I did not have to get up very early for a sunrise shoot at Vaughan Lake, since I only had to walk a short distance downhill towards the reservoir from our campsite.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64.
As the early morning light turned the trees a glowing red color, I used this narrow channel as a leading line through the marsh grass towards the hillside.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.
I continued to work around the channel in the marsh grass, shooting as the light advanced down the hillside.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.
The early morning sunlight really made the tops of the marsh grass stand out in these last two shots at the reservoir.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 1000.
As the sun went higher, I moved back towards the camping area to try a few shots across the wide swaths of grass and wildflowers between a roadway and the reservoir.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 500.Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 500.Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 500.
I walked from the campsite down towards the lake for sunset photography. This was not a really easy place to shoot the landscape, since it was so wide open and I could see details in the far distance, which I knew would only be visible in the wide angle shots, when really zooming in on the image. A long zoom lens would be necessary to see the snow covered mountain to the south of the lake.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.
The snow covered peak is in the notch in the hillside in the upper center of these photographs.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
Compositions here were challenging. I wanted to include foreground objects like the large, lichen covered rocks scattered about and the wildflowers. The wildflowers were so small compared to the grand scenic scale that they are almost not noticeable.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm (before crop), f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
The image above is a crop from a wider angle view, bringing out the reflection in the lake surface.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
One can see that there were many of the large rocks that can be included in the foreground of these wide angle views.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.
Turning the camera to the left, one gets another view of the far side of the lake as the sun sinks lower in the west, extending shadows onto the hillside.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.
Moving a little closer to the lake, allows one to see more of the lake surface with reflections of the hillside. Note that I am still anchoring the foreground with one of the large rocks. Otherwise, I think the foreground in such a shot would be too monotonous.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 19mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.
By getting down into a marshy area very near this little channel through the grass around the lake, I got this view, which I really like. The channel acts as a diagonal leading line from the bottom right corner into the lake with a clear reflection of the far hillside on its surface and the eyes tend to move on through the image from there.
Vaughan Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64.
I worked around the shoreline, continuing to use leading line elements in the images.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64.
The sun is now getting really low to the west, putting most of the images into shadow. Mountains to the west are blocking the sun light well before the sun actually sets.
The leading line in the photo above is subtle. There is a trail through the grass from the bottom right going diagonally towards the upper left.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/4, ISO 64.
There was a swimming animal, probably a beaver, that swam back and forth throughout my shots near the lake. If one looks very closely in the water just to the left of center in the image above, one can just make out a line in the water going towards the left. That is the v shaped wake left by the swimming animal.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64.
I moved back close to the channel in the marshy area to get the shot above as the sunlight was fading fast from the scene. Looking closely at the notch in the hillside on the left of the image, one can just get a hint of the snow covered mountain peak in the far distance.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.
Turning the camera to the left, again using the leading line of the channel, one can see the clouds in the east beginning to acquire their sunset color. And again the beaver’s (or whatever’s) wake is just visible in the lake as a streak of light. Just follow the channel line out into the shadowy reflection to see the brighter line of light reflected from the wake near the center left of the image.
Vaughn Lake Campground Area, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/1s, ISO 64.
And the final scene of the day, above, with sunset colored clouds in the far distance.
The images in this post are all on Flickr, so just click on the images to view them there and, preferably on a large screen, where they will look much better.
After leaving Cold Sprints Campground in Routt National Forest we traveled to Vaughan Lake Campground.
Along the route we encountered a modern day cattle drive:
A modern day Cattle Drive. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This is a through the windshield iPhone photo of one of the batches of cattle we drove by on our way to Vaughan Lake. There were cowboys and a very young cowgirl on horse back, loosely guiding the animals down the roadway. Mostly the cattle seemed to know where they were going. Occasionally, we saw a cowboy moving a wandering animal back onto the route. There are always a few independents in every herd!
We expected there to be many wildflowers in the Vaughan Lake camping area and we were not disappointed, although some were not yet in bloom, due to a late season following a very snowy winter.
There were many Columbines, my favorite Colorado wildflower, near our campsite. Consequently, I have many photographs of Columbines to share and I will devote another blog post entirely to Columbines.
A Columbine at Vaughan Lake Campground. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO 400.Fendler’s Waterleaf at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 220mm (before crop), f/11, 1/500s, ISO 1600.
I’ve tentatively identified the wildflower in the above image via an online wildflower site, but there is some uncertainty. If any reader can dispute this identification, please let me know.
