Daria Aquiar of Baja California and a member of the Paipai nation, demonstrates basket making techniques.

©Bert Gildart: This past weekend Anza Borrego Desert State Park in southern California presented its annual Archaeoastronomy weekend, opening its museums for visitor tours – and hosting a tribe of Native Americans.

The group is known as the Paipai and they hale from the Santa Catarina area of the Baja Pennisula, which is located about a four hour drive south of Anza Borrego. As many who follow our blog know, Janie and I have a particular interest in Native Americans and have, in fact, devoted an entire page of our website to the Gwich’in Indians of Alaska.

Over the years, my stories and photographs of Native Americans have appeared in dozens of publications to include Christian Science Monitor, Native Peoples Magazine, National Wildlife and Time/Life.

PAIPAI INDIANS  PRESERVE THEIR PAST

The presence of the Paipai at the Visitor Center this past weekend provided us with an opportunity to meet a group of people who are actively attempting to preserve their indigenous ways, specifically, by the continued creation of baskets, bows and arrows, and pottery.

But the weekend was also about the area’s ancient past, and not to gloss over the work of all the volunteer archaeologists, the weekend also provided insights into a time when mammoths, zebras, llamas, camels, and ancient horses roamed the shores of ancient inland seas that once spread north from the Sea of Cortez. Indeed, archaeological weekend provided not only a number of photographic opportunities, but also an excellent time to learn about the area’s incredible past.

MADE FROM PINE NEEDLES

Because most of the Native artists spoke Spanish, Horacio Moncada served as a translator for artists Enriqueta Castro, Melina Zazueta and Adan Arenivar. From my understanding the baskets were made from Jeffrey pine needles and palm leaves to create the intricately coiled pine leaves. They are proud of the fact that their use does not harm the trees as leaves and needles are gathered from those that have fallen to the ground. Horacio said that techniques for making the items were handed down over a period of almost 1,000 years.

Adan Arenivar created the bows and arrows and the sling shot, and with the exception of the rubber for the sling shot, all materials were derived from the land.

Click for enlarged version and to see extended caption.

Our visits with members of the Paipai Tribe occurred immediately in front of the Visitor Center, but not so tours of the museum. Normally, the area is off limits, but during this special weekend tours were conducted into actual working labs. Judy Smith, an RVer and also a volunteer who has undergone intense training, explained that zebras, sloths, and camels once occupied what is now the badlands terrain. From this area, the park has amassed a rich collection of bones.

HORSES DIED OUT

Archaeologists have then identified the bones and the results are amazing. Zebras and camels once occupied the area, but so, too, did horses and llamas. Interesting, these latter two species then migrated, horse to Asia and llamas to South America. Then, several million years ago they died out.

Click for enlarged version and to see extended caption.

In other words, though horses and llamas evolved here and later populated other portions of the world, it was up to the Spanish to reintroduce horses, and up to the Mexicans to reintroduce llamas by bringing them across the isthmus of Panama.

During the weekend, the park also offered a number of seminars, many of which we attended. All were interesting, but for us, the opportunity to meet another group of Native Americans and some of the actual field people now serving as volunteers was the highlight.

—————————————————————————————————

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*A Letter To Save The Everglades

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: During the Saturday night dance at the Slabs in southwestern California, which is nestled between a half-submerged wasteland of derelict buses and vehicles known as Bombay Beach and an environmental catastrophe known as the Salton Sea, Janie and I were paid an immense compliment. “You all,” said Solar Mike, “are Slabbers.”

The compliment followed a rousing song played by a band that might have performed here when “Alexander Supertramp,” the young man featured in the book and movie Into the Wild… lived here. He was befriended by Leonard Knight, the man who has spent the last 20 years of his life building Salvation Mountain. Last year I wrote about him in one of my blogs and was glad to see that although the torrential rains of last week slowed him down it didn’t destroy him.

Leonard Wright, architect of Salvation Mountain whom I interviewed last year.

Solar Mike paid us the complement after his splendid accompaniment on his harmonica with a local band. Upward would go his head when the band struck high notes and then down — when the band launched in some blues. And while he played, Janie and I danced, and immediately after his last performance he came over. “Wow,” he said. “You all dance like Slabbers. You’d fit right in.”

WE WERE SLABBING

No question, we were having a ball, and Mike was laughing, but the fact of the matter is that Slab City caters to folks from virtually every conceivable style of life you can imagine. For some it is the end of the road. Here’s where a large number of people come to park their run-down RVs at absolutely no cost. They have no other place to go, and all they need here are a few solar panels and a shovel to scoop out a big “gopher” hole.

CLICK TO SEE LARGER VERSION AND EXTENDED CAPTIONS. L to R: Slab City library, Christopher, Saturday night dance, “Solar Mike,” Don examining library books.

When the “gopher hole” is filled “residents” cover it and then the sun bakes out the odor. Several of the occupants include two sisters (now 91 and 92), and for them this is certainly the end of the road.  Still  they seem to love their life as it is.   Many fit into a similar category and it even includes a few PhDs who must have taken a wrong turn somewhere in another life.

Not everyone, of course, is at wit’s end, and Solar Mike is certainly not one of them. About 20 years ago Mike departed the state of Washington where he’d been employed as a social worker. Recognizing a need, Mike settled in with his Motorhome, began adding solar panels (they now number about 40) to his own evolving structure and began accepting business. Today, that business has garnered him a reputation as the Guru of everything that can be operated by solar power.

ENERGY TO MEET OUR NEEDS

For us this is a repeat visit. Last year we made the two hour drive from Pegleg (where we’re still based) and had Mike install a single solar panel which wasn’t quite enough. This time we sat down with Mike and reviewed our actual usage, which we had not adequately described previously. Mike concluded that we needed a three stage charger rather than the factory installed one. We also needed another panel and yet another battery. Though Airstream builds a good unit, we believe they equip their units for those who primarily want to stay in RV parks. That’s not us. Essentially, we stay in national parks and in out-of-the-way places — places that offer but few amenities.

