I met a guy on the trail last week and we talked for a few minutes and walked together for a while. However I got distracted sooner or later by taking photos and the like and didn’t see him for the rest of the hike. When I got to the summit, there he was, about to board the same tram down. We chatted about the routes we have taken to the summit and he mentioned trail I’ve always wanted to climb, but did not want to attempt it solo.
We exchanged phone numbers, and as the weather worked out in our favor, today at 9:00 we hit the trail. Supposedly, it was a shorter route, but it was exceedingly steep. In one section I figured that we were scrambling on a 1:1 ratio, one foot up for each foot forward. We gained about 500 feet in one tenth of a mile and it was a serious workout.
Photo opps were not great, but here are a couple that I liked.
My hiking partner told me the name of this bush but I did not write it down.
One specific problem with this route is that it is fairly barren with respect to views. The route travels up box canyons that hide most of the view out to the west.
This is what I mean by narrow, the canyon here was maybe 100 feet wide. The biggest problem I had today was dealing with a back-lit image and the sun flaring into the lens. I think I’ll go back to this trail once we hit the June Solstice and hope that there is more light thrown on the “chimney” formation there in the middle of the image.
Five and a half hours, a little over 7 miles and 4,200 feet uphill. Most of the photo action was at the base of the mountain, where the wildflowers were starting welcome the spring.
It seems only yesterday that I was trudging through the snow at the summit of the mountain. Today, at the summit, all of it was gone except for some drifts in the shadows that were left over from the winter snow pack.
And I think, after seeing some of the images in here, that I may have stumbled on a method of taking accurate photos of red flowers. Include blue as a background if you can.
One thing that is good about trying to find the best of… is that it makes you choose between piles and piles of photographs. Personally, I’m finding this a good exercise in deleting stuff that is just not the cream of the crop.
After shooting 500 plus images, I think I have a handful that I really like. It’s especially difficult to find the right play of light and shadow in a giant arena, but once in a while you can strike it lucky.
Headdress
And finally, it is after all, about the dance.
I probably should have posted this yesterday but I was too busy sorting through 500 images to get something posted. I’ve decided though, that the big posts with lots of images are going to end up on the web pages, and this place can be used for short snippets and as a placeholder for ideas that need more work on the main pages.
While on a short hike on Sunday, I came across this pile of rock in a canyon near the La Luze trailhead. To me it looks like the Albuquerque Sphynx.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Posted in The kids
It was a year ago exactly, when I stood in the auditorium in Santa Fe and raised my right hand and took the oath and became a lawyer in the great state of New Mexico.
In New Mexico the court allows for someone to be a “Movant” and make a verbal motion to the court to admit a new member.
So yesterday I made the trip again to Santa Fe, this time standing with my daughter as I made the motion to admit the “real lawyer” to the New Mexico Bar.
She raised her right hand, took the oath, we paused for a photo taken by one of my former classmates and then went on down to the Range for breakfast and then on to the airport.
It was a great day.
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