An unidentified wildflower at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/16, 1/500s, ISO 2000.
I could not determine the identity of the above wildflower. It might by American Vetch.
Dandelion at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/1250s, ISO 800.
There were numerous dandelions in the area. I recall picking these as a child and blowing on the seed pods, dispersing the seeds. This is a crop from a larger image, as are all of the wildflower photos posted here.
Silvery Lupine at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm (before crop), f/8, 1/500s, ISO 800.
I think this is Silvery Lupine, but there seem to be a number of variations and hybrids of this flower, so I can’t be sure of this identification.
A seed pod and sail at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 310mm (before crop), f/11, 1/800s, ISO 1600.
I was actually trying to get a shot of the orange bell like flower seen in the lower left of the above image; but I did not succeed in getting that flower in focus. However, I did note that this leaf with what appears to be a seed hanging onto its sail was in focus, so I cropped this portion of the image.
I should add that I was hand holding my camera with the big 80-400mm lens, so it was a bit difficult to maintain focus on the intended subject. Keep in mind that there was some wind motion in the flowers, a shallow depth of field in these shots and much unsteadiness of the camera and lens in my hands. Readers might note the high ISO values that I had to use to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to freeze the motion.
An unidentified wildflower at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 360mm (before crop), f/8, 1/800s, ISO 1600.
Here is the orange flower that I was trying to shoot in the previous photo. Here I managed to get the bottom bloom in focus.
Fendler’s Waterleaf at Vaughan Lake Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 135mm (before crop), f/8, 1/640s, ISO 1600.
And finally, another Fendler’s Waterleaf.
I will have more on this area in subsequent blogs. Until then,
Up at 4AM and out of the Sportsmobile by 4:45AM, we arrived at Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness about 30 minutes prior to sunrise. I found the place that I had scouted the previous day and set up, taking a few test shots, while waiting for the sunrise.
The light was good, but it was breezy enough that the lake surface was rippling, so no glassy, mirror like reflections were possible. I also had to go to 2500 ISO and F/8 to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the vegetation motion. The high ISO resulted in more noise in the photos, requiring attenuation in post processing.
I used 3 basic compositions, shooting multiple shots of each, as the sunrise light illuminated the mountainside on the far side of the lake. Two of the resulting shots are presented here.
Smith Lake, Routt National Forest, Colorado Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 16mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.Smith Lake in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 2.5s, ISO 64
Note that the second image above is made with a slow shutter speed (2.5s), which smoothed the water, but the vegetation may not be really sharp due to some wind motion.
I noted that the light on the mountainside might actually be best prior to sunrise, probably due to the sun already being up fairly high before the mountain received the sunrise light.
After this morning’s shoot, we broke camp and headed to Vaughan Lake Campground, so stay tuned for photos from that area.
There were scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and more storm clouds were approaching well prior to the normal time we would go out for sunset shots, so we decided to go out early and try to get some shots before the storm arrived.
I went down the road to the small field of Columbines we had seen earlier in the day, arriving there shortly before the storm blew in. There had been sunlight, but by the time I arrive at my destination, clouds obscured the sun. I only had time to get a couple of shots before the wind and thunder convinced me that I should hasten back to the campground for cover from the storm.
Storm Clouds over Routt NF, CO Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640.
Not long after getting back into the vehicle and zipping up the penthouse window covers, it began to rain, followed quickly by pebble size hail. As the rain and hail stopped, a double rainbow appeared to the east of the campground and there was light on the mountainsides to the east and south. It was still far from certain that the storm was completely past, so we hung around the vehicle until we were fairly sure the storm was over before going out again.
My son shot via his drone, launching it from the campground, while I went back to the field of Columbines. There were clouds and good sunset light with a beautiful sky, as there often is just after a storm.
After the Storm, Flattop Mountain, Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 2500.
It was still windy and I was trying to get the Columbines in the foreground, so I went to high ISO in the dimming light to get a high enough shutter speed to freeze the motion of the flowers. The high ISO shots in the dim light were noisy and I was not able to filter out the noise enough to make most of them presentable.
Flattop Mountains, Columbine Meadow, Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/10, 1/125s, ISO 320.
I was disappointed with many of my shots, which I think were good compositions, but those with Columbines in the near foreground were mostly too fuzzy due to wind induced motion of the wildflowers or noisy due to high ISO and/or failure to chose a better focus point. On the other hand, focusing on the close up wildflowers would have resulted in fuzzy distant objects. I only have three shots from this shoot that I thought presentable.