And, so, after one month with us at Pegleg, Don and Nancy depart, leaving after an exhilarating weekend in the Slabs. (Note our new solar panels.)

After assessing our needs, Mike then turned the work over to several of his employees. One was a man named Christopher who had become an astute observer on life. He believes that Janie and I are better off in our Airstream than fifty percent of the rest of the world, and as we thought about it concluded he is probably right. Here in the Slabs, the analogy was appropriate, as a number of the people here are destitute.

LIBRARY AT THE SLABS

Yet another person whose life has impacted this eclectic community was the librarian who passed away about seven years ago at age 57. Her name was Peggy Sadlik and if you visit the library you’ll see her grave marker on the north side of the library, buried beneath a slab of concrete. She preferred to be called Rosalie and she began the library about 1995 by adding a few books to a shack build by a local character known as Goldman. Originally she stipulated that if you took a book you left a book, but now, because the library has grown, if you see something you like you can simply take it. The library is open 24 hours a day, but you’ll need a flashlight if you visit at night.

We spent three days at the Slabs and have to say we enjoyed it once again. We enjoyed the notion that there are still some places in the U.S. where you can pretty much do as you will. Of course there’s a down side, but if you can handle the problems that must arise from time to time then you can carve out a respected niche, one so respected that when such a man tells you that you could be a Slabber… why you believe you’re among the chosen.

———————————————————————

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*Lessons From Yaquitepec

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS

©Bert Gildart:  The torrential rains, which I mentioned in my last posting – and that lasted for five full days – have finally ceased. They stopped three days ago leaving the ground saturated in a way they’ve not been in years. Mike the mechanic at a local garage said he’d lived here for 20 years, emphasizing “I’ve never seen the equal!”

Trails lead directly from Pegleg into surrounding mountains.

Though the rains have forced most of inside we Pegleggers are an industrious crowd and have found things to do. Charging batteries in the rain has been a problem, forcing us to rely on our generators. To keep them dry we placed generators on elevated blocks of wood beneath the lowered the tailgates of our pickups. To keep the contents in the bed of our pickups dry, we spread tarps over the opening and then Bungeed them in placed so the winds wouldn’t whip them around.

Made comfortable in that manner we then went about our various activities, which wasn’t a problem for me as the seclusion allowed me to work on stories and photographs.

VERBAL INTERCOURSE THAT WAS PROFOUND

But you can’t work all the time, so Janie and I have played cards with Fireman Ted and his wife Carol. Ted and Carol are both great readers and had introduced us to a book called The Road. Authored by Cormac McCarthy the book is listed on Oprah’s Book Club. By the time the rains had arrived we’d all read the profoundly dark master piece, which has a post-apocalyptic setting. None of us could put the book down and the bleak rains seemed to provide the proper setting for much verbal intercourse. Might McCarthy portend the future of mankind?

The rains provided yet more. One dark and bleak night Bruce the lawyer invited us to the VFW for taco night. The club was packed and the mood was so festive that the rains of the evening were themselves drowned out by all the bon home.

Click on each image to see enlarged version and to see extended caption.  L to R: Driving through Slot Mountain, “Wind Caves,” Badlands as seen from Wind Caves.

But now, after enduring such extreme hardships we’re delighted to report that all here at Pegleg have survived – and that all but a few remained. And these people should take note that we no longer view them as true Pegleggers, for they couldn’t tolerate a little inconvenience .

On the other hand we have proven to be more than just fair-weather Pegleggers. We remained, and can report that our Airstream didn’t float away. We’re safe and sound and now out hiking local trails accessed from our RVs and admiring the distant peaks some of which are now covered with snow! (see image of Janie above.)

And now we’re exploring a little more of this incredible park.

CAVES ETCHED BY WINDS

One of the places we’ve long wanted to see is an area accessed through Split Mountain known as Wind Caves. We joined Don the forest economist and his wife Nancy and, using their vehicle, drove about 20 miles to an area of the highway known as the “Texas Dip,” (probably because it is so big) and then on along a dirt road which we soon accessed through a series of immensely slotted canyons. After about an hour, we reached our trailhead and then struck out.

The climb was steep, but the hike worth the effort for, indeed, the area is appropriately named. Below badlands spread out, and off in the distance I saw a couple threading their way through an austere landscape created by hundreds of completely eroded hills. At this point, we were not far from the Mexican border.

MURKY THOUGHTS

A little more hiking and we came to a series of hills that contained caves, arches and windows all of which demanded exploration.  We explored these features then we sat and soaked up the scenery and ate lunch.

Several hours later we retraced our steps, and as Don and Nancy were descending the light was such that it etched the gully washers in a way that dramatized the rains not only of the past few days but also of the eons. Cast against this immense landscape of time and breadth Don and Nancy looked incredibly insignificant, reminding me once again that the universe is big and that we’re small — but hopefully not irrelevant.

Good Lord, I hope we remain rain free for the remainder of our encampment, else how will we Pegleggers ever survive the accretion of such murky thoughts?

——————————————————————–

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*Gators On My Mind

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart:  Here at Pegleg (located in California’s Anza Borrego Desert State Park), Janie and I experienced another downpour of torrential rains, which  started yesterday about 3 in the afternoon. For over an hour, rain fell in buckets. When the rains did cease about an hour later, we went outside to survey the results, and they were impressive. Up on the hill, waters were literally streaming down the hill in what appeared to be genuine waterfalls. At the base of the hill, several “rivers” converged and then spread out over the campground. In places waters that were four- to six-inches deep engulfed our trailer and we joked about sandbagging and applying for relief funds.

Waters that were two to four inches deep engulfed our trailer.

We joked until we learned that just west of us heavy rains have created mudslides and are forcing people to evacuate their homes. According to a report I read in the Los Angles Times, the foothills to our west have received almost 5 inches of rain since Sunday. Another storm is predicated for today and that according to Department of Public Works Director Gail Farber who was interviewed by the L.A. Times,  will drop another 4 to 8 inches on the area.

