I went to Montana to shoot a wedding; Surprise Glacier visit along the way!
The older you get, fewer places blow your mind when you see them. What used to amaze you when you first saw the world might not make an impact anymore.
Glacier is not one of those places.
Though most people may spend weeks planning a trip to this awesome place, I found myself there almost inadvertently. I was contracted to shoot a wedding in nearby Whitefish, MT, with a couple other people from the same studio. Two days before our flight touched down in Montana, my second shooter Corey suggested we take the morning of the wedding to check out Glacier.
It was an obvious choice.
Corey wanted to catch the sunrise at Lake McDonald, so we woke up extra early to drive in the dark to the Park entrance.
When we got to the lake, there were some pretty serious clouds covering the eastern horizon; no fiery sunrise for us this morning.
Even so, the smoke in the air from the western wildfires gave everything a yellow hue, making for some very unique pictures.
The rocks in Lake McDonald aren’t quite as colorful as the pictures let on; they are still unique though!One of my new desktop background images!loonslooooooon
Once we decided the ‘Sunrise’ was done, we had a little bit of time to make our way up Going to the Sun Road.
I had rented a 70-200 f/4 for the wedding, and it really came in handy here. The longest lens I had owned up to that point was probably 140mm, so the extra zoom really allowed me to try some new things.
Handheld smooooth waterThese were from a secret, off-trail spot200mm power!
We drove up the road a few more miles and stopped at a bend in the river, where there was a nice surprise:
Do you see him?
I’ll zoom in a bit:
I actually saw two black bears just down the road from me! Successful trip!
At this point, we knew we had to head back to get ready for the wedding. We stopped one last time at the point we had shot the sunrise.
Look at those blue skiesIf you were SUPing and kayaking in late August 2020 in Glacier, let me know
Thanks for reading, let me know if you enjoyed the pictures!
Green leaves were emerging from the cornfields zipping past. It was June, after all, and everything was excited to be alive again. I was lost in thought and I almost missed my turn back home. Tuesday nights were one of our open nights, and I was thinking about what I was going to do after work.
My phone started buzzing: Kadi was calling. She was home, and wanted to figure out what to do for dinner. We conferred for a bit before agreeing I could grab some squash and mushrooms to saute and put over rice. I love mushrooms, Kadi doesn’t. I was excited.
I got home after going to the store and put the things away in the fridge until we were ready. I’ll probably put garlic and paprika on. Kadi was running around grabbing some things.
She suggested we go for a drive. This was a bit unusual, but we were pretty well mired in our after-work routine at this point in the year, and we wanted to change that.
Kadi got into the driver seat and started driving. She didn’t mention any plan, and I was happy to enjoy the mystery. We headed west. Out of Longmont, into the foothills. Out of the foothills, into the mountains. I wish I had brought my camera!
She drove us up a dirt road, parked at the end, and got out of the car. She sauntered over to the wooden sign, took a look at it, and said “Yep!”. She walked back to her car, opened the hatchback, and revealed our backpacking bags, fully packed and ready to go.
My mind raced: “But…what about the mushrooms…?”
sneaky Kadi!
I think my brain just sort of short-circuited, and the next step it had in the chamber dry-fired. I was so excited! Kadi had planned a whole trip, gotten our bags packed (very impressive for only a one-time backpacker), and gotten us out the door before dark…on a Tuesday!
The weather called for a slight chance of rain, but we had our rain gear. The sun was about to set, but we had our head lamps. Weeknight backpacking is all about being flexible.
Kadi diverged that she didn’t have a plan for distance, and we could just camp whenever we find a suitable camp site. We hiked down through the lush June mountains as it slowly darkened around us. A rain cloud looked at us from above the west ridge.
Everything came together in one moment–an opening in the trees, an opening on the horizon to let the sun through, an opening in the clouds to release the rain. A rainbow greeted us as I threw my bag down to get the wide lens out.
The rain cloud passed, and the sun set. A large field presented itself in front of us, and we figured it was time to relax.
ol’ tried and true
We found a nice site beside the burbling brook we had been following for these two miles. Though we didn’t have mushrooms, our instant mashed potatoes with cup-o-soup mixed in hit the spot.
It was very dark by the time we had finished dinner. We got the bear bag hung, brushed our teeth, used the little boy’s bush one last time, and got in the tent (after taking a couple night photos, of course!)
