Fall, Winter, and back to Fall. Photos and more.

Thursday was summer with 90+ degrees and hot sun, Friday was fall with some clouds and a cold breeze, and Saturday was winter(ish). I went out with a bunch of other photographers Sat morning to take pics of the fall color. There were lots of other photographers out, especially at N. Lake. Then we got together to look at some of the pics we had taken.  Here are some of the pics from that.

N Lake

ground with dusting of snow

creek below S. Lake

the Everest challenge was Sat - lots of bikes on the roads

Mt Humphreys Sat. morning

That afternoon I went bouldering at the Buttermilks. It was cold and there was definitely better friction. There were also lots of non-locals there. Sunday was also winter. I went bouldering at the Happys. It sprinkled a bit, but the real action was up in the mountains and to the north.

looking up towards Mt Tom from the Owens Valley on Sunday

It rained in town a bunch that night but was clear the next morning and the surrounding mountains had a fresh coat of snow.

Mt Humphreys Monday morning

Soon it was back to fall again and I went out to take some bird photos... It might even be back to summer by the end of the week.

American coot

flicker

yellow bird hiding among yellow flowers

Mt Humphreys from a distance - note how much snow has melted by Tuesday morning

Last gasp skiing trip teaser

They say there is no snow in the Sierra this year, Laura has been posting pics almost every weekend proving that wrong. For the most part it is above 10,000 feet, which means some effort is required to get to it.

We headed in from Virginia Lakes on Sat May 24. It wasn't long before we had to walk across snow fields and our walking shoes got pretty wet before we switched to skis and started skinning up over the pass and with a little bit of steep snow and rock scrambling and a bit of fun skiing to Summit Lake.

Grey Butte reflected in the small melted part of Summit Lake

home sweet homes

We set up in a dryish spot and relaxed and ate delicious foods. Appetizers were flavored triscuits with brie and gouda and then bacon wrapped sirloin with bacon mashed potatos and pesto... (yes, this was a trip with Laura, so Moose Lodge hospitality was in full effect.

bacon wrapped steak with bacon mashed potatoes and pesto = YUM

The next day we skinned up a nice bowl and then higher on another slope and skied down. That was so much fun we did the bowl again. There were nice clouds making for interesting light. We took lots of pics.

Laura drops into the bowl

and continues to the creek

an epic fail attempt at a handstand w/ skis

That night dinner was my turn for dinner - I brought dehydrated curried lentils with sweet potato. Luckily we still had some crackers and brie and gouda too.

I tried to get some night pics when I woke up at midnight. I got a few, but I couldn't figure out the K3 cameras modes that I thought would help.

Memorial day we packed up and headed out. It was amazing how much less snow there was on the way out compared to hiking in. That meant hiking instead of skiing back from the pass, but it wasn't too bad. Then a stop at the Whoa Nellie Deli and on to the Tufa at Mono Lake to take pics. I got brought out the big lens and took a bunch of detail pics and pics of gulls and osprey.

osprey bringing a stick to the tufa top penthouse suite

same pic - cropped in even more

There will be more details and pics in a trip report eventually. I'll put the link here when it is done.

and here it is:

http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/lastski2014.html

New camera, new lens, pine creek climbing, poetry contest, tasty food, ultra marathon...

Some of those things in the title are me, others aren't.  But my loyal fan probably wants to know what all I've been up to. For starters I got a new K3 and Sigma 150-500mm lens.

You can read more about that and see some sample pics here:

http://www.electricant.net/grundyman/newk3.html


I also went climbing in Pine Creek recently - lots of good rock up there, and some not so good rock raining down a few hundred yards up canyon from us.

Tai and a brace of Eriks in Pine Creek

Laura had a get together celebrating a number of things, and of course there were lots of tasty things to eat.

roasted garlic torte

Then we went to Spellbinder Books - for the awarding of the winners of the poetry competition. Years ago I used to rap Xanadu with my sister, and knowing the verses helped me win a poetry book.

Laura reads her poem

and shows off her award

Then off to the Mountain Light Gallery to for a new show opening with lots of fantastic images. Finally that night I biked out to Mill Pond park to talk to Julie who was volunteering at the end of the Bishop High Sierra Ultramarathon. We watched some of the last few people finish the 100K race.

Crossing the finish line after 17+ hours and 100K

Disaster - sort of - good thing it is a Pentax

The unthinkable happened, while pulling my camera out of the case I had strapped to my chest it caught on something and popped out of my hand and out of the case and dropped from chest height onto a granite slab. CRASH. I said a choice word (or 2 - loudly) and picked it up. The flash had popped open but otherwise it was in one piece, except for the large cracks across the front of the lens - luckily they were just the clear filter on the front. I turned it on and it seemed to work, although it had trouble focusing with the cracks across the front. Still, the pics appeared to be ok and with a different lens it seemed to be 100%.

This looks like a good place to drop a camera - NOT

resulting in this

the cracks actually didn't degrade the image as much as you'd expect

especially with a larger aperture and zoomed in a bit

It took 4 hands and a skeletool to get the busted filter off the next morning, but then that lens (Pentax DA* 16-50mm) seemed to work fine too. That is good because I would have been extra super grumpy to have both busted my camera and to be carrying an extra 12 or so pounds of useless dead weight on a 3 night backpack trip. Thanks for building such a solid tool Pentax (the K5 and 16-50). Needless to say, after all the trouble getting the camera out of the case I went to the Cotton Carrier shoulder strap carrier the next day. Not only was it easier to get the camera out and back but it had a backup attachment so even if I fumbled it the camera wouldn't hit the ground. It still sucks to have fumbled my camera and to break an expensive filter, but it is so much better than it could have been.

luckily the camera seemed to still work fine (taken with different lens)

Birds

I got up early this morning to see if I could get any pictures of birds. I went down towards the Arizona Trail where there is a reclaimed water marsh/pond. I got a few nice pics, but mostly the birds were hiding in the plants or too far away.

I did see some cool baby coot-chicks hiding in the reeds. There were ducklings too, but their parents herded  them away from me.

coot chick hiding in the reeds

The red-wing blackbirds were busy singing and posing.

A few herons were hunting. One stuck around longer than the others though.

heron

There were some nice flowers too, but the wind made photography difficult.

golden columbine

Annular Eclipse viewing

Dawn watches the moon block the sun

Today I went w/ Dawn and Raechel out to Wupatki NM to watch the annular eclipse. Evidently some other people had the same idea and as we approached the visitor center the road became a parking lot. We turned off to Wukoki ruins and watched from there along with a much smaller and more pleasant group of people. One couple had a telescope set up that had enough magnification to easily see 3 sunspots. We didn't have any eclipse glasses, but others did and passed them around. I was able to take pics through the eclipse glasses, but it was hard to hold them and find the sun and focus and hold everything still. It is much easier to do with the moon because you don't have to hold a filter or worry about burning out your sensor or eye.

one sunspot is visible in the upper center of the sun

As the moon crept over the sun it got noticeably darker and cooler.

The "ring of fire" only lasted a few minutes

The shadows also were pretty cool, forming crescent shapes instead of circles when the light went through a gap. I didn't look at the shadows during the brief "ring of fire" period, but they probably would have looked cool.

odd looking shadows with crescents

watching the sun approaching the horizon

Wukoki ruin during the eclipse

The eclipse was still going on with maybe a quarter of the moon over the sun when it set. We sat around for a while to let the crowds disperse before returning to Flagstaff.

It was an enjoyable little jaunt to photogeek and watch a rare event.

Dawn posted some pics too, you can see them here:

http://dawnkish.blogspot.com/2012/05/solar-eclipse-of-heart-wukoki-ruin-az.html

Grand Canyon Hell Hike

Spring, when a young man's fancy turns to death marches and hell hikes. That's right - time for the annual Grand Canyon Hell Hike. This year coincided with National Park week, so I haven't had to buy a pass yet.
I drove up the night before to bike out Hermit drive to take sunset pics.

dead tree on the South Rim

view into the canyon from above The Abyss

sunset from Pima Point

I started the next morning (4-24-2012) at 4:30 and hiked quickly down the Bright Angel Trail enjoying the emerging birdsong and flowering tree smells and not enjoying the occasional mule smells. I made pretty rapid time down past Indian Gardens and saw plenty of people hiking up with overnight packs on the leg down to the river. I stopped at the river briefly and then hiked on to Phantom Ranch - or at least that side of the river. I was disappointed that I couldn't find any ripe figs in the trees down there. I started back up the South Kaibab Trail around 9:30 and managed to stay ahead of the mule train following me despite stopping to take photos a number of times. Then I cut west on the Tonto Trail. Things were pretty toasty in the sun but not too bad in the shade (80's?) The prickly pears were starting to flower along with a few other wildflowers.

Obligatory Warning shot on the way down - at Indian Gardens the first time

handstand at the Colorado River

Black Bridge - polarizer for max reflections

Black Bridge - polarizer rotated 90 degrees

cactus blooming on the S Kaibab

I was slowing down by the time I got back to Indian Gardens but after a short break in the shade and some indecision I decided to hike out to Plateau Point anyway. I took more pictures there with the interval setting on the camera and tripod and then headed back.

scrambling up to an overlook at Plateau Point

I made it.

My feet were sore and I was tired when I started back up from Indian Gardens at 3:10 but in about a mile I started decompensating. I felt awful. I am not sure what it was but I am suspecting some sort of electrolyte imbalance. I had plenty of calories and water, but I felt nauseous. I pushed on slowly to the 3 mile hut and sat in the shade and attempted to force down a Gu Roctane - with electrolytes and caffeine and all sorts of "goodness". It didn't taste very good and sort of stuck in my throat despite plenty of water. I moved out of the shade shelter because I feared immanent Roctane regurgitation. It would have been a treat for the squirrels but you aren't supposed to feed them and with an effort I managed to keep it all down. I was also experiencing some leg cramps and weird muscle twinges. Eventually I felt better and made my way slowly up the trail. I was unenthusiastic about drinking or eating but I tried to continue both. Meanwhile I leapfrogged with an older couple that was slowly plodding their way out of the canyon too. I took another break at the 1.5 mile rest area and then pushed on to the rim. I didn't finish 'til about 7:10, so the last 4.8 miles took me 4 hours - hardly my best time, but I did make it out and didn't have to call for a rescue or use my headlamp. It was only 23.7 miles according to my map, but there was a good bit of elevation too. I hope that whatever happened to me doesn't happen again though, as my performance wouldn't get me through Day 7. My pack also wasn't particularly light with all the camera equipment, some insulation, food, water, etc. I was really missing my Inov-8 Roclite boots too. The shoes I had probably weighed twice as much and were half as comfortable.

not feeling so good with 1.5 miles to go

After I got to the rim I tried to eat a ripe banana but that didn't feel like it wanted to stay down either. I had plenty of salt with dinner, but I felt merely tired by then.

Here is my somewhat spotty spot track for the Grand Canyon hike.