MORE RAINS EXPECTED

The official went on to say that the ground is “really saturated right now from the two storms that came through the past two days.” Ms. Farber expressed concern for mountain residents about the storm that is predicted for today.  She said people in some places will be asked to evacuate.

Tentatively, Janie peers outside to watch the rising waters.

The storm is the result of a strong jet stream that is sending a line of storms ashore from the Pacific Ocean. Wet weather is apparently expected to continue through Thursday.

Though we’re obviously not escaping the torrential rains, here at Pegleg we’re about five miles from the mountains, where the brunt of the storm is being experienced. Nevertheless, we’re seeing several inches of water engulfing our trailer all of  which makes for interesting conversations and predictions that the desert will indeed be carpeted this spring with flowers. Several years ago the carpets of desert wildflowers were impressive, and with the rains this could provide an equal.

——————————————————–

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*The Eyes of the Canyon (about desert bighorn)

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart:

Dateline Pegleg, America! Our friend Richard is the purveyor of all the news at Pegleg that is important. Making the rounds throughout camp on his well-used  bicycle, he informs everyone who is up: “It’s Monday, January 18,” he heralds.  “What more do you need to know?”

Richard’s news really is news for some out here in California’s Anza Borrego Desert State Park who don’t even seem to know what month it is. Or at least they’re confused, and that should not be as surprising as it might seem. Some of us are from the north, such as Montana and Canada. Others, all the way from Vermont, and to be sitting outside in shirt sleeves and shorts in weather that is actually warm in January (or is it May?) is, well, just different.

For us, campfires have added a new dimension to the Pegleg adventure, enabling us to share life experiences.

Pegleggers, we think, are an interesting group coming from all different walks of life. Right now there are about twenty of us, and we represent a variety of backgrounds, sharing in common several facts. All of us are a little on the cheap side, enjoying the fact that we’re saving about $600 a month by “boondocking,” meaning that we’re pretty much self-contained. We also share the fact that most of us are either self employed or retired. Here’s a quick breakdown:

DIVERSE GROUP

Bruce was a lawyer; Ted a fireman. Don has a PhD and worked as an economist for the Forest Service and served as a college professor. He’s now retired and he and Nancy travel in their Airstream to such places as Padre Island (Padre Island2, Padre Island3). Others we’ve met here at Pegleg include an airline mechanic, a plumber, a musician, and several teachers. As I say, Pegleg hosts people from all walks of life, and we’ve not met a single person whose company we don’t enjoy.

Over half in the group have been married more than once so some share pasts that require a little digging, but all eventually want to tell their story, and some are very spicy. We suspect some of the stories are edited for the audience. Others in Pegleg are widows or widowers, who acknowledge that at this stage of their lives they don’t want to be alone, and are very grateful they’ve found someone with whom they can bond.

But regardless of their past what all Pegleggers seems to share is a sense of curiosity and adventure – and some have lived exceedingly adventurous lives – and believe they’re still doing so.

Bruce once sailed the Pacific, and mostly by himself. Richard sailed, too, but generally as a member of a small crew on someone else’s boat. During those years, sailing adventures took them both throughout the Pacific, and in Richard’s case, to Australia and to New Zealand. Both have weathered “Perfect Storms.”

We enjoy hearing these stories and all seem to delight in hearing ours. We all believe that RVing as full-timers or as full-time part timers (nine twelfth-ers we like to say) continues the sense of curiosity and adventure and all of us can tally off remote parts of North America to which we’ve traveled. For instance, in the past few years we’ve been to such farflung places as Nova Scotia and the Dry Tortugas.

Speaking from a very personal point of view, photography remains a huge part of the adventures that Janie and I enjoy, and on that note, I’ll provide a few thoughts on the posted image.

PHOTO NOTES

Those who are not familiar with photography might think that the fire is providing the sum total of all the light used for lighting Don, Janie and Nancy, but that is not the case. Once again I’ve used my two SB-800s and have covered the face of the units with the red gel filter that came with each. So covered the strobes add a fire-like glow to the scene, and couldn’t be accomplished without the gel. Strobes were placed on tiny stands between the fire and the fire watchers.

All of us think the evening fire we’ve enjoyed this year helps to make Pegleg. Last year we had no fire and cold from the desert nights did little to encourage us to remain outside. Ted, the retired fireman from Canada, and I have been getting the wood, using his small portable chain saw and the back end of my truck for hauling. Now we’re warm and that encourages the sharing of life adventures in the evening.

STORM BREWING

Though we’re all self-contained, Janie and I weren’t so completely independent last year. That’s when we headed to the Slabs ( fascinating in itself) and had “Solar Mike” tie in another solar panel. It has served us and has continued to do so while we’ve been at Pegleg this year, but things are about to change. Heavy clouds are moving in and solar panels, of course, require sun. But that may not happen for the next few days, as several rain storms are forecast.

Rain in the desert? It happens every now and then, and when it happens, it paves the way for wonderful displays of flowers. That, of course, is weeks away, and in the meantime we’ll just bide our time, hoping Richard will continue to make his daily bike rides throughout Pegleg, keeping us informed of the day – and even the month.

————————————————————-

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

Year’s Favorite Photos

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

Departing Smuggler's Canyon

©Bert Gildart: Smuggler’s Canyon overlook provides what many say is one of Anza Borrego’s most scenic vistas, which it certainly could be. It is reached following a hike of about a mile and a half, the last hundred yards of which threads through a maze of boulders and steep-sided walls. Historians caution, however, that Smuggler’s Canyon may be a misnomer, noting that smugglers could never use the area as there is simply no reasonable access.

In a round about way Bill and Polly Cunningham, friends of ours from Montana, explain as much in their their book Best Easy Day Hikes, Anza-Borrego.

They say that when you reach the overlook there is an abrupt drop-off above Smuggler’s Canyon, “so keep an eye,” they advise, “on overly adventurous members in your hiking party.”

The drop-off they’re referring to is also known as a “dryfall,” created by water, but which runs only following exceptional downpours. But they’re right, the drop off is substantial, descending about 150 feet. And because it does so abruptly people wonder how it could have ever been used successfully by smugglers?