Looking back, it was a pretty poor choice of campsite. Though the creek added some nice white noise to get your mind off the eerie silence of the night, it also meant we were down in a valley, where cold air congregates. It had rained the day before, and that moisture didn’t have any chance to evaporate in the damp next to the water. Kadi and I were both cold.
Sunrise was a welcome view. We had a few tasks: Boil some water for oatmeal, pack up the tent and sleeping bags, get the bear bag. Oh, one more thing: hike 2 miles back uphill to the car. Though it made for easy downhill walking yesterday, hiking back uphill was a daunting task.
Cute old cabin
The hike out wasn’t actually bad. There was some beautiful dew on the grass, and the morning sun shining through the trees could reinvigorate even the coldest of campers.
fashion
We finally made it to the car. Kadi was working from home that day, but I still had an hour commute after the hour drive back home. I was a bit groggy through the day, but anytime I found myself daydreaming, I was dreaming about finding another hidden adventure in the mountains.
Making an Igloo is fun, but hard! We tried our best!
In January of 2018, Glenn Kadi and I made an Igloo. It was lots of fun, but we didn’t quite do it right. A few weekends later, Kadi and I went up to it to camp in it. Unfortunately, it had collapsed, and we had to sleep in her car.
Fast forward to December 2019, about 2 years later. There had been several large, early season snowstorms that had dumped a fair amount of snow on the highcountry, and the three of us decided to try again.
Cameron Pass is a favorite of ours, since it is out of the way from the crowds of Denver, and it has some nice places to camp. There are some fields south of the Zimmerman lake parking lot that have great views of South Diamond peak, so they provide great Igloo sites, and they’re not too far away from the parking lot.
The first day we arrived, we attempted to start using the Ice Box tool, which is an easy way to make an Igloo. Unfortunately, it seemed that the early season snow was too loose and dry, so we decided to pack out a large area that we could cut blocks from the next day. I didn’t take too many pictures, so here’s a nice one of the hike out:
We camped near the Zimmerman Lake parking lot, just inside the treeline.
We used Glenn’s canvas tent on top of some snow we stomped out (about 2-3′ on the ground at the time). We had a propane heater that we used, but we were sure it was very well ventilated.
After we had eaten dinner, Kadi and I took a drive down the road to the Nokhu Crags overlooks along highway 14. This is a 30 second exposure, really made the clouds look cool!
I think this is Red Mountain, looking to the East. The moon peeked through the clouds for just a few seconds for me to get this shot highlighting it!
The next morning we packed up camp pretty quick to get back to the Igloo site!
Kadi got to work cutting blocks out of our quarry with the machete, while Glenn placed them together with the double saw.
I got to move blocks up from the quarry to the igloo site. Lots of fun!
I really like this picture
Unfortunately, the granular state of the shallow snow made for crumbling blocks, and after making it up 3 layers, the lower blocks couldn’t handle the weight of the upper layers.
We didn’t give up entirely though! Though the Igloo wasn’t going to work, we piled up as much snow as we could get into a giant mound. Sometime this winter we will go back and make a Quinzee, which is basically just a snow cave from snow that you pile yourself. It was probably 5′ off the snow base, so maybe 8′ off the ground when we were done. Someday we’ll be able to sleep up in the snow! That’s all for this post, thanks for reading!
Where Cameron teaches about his DIY Timelapse slider
Intro
Landscape photography has been a hobby of mine for the last half decade+. It gives me motivation to go see places I might not otherwise, and forces me to stop and enjoy them from different angles I would have missed if I had only hiked. This is surely why I was drawn so quickly to timelapse photography. It is just incredibly interesting to me to watch things move in fast-forward, putting motion into scenes that seem static.
I have taken hundreds of timelapse clips throughout the years (which you can check out on my Youtube Channel, search timelapse). With each timelapse setup I’ve gotten better and better at framing the subject, perfecting the settings, or predicting where the cool clouds will go (mostly impossible, but sometimes I get lucky!). Throughout this learning process, there was one thing that I always wanted to try– a timelapse slider.
Timelapse sliders are long rails with motors which have a platform to mount your camera on that will move slowly and steadily across the length of the rail, giving a very cool motion effect. However, professional rigs cost hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars, so I figured I would have to wait. On the prompting of a friend, however, I figured I could put my Electrical Engineering Degree to use, and started looking to make my own.
