Month: June 2014 (page 1 of 3)

Friday Fitness Hike

Bob and I hiked up past the Thumbnail Pinnacle to the East End on Friday.  We hiked five miles in about five hours, with a total accumulated ascent of over 1800 feet.

20140627-_DSC5767-Edit-medium A look out towards Four Peaks.  Submarine rock is just visible above the rock at the bottom-left of the photo.

20140627-_DSC5776-Edit-medium Much of the hike followed trails on steep and loose terrain.

20140627-_DSC5785-Edit-medium Several views of the Thumbnail Pinnacle…

20140627-_DSC5791-Edit-medium 20140627-_DSC5803-Edit-medium 20140627-_DSC5809-Edit-medium 20140627-_DSC5833-Edit-medium A rock outcropping above the Thumbnail Pinnacle:

20140627-_DSC5842-Edit-medium Two more views of the Thumbnail Pinnacle from higher up.  From this vantage point it sort of looks like a vertical spire (but it’s not).

20140627-_DSC5845-Edit-medium 20140627-_DSC5848-Edit-mediumLooking southwest from the end of the ridge above the Thumbnail Pinnacle…

20140627-_DSC5857-Edit-medium Once atop the ridge, the East End is fairly close, but it takes quite a while to get there.  The ridge is littered with large boulders and prickly vegetation.  There is a trail along the top of the ridge, but following it is challenging.  We came upon these two saguaros as we were making our way along one side of the ridge.  We eventually climbed above the saguaros and then found it easier to go back to the other side of the ridge.

20140627-_DSC5872-Edit-medium More views of the saguaros from somewhat higher up.  I scrambled up a boulder that was well above the saguaro on the left.  It was even with the upper part of the saguaro on the right.

20140627-_DSC5878-Edit-medium 20140627-_DSC5890-Edit-medium A look back at the boulder-strewn ridge from where we came.

20140627-_DSC5911-Edit-medium Bob and I hiked over to a rock formation known as Goat Hill.  This is a view from a rock pile somewhat east of Goat Hill.

20140627-_DSC5926-Edit-medium We made our way down that rock pile.  I took this photo from the “low” area in between the two rock piles.

20140627-_DSC5938-Edit-medium Bob, standing at the edge (and the top) of Goat Hill.

20140627-_DSC5941-Edit-mediumBob took a photo of me in the same location.

20140627-_DSC5965-Edit-medium Descending Goat Hill…

20140627-_DSC5974-Edit-medium After leaving Goat Hill, we made our way over to the top of Morrell’s Wall (I think).  On the way back, we noticed that we had another great view of the Thumbnail Pinnacle.  In this shot, I zoomed my lens all the way to 70mm.

20140627-_DSC5998-Edit-medium A wide angle view from the same location.

20140627-_DSC6007-Edit-mediumViews of Glass Dome, Tom’s Thumb, and Gardener’s Wall as we descended to rejoin the Tom’s Thumb Trail.

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Friday Fitness Hike

We hiked the Scenic Trail on Friday; we kept the hike short because several of us had other things that we needed to get done that morning.  Bob brought along Sarge and Allen and Janet brought along their dogs, Savannah and Bella.

Sarge (with Bob):20140620-DSC04152-Edit-medium

Bella, Savannah, and Sarge, shortly after meeting for the first time.  The dogs were very interested in each other, but Bella noticed me squatting down and came over to see what I was doing.

20140620-DSC04178-Edit-medium Red Mountain with a very dry desert in the foreground.

20140620-DSC04236-Edit-medium Hiking up the Scenic Trail.

20140620-DSC04242-Edit-medium Water break for doggies (and people too).20140620-DSC04278-Edit-medium Red Mountain, again.

20140620-DSC04302-Edit-medium 20140620-DSC04323-Edit-mediumAnother break.  I had everyone pose for a photo a minute or so earlier, but I like this shot better.

20140620-DSC04341-Edit-medium20140620-DSC04349-Edit-medium Sarge, Bella, and Savannah (with Allen).20140620-DSC04361-Edit-medium

Roosevelt Dam

Marie drove me to Roosevelt Dam yesterday…

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Fossil Creek Dam / Waterfall (New Edit)

Below is a new edit of the Fossil Creek Dam / Waterfall that we saw on our hike of January 1, earlier this year.  I had used Photomatix to process the original, but the colors ended up kind of weird.  I think this version has more accurate colors.  I used only Lightroom and Photoshop to process a single exposure.

20140101-_DSC3814-Edit-medium

Friday Fitness Hike

Friday’s hike started at the Wagner Trailhead.  We hiked a bit over seven miles total.

A view of Four Peaks from the Wagner Trail.

20140613-DSC04084-Edit-medium We came across a rattlesnake, but it moved quickly – I didn’t get a very good photo of it.

20140613-DSC04094-Edit-medium A couple of rock formations that we saw along the way…

20140613-DSC04127-Edit-medium 20140613-DSC04130-Edit-medium Janet, Linda, Allen, and Bob hiking Stoneman Wash:

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La Sal Loop Road Views

I took these photos as we were leaving the La Sals on Wednesday, June 11.

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Whispering Oaks Ranch Macro Shots

On Tuesday afternoon, we walked around Whispering Oaks Ranch where I used 180mm and 105mm macro lenses for the following shots.  Not all shots are “macro”, but I used a macro lens on all of them.

20140610-_DSC5225-Edit-medium 20140610-_DSC5228-Edit-medium 20140610-_DSC5243-Edit-medium Blackie:

20140610-_DSC5248-Edit-medium Jaydee:

20140610-_DSC5266-Edit-medium Bella:

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(There is one other cat on the property too, but we didn’t see it.  Bella is very friendly.)

I had a hard time getting autofocus to work quickly enough to photograph ants and other small critters.  I “lost” on my ant subjects when it made its way onto the gravel.  I put a rock in front of it and transferred it  back to the pavement at which time it commenced grappling with one of its friends.  I used manual focus for this shot.

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UPS Trail – Kokopelli to Castle Valley Overlook

We hiked part of the UPS Trail on Tuesday.  (UPS stands for Upper Porcupine Singletrack.)

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Oowah Lake to Clark Lake

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Grey Dawn Kitty

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