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.
Wild Turkey in campground
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.
Wild Turkey in campground
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.
Little Baldy western slope in sunset light
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.
Sunset on Little BaldyPost Sunset on 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.
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.
Wichita Mountains Granite and Long Boulder, iPhone Scouting Photo
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 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,
With my DSLR in hand, I began a more extensive exploration around the summit of Mount Scott.
Branching Artist
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.
Reaching LimbsRolling HillsGranite AlleyMade in the ShadeForced Shade
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.
Accommodating TreeDon’t do this.
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.
The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge campground hosts recommended Mount Scott as a place for sunset photography and so did the rangers in the visitor center, so I drove up the scenic drive to check out the views.
The steep drive up Mount Scott passed by large boulder fields and scenic views across the Oklahoma landscape. I stopped at a number of pull outs to check out the local views.
View From the slope of Mount Scott, iPhone Scouting PhotoLichen on Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
Many of the granite boulders here are covered with yellow and grey lichen, forming interesting patterns on the rock faces.
Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
There are massive granite rock faces along the route to the top of Mount Scott.
Yellow Wildflowers and Yellow Lichen, Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting PhotoShoe Rock, Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
I’ve labeled this photo “Shoe Rock”, since I can see a shoe shape in the rock on the bottom left.
Blocky Rocks and Sky, Mount Scott Granite, iPhone Scouting Photo
When I reached the parking lot on the top of Mount Scott, I initially walked around the perimeter of the lot, looking out over the views. I was discouraged to see much litter in the area around the parking lot. I picked up a few plastic bags and put them into my trash. I did not see any trash receptacles in the area. When I am shooting photographs in such public areas, I often have to remove trash from the scene, prior to shooting.
The Duck, Mt. Scott Tree Remnant, iPhone Scouting PhotoView from Mt. Scott, iPhone Scouting Photo
From the parking lot, I worked my way down and into the area just below the parking area.
Mt. Scott Tree, iPhone Scouting Photo
This sprawling tree offered a number of photographic opportunities.
Artistic Sprawl, Mt. Scott Tree, iPhone Scouting PhotoPom Pom Tree, Mt. Scott Tree, iPhone Scouting Photo
After this brief scouting of the area, I decided that I did not like all of the human infrastructure that would be visible in wide angle images across this area. I decided not to return here, during this short visit; but I still wanted to explore more, in case I changed my mind or came back another time. I retrieved my DSLR with 24-70mm lens from my vehicle and began a more extensive exploration.
The heart shaped rock perched at the top of Little Baldy caught my eye. I positioned myself to shoot up the rock fracture towards that rock. Working my way around this area, I discovered that the large, curved rock in the bottom right of this image forms a bridge over the rock below it. I tried to get very low and shoot through the bridge, but I was not successful getting photos that adequately revealed what I was trying to capture.
After scouting the area near my campsite, I decided to return to Little Baldy for sunset photography. I arrive on the upper slope of Little Baldy early, as is my usual practice, to look around again and pick compositions prior to sunset. As I was looking over the area, a herd of people from a parking lot visible in the distance, came up the eastern slope. They were all heading for the summit to watch the sunset. It was a Sunday evening and this is apparently a weekend favorite sunset viewing site for visitors. I had not anticipated this, since I had seen so few people in this area earlier in the day. We landscape photographers usually prefer no people in our photos.
After the crowd ascended to the crest of Little Baldy, I worked my way to the western slope, rather than going to the highest point, where I knew the crowd would congregate.
Little Baldy 1
Fortunately, most of those on the summit stayed below the peak on the eastern side and were not visible most of the time I was shooting.
Little Baldy 2Wichita MountainsCacti RidgeRed Grass, Red Rocks and CactiRed Rocks DelightWichita Mountains Sunset
As I was shooting the final images of this shoot, one couple did appear near the top of Little Baldy and I included them in some shots, but they were moving too much for me to get non-blurry images. So I have no images of the actual peak of Little Baldy with the best of golden hour light to share.