A previous post referred to the areas that we scouted during our second day at Cold Springs Campground, looking for potential places for more sunset and sunrise photo shoots. This post will present a few of the iPhone shots taken during that scouting with some comments.
A dead tree near Smith Lake Trail, Routt National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This striking looking dead tree trunk, spotted along the Smith Lake Trail, looks like a good photographic subject, but it was so tall one would have to have a really wide field of view of shoot upwards from near its base to fully capture it. We never got around to trying to shoot this properly.
A wilderness boundary marker along Smith Lake Trail. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Efex Pro 4.
This boundary marker has nothing to do with photography, I just thought it interesting to see this marker. Someone, wondering around in the forest, not hiking along a trail, would never know when entering or leaving a designated wilderness area.
Smith Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness, Colorado. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This view of a mountainside with Smith Lake in the foreground, suggested that early morning light would make this a good place for a sunrise shoot.
Smith Lake Panorama. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A panoramic view of Smith Lake and the mountain in the background, suggests possible multiple compositional possibilities.
Columbines and fallen tree. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I found this batch of Columbines down the slope from the roadway south of the campground. (Click on the photo to view on Flickr).
Approaching storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Looking up the hillside south of the campground, it was apparent that it was time to return to the camp before getting caught in a storm. However, after getting to the Sportsmobile, I did take a chance and try to shoot at a field of Columbines, but I had to beat a hasty retreat again as the storm came in.
Near the end of the storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
As the storm began to subside, a double rainbow appeared to the east of the campsite. The complete semicircle rainbow was visible at one time, but I could not get a shot of it with my iPhone. One can see sunlight from the west striking the mountainside in the lower left, so as long as the storm clouds, which were moving westward, did not obscure the sunset, we would get good after the storm light.
Possible good indication for sunset light after the storm. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A fuller view of the sun lite mountainside south east of the campsite as the storm passed, gave us some hope of getting sunset light on the mountainside.
A subsequent post will cover the actual sunset shoot after the storm.
In the morning of July 13 we shot sunrise photos just east of the lake at Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest. We began shooting from a hillside just east of the lake.
An area adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 2s, ISOAn area adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 2s, ISO 64.
I thought that the weathered tree stump made an appropriate foreground object here.
The lake made a great mirror, reflecting the clouds in the sky and the trees along the edge of the campground. None of the other campers were up and about yet. We tried to be as quiet as we could so as not to disturb them.
A scene adjacent to the Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, CO. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @24mm, f/16, 1.3s, ISO 64.
I put the weathered stump and a taller stump with slight side lighting at the edge of this photo.
After shooting on the hillside, we moved down into the meadow at the base of the cascade. There were lots of white and blue wildflowers in the meadow, especially around the cascade and stream. The area below the cascade was wet and marshy, which I had not anticipated and I was not wearing my water resistant hiking shoes. My shoes, socks and feet got soaked with cold water.
A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/16, 1.6s, ISO 64.A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.A mountain stream cascade in the area adjacent to Cold Springs Campground in Routt National Forest, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64.
As you can see, I got multiple compositions of the cascade with varying amounts of the surroundings. I used slow shutter speeds to get the silky effect of the flowing water. There was not much wind, but there was enough motion in the vegetation to keep from getting really sharp images of the wildflowers. I tried to make the images at times when the wind was most calm in hopes of getting sharper images. This works with only limited success.
After breakfast, I hiked to the marshy area above the cascade, where there were many wildflowers in another meadow around the stream. By the time I got there the clouds were mostly gone, the light harsh, still a little too much wind and many swarming mosquitoes. I tried a few shots anyway, but those were not presentable. Somewhere in there, I apparently lost my Rocket Blower, which I had just put into a pocket for convenience, rather than take it along in my backpack, which I left behind in the vehicle. (For non-photographers, a Rocket Blower is a device for blowing dust off of lenses, filters and camera sensors. This is an essential piece of gear, in my opinion, so I have since acquired another one. For the rest of this trip, I had to borrow my son’s whenever I needed it).
Later in the morning we walked 10 minutes down the road to Smith Lake Trailhead. Smith Lake Trail is only 0.7 miles, steep in a few places, mostly near the start, but mostly an easy trail. We hiked to Smith Lake and decided to return the next morning for sunrise photography.