From our readings of Marshall South’s various entries, we believe he was aware of the overlook as he spoke of other aspects of the vista, which includes the old Vallecito Stagecoach station all of which is back dropped by the rugged peaks of the Tierra Blanca, Jacumba, and Coyote mountains.

SPECTACULAR PICTOGRAPHS

Though the vista is worth a hike in itself initially we were drawn to this area because of the pictographs, which take you back hundreds of years. Pictographs differ from Petroglyphs in that the former are created from pigments while the latter by chipping and scraping. Both were, of course, created by Native Americans of the time, meaning these works of art date back hundreds of years.

According to Lowell and Diana Lindsay, in the informative book The Anza-Borrego Desert Region, the pictographs you’ll see along this trail are unusual for “their well executed red and yellow symbolic designs consisting of interlaced elements in a diamond-chain motif.”

Click on each image to see larger version and extended caption.

Janie and I have seen Petroglyphs and pictographs in many areas of the Southwest and concur that these images are extremely well preserved. No one has carved their name over them or destroyed them with bullet holes as have so many in other parts of country.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE

For photographers the images could represent a challenge, and I find most of the time they photograph best with strobe lights. Specifically, I use two, one of which Janie holds. The other is on my Nikon D300 and I set my SB-800s so the daylight exposure is about one stop less than the setting for my strobes.

View from dryfalls of Vallecito Stagecoach stop and Vallecito Mountains, all of which is spectacular.

But you may not be concerned about photography, and if simply seeing beautiful country is your goal, this hike is a winner. Simultaneously, it exposes you to Rock Art and so to a bit of America’s earliest history.

————————————————-A———————–

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

Ranger Overboard

ADS FROM AMAZON AND GOOGLE AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: The trail over Alcoholic Pass is a good route to follow in early January, for it twists and turns, “like a drunk,” is the legendary association, so serving to remind some of New Years resolutions. (Are you keeping yours?)

Alcoholic Trail twists and turns, and is here seen dropping down on to Coyote Creek, explored by de Anza in 1774.

Diana Lindsay provides a springboard for yet other thoughts, writing in her book Anza Borrego A – Z that the trail might have been so named because of the drinking habits of several early settlers, specifically the Clark brothers and Cod Beaty. Apparently these men made extensive use of the trail (often inebriated) and so their names are historically linked with the trail, a reminder that we must continuously tread our trails through life with circumspect. That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m quite ready to give up cocktail hour around our evening campfire at Pegleg, for it’s now a tradition after a long day hiking, particularly following a rewarding but vigorous hike in California’s Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

With those thoughts in mind, yesterday, I joined Don and Nancy Dennis, our Airstream traveling companions, and made the short drive from our campsite here in Pegleg along the old Anza route to the Alcoholic Pass trailhead. The rocky path climbs through a forest of desert cacti to include various types of cholla, mesquite, and ocotillo.

Click on each image to see larger version and to see extended caption.

L to R: Don and Nancy, boulders at Alcoholic Pass, back lighting dramatizes ocotillo cacti.

The trail continues to climb until it reaches Alcoholic Pass, which is spectacular because it peers over several valleys and several mountain ranges. It also peers over one of the most spectacular boulder fields you’ll ever see.

SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS

From our vantage at the pass in the Coyote Mountains we could look east and see Clark Valley and the Santa Rosa Mountains. Looking the other direction we could see the San Ysidro Mountains, and then, between us and the mountains, Coyote Creek, the creek along which Juan Bautista de Anza rode in 1774. Indeed, this trail offers immense historical overviews.

There is a register at the saddle forming the pass, which Nancy signed. The trail continues and we followed it down, realizing that we didn’t have time to invest in a hike that would require about seven more miles, for the day was growing late – and so we turned around. But there were compensation for the light was casting lovely shadows along the aforementioned mountains.

To some the blossoms of the ocotillo look like tiny torches.

Equally as important for my photographic ventures were the ocotillo, which seemed so vibrant. Light on the flowers was soft, something I generally can create only with artificial strobe lighting. Over the past few years I’ve posted several blogs on lighting with multiple strobes, and on the ocotillo plant, and how it blooms only following rain storms. Obviously, there has been much rain in recent months as the blossoms are now radiant.

TINY TORCHES

According to Lindsay it is this very radiance that might have given rise to their name. She quotes Mark Jorgensen, the former superintendent of Anza Borrego and an expert on sheep and desert ecology. Years ago I met the man and quoted him extensively in my book on Mountain Sheep.

Referring, however, to the ocotillo blossoms, Jorgensen says the Spanish/Mexican word ocote is a type of pine, which when lit explodes into a torch. Sometimes when the ocotillo is loaded with blossoms and the species is backlit you can easily make the association, for it appears as though the branches of the towering cacti are laden with tiny torches.

Lindsay also says Indians harvested the blooms and that the seeds made a flavored bitter-tasting drink.

Referring to the trail, Lindsay also says that the trail saved settlers six miles of trudging around the Coyote Mountains. If you were a settler, such as the Clark brothers or Cod Beaty on a mission to the local tavern in Borrego Springs, that could have been important. And so, as I made the final decent from Alcoholic Pass I was reminded that we’d soon have to make the momentous decision of whether there will or will not be a cocktail hour.

But why shouldn’t there be? I’m not one to make resolutions I can’t keep.

————————————————————————————

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*By Their Beaks Shall Ye Know Them

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: Beneath a rare Blue Moon, we Peg Leggers celebrated a joyous New Year’s Eve. Blue moons as some may recall are so named when the second full moon occurs in the same month as the first full moon, which is, of course, rare; hence the expression “Once in a blue moon.”

From Peg Leg and beneath a Blue Moon, we Peg Leggers wish all a Happy New Year!

The fire is set between both Nancy and Don’s Airstream and ours, and the moon is unaltered. To create the shot I upped the ISO to 1200 to create a proper exposure for the moon. Then I entered setting for the strobe lights that would enable me to properly expose us Peg Leggers and our warm fire, which felt so very good setting as the temperatures dipped to the low 40s.