With a final destination of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, I needed stops in route to break up the long road trip. I searched the maps of the states I would travel through to get to the Badlands for possibilities. The first place that I noted in Oklahoma was the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, which is only a few hours drive from my home base. I searched online for information about the refuge and looked for photos taken in the refuge. The results of that research convinced me that I should spend a couple of nights in the refuge RV campground.
Prior to this visit, I had no idea that such a place was so close by and that there were actually old granite mountains in the southwestern part of Oklahoma. Since I was traveling just after the busy summer season, there were plenty of RV sites from which to choose. After consulting the online campground map, I chose a site that looked like it was conveniently located near the restroom facility and near hiking trails from the campground.
It turned out that my campsite was just across a campground road from the campground hosts. I stopped by to chat with the hosts, let them know that I had arrived, get updates on the campground rules and conditions and get their advice on locations for sunset and sunrise photography.
I find that most non-photographers have completely different concepts about sunset/sunrise photography than do photographers. Still it is good to get local knowledge, especially for first visits to a location. After checking out the locations on the refuge map of the hosts’ suggestions, I decided that I should check out the area around the campground first and scout the suggested areas the following day.
I walked around the campground to get my bearings, find the trails originating in the campground and check out those trails. The refuge map is sketchy. Others that I encountered during my exploration of the large refuge area, expressed the same frustration with the refuge map.
Hole In One, Wildflowers, iPhone Photo
There were pretty wildflowers growing in the campground area.
Spider Like Wildflowers, iPhone Photo
After some effort and hiking much farther around the campground, than should have been necessary, I found the trail that I wanted to explore. The trailhead was visible from my campsite, but the trailhead was not marked! There were also branches along the trail, some branches clearly traveled trails, some branches not so clearly used and it was not even clear that those branches were actually trails and there were no markings along the trails.
It was not an area that one could get lost in, during daylight at least, so I did not mind exploring and I eventually found my way to my chosen destination.
One branch of the trail went around nearby Quanah Parker Lake. After hiking portions of that trail, I could see no good views for sunset photography, so I chose a branch that went away from the lake. That branch took me through woods to the other side of the lake, which looked more promising for photography.
Quanah Parker Lake, iPhone Scouting Photo
There were plentiful Prickly Pear Cacti in this area.
Prickly Pear Spikes, iPhone PhotoLooking towards Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
In addition to checking out the lake, I was interested in the map feature referred to as Little Baldy. I was not really sure what to expect of Little Baldy nor where exactly it was, given the sketchy map, but I figured I would know it when I saw it.
On the way to Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
There were many granite rocks and boulders scattered around, so I experimented with using those as foreground objects and tried to visualize how the scenes would look at sunset and sunrise.
Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
When I spotted Little Baldy, I explored around and up its slope, trying to pick vantage points from which to shoot at sunset today and for sunrise the following morning.
Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting PhotoView from Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
Shooting with the sun low in the sky, one’s shadow often becomes a problem to deal with. Sometimes a desired composition just can’t be obtained without one’s shadow and compositional adjustments have to be made.
View from Little Baldy, iPhone Scouting Photo
Now that I know where I want to be at sunset, I just have to figure out the timing for departing my campsite and getting into place prior to sunset. I’ve now got a good idea of the most direct path from my campsite to my intended location, so all I have to do is time the hike. Doing so as I returned to my campsite, it turned out that the hike is only about 10-15 minutes. That is really convenient and means that I can return to camp after sunset shooting without hiking in the dark and I can even hike back for sunrise photos and not have to hike in morning darkness, either.
From Ridgway we traveled to Hotchkiss, Colorado, where we planned to visit the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Years ago we had briefly visited the south rim, but this was the first visit to the North Rim. After checking into our motel, which was surprisingly nice for such a small town, we drove to the north rim.