On the way to Smith Lake Trailhead, we noted a small field of Columbines, which would possibly be good for foreground shots at sunset, assuming the clouds cleared by that time, as it had gotten much cloudier and rained lightly off and on during the day.
We also walked back to the reservoir, hiking a short distance along one of the two trails starting at the reservoir. We turned back as lightning and thunder got closer and more active. It only sprinkled lightly and we took time to explore more in the area south of the roadway, along the stream from the reservoir.
That is it for this post. Stay tuned for the sunset shoot results,
The third stop in my 2019 Spring road trip was Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico. This was mainly a convenient place to overnight on this trip, but I was, also, curious about this area. The camping area here is really nice with good restroom facilities, but no showers. The camp sites tend to be rather close to each other, but during my visit the area was almost empty with only a few scattered campers. This being my first visit, I stopped to chat with the camp site host, whom I spotted as I drove on an exploratory trip around one of the loops, all of which were open, even though the official website said some might not be open during the off season. The camp host suggested that I drive around, pick out several sites that I liked, then go to the self check in kiosk on the roadway just prior to the first loop. I did so, picking out a site with no one near it, but near a restroom. Most of the parking sites seemed to be at least slightly sloped, but not so much that it was uncomfortable, so I did not feel the need to try leveling my vehicle.
After setting up and having a late lunch, I headed out to the visitor center, which I arrived at just after the 5PM closing time, so I did not get inside there. There are a number of trails near the visitor center, so I picked up a trail guide outside the visitor entrance and decided to take a quick hike along the main trail.
Prior to this visit, there had been much snow in the area and the website said some trails were snowy and icy, so I brought along ice crampons for my hiking footwear. However, the snow and ice were all gone while I was there, so I still have new, unused crampons. I had received a weather notification of another spring storm heading this way with heavy snowfall expected over some areas.
Recent flooding had closed some areas and trails, all of which sounded more interesting than those that were open.
For landscape photography, I did not find this area of great interest, at least not on this visit. This is a beautiful forested (mostly evergreens) area, but a bit enclosed and confining for my inclinations. On my short hurried hike, I did not bother taking my DSLR and other gear, since I had no idea about what to expect.
Native American Ruins along the Main Trail in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There are interesting Native American ruins here, so there is much of historical and archeological interest.
Kiva remains, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A Kiva and entrance, Bandelier NM. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Ladder access into a Native American Cave Shelter in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
One is allowed to enter into any of the ancient dwelling with the ladders provided. The ladders are not ancient, of course.
An interior view of a Native American cave shelter, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The ceilings of the cave dwellings are blackened by fires used by the ancient dwellers. There were remnants of log elements protruding from the ceiling in some of the caves with a few charred by fire. These do not appear to have been necessary for roofs, so I’m guessing they were used for other purposes, maybe for hanging pots for cooking or storage. There is probably more information about these dwellings on the park website.
Native American Cave Shelter, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There were quite a few caves carved into the volcanic rock of the cliffside along the main trail.
Ruins as seen from the main trail along the cliff face, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone Photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There are interesting rock shapes along the cliff side trail and good views of the ruins on the valley floor.
Native American ruins along a cliff face in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There are holes in the cliff face, where roof supports were originally installed. Some of the shallow alcoves along the cliff face contain paintings or petroglyphs.
After leaving the visitor center area, I went back past the camping area to a parking area at the Frey trail head and walked along the trail for awhile. The portion of the trail I walked along, just prior to sunset, was mostly through a thinly forested area. At a high point along this trail, there were good view of snow covered mountain peaks and I paused for awhile to see what the sunset would be like.
Sunset Clouds in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Skylum Luminar.A dramatic sunset sky in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. iPhone photo with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Skylum Luminar.
On this brief exploratory hike, I only had my iPhone camera with me, so the quality of the sunset photos are limited, but at least give one a sense of the possibilities here.
None of the photos in this post are published on my Flickr page, since I do not consider them of sufficient quality for sharing there (not to say that I have not ever published some poor quality photos on Flickr).
I will be away for a few days, so the next post may be delayed.
After a strenuous previous day and getting to bed late with no firm plans for where to go for early morning photos, I decided to sleep in a bit and scout the area again during the morning and afternoon for possible locations for sunset photos.
