in my vehicle, I continued to wander around the country side looking for places to photograph the farmland scenes. I passed a farm with red barns near the top of a hill. There was no place to pull over nearby, so I drove past, turned around at a crossroads and went back up the hill, finding a place below the hilltop to pull over. As I walked towards the top of the hill with my camera and 80-400mm lens, I spotted a bare tree and a flock of blackbirds soaring nearby with a few birds settling in the tree.
Blackbird Tree
After shooting the bare tree with the blackbirds in it and clouds for a background, I continued to the top of the hill to pick a place along a fence line from which to shoot the farm buildings.
Indiana has much farmland and forest land, which is best observed along the country backroads.
Country RoadIndiana Backroad Fall
Driving the backroads can lead to unexpected discoveries in the many small country communities.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls
Like this old school house adjacent to a cemetery. The weather was changing with clouds gathering, making for great sky in some images. I wanted to be sure to have the bell visible in a photograph, so I had to find the best place from which to shoot to achieve that. It would have been good to have had a higher place upon which to stand. There was a stump of an old tree nearby. I tried standing on the stump, but I could still not get the bell in a photo from that vantage point, so I had to settle for shooting standing on the ground from farther away than I wanted to shoot.
Old School
A community church shared a parking lot with the school. There were interesting storm clouds above the church, so I had to shoot that.
Ominous
Continuing along the backroads, I took a gravel road through a portion of the Hoosier National Forest, stopping to shoot along the roadway.
Forest Road
I had passed a local walking up this road and I greeted him as I pulled my camera gear from my vehicle. We chatted for a few minutes and he revealed that he had relatives in the metropolitan area where I live. It is not unusual to discover such facts from random meeting such as this, which shows just how small our world can be. He continued his walk up the hill and I picked several spots from which to get Indiana backroad fall photographs. The walker came back down the hill and back up again at least one more time as I shot nearby.
After my unsatisfying photographic outing in Yellowwood State Forest, I waited for sunset on a little boat dock that barely jutted into Yellowwood Lake. It was mostly calm and the lake surface smooth and reflective of the sky and surroundings.
Clouds and Lake
The photographer and young couple, that I had encountered as I returned from my woodland hike, had walked past me and into the area on the right side of the photo above. I had to watch carefully to keep them out of my photo, even though I doubt that they would have been very noticeable, anyway.
I made a series of photos as the light, sky, clouds and reflections in the lake surface changed.
Softly Reflected
There were small, almost inconspicuous plants or floating, natural object in the water that made subtle foreground in my compositions. These photos are best view on a large screen to appreciate the details.
Yellowwood Lake Fall ReflectionsRadial SunsetRadial CloudsYellowwood Sunset
I alternated shooting directions from along the lake to across the lake as sunset approached. The forest blocked the actual sunset, but the cloud color and lighting changed as the minutes ticked by.
Yellowwood LakeRadial
This end of the day shoot was much more satisfying than the hike in the forest, so I’m glad that I decided to hang out here for sunset.
