Author: Kevin (page 88 of 115)

Sunday Bike Ride Photos

Clayton, Mary, Marilyn, and I went for a bike ride today.  We rode out Pemberton, up Tonto Tank, over on Pemberton (again), and then up Coachwhip to the Windmill Trail.  Mary, Clayton, and I rode out to the actual windmill and then turned around where we met up with Marilyn who had just gotten to the top of the Coachwhip Trail.  I took these photos on the way down the Coachwhip.

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This one, below, is just a crop of the one above.

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Marie and Tiger

I got a new piece of gear today, an Orbis Ring Flash Diffuser.  It’s a round plastic gizmo into which you insert a speedlight.  The Orbis channels the light out a circular diffusing panel with a hole in it through which you can insert the lens.  Thus, for close-ups, you get a large light source which creates very few shadows.

These are some shots I got while playing around with the Orbis earlier tonight.  I used a 50mm lens on my NEX-7 with ISO set to 400.

Marie and Tiger:

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Marie without Tiger:

2013-08-10-DSC04775-mediumTiger is a big kitty!

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Fisher Tower Photos

My photos from our hike at the Fisher Tower’s area on June 2nd, 2013.

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I had to climb fairly high to get a photo of this monolith.  After getting this photo, I noticed that the trail kept going up, so I kept following it.  Marie took a photo of me when I was up there.

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Another view of the monolith, now down to the left.

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Marilyn and Marie are sitting in the area of sunlight below the big wall.

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This ladder is needed to make progress along the trail.  The trail maintainers added a metal handle to grab onto when ascending and descending since I had visited the area before.

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Friday Fitness Hike

 

This week’s hike started at the Wagner Trailhead, though we never actually got around to hiking the Wagner Trail.  Even so, we hiked 8.7 miles.

I got this photo of the sunrise before the hike started.  Part of the Wagner Trail is visible in this photo.

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Another pre-hike photo; A good view of Red Mountain off in the distance with some interesting foliage in the foreground.

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We hiked the Tortoise Trail to the Pemberton and then hiked Pemberton to Stoneman Wash.  We hiked up the wash, stopping to take photos at this rusted convertible.

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From left to right are Kevin, Bob, Amy, Janet, and Teresa.

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Bob took this photo of me while I was photographing the car.

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A large palo verde tree in Stoneman Wash:

2013-08-09-DSC04559-mediumWe hiked up one of the feeder washes for Stoneman Wash.  It eventually lead us back to the Pemberton, somewhat south of the Bluff Trail.

We saw this rattlesnake along the way.  Ranger Amy has confirmed that it’s a Mohave rattlesnake.  We saw one on last week’s hike too.

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I was suprised to see a blooming barrel cactus in the area.

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A view from the Pemberton Trail.  There is a small bench just below and left of the Palo Verde on the hill.  Just below and beyond the tree and bench lies the Bluff Trail.  The yellow sign visible in this photo warns of a sharp turn on the Pemberton Trail.

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Teresa and Bob hike down the Bluff Trail.

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A view of Weaver’s Needle and the Flatiron far off in the distance:

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We came across a number of healthy looking ocotillos while hiking back on the Bluff Trail.

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Ranger Amy spotted this horseshoe on a granite boulder.

2013-08-09-DSC04727-medium A view of the nine o’clock fountain with Red Mountain behind it.

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Sunday Bike Ride Photos

Marilyn and I rode our bikes on Sunday morning.  I rode up the Tonto Tank Trail to try to get a sunrise photo from a location I had scouted earlier, but I’m not happy with it.  I should have gotten there earlier and had my 50mm lens with me.  I brought my NEX-7 with a 35mm lens; I had never tried to ride with my NEX-7 before.  I had to make some minor adjustments to the harness of my Think Tank Digital Holster in order to ride comfortably.  I initially had it too low and it interfered with pedaling.

I finished riding up Tonto Tank and met Marilyn on the Pemberton:

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I tried, unsuccessfully, to get Marilyn to ride up the Boulder Trail with me.  The Boulder Trail leads to the Marcus Landslide Trail.  It’s very pretty up there, but it has more elevation gain than Marilyn was willing to do.  I took this photo on my way up the Boulder Trail.

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A photo of a large boulder on the Boulder Trail:

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This boulder was on the Marcus Landslide Trail.

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I met up with Marilyn at the intersection of Bluff and Pemberton.  We continued on Pemberton where I got this photo of the crested saguaro near Granite Tank.

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A closer look at the crested saguaro and its companion to the right.  Both saguaros have fire damage from the Rio Fire back in the 90s.  Damage on the crested saguaro is not as evident on this side as it is on the other side.

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This large, multi-armed saguaro can be seen off to the south along the new section of Pemberton.

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Friday Fitness Hike

Janet, Linda, Bob, and I hiked out on the Pemberton from the Trailhead Staging Area today.  We passed the site of the ranch homestead until we found a promising looking wash heading west.  We hiked the wash, seeing three snakes along the way.  I only got photos of two of these snakes.  We returned via the Tonto Tank Trail.  Total distance was 7.67 miles.