SO HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM US PEG LEGGERS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY WIDE AND FAR. MAY THIS BE THE BEST YEAR EVER! LOVE TO ALL.

Bert & Janie

————————————————————

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Tampa More Naturally

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

Hellhole Canyon trail leads to a palm oasis

©Bert Gildart: The last few days have seen the arrival of a number of our Airstream friends from various parts of the country. The last couple to show up were Don and Nancy of Vermont, who arrived late yesterday afternoon in a howling wind storm. Just prior to their arrival were Bill and Larry of San Diego; Alex and Charon, who pretty much full time in their 1966 Airstream; and finally, Rich, Eleanor and Emma. You’ve heard me speak often of Rich Luhr, who publishes Airstream Life Magazine.

All of us have descended on Anza Borrego Desert State Park for the obvious reason that it is warm, and because there are so many activities in which to engage in the winter.

And, so, it was only logical that those of us who could spare the time would strike out for a long hike along one of the park’s more spectacular trails, in this case Hellhole Canyon.

Mountain lions had been reported but that didn’t motivate us, rather it was the notion of seeing palm trees and perhaps even the blossoming of some of the desert’s very first flowers.  The hike didn’t disappoint.

WHAT’S IN A NAME

Then, too, we wanted to recall a bit about this canyon, which has an interesting history, both from the human perspective and perhaps, too, from the perspective of etymology.

As we all know, words evolve, and that is perhaps the reason this canyon goes by the name Hellhole, rather than as two words. Originally, you imagine some cowboy saying, “That canyon is sure one ‘hell’ of a ‘hole.’”

That could be what happened here. Years ago ranchers used the canyon as a reprieve from roaring winds that whipped off the surrounding mountains. The mountains also provided a respite from the heat and all went well until they had to retrieve their cattle from amidst the cholla, ocotillo, fishhook cactus, and beavertail cactus. No doubt, their impression deteriorated–and can’t you just hear an hear an old cowboy saying, “Man, that hole is sure hell on me and my hoss’.”

HELLHOLE

With time someone would recall again the potential conditions and say, “Got to go to Hell-hole today, the cattle are still there.” Eventually, the hyphen was dropped until the concept became a single thought as in, “Drive the cattle into Hellhole for the spring. We’ll hope they stay in that God-forsaken canyon and don’t wander down into Mexico.”

Palm Oasis means water, even if just a trickle. That's Charon on the far right.

Last night we appreciated a bit of what they were saying as winds gusted up to 40 miles per hour.  Our hike, however, was ideal, leaving me an image of a kinder and much more gentle canyon. Along the way we saw several of the huge-eared desert hares as well as the sign of coyotes, and probably a bobcat.

And then there was the oasis of palms and maidenhair fern, with the stream that flowed quietly through them, and we all concluded that on a hot summer day, this could be anything but a hellhole.

WHAT PROMPTS OCOTILLO TO BLOOM

As well, we found several ocotillo bushes and one was producing flowers that were in full bloom. Ocotillo is an interesting species, one that produces leaves only following rain. If subsequent rains don’t follow the first, the leaves curl and become dormant. However, if more rains follow, the plant produces flowers, such as the ones we stopped to admire yesterday.

Two strobe lights work best for closeup details of flowers. Ocotillo blossoms suggest a recent rain storm.

To dramatize the flowers I needed two strobes, which I always carry. I then set the  camera to manual mode, enabling me to overpower the light from the sun. To do that I set the shutter speed to 250th of a second and the aperture to f-22 or less.  Look through the view finder of your camera and you’ll see the dial (at least on the Nikon D300) shows an under exposure of about three stops. Without the strobes your picture would be mighty black, but the strobes are set correctly, and they illuminate the subject. However, you’ll need an additional set of hands to hold one of the strobes, which Bill volunteered to provide. The results from this technique never fall to impress me.

————————————————————————–

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Hey, It’s a Gator

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

Before modification with Lightroom2

©Bert Gildart: Have been reading Scott Kelby’s book on Lightroom2 and then trying to put into practice what I’ve been reading. The most dramatic example of what I can do at this stage of understanding is to post another image of Sean Vasquez, a Native American who may be on the verge of an acting career.

Regardless, as you can see from my posts of several weeks ago, Sean is extremely helpful when it comes to modeling. However, I wasn’t at all satisfied with the rendition shown to the left, so Lightroom to the rescue.

In order to make this photo with the washed out frame stand out I first had to darken the frame, difficult to do (at least for me) in PhotoShop, but not in Lightroom. First I used the exposure slider and reduced exposure by a factor of about 1. Then, using the Adjustment Brush, I selectively darkened just the window frame. That took care of that problem.

Because I hoped to impart an artistic quality to the image, I followed Kelby’s instructions and upped the Recovery, Fill, Contrast, Clarity and Vibrance sliders as far as they would go.

This tends to create a supersaturated look, so, again, in accordance to Kelby, I then dragged the Saturate slider all the way to the left thereby desaturating the image, but in a different way. The intention was to impart  a gritty, artistic look, and to evaluate my efforts you’ll have to scroll down.

LIGHTROOM MASTER

Rich Charpentier, one of my friends who has been studying Kelby’s books for about a year, has mastered the elements of Lightroom and HDR (High Density Resolution). On his blog Rich posts thoughts on situations he’s encountered that might help those interesting in learning more about these two techniques. I think Rich is one of the country’s emerging photographers and will soon be recognized as one of the very best.

Results after using a variety of techniques suggested in Scott Kelby's book on Lightroom2.

Rich is also a good business man (even in a down economy) and co-owns a print gallery in Prescott. Much of his best work hangs on the gallery’s walls, but as well, he also posts a blog with photographs. You can see some of his recent work by logging onto his website, the link I just provided above. Scroll down here and you can also see an image of Rich, surrounded by some of his work.