I’m all about sharing ideas and helping others, so this post will be presented in the context of making your own slider–whether it’s using my plans and ideas, or your own. Enjoy, and I’m happy to discuss any ideas in the comments!
The Start –V1.0
I broke the process down into three major pieces.
The Mechanical system – The rail, sliding mechanisms, mounting points, all physical things
The Electrical system – What kind of motor to use, what electronics were needed to control it, batteries etc.
Firmware – How would I control it? User experience is rolled into this.
So, here we go, starting with
MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
The Rail
The most important part of the rail system itself is smooth motion across the entire track. My first idea was to get a 1″ caster wheel from the hardware store and have it roll across a 1″ square tube, as seen in this super rough mock-up I made.
This had many problems, but I was determined with this idea and I made my first version with it. The side rails were there for lateral stability, with most of the weight pushing down on the hefty caster wheel.
This was a bad system. The most obvious issue looking back is that the caster wheel wasn’t flat–it was rounded.
This meant that it wasn’t stable whatsoever. Even though I was careful to put the center of gravity over the top of the pivot point of the wheel, any motion meant that it would wobble, a terrible thing for timelapses. In the end, this whole idea was scrapped, and I moved on to:
V 2.0
Learning from the experience of my first run, I came back to the project after more than a year. I wanted to be a bit more professional with it, and had learned a bit more about designing 3D models with Blender (I know, still not professional…but it works!).
I started with a true rail system, designing around 1/2″ hollow aluminum tubes (still from the hardware store) placed about 3″ from each other. This gave the platform four stable corners, meaning I didn’t have to worry about it wobbling.
The next problem to solve was making it slide smoothly. I found that the term I should look for was ‘Linear Bearings’, just meaning they’ll be sliding in a straight line. 3D printers use these, and therefore have made these very cheap. Unfortunately they use much smaller rods than my 1/2″ rails, so I couldn’t use those exact pieces.
After searching for a while, I found things called ‘Round Flange Linear Bearings‘. These worked perfect for me, since I could embed them into the platform so I could keep the overall package fairly small. These are what I ended up using, but I would look at skateboard bearings if I were to do this again to clamp on either side of the rail, since they are probably lighter and cheaper.
The tubes are attached on either side to the front and back blocks, which sandwich them between two 3D printed parts to tighten them in and keep them stable. These are the basics of the mechanical systems, so that will bring us to the next major piece.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
Locomotion
This system is sort of halfway between mechanical and electrical, so I feel it’s fitting to transition with it. Looking at existing designs, there are a few different common options: a toothed belt looped with a gear on the motor, a static toothed belt with the motor crawling across it, spooling a string on the motor shaft, or rotating a threaded rod. I chose the first toothed belt option, since I already had a stepper motor, and it seemed to be the most straightforward and lightest option. This option worked well on V1, so I kept it in V2.
The motor I chose is another 3D printing staple, a standard NEMA 17 stepper motor. They have enough torque to directly move the platform without a gearbox, and are pretty cheap online (~$20). At first I attempted to drive the motor directly, but after losing lots of torque due to incorrect timing I decided to simply buy an off-the-shelf stepper motor driver, I think it was the Easy Driver, bought on SparkFun.
The Electronics
In my EE coursework, I used the Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller extensively. I had even already written a program to control my stepper motor, so it was an obvious choice to use this as the base of my control unit. I decided that I definitely wanted different traverse durations so that I had flexibility for different shooting conditions. Here is a hand-drawn block diagram for the electronics:
The MSP430 has 4 inputs: 3 buttons and one potentiometer (knob). Two of the three buttons are limit switches (front+back buttons), which tell the microcontroller when the platform had reached one end or the other. The third button (called the “Go” button) is simply that: when pressed, it starts!
The potentiometer is the adjustable control of the machine, dictating how quickly the platform will move across the rail. The microcontroller reads the analog voltage on the dial, then converts it to 5 discrete steps to determine the speed. We’ll get into this later in the firmware section.
It has 7 outputs: 2 status LEDs, a signal for a transistor that would control the motor, and finally 4 stepper motor control wires.
I initially made this circuit on a breadboard and stuffed it into the end section of the old slider.