I took this photo from the road leading into the parking area while before the hike.

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A photo of the sunrise, also before the hike:

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A large multi-armed saguaro in Stoneman Wash:

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A view from the Pemberton, near Stoneman Wash:

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This is the wash that we hiked after leaving the Pemberton.  It meandered both west and north, though there were several forks we could have taken along the way which would have probably lead us to the Pemberton again.

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Linda takes a photo of…2013-08-02-DSC04217-medium

…me, Janet, and Bob:

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Three photos of the first snake we encountered.  I believe it’s a Western Diamondback rattlesnake.

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Linda took this photo of me photographing the snake:

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Bob, Linda, and Janet wait for the snake to move off.

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This is the second rattlesnake that we saw.  Linda and Alan’s research suggests that it’s a Mohave rattlesnake.  I saw one other snake, but it was not a rattlesnake; I don’t know what it was aside from being small and quick.

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A view of Four Peaks from the Tonto Tank Trail:

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Heavy Kettlebells

Power Systems had a sale last week.  I got a 48kg (106lb) gold colored competition style kettlebell for 50% off with free shipping.  A couple of days later, they had a 70% off sale with free shipping, so I got two of the black cast iron 100lb kettlebells.  I might have gotten some more competition style bells, but the 70% off sale didn’t apply to those.

I’m using the pair of 100lb kettlebells for farmer’s carries.  The two inch diameter handles make it a very grip intensive exercise, but farmer’s walks are an excellent conditioning exercise too.

I got the 48kg kettlebell for working on heavy swings.  The handle is supposedly around 33mm in diameter, making it less taxing on the grip.  I’ve done some two-handed swings with it and it’s not too bad, but that may be because I’ve done some double bell work with (a pair of) lighter bells having a greater total weight.  I haven’t tried any one handed swings yet, though I did do a clean just to see what it’d feel like.  I’d like to some day be able to do Turkish Get Ups with a 48kg kettlebell too.

In the photos below, the gold colored kettlebell is heavier even though it’s smaller.  I’m told that they’re filled with lead in order to keep them at the correct size.  Competition style kettlebells are all the same size, regardless of weight.  This means that some of the very light ones are mostly hollow and that some of the heavier ones must be filled with a material that’s denser than iron or steel.

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2013-07-28-DSC04165-mediumThis is what the bottom of each of these bells look like.  Note that the Power Systems bell does not have a perfectly flat bottom.  Even so, I’ve had no problems with them tipping when doing Renegade Rows with them.

2013-07-28-DSC04167-smallI have only one other competition style kettlebell, a 28kg bell from MDUSA.  As expected, the 48kg Power Systems kettlebell has the same size and shape as the one from MDUSA.

2013-07-28-DSC04169-smallThe bottoms of both bells are reasonably flat, though the MDUSA bell looks smoother.

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Friday Fitness Hike

Friday’s hike met at the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead, where we hiked the Marcus Landslide Trail.  The hike started off rainy, but cleared after perhaps twenty minutes or so.

Amy composed this group photo, which I shot from my tripod.  From left to right are Linda, Kevin, Amy, Janet, Teresa, Marilyn, Mary, and Jerry.

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A bird’s nest in a chain fruit cholla, with Sven Slab in the background:

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Linda sent me this photo of me photographing the nest.

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More chain fruit cholla:

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Sven Towers III, and II.  (Seven Tower I is only partially visible at the far right in this photo.)

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A spider web among some barrel cacti:

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Linda took this photo of the web from above:

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We saw a mule deer, but the wide angle lens that I was using didn’t get me very close:

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Marilyn got this photo of the deer with her camera.

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The Granite Ballroom with the Thumbnail Pinnacle off in the distance.

2013-07-26-DSC04026-mediumBroken mushroom rocks:

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We spent nearly all of the hike in Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  Some of us did, however, take a few steps into McDowell Mountain Park.  Here, Amy and Teresa pose by a sign on the Boulder Trail.

2013-07-26-DSC04050-mediumThe trail leads up a hill formed from the slide mass:

2013-07-26-DSC04053-medium Linda took this photo of me at around that point.

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The trail goes past a lichen covered slab of granite:

2013-07-26-DSC04056-mediumAmy makes her way up the slide mass.  Rock Knob is in the background at the right.

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We stopped at the interpretive viewpoint which shows the locations of various landmarks including Four Peaks and Weaver’s Needle.  I took this photo from that view area.

2013-07-26-DSC04077-medium Taking a break near the view point…

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Submarine Rock:

2013-07-26-DSC04093-mediumWe returned via the Caballo Trail.  Along that trail is an old feeding trough…

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There’s also an old water tank nearby.  Tom’s Thumb can be seen just left of the water tank.

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On the drive out, after the hike was over, Teresa took this photo of caballos crossing the road.

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Marie’s Fisher Tower Photos

Marie took these photos while hiking at Fisher Towers in early June.

Marie’s self portrait:

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Marilyn:

2013-06-02-Marie-DSC00777-medium Kevin, a long way off and high up!

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Tiger

Marilyn let Tiger spend a few minutes in the back yard today…

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