PEG LEG

We’re still camped at Peg Leg in Anza Borrego State Park, soaking up the sunshine. Camping here is free, but does require some maintenance work and a routine. Considering the savings of $30 to $45 each night — depending on where we might camp commercially — we don’t mind at all. Can’t believe it, but we’ve been here almost two weeks, meaning a savings of over $400.

Rich Charpentier in his Prescott Gallery and commercial print shop surrounded by a few of his superb prints.

ROUTINE:

Each morning we rise, remove the solar panel from the back of the pickup, set it up so it faces the sun, and then wait for the miracle to happen. Within a few minutes we watch the gauge (which indicates that the use of heat and lights has dropped the charge of our batteries to about 65 percent) rise from its overnight low. The gauge does so as Solar Panel 1 begins to absorb amp hours of energy. Then as the sun rises even more and its rays begin to strike Solar Panes 2 and 3, both permanently mounted on top of our Airstream, yet more amp hours are added. By 9 a.m. we’re back to 100 percent battery charge, even though I may be using my inverter to power my laptop.

Probably we’ve also turned up the heat as overnight lows in the desert dip to the upper 30s, so our solar panels really do a job. Of course we also have to haul water occasionally, which is free from the park, and dump our grey and black water. We pay a fee of about $5 to dump though we only have to do so once every three weeks.

If the old gold miner Peg Leg could see us he’d probably exclaim, “Wow.” As it is, we say it often enough – and loud enough so that we suspect he still hears us, despite the fact he passed away back in 1866.

———————————————————————

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*Pero, The Luckiest Mouse Alive

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Many of our friends have experienced great difficulties this past year, suggesting that we must make each new day count for something, and enjoy it to the fullest. Those to whom I’m referring know who they are, and Janie and I wish them only the very best.

Christmas as seen from the Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona

Fortunately, all the children in our extended family seem to be doing well, and are toughing out these difficult economic times. Finding or sustaining jobs has at times been challenging, and one of our children spent months in a remote Alaskan settlement making excellent wages as a lead carpenter. Another has taken on a job as bus drivers while the others have continued on in such fields as teaching, counseling, Real Estate sales or in the various trades. Janie and I are equally proud of them all and hope their luck continues and then flourishes.

Much of our year has been spent on the road and it began with a departure on a snowy winter day from our home near Bigfork, Montana, then a series of prolonged stops, the first of which was Death Valley. Other prolonged camps included ones in Padre Island, and Chiricahua.

A harmony of colors and implied suggestion of Peace and Good Will

From the Southwest we towed our Airstream to the Natchez Trace and spent time with my good friend Ed Anderson and his delightful family — where we cooked up a Plumb Southern cuisine. From the Natchez Trace we made a long drive to the Northeast and visited Janie’s children and grandchildren. Certainly, that was a most powerful highlight for us both. We visited with my sister, Nancy, and my brother-in-law, Forrest. They’ve just been blessed with a grandchildren. Good job Joel and Becca!

We then scurried back home in May and spent several months preparing for our trip to Alaska, where I had a number of assignments, one to cover the World Eskimo Indian Olympics. While there we also  managed to see old friends, mostly those who live in far flung Native villages. We particularly enjoyed seeing Trimble Gilbert and Kenneth and Caroline Frank, all of Arctic Village. We enjoyed seeing Ernie Peter of Old Crow and remember the many kindnesses all showed us when we worked in their various villages.

Whie in Fairbanks, we enjoyed a boat trip with Karen of the Fairbanks Department of Tourism and her husband Willie, and then a trip over the Top of the World Highway with a memorable stop  in Chicken, Alaska. Top of the World concludes in the historic mining town of Dawson City, where we learned more about one of my heros, Robert Service, who wrote Cremation of Sam Sam McGee. From Dawson we drove to Skagway, learned about powers of Yukon Jack with Adam and Sue. We met Buckwheat and enjoyed his professional renditions of Robert Service poetry.

And now we’re back at Peg Leg, having  just recently spent time with photographer friend Rich Charpentier  in Prescott, Arizona, which is where I photographed the Court House building, all decorated with brilliantly colored lights. What was particularly moving about this historic old town is that a lavishly Christmas Tree stood all decked out in garlands of color — and the combination of the decorated tree and the Courthouse  reminded us we are all part of the family of man and that most in this family prefer to interact with cheer and feelings of well being toward one another.

We hope this year has been a good one for you and would like to take this small space to wish all a very Merry Christmas.

Bert and Janie Gildart

—————————————————————————————————————-

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Merry Christmas From Tampa, Florida

©Bert Gildart: My wife has the lead photo in the current issue of MotorHome Magazine, a publication produced by the Affinity Group. The image reminds the two of us what a wonderful time we had about 10 months ago in Padre Island, located in south Texas.

Kakaying Pacifc waters of Padre Island, lead photo in MotorHome by Jane Gildart

In the winter, the park host hundreds of species of wintering birds, making it an ideal spot to vacation for those who enjoy watching birds. It is also, as Janie’s photo suggests, an ideal place to test – or to develop your skills as kayakers. The waters are warm, so if you dump, there’s little damage to anything other than your pride.

At the moment, as our last blog informs, we’re camped at Peg Leg, an area that offers free camping in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. We’re surrounded on three sides by mountains and this morning, a storm blowing in from the Pacific produced a series of rainbows. Janie peered out the window and pointed it out. Since I was up and dressed I was the one who grabbed a camera and ran out, setting up just as the rainbow appeared to be at its most intense.

Rainbow early this morning as seen from just outside our Airstream, Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Of course rainbows, though beautiful, are often harbingers of foul weather, and that is what it appears we’re about to get.

A good day to remain inside our Airstream and work on various indoor projects.

———————————————————

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*Family Fun In Glacier’s Winter Wonderland

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: Unless you have high Christian vales that look askance at sloth and indolence I believe many might appreciate our current situation. At the moment we are camped (free) in our Airstream in the BLM section of California’s Anza Borrego Desert State Park, using our solar panels to absorb all that energy from the sun that so characterizes the desert. We’re at the base of a mountain, which this image doesn’t show.