It was very messy, and I barely fit everything in! Not to mention that it was all held together by double stick tape…definitely learned a lot from that first one, but looking back at it makes me appreciate how much I’ve learned. Here’s a schematic diagram of all the electronics. Really pretty messy, but simple.
The 12V input from the battery is regulated down to 3.3V with a linear regulator for the digital logic. Three switches attach to GND for the MCU to know they’re pushed, then some headers (on the right side) to solder onto the Easy Driver board. Throw a couple current limiting resistors for the MCU and LEDs, and there you go!
Since I wanted V2 to be much better, I made a custom PCB for it. I hadn’t made one since my Junior year in college, so it was a really good way to get back into it (and sparked my interest in it, since now I make them full-time!). I used a trial version of Altium to make it with through-hole components on a two sided board.
I got the PCB manufactured by PCBWay.com, which I highly recommend for bare boards. I think I got 12 for $20 (including shipping), which is a killer deal, though it did take a number of weeks to arrive from China (3-4 weeks).
The batteries I use are some drone batteries I had lying around, 3S lipo batteries that give 10.5-12.5V volts depending on how charged they are. Though these work fine and give more than enough current, they are incredibly bulky and annoying to charge, travel with, and protect–they will explode if handled improperly. That is why I’m working on another project–but that’s a post for another time. I will post the link here when I finish it!
I bought all the electronics from Digikey for probably around $10, since there aren’t many components. I’ll put a bill of materials together at the end of the post.
FIRMWARE
Because I was using the MSP430, this was programmed in C. I think I’ll just attach the code to this post and talk about the user experience, since there’s only so much explaining of code you can do before just showing it.
When designing the user interface, I wanted it to be simple and fast. The user basically only has two options after switching it on: change the knob, or pressing ‘Go’. The knob is split up into 5 discrete steps within the analog voltage range, currently set to 5min, 10min, 20min, 30 min, and 60min. This number is currently hardcoded into the program and needs to be manually calibrated by measuring how long it takes to traverse the rail, but eventually I want to do an automatic calibration when putting new rails on.
There are two status LEDs that allow the slider to communicate back to the user. One is blue and one is red, and down the road that will probably signify something, but I’m only using one at the moment. When the On switch is flipped, the status LED will flash a few times to signify it is on. The user will then turn the dial to the wanted speed, and press the ‘Go’ button. This will make the LED flash 1-5 times, depending on the speed specified, at which point the user will press the ‘Go’ button again to confirm their decision.
You will be able to change the mode depending on if the ‘Go’ button is pressed when turned on, though I’ll have to revisit this, since I want to have several different modes.
I want to implement a ‘shoot move shoot’ long exposure mode, for longer exposures (>.5s). I feel like I may have to implement a display for this with more advanced options, or perhaps try to make a smart phone app that can talk via bluetooth.
The second mode I currently want to make is a ‘fast’ mode, that can be used real-time for smooth video b-roll. For this I might have it change the movement speed in real time with the dial, so it can be used for dynamic shots.
Bill of Materials
This is a pretty simple board. It doesn’t have many components and I think it needs more, now that I have a bit better knowledge of things like bypass caps and TVS diodes. But those will have to wait until Control board V2, so here’s a list of materials for this version:
For this simple board, the cost of the electronics was about $44. The cost of the mechanical systems came to about $38, so maybe around $80 total. I didn’t factor in the use or filament of the 3D printers I used at my work, so this is assuming you don’t have to buy those pieces.
Conclusion
All in all, this project has been a back-burner project for me for years now. It’s functional, and I even took it to New Zealand with me and got some nice timelapses. However, it is a little finicky, and I plan to improve it to make it easier to use. The biggest problem is the batteries–right now I just use one of my old drone batteries, and they are bulky, hard to charge, and a little fragile. I’ve already developed a board that lets me use my Fuji camera batteries to power it, but I need to make a way to connect them. There should be another blog post on the way about it!
If you found this rambling article with hopes of making your own slider, please ask me anything! If you want to copy this design exactly, I would be flattered, and can help you however you need! I didn’t put the full firmware in this post, but I can provide it if needed. I can also post the 3D files on thingiverse if desired.
Thanks for reading this far, and have a happy 2020!
Quick weekend trip to Moab results in fun adventure!
Martian. Stark. Wide-open. Barren.
