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.
This “Dark Shelter” is not in Valley of fire. This is along a 4 wheel drive road outside the park.
More from the Nevada desert later,
Ken
This is a continuation of scouting and exploration in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada in March of 2023.
The geology here is fascinating. The rocks have interesting variation in texture and color.
If one looks closely, one can just barely pick out hikers on the right side slope of that big dome in the background.
To be continued,
Ken
A continuation of images made during a hike in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada in March of 2023.
There were a few arches in the canyon walls bordering this hiking trail. Small arches are plentiful in this area.
This trail ends at a drop off into a narrow chasm, which at this time of the year contained a pool of water.
Another small arch atop a rock outcrop.
Another small, but still sizable arch along the trail.
Light bouncing around inside some of the smaller arches and holes in the rocks creates interesting color, bringing out the patterns in the rock. This one looks like an eye in a rugged face.
More exploration photos next,
Ken
There are many arches of various sizes all through out Valley of Fire State Park and in this area, in general, where the sandstone has been eroded away over long time intervals of exposure to wind, rain, freezing and thawing. The arches are not on the size of those found in Utah’s Arches National Park, but seemingly more numerous.
Sunlight reflects around inside the arches, creating wonderful lighting on the rock surface.
The arches in this post are found along a short hiking trail and can be spotted by looking up into the canyon walls, which can be spectacular, too.
There is an open area along this trail with many nice cholla cacti. I had to refrain from trying to photograph each one, as I’ve always found these enticing.
We stopped short of completing this hike today, since we wanted to get to an area that we had chosen for sunset photos.
We will revisit this area later,
Ken
My oldest son, also a photo enthusiast and excellent photographer, met me in Snow Canyon on the first morning of my stay. The weather forecast called for considerable rainfall for our location over the next few days, so we began to consider our options. After some discussion and exploration of not too far away areas, we decided it best to move into Nevada in the vicinity of Valley of Fire State Park.
Valley of Fire State Park has two camping areas, one with full hookups for RVs and another with no hook ups, but water available. At the time of our visit, those campgrounds were still on a first come first serve basis. This is a popular destination in the spring, so it is difficult to get a camping spot. We stayed a few miles outside the park on BLM land for the first several night, traveling into the park and into adjacent areas. We made a few passes through the campsites, while in the park, looking for open sites. It was not unusual to see would be campers waiting in line for a campsite to be vacated that could be claimed.
As is our normal practice, we scouted areas for photography and I made many photos with my iPhone, during these outings. So part of this series of blogs will contain mostly those scouting photos.
I got down low to photograph this small cactus, making it look much larger than it is.
Late day sunlight lights up the rocks in Valley of Fire, enhancing the color, shadows and textures.
We spotted these two desert sheep as we were driving. I shot these from the vehicle. That slope is much steeper than this image makes it appear and the soil is loose, making their hooves slip with each step. These animals have a remarkable balance and the ability to navigate steep rugged terrain.
There is an old CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) multiple room crude cabin used by CCC members, who worked in the park during the Great Depression, in the park. The following image is from the larger of the three rooms.
More later,
Ken
Continued from part 1.
As I was finishing my late day shoot, a bunny rabbit hopped between me and my final composition. This little guy did not seem exceptionally concerned about my presence, but was nevertheless cautious and uncertain about my possible threat. It sat still as if hoping not to be seen, as it blended in well with the background, while I snapped an iPhone camera image.
These photos reveal how the cloud cover increased as I was shooting. There was a storm front coming in and I felt a few drops of rain, so I wrapped up my shoot and headed back to my campsite.
The wind picked up considerably as the storm came through. I could see lightening to the west and east, but other than gusty winds, the storm never came over the campsite. I was able to get a weak phone signal, sufficient to consult the weather channel and view the radar, which showed the major portion of the storm to the west and east and did not show any significant danger of thunderstorms over the campsite.
I tried sleeping in the penthouse, watching the distant lightening in the west and east. The gusty wind resulted in my putting the penthouse down as a precaution and sleeping down below. The gusty winds kept me awake for a significant portion of the night. I had already decided that another day here was not justified, so I decided to sleep a little longer, to be better rested for my drive to Badlands National Park, rather than go out for sunrise photography.
Next stop, Badlands National Park, South Dakota.
Ken
After leaving the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, my next primary destination was Toadstool Geologic Area in Nebraska. Since the drive between these two destinations was long, I had plans to break up that drive with a couple of overnight stops along the way.
I stopped in Kansas at Lake Scott State Park the first night. The campground is adjacent to a lake with hills surrounding it, which I had hoped would be scenic enough for a few good photographs. I was disappointed. The campground was ok, but nothing special. The park is old, in need of updating, the lake was not scenic and some facilities, such as docks, were in great disrepair. Long grass and weeds along part of the lake had been recently cut, but the clippings were littering the grounds and walkways. It did not appear that the caretakers were concerned with the general appearance of the park.
