Tag: Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas, July 2021, Part 2

As sunset approached, I hiked back into the area around my campsite with my DSLR for a sunset shoot.  As usual, I went out earlier than I thought necessary.  Even so, my timing was off.  Some of the features that I had anticipated shooting, were already in shadow, well before sunset.  So I had to give up on some of the preplanned shot locations.

Golden Hour, Palo Duro Canyon

My first stop was at this vey tilted rock or hoodoo nearest to the campground.  It was in full late day sunlight and I could see that there were already shadows on the big hillside in the distance.

Cacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon

I found this batch of prickly pear cacti that were still getting some late day rays, with the red hill behind them mostly in shadow.

Tiny Desert Tree and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon

Even though the light was much less than I had planned to see, I like this composition with the small, weakly lit tree and the big red hill in the background.

Late Day Deep in Palo Duro Canyon

I like the sinuous leading line formed by this drainage with green grass contrasting with the red earth and the change in lighting from the right side to the left of this image

Boulders and Red Hills, Palo Duro Canyon
Moon over Tilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro Canyon
Desert Evening

I converted this final image, made from the top of the hill from which I had photographed during my scouting hike, to black and white, to get a more dramatic late day image.

I tried capturing more images of the moon over this hilltop, shooting from a location on the side of the hill with tilted rocks pointing at the moon, but I could not get a good image with the lens I had chosen to use today.

Thanks for following,

Ken

 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas, July 2021, Part 1

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 Canyon
Boulders and Hillside, Palo Duro Canyon
Boulders, 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 Scene
Palo Duro Canyon Topagraphy
Life on a Rock, Palo Duro Canyon
Cacti and Red Hill, Palo Duro Canyon
Cacti and Red Hills, Palo Duro Canyon
Scrubby Vegetation and Red Hills, Palo Duro Canyon
Tilted Hoodoo, Palo Duro Canyon
Tilted Hoodoo Palo Duro Canyon
Hilltop view near campsite, Palo Duro Canyon
Palo 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.

Stay tuned for the sunset shoot here,

Ken