Free camping at Peg Leg in Anza Borrego State Park. All you need are a few solar panels and access to water, which the park provides. Our Airstream is second from the very rear on the left.

On our portable outdoor cooker we are preparing lots of fatty foods, immersing our feet in the warm sands — extracting them mostly to rise and replenish my gin and tonic — Janie’s glass of wine. Otherwise we rise only when guilt sets in and then we try and write a Christmas card, keep up with various assigned magazine stories — or write my travel blogs. Temperatures in the day are in the mid 70s.

Aside from the indolence, which is extremely hard to overcome, we’re actually camped in Peg Leg and really trying to accomplish great things. I need about a month, maybe six weeks to catch up. At least that’s the goal. But Peg Leg is a delightful place to simply hang out, and the surrounding country provides lots of activities, when you can muster up the energy. Before long, I’m sure the prospective thrill of seeing incredible sights will spur us on, for in previous years, we’ve so enjoyed  the activities that characterize Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

LURE OF THE DESERT

Anza Borrego is one of the nation’s largest of all state parks, known for its populations of desert bighorn, incredible geology, its Native American artifacts, and for Marshall and Tanya South, a couple who attempted to live off the land in this park while struggling to turn out magazine stories and books.

Though successful as artists, the couple could not make their Spartan life style work and, ultimately, it ended in failure, with the couple separating after a 15 year attempt. But it could not have all been bad, as their three children emerged to create conventional lifestyles for themselves that were, by most accounts, very successful.

After we settle in a bit, and after our energy levels return, I expect we will strike out for the many areas in this beautiful park that we have not yet explored. Until then, we are content to continue our lazy lives, waiting for a sign that it is time to rise. Right now, the gin and tonic is helping me bridge that chasm.

Nature Notes: Several weeks ago I photographed Fajada Butte in Chaco Culture National Historic Park. The butte is famous for its solstice markers, which were recognized as such in 1982.

Known for its solstice markers, Fajada Butte in Chaco Culture Historic Park acquires a spiritual appearance at night, which is appropriate -- as it served as a paragon of astronomical indicators. Night photo taken at BELOW ZERO F temperatures, so I didn't linger for the much preferred longer time exposure.

Though visitation to the markers was subsequently restricted, today high-powered spotting scopes, permanently positioned, help visitors appreciate the marker’s presence. So, too, do night-time viewing activities, which as a photograph, tends to impart spiritual qualities to the massive edifice.

—————————————-

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Christmas On The Road

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart:  Sadly Janie and I have just departed the Prescott area  –  and the friends we’ve made through another friend we met a number of years ago associated with our love of Airstream travel and photography.

Rich Charpentier was the catalyst that brought us together and he did so at a most interesting place, Vulture Ghost Town. Our group included Rich, Robert, Igor, Chris, Jen, Sean, and Michael.

Rich and Robert are the photographers whose work I’ve been describing in recent posts, while the others formed a part of Robert’s crew. Igor is from Russia, had a wonderful sense of humor and also functioned as a part of Robert’s lighting crew.

MODELS EXTRAORDINAIRE

Sean and Jen served as models extraordinaire. Michael and Chris were two of Robert’s children and also served as models. You can see them all on Robert’s web site. Click and then go to “A Bit Of Everything.” That’s us!

As well, you can also see images of both Janie and me on Robert’s site which are highly stylized. You can  see images of me (but more significantly of our visit to Vulture Ghost Town) on Rich’s site. His work from the area forms the basis for an informative discussions on photo techniques, specifically, his use of Topaz. It’s well worth your time logging onto his blog.

Both Robert and Rich are way ahead of me when it comes to image manipulation, but I’ve picked up a little from our four night stay in Prescott at Point of Rocks RV Park where Rich has been living now for the past two years.

As well, I’ve been reading Scott Kelby’s book, which is the Bible when it comes to digital photography. He’s produced a number of books, and the one I’m currently glued to is his one on Lightroom2.

Some of these images I’ve manipulated, others I have not. The two images or Sean, the Native American, dramatize how an image can be greatly improved using Lightroom2.

The image of Robert just above shows how a single light can be positioned well off camera and used to dramatize the characteristics of a man who is a great photographer. The technique is one I’ve used often and Nikon’s system of wireless lighting makes the technique relatively easy.

Two Images of Sean Vasquez  illustrating the degree to which Photoshop and Lightroom can transform a good image into a much, much better one.

LIGHTROOM2

Finally, the image of the ghost town (shown first, above) has also been manipulated using Lightroom2. Because the boards in the foreground were so light I darkened them  using a technique I just learned from Lightroom2. Though I could also use the burn tool in Photoshop it doesn’t’ work anywhere near as well as do tools from Lightroom.

I’m writing this blog from Quartzite, Arizona, but will be posting more about our travels from Chaco and from our stay with Rich in Prescott when we settle in at Anza Borrego. We expect to be there for almost a month. This huge California state park is one of our favorites and while there I have a number of assignment.

Highly stylized image of me taken by Robert Jamason, later converted using PhotoShop to impart a gritty and perhaps even surrealistic appearance.

As well, I’ll be producing a cover for a travel magazine, so though it may sound like a vacation, we’ll be very busy. I’m also hoping to devote time to learning more about creating the stylized work such as that produced by Robert and Rich. Though I’m certainly  not abandoning conventional photography, I believe these relatively new programs provide tools that can  be used to better convey the feeling of a place.

———————————————————-

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

Kayaking Old Tampa Bay

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: Cold! That’s what much of this past week has been about, though we have nevertheless hiked through one of the nation’s best preserved series of ancient ruins, which are located at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

Various mansonery styles at Pueblo Bonito

Almost one week ago now to the day, we pulled our Airstream along a road that might best be described as one containing about 20 miles of continuous speed bumps. Some drivers departing Chaco choose to go “hell bent for leather,” but we value our tag-along-domicile, so put our Dodge in four-wheel-drive low, selected first gear and then crept the entire distance, taking almost two hours to navigate the road. It was worth the effort!