After breakfast, I walked the trail to the visitor center looking around for possible photo locations along the way. Since I had hiked a substantial portion of the Guadalupe Peak Trail the previous day, I figured that I had earned the right to purchase and display a pin from the park in my collection, so I picked up the pin and inquired about the road into the Salt Basin, hoping to get time to visit the gypsum sand dunes in the western portion of the park. No one there had any update on the condition of the long clay road into that portion of the park. After thinking about this, I decided against attempting to get into the Salt Basin on this trip. I only had that afternoon and the next morning to spend in the park and the Salt Basin area is a day use area only, meaning no overnight camping or parking there. For sunrise photos, I would have to get up early the next morning and drive quite a way to get to the access road and then there was no way to know if I would be able to drive the last portion of the road and I would have no idea of where to go, anyway. For sunset photos, I ran the risk of losing my already paid for second night in the RV site, where the slots are on a first come basis; but there seemed to be no way to show that a site was already taken, if no vehicle was parked there. This eliminated the gypsum dunes for sunset photos.
Upon returning to my vehicle, I decided to check out the Tejas Trail from which I thought I might be able to get late day shots with golden hour light as I had observed it the previous evening on the mountainside to the east of the trail.
The lower portion of the Tejas Trail is much easier than the Guadalupe Peak Trail. Again I hiked with only my Camelbak with water, snacks, GPS (for safety and for recording waypoints at possible photo sites) and iPhone. I looked for possible photo sites along the trail, making a number of iPhone scouting shots. These shots were all taken around mid-day to early afternoon, so the light was harsh with the sun almost directly overhead, so there were not even any shadows to give the photos depth.
I am presenting a few of those scouting photos in this post with comments regarding the ideas for later DSLR images and some notes on editing photos.
Someone from McAllen, TX left this mark on a tree along the Tejas Trail in Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
This first image is an example of what is seen much too often and illustrates what one should not do in our national parks. Someone just could not resist defacing one of the trees along the trail.
An old tree trunk with highlights along the Tejas Trail in Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Even with mid-day light, it is sometimes possible to get interesting images. The one above is a portion of a gnarly, weathered, fallen tree, mostly in the shade of another tree with sunlight dappling across it. This is a jpeg image, so the editing is limited; but I’ve tweaked it a bit in Adobe Lightroom, then applied additional editing in DXO Nik software. I typically like to add several filters in Color Efex Pro 4, depending upon the photo, with a slight touch of brilliance, detail extraction, sometimes a graduated neutral density and a slight skylight filter. One has to be careful not to over do it with these filters. Sometimes, I will note that a favorite filter is just too much and I either have to tone it down or eliminate it.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
I hoped to get sunset light on the features in the mountain side, but I also needed something in the foreground and/or framing objects. So I experimented with these concepts as I walked along the trail. I applied a little lens fall off vignetting in the above image to tone down some of the unattractive foreground and to reduce the plain sky.
A scouting photo along Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Another foreground/framing possibility is illustrated here. Again, I used a little lens fall off vignetting to reduce the foreground clutter and to add a focusing effect into the image.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo.
The image above has a vignetting filter, that I do not often use, applied in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I thought it worth experimenting with in these flat, bland photos. I think this one serves quite well in this case. It tones down the foreground clutter, reduces the plain sky and focuses on the main subject.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
I kept hiking along the trail, trying to get closer to this particular feature on the mountainside, hoping to find a good vantage point to photograph it later in the day. Here, again, I’ve added vignetting to reduce the foreground clutter and focus the eye on the main subject.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
The boulder in the lower right anchors the foreground in this image and I think with it located diagonally from the peak in the upper left, helps to give this image some depth and visual tension. Vignetting is used again to reduce the unattractive clutter around the edges and guides the eye into the image. The vignette center can be moved and in this case, it has been moved slightly to the left.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo.
This is just an experiment with a monochrome version of the previous image. Sometimes harsh light images can be more appealing images in monochrome. In this case, the lack of shadows results in too flat an image to be interesting.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Just another experimental foreground for the prominent feature in the mountainside. The Cholla is weathered and not very attractive; but there is at least a hint of clouds developing in the sky.
A scouting photo along the Tejas Trail, Guadalupe NP. iPhone Photo
Ah, if I could find this at sunset, I think I would get a good image!
The second destination in my Spring 2019 road trip was Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO). According to my map, the travel time to GUMO from the Sandhills via the shortest route should be about 2.5 hours. However, a backup due to road construction on US 285, just past a signal light at my turn off from US 285, resulted in an hour delay. The longer routes would probably have been faster, but I did not double check the traffic before I set out. My bad!