Wooded. Green. Mountainous. Home.
There are many differences between Utah and the front range of Colorado, even though they are just a 6 hour drive apart. It’s these differences that lead us to go there, to see the strange, to explore the unknown. And it definitely shows us something unexpected every time.
The short-ish drive means it’s close enough for a weekend trip, so Kadi and I decided to do just that in the middle of April. Unfortunately, Colorado had other plans, and a snowstorm closed Vail pass on I-70, forcing us to stay put in Breckenridge for Friday night. We almost turned around at that point, but decided to keep going with a shortened plan, and it was definitely worth it.
We headed directly to Arches on Saturday, and though there were crowds, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I think it was after the Spring Break rush, but before school is out for the summer. Arches never disappoints, and I can’t wait to go back. I really want to do some backcountry exploration there, but I don’t exactly know where to start.
We hung out and hiked around for a bit while the sun inched toward the horizon. I wanted to go to Delicate arch around sunset, but the timing didn’t quite work out that way. So we hiked to Delicate Arch as dusk turned dark, and there was still a crowd there. Someone did some pyrotechnics in the middle of the arch, and though I can’t condone the act, I just happened to have the correct camera settings to capture it.
The next trick of the trip was finding a camping spot, since dispersed camping isn’t allowed near Moab, and the regular camp sites are reserved often months in advance. One site that is pretty far out of the way is a camp site called The Ledge, which is where we were lucky enough to find one spot open.
After sleeping in and making pancakes, we packed up and went for a couple small hikes on the way back to town. When we got to town, we went to the most glorious little diner that I have ever been to, a place called Milt’s. It is a tradition to go there anytime I go to Moab, and I would recommend it to anyone going there themselves.
After Milt’s, we headed to an arch neither of us had seen before, Corona Arch. I know that it used to be a popular swing arch (people would rig up climbing ropes and swing below it), but it has since been disallowed. Nonetheless, we just wanted to hike to it!
There are a few steep sections on the hike there, including this steel ladder, so overall it is an excellent hike.
Definitely not too cheesy ❤
Corona arch was beautiful, and larger than I thought it would be! It is surrounded by cliffs, one side going up and one side going down. It’s really mind-boggling to try to figure out how it was formed over millions of years without falling down.
After our hike back out, we started the long drive back home. Though it is lame to head back to the real world, trips like these always leave stars in our eyes leading us back to the unknown.
P.S. I made a short video about this trip, watch it here!
Every year at the end of July, my extended family stays in some cabins in the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado for one week. This year I could only go for part of one weekend, as I was saving vacation time for a 2-week trip to New Zealand in the fall. As such, there was only time to do one significant thing. I decided climbing a 14er was the best bang for my buck!
As with any 14er, starting early is a necessity. We woke at 5:15, and drove another hour and a half to get to the trailhead around 7-7:30. Along the way we saw a moose or two, and stopped a couple time for pictures.
We decided on the Grizzly Gulch Trailhead because I thought it was the easier one. I was wrong, the other one (a class 1, 5.5mile round trip hike) was up the road another mile and a half or so. That just meant that we got the whole 8-mile trail to ourselves!
The entire hike up was full of wildflowers and lush underbrush, a rare sight in Colorado otherwise.
Along with the wildflowers, animal life was all around, mostly in the form of Marmots or Pika.
One of the members of the group was having issues with the altitude, so I stayed lower with them while the other 3 went ahead and summited. So, I didn’t get any pictures at the top. But I did get some nice timelapses while we waited, and pictures!
When the rest of the group met back up with us, we saw a nearby snowfield and did the only logical thing…
…used an emergency blanket to sled down! It was super fun (and super safe!), and it cooled us off for our descent. Which wasn’t the best, because clouds rolled in quickly afterwards, threatening the daily afternoon thunderstorm. We heard a couple rumbles of thunder, but it never did rain on us while we were on the trail.
On the way back to the cabins we stopped in Lake City for the traditional reward for completing a 14er: The Ice Cream shop! Even though it was around 44F and wet at the time, the treat was too much to pass up!
Don’t tell my scoutmaster, but I got lost, even with a map. I had gotten up early to scout out a place that I want to go Backpacking at some point, but in my haste, I turned onto the wrong trail. The day was ruined!