My second planned overnight was a dispersed and free camping area at Clear Creek State Wildlife Management Area along the North Platte River in Nebraska. When I checked the weather report for that area there were warning of severe thunderstorms and I knew from research into this site that rain might render the dirt roads into the area impassable. I decided it best to bypass that site and make a long drive on to Toadstool Geologic area.
There are only six first come, first serve campsites at Toadstool. I wanted to arrive early enough in the day that there might still be campsites available. This is the main reason that I had not initially planned to drive directly from Lake Scott, Kansas to Toadstool. If I arrived late in the day and the campsites were taken, I would have to backtrack to other possible sites, with no guarantee of finding a place to stay nearby.
The final stretch of roadway into Toadstool is a 16 mile gravel roadway. That roadway was rough and extremely washboarded, when I drove in, requiring slow driving.
Luckily, when I arrived at the campsite, there were at least 4 sites available. I had planned to stay two nights here, but it was hotter than usual here with daytime temperatures in the nineties. Nighttime temperatures drop into the upper fifties, making for comfortable sleeping. There are no water or electric hookups here. I had plenty of water, but electric would have been good to have with such hot daytime temperatures.
I decided that having to hang out during the heat of the day would not be pleasant, so I only registered for one night. If, after exploring the area, I decided another day would be beneficial, I could always extend my stay.
After registering at the campsite kiosk, I finished setting up my van for the overnight stay, raising the penthouse and opening all the vents, opening the side and back doors to allow air to circulate through to help reduce the inside temperature.
In the meantime, others arrived and soon all the sites were taken. It was fortunate that I did not arrive any later this afternoon.
I had plenty of time prior to sunset, so I hiked into the area around the campsite to scout locations for photography. I found a few possible location in the hillsides to the south, but none of those really appealed to me. Eventually, coming back down into the valley below the hillsides to the west of the campground, I found interesting features and decided this was the best place to return for sunset and maybe even sunrise.
When I returned to the area I had chosen for sunset photography there were a few young people and a photographer, shooting what I think were engagement photos, that I had to work around. Eventually, that group left and I had the place to myself.
I shot a number of images of the rock features with variation on the compositions and the clouds moving overhead.
To be continued,
Ken
Having found no better and more convenient place for sunset photography during my mid-day exploration of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, I decided to hike back to Little Baldy again for sunset.
I had already seen a flock of wild turkeys wandering freely and nonchalantly around the campground and as I left my campsite, I noted a dozen or more along my route. I had already mounted my wide angle lens and had no other lens with me, so I could not get a close up photo of these wild birds.
These photos are not very good, but I wanted to include these as documentation of the wildlife in this area. These wild turkey do not seem to be bothered much by humans, although they will scurry away, when approached too closely. I suppose their lack of great fear of humans is a result of this being a wildlife refuge, where no hunting is permitted and contact with humans is common.
When I arrived at Little Baldy, I worked my way around to the western side and picked my way up the slope, looking for different view points from which to shoot today.
From atop a large granite feature, I shot along the edge of Little Baldy as the sun sank low in the sky. Then I worked my way towards the top of Little Baldy.
The sun was already sinking below the horizon, when I got near the top of Little Baldy. I managed to snap a few photos before the golden hour ended, but most were similar, even though I tried moving around as fast as I could to get various perspectives.
Possibly, I might have gotten better and more varied shots, had I gone to the top first, rather than shooting from the side of Little Baldy.
Tomorrow I will begin the next leg of my journey towards my primary destination of this road trip.
Ken
As I headed back into the heart of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, I spotted a massive granite outcrop with large boulders strewn around on it. I stopped to investigate. My initial impression was that the slope up the slick rock granite was too steep to safely navigate. Yet, I decided to cautiously proceed.
I went up a portion of the slope that was the easiest to climb. Looking down I saw a heart shaped rock on a pedestal that was not visible from below, since it was behind brushy growth at the edge of the roadway.
After some initial exploration along the lower, less steep slope, I back tracked and went through the brush to the portion of the slope where the heart shaped stone is located. The incline beyond was very steep and I had to consider how best to attack it. I decided that a switch back climb would be the safest approach and proceeded upward.
The contours in the massive granite seemed to be enticing me to come on to see what was above.
About this time, an official park vehicle came by on the roadway below. The driver yelled at me to warn me that I would fall. I waved an acknowledgement of the message. The vehicle continued on its way, as did I.
I had to walk through a gap between two giant boulders to what lay beyond.
I think this could be a good place for sunrise photography and maybe I will get back here at another time; but now it is time to end this and find my way down,
Ken
With my DSLR in hand, I began a more extensive exploration around the summit of Mount Scott.
Since I was passing this interesting tree again, I had to shoot it with my DSLR, trying to get variations on my initial iPhone scouting photos.
I know these three photos are similar, but this unique tree shading the granite rock, inspired a number of thoughts and offered numerous compositional variations. I couldn’t decide which image I liked best, so here are several of my favorites.
Please do not deface nature’s beauty to express your primitive desires. There are many other ways to express your admiration of someone that will be much more meaningful, appreciated and will not be an assault upon others’ enjoyment of our natural environment.
I am enthralled by the forms taken by old trees.
That’s it for now,
Ken