When we arrived our good friends, Sue and Eric Hansen, had already set up their camp. It was almost dark, but a full moon was rising, and it was illuminating our campground and an ancient pueblo, which formed part of our camping  atmosphere.  Soon a coyote began to howl. Certainly, this is a remote setting, and for the many people who’ve been trying to reach us, there is no communication here: no cell phone and no internet. Adding to the sense of remoteness has been the intense cold, which several days ago dipped to ten degrees below zero! Though the campground can accommodate dozens, we saw only one other couple – and they were tent campers!  But like us, we later learned, they, too, were anxious to explore this incredible park – and learn all they could despite the cold.

THE CHACO PHENOMENA

At Chaco Culture National Historical Park, located south of Farmington, New Mexico, North America’s most spectacular grouping of ruins rise from the landscape. From the many visits Janie and I have made here previously, we know that these incredible ruins have come to be known as the Chaco phenomena. Here at Chaco, a remarkable culture reached its zenith. But it didn’t happen overnight. Like other Hisatsinom (the term that has replaced the word Anasazi), Chacoans began their immense journey across the Four Corners living first in caves. With time, they learned they could shape the abundant stone and rock to their needs.

Click on above to see enlarged version and for extended captions

Initially, their structures were rudimentary. But beginning about 850 AD, these primordial people began to transform their moderate-sized structures into grand houses. Over the next 250 years, these ancients built dozens of great houses in and around Chaco Canyon. Some were so extraordinary that when the Spanish first saw them in the 1500’s, they endowed them with appellations such as Casa Grande and Pueblo Bonito—that “most elaborate of all ruins.”

EXPLORING BY HIKING

Possibly the best way to appreciate the sophistication of the Chacoan culture is to hike one of the park’s many trails. A many-storied trek departs from the parking lot near Kin Kletso ruin, and that is what Janie, Sue, Eric and I did. Among other things, the trail passes along an ancient road honed by Chacoans. Along the way the trail overlooks the Jackson Staircase, named for the famous photographer who documented the steps in the late 1800’s.

Once the steps provided Chacoans with access from the valley floor to the bench land overhead. Some of these roads were 30-feet wide and they led to many outliers spaced about a day’s walk apart. Incredibly, sections of these roads still exist, and their edges remain lined with rocks that Chacoans piled here 800 years ago—still telling their story!

PUEBLO BONITO

The trail also leads to an overlook that peers down onto Pueblo Bonito, meaning “house beautiful.” About 1200 A.D. Pueblo Bonito was the largest and grandest of them all, rising four or five stories and was honeycombed with more than 650 rooms and approximately 35 kivas.

What a sight it must have been to watch the day-to-day activities of the ancients applying their considerable masonry skills to the growing walls and family rooms. Each household, we’re told, consisted of a family of five to ten people, including children, parents and grandparents. Typically, room features incorporated a shallow fire pit, stone-lined hearths, pot rests, mealing bins, wall niches and elevated vents.

Janie descending from bench land and down onto canyon floor

Still, the most impressive feature of Pueblo Bonito remains the great kiva—a huge circular depression sunk in the ground and fortified by hand-hewn bricks.  As the sun descended and the oblique light intensified, glorifying the kiva, it was impossible not to appreciate Hisatsinom spirituality.

WHY DID THE ANCIENTS LEAVE?

Why, then, did the ancients leave?

There are many theories, and one suggests the resources had been overused. Yet another theory suggests that there was evidence of eliticism, for some rooms within these ruins preserve only the remains of great chiefs (for lack of a better term), and some of the rocks suggest they secured this eternal rest forcefully. Perhaps with time we’ll learn more. Still, I like this theory as there is relevancy to today’s society, which I think is deteriorating. Perhaps their society had produced too many Bernie Madoffs and too many Kenneth Lays.

Again, this is a theory, but then history does tend to repeat itself. Regardless, for some reason, the culture began to decline.  And so, about 1300 A.D. Chacoans drifted toward Mesa Verde, where another Hisatsinom culture had evolved. But the migration of Chacoans there was followed by a period of severe and wide-spread drought, and so the Hisatsinom culture as a whole began to erode. Once again, The People wandered, returning to their beginnings as a cave-dwelling people. Yet others may have been absorbed by groups now calling themselves the Hopi,  Navajo and the Pueblo dwellers. With time, we may know more, for archaeologists are developing new investigative techniques.

In fact, interpreters may already know more, but because the cold has persisted we had to leave. Night before, the continuous cold diminished the capacity of our batteries, and we had run out of gas for our generator, never anticipating we’d have to use it so much. Our batteries were in fact so depleted that at three in the morning, Janie and I woke up learning that it was below zero and that we had no heat. That night some water in our lines froze and we could not even use the electric trailer jack to raise the tongue onto the truck.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

We declared an emergency and one park ranger (previously another ranger denied our request) very graciously gave us a gallon of gas to run our generator. I left a $5.00 donation, returned to the campground and started the generator, which powered up our system and enabled us to thaw everything out and then hook up. Apparently we caught things soon enough as there does not appear to be any damage.

Click on Above to see enlarged version and to read extended caption

Soon we were on our way and are now camped in a commercial establishment in Grants/Cibola, New Mexico.  We have electricity and are toasty warm. We intend to remain here for several days and catch up, meaning I’ll be writing a few more stories about Chaco – and some other things we learned. We’ve also sold lots of photographs mailed from home to magazines prior to departing so I must also send out invoices.

————————————————————

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*Channel Islands NP Boasts Success Stories

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS

©Bert Gildart: Once again, we’re on the road, heading at the moment for Taos, New Mexico. I have a series of stories for which I’m gathering materials. The first is on Taos pueblo, elevation of almost 7,000 feet. Last year we tried to access Taos, but snow set in so we decided we’d tried at a later time. That time is now.

Heading south from our home near Bigfork, Montana, the first place we always stay is Dillion, Montana, which we did last night. Invariably, the next point of interest is Monida (Mon, for Montana and Ida for Idaho). Previously, I’ve written about Monida and what follows regarding the area’s history is extracted from some of