Clearly ruined. Only joking of course! I had been planning to hike up to the Willow Lakes, an area that my boss had recommended and that looks splendid! However, I had other plans, and took the path to Willow Falls, between Red Peak and Buffalo Mountain, just north of I-70 at Silverthorne.
I had recently gotten a new lens, so I used it almost exclusively on this hike! It’s a Samayang 85mm f1.4, meaning it is a bit longer of a lens than I normally used, with a very shallow depth of field, meaning I can get some great bokeh (blurry foreground/background) with it!
It was a peaceful hike, following South willow creek up the valley it carved to the saddle between the peaks around it. The waterfall itself was long and cascading, meaning I couldn’t figure out how to take a good picture of it.
I only saw one other group on my way up, and they were on their way down after spending the night in the saddle. I saw a group of deer too, I assume they had camped the night as well, and these guys:
I hike about 4-5 miles up, then turned around to get back to town for lunch.
Someday I’ll make it back to Willow Lakes, but I’m glad I made a wrong turn so I could explore somewhere unexpected!
Thanks for reading, let me know your favorite pictures!
June is a great time of year, the beginning of summer. the weather is warm, the plants are thriving, and everything feels fresh. This June was super busy, so I’m just going to throw all the adventures together into one post. Enjoy!
Vedauwoo
At the end of May, I had finished my ‘Adventuremobile’ with help from Kadi, and we were excited to adventure in it! Basically it was a sleeping platform in the back of my pickup with storage underneath, made of 1/4″ plywood and 1x12s. So our first camping trip with it was up to the giant boulder-field that is Vedauwoo in Wyoming!
It took some getting used to the short ceiling, but it is so nice to be able to park anywhere and camp there! No need to find a spot to setup a tent, or find a place that doesn’t have any rocks (especially in this localle). It let us spend time just exploring!
RMNP
So I don’t actually remember if this was before or after Vedauwoo, but I’ll just throw it in here! I had a quick jaunt up to Rocky Mountain National Park one weekend just to relax and take some product photos for a friend, who gifted me the hammock if I took some pictures for him. Just a couple pictures in this set, but The Loch is one of my favorite places in the park!
(I don’t actually know who that is)
Rifle Falls State Park
The next adventure was going to Rifle Falls State Park, West of all the ski areas, and just north of Rifle, CO. I had heard good things about it, but we were leaving pretty late after work on a Friday, and I was worried about finding camping around the area.
Luckily, I have a pickup that can camp anywhere! So we pulled off the side of the road on some BLM land North of Vail to camp there, and enjoy the newly emerging Milky Way!
The next day we made it to the falls, and they were much larger and cooler than I was expecting! There are 3 different main falls in the area, with a few smaller ones around the peripheral.
One thing that we weren’t expecting was all the caves behind the falls! You could hike along the cliff for probably a half mile or so, and all along there were caves of various sizes that could be explored!
There was only one that went deep enough that it was pitch-black, but there were several others that you had to crawl through or duck into!
While we were there, we went down the canyon to the Rifle Mountain Park, a Mecca for climbers. There are just sheer cliffs on all sides in the canyon, which lends quite well to people who like to climb sheer cliffs. It was really fun to watch all the climbers doing their thing as we hiked along the cliff base for a bit.
With that, we headed back home to have some time with some family in town. Thanks for reading, let me know what your favorite picture was!
So I’ve decided go back and recount the adventures of this year, since I want to put my pictures out there rather than let them clutter up my (now 5) harddrives.
I have my first set from April, when Kadi and I drove to Phoenix to visit her parents. I hadn’t been to Phoenix before, and I love Utah/Moab, so I was excited to have the opportunity to drive through!
We started driving Friday night after work, which put us in Moab around 1:00am. While setting up the tent in the cold spring night (even in April!), we saw a rare kangaroo rat jumping around, but I couldn’t get a picture.
The Ledge campsite was a nice place, not even close to full even in April, which was a pleasant surprise. There was a valley close by with some cottonwoods rustling in the small breeze, housing an orchestra of crickets that would have kept us up if we weren’t so tired from the drive.
Utah is basically Mars on Earth. So many red rocks!
Another reason we chose this campsite was because there was an arch nearby that I wanted to investigate: Funnel Arch. It’s not a long walk from the road, but it does require some class 4 scrambling up a gulley, but once at the top it’s smooth sailing!