It is a fairly long drive from Hotchkiss to the canyon, but I wanted to do a bit of scouting, prior to returning for late day or early morning photos. It was early afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. We stopped at a number of canyon overlooks, where I snapped iPhone scouting photos.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone PhotoBlack Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone Photo
Since this is a deep canyon, direct sun light penetrates to the bottom for only a few minutes each day. The best time to photograph the canyon is probably not during the typically preferred golden hours of early morning and late day, so timing when to be here is a problem for those of us that are not highly knowledgeable of the lighting variation across the seasons here.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone Photo
Much geology is revealed in the rocks of the canyon walls. One can find lots of information on the canyon’s geology via many online sources. Here is one link to check out, if interested, and another here.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone PhotoBlack Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone PhotoBlack Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone PhotoBlack Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone PhotoBlack Canyon of the Gunnison, North Rim, iPhone Photo
The last photo in this post shows a feature referred to as “The Camel” (left of center and just above the vertical center).
My original intention was to return to the canyon with my DSLR either later today or the next morning, but given the travel time from our lodging and the uncertainty about the best time of day to be here, I decided more effort on this visit might not be adequately fruitful. Instead, we changed our travel plans and decided to move on towards home a day earlier than planned.
I know these iPhone photos are not very good, but these are all I have for this trip.
Since we were in the neighborhood, I made a spur of the moment decision to take a 4 wheel drive road to the ghost mining town of Animas Forks.
I’d been to Animas Forks with my oldest son a few years ago, accessing it via other 4 wheel drive routes. I thought I recalled the route from Silverton being very easy and suitable for even regular passenger vehicles and it is a well maintained gravel road for the initial few miles out of Silverton. However, where it begins to climb into the mountains, it becomes rocky and rough. This route is still classified as an easy 4 wheel drive route, but it is not safe for regular passenger vehicles. But we did encounter a young female driver in a low clearance small passenger vehicle, returning towards Silverton. She was either a skilled driver, crazy or stupid. A bad move could easily result in undercarriage damage or a punctured oil pan, punctured gas tank or high centering on rocks.
This was the first 4 wheel drive road that I have taken in my 4Runner TRD off-road Toyota. I still have road tires on this vehicle, which are only a couple of years old with low mileage, so I was not overly concerned about the tires, but knew I needed to exercise more care in driving than if I had more suitable tires for such roads.
Waterfall and Mountain StreamConvergence
This mountain road, like all here, is scenic with great views of mountains, mountain streams and waterfalls.
Mountain StreamStreamingRocks in the StreamDown Hill RushDownstream Rush
Just after shooting at this waterfall, another driver pulled in behind my vehicle. He was “local”, being from the Durango area and knew this area well. We had been driving for awhile, making slow progress and I had no idea how far we were from Animas Forks, but he assured me we were not far away now.
After departing Santa Fe, New Mexico we headed to Colorado, stopping for a couple of nights in Durango.
I had anticipated spending most of our time in downtown Durango, allowing my wife to shop to her hearts’ content; but she was not interested in shopping here.
Our motel was near the Animas River, with a walking/bicycle path along the river. We checked out that path, but discovered that it was not a great walk at this location, being completely open with no shade and it was warmer in the sunshine than we expected. There was a pedestrian bridge on this path with good views of the river and that was as far along this path as we ventured.
We drove a few miles into the downtown area, intending to have dinner at one of the many restaurants there, but we could find no available parking. After a number of circuits through downtown, we abandoned it and finally found a decent Mexican restaurant in a small shopping center off of the main roadway between our motel and downtown. We enjoyed our dinner at outdoor seating at that location and judging by the number of Hispanic customers, it appeared to be a popular restaurant with the locals.
There are numerous parks in Durango and long pleasant walking/biking paths along the Animas River, which we checked out the full day we had in the area.
Animas River 1, Durango, CORiver RocksAnimas River 2, Durango, CORiver Floaters
I noted that the two youngest kids in the front of this raft were more interested in me than the river. It must have been the phone camera that I pointed at them.
KayakersModern Art
There are modern art work pieces in the parks.
Modern Art
We drove around the local area to check out the countryside, driving up into a national forest and along numerous backroads. Along one of these roadways, I spotted a large rafter or flock of wild turkeys, maybe a couple of dozen.
