The places I will always go

I have always had a desire to seek out remote places and walk on new ground. There is a sense of newness that comes with exploring an area for the first time.  I enjoy the anticipation of seeing what is up around the bend in the trail.  It is in these times my senses are heighten, and my awareness of the beauty in nature is awakened.  It is easy to hike a long distance and not feel the burden of carrying my camera gear and tripod.  Often times after spending several hours hiking and photographing I will find a spot to stretch out and rest before making the trip back. It could be in a warm patch of sun or the shade of a tree.  As I rest in a semi conscious state, I can hear the birds overhead singing and the sound of a small stream in the distance.  The smell of pine, the blue of the sky, and the peace of feeling at home in the Garden of Eden.

The Grottos

I traveled through Colorado last fall and stopped by an area that I had photographed at thirty years ago.  It is just off of the continental divide when going over Independence Pass.  The Grottos trail with the ice caves are located in the White River National Forest.  I am always amazed when I return to an area that I had previously photographed, and realize how different it really looks as to what I remembered it to be.  On my first trip many years ago I hiked down into this area with a heavy large format camera and a sturdy tripod.  This time I was equipped with a lighter digital camera and tripod, but found the climb out much more strenuous than on the first visit.  The area around the ice caves has some great hiking trails that take you to some wonderful waterfalls.  When I first visited this location in 1990 there no people in the area when I was photographing.  On this trip I couldn't find a place to park and decided to come back at a later time to have more quiet space to hike around and relive some old memories of a special place.

https://liveandlethike.com/2015/09/12/grottos-trail-white-river-national-forest-co/

Under the Night Sky

We recently made a trip to Colorado and rented a camper for two weeks.  When we travel we always find ourselves in the lonely places away from crowds, TV, and internet.  We were able to dry camp most every night of our trip and stayed at high elevations of 10,000 and higher.  The clear night skies were filled with stars and I found myself out hiking around in the dark well after midnight with my camera.  I must admit that the yipping of the coyotes all around was a bit unnerving.  The thing that struck me the most from my night time hikes was how much beauty we have lost of our night skies with light pollution.  It is very difficult to find a place where the lights from a city hasn't spoiled viewing the starlit night.  Being in these remote locations puts me back in touch with reality and the realization of how we have built a wall of technology around us.  Technical Notes:  This image was made by stacking 12 sky exposures at 15 seconds with an ISO setting of 6400 with 12 dark (black) exposures.  The process of stacking exposures greatly reduces the noise in the image.