Funnel arch is a pretty small arch by Utah standards, but it had some great views of canyons all around! Next time I’m down this way I want to setup a rappel from the top, since I could see anchors bolted in at the top.
As with many things, getting down is a bit more of a challenge than going up, and we butt-scooched our way down for many parts.
After we got back into Moab, I had to take Kadi to a legendary place to get lunch–Milt’s! If you’re ever in the area, Milt’s is a diner-style burger joint that has more character than you can take in with just one sitting. It’s closed on Mondays though, so beware!
Next stop on the way south was Wilson arch, right off the highway. It’s quite a bit larger horizontally than the last arch, but not too much higher vertically. I had rappelled off the side of this arch the last time I was there, so it was fun to reminisce about that!
After this we had a pretty long drive down to the border of Arizona, probably 4-5 hours. On the way we saw Mexican Hat, a fun rock formation that looks alot like, you guessed it, a sombrero. I was driving at the time, so I didn’t get any pictures of it, unfortunately. However, we also hit Monument Valley along the way!
Arizona is also Mars on Earth. Most of it at least, though it’s got more shrubs than Utah. I really never realized how many different types of red rocks there could be until I drove through Arizona, but that makes it a very interesting drive. And I saw a Saguaro cactus for the first time in my life! Once again though, I was driving, so I decided not to endanger the car and pull my camera out.
It was really pleasant in Phoenix, I think the high was around 84F when we were there, meaning we could be outside without burning up! It was really cool to me to see all the dust devils throughout the desert plains surrounding the city, and everywhere was air conditioned (similar to Florida).
We stayed for a couple nights, but since it was just a 3-day weekend, we had to move on fairly quickly. We decided to go back through New Mexico this time, and check out some of the things along the way! This included Petrified Forest NP, which really reminded me of the Badlands of Teddy Roosevelt NP (alas, I’ve never been to the badlands of SD).
I had never driven through Albuquerque, and it was an interesting drive through even more different types of desert! But it was getting late and we had work the next day, so we had to make up some time we had lost by wandering around PFNP, so no more extraneous stops. Except…maybe two more.
The sun was just setting as we were going through Trinidad in Southern Colorado, and it really lit up Fisher’s Mesa, so I had to stop at a conveniently placed rest stop to grab this.
Finally, 30 minutes down the road I had to make one more stop to catch the sunset over the Spanish Peaks. After this we drove to Colorado Springs to grab dinner with family, then finally made it home at 1:00am!
If you know me or follow my photography at all, you know that I love Rocky Mountain National Park. I try to make it up to the mountains every weekend that I can, and probably half the time I find myself venturing past Estes Park into the dramatic landscapes of the northern Front Range. This trip, I started out at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead, with my final Alpine Lake of the area in my scope: Black Lake.
Though the day was warm for early February (above freezing!), the wind was relentless, and I was glad I brought my ski goggles along to protect my eyes from the blowing snow. The wind, however, created some dramatic drifts all along the 5 miles up to the Lake.
The trails were well packed down, which was good for me, since I opted to just go in my microspikes rather than bringing along the weight of my snowshoes.
The wind had blown away the snow from the surface of Mills Lake, except for the compressed snow of those who had crossed the lake during the snowfall, which created a unique effect. After Mills Lake, the trail wasn’t quite as compacted, so I had to take a bit more careful steps, slowing my pace down a little bit. This just meant that I could look at my surroundings more carefully, and I found some very interesting details.
Eventually I made it to Black Lake, after about 2 hours on the trail, which I was happy with. It was still quite windy, enough that I couldn’t find a good place to sit down to eat lunch, so I just stood.
I didn’t get a good picture of the cliffs on almost 3 sides of the lake, but at least I got one of Longs Peak to the East. I found some dramatic snow drifts around a large boulder, which turned into a great picture:
I spent some time walking around on the Lake before starting the hike back down. The return trip was a bit less windy, but a bit more lonely, since I didn’t see anyone else until the Glacier Gorge junction (probably 3.5 miles back). I enjoy the solitude though, and it allowed me to get some nice parting shots.
I really want to come back here in the summer, since I hear there are some cool waterfalls along the trail (and I love waterfalls). In the end, I was able to make it back home in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl, which was really something incredible to watch, so I guess I got the best of both worlds!
cameronfedde 