Guadalupe Mountains rising from the plains of West Texas. This is an iPhone photo taken from miles away from the mountains.
In the above photo the sharp drop off on the left end of the mountain range is a feature referred to as El Capitan.
After getting to GUMO, setting up in the RV parking lot and having a brief lunch, it was around 3PM. Since I had never visited here, I did not have any idea about where to go for sunset photos. After reviewing the trails and information on those trails, I decided to take the Guadalupe Peak Trail, but not to take my camera gear. It was overcast, so the prospects for good sunset light was slim and I knew the heavy camera gear would really slow my pace on the trail.
An image from the park websiteTrail information from alltrails.com
This trail is around 8-9 miles round trip, rated strenuous and the literature said to allow 6 to 8 hours for the round trip. By the time I made my preparations for the hike, it was well after 3PM. So even if I could make the round trip in only 6 hours (doubtful), it would be after 9PM and dark before I made it back. I took my headlamp and an extra flashlight and extra batteries, just in case, but I knew it was not a good idea to be on this trail in the dark.
Shortly after getting underway on the trail, I realized that not bringing the camera gear was a good decision. There are very strenuous portions of this trail, it is mostly steep with considerable rocky portions requiring care in hiking. As I met hikers coming down and heard their comments, I really began to realize that I would probably not make it to the top, if I expected to get back down before dark.
This image illustrates why this trail is rated as “strenuous”. (iPhone Photo)
The weather was good for this hike, since it was cool and overcast. Even so, I quickly worked up a sweat, hiking with only a shirt and t-shirt on my upper body. I had put a fleece, gloves and windbreaker in my backpack, since I knew it would be cold somewhere along the trail. Indeed, in some windy portions it got quite cool with even a light snow off and on; but the effort going up the trail kept me warm.
If only I had a mount from which to dismount. iPhone Photo
As I progressed and became hungry, I realized that I had forgotten to put my trail bar snacks into my day pack. Fortunately, I had a full reservoir of water in my Camelbak. Otherwise, I would have had to turn around. Wanting to go as far as possible, I pushed on and I was able to ignore the hunger and my decreasing energy level.
A portion of the cliffs past which equestrians were to lead their horses. iPhone Photo
The haze in the distance of the photo above is actually a light snow.
As I neared the upper portion of the trail, I even began to think that I might actually make it to the top. However, as it passed 6PM, even though thinking I only had about 30 minutes more to hike to the top, I decided it was best to turn back or I would surely be hiking down in the dark.
Elevation profile for Guadalupe Peak Trail
I went some distance past the campground, so maybe I was only a few hundred feet below the peak, when I decided to turn around. It was disappointing to be so close and have to stop before reaching the peak. I just needed to have started about an hour earlier in the day.
I think this is where I decided to head back down the trail. iPhone photoThis is at or near the point on this trail, where I decided to turn back to avoid being on this rugged trail in the dark. The trail goes from the lower right corner down around the scrubby vegetation. iPhone PhotoThis is a view from just below my turn around point on Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone PhotoA cloudy, cool day for a hike on Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo
The feature on the mountain side at the upper right-center of the above photo is El Capitan.
Since the trip back was mostly steeply downhill, I was able to make much better time than I had expected. I was almost sure that I would have to stop and put on the fleece at some point, but I never wanted to stop long enough to do that. Even had I put the fleece on, I would have had to stop and take it off as I got back to lower elevation.
A view on the way back down Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo
There is at least one trail visible along the mountain side in this photo. I think the one in the center is the Tejas Trail.
On the way down, I had to frequently remind myself to slow down on the more treacherous portions of the trail. There were plenty of places with tripping or sliding hazards. I was making such good time on the way down that I passed a few people that I had met on the way up as they were coming down.
Sunset glow on a peak across the wash from Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo
The golden hour light in the above photo is what I looked forward to finding the following day.
Golden Hour Glow in Guadalupe Mountains. iPhone Photo
A zoomed in, noisy iPhone photo of the late day light on a peak opposite my route on Guadalupe Peak Trail is above.
A Scene from a lower portion of Guadalupe Peak Trail. iPhone Photo
I was greeted by a nice sunset scene over the plains from the lower portion of the Guadalupe Peak Trail.
I made it back to the RV lot just after dark, with sore, sensitive, achy feet, a strong appetite and no plan for where to go the following morning. I had been on the trail for about 5 hours, so I think I would have made it to the peak and back before dark, if I had started up the trail just an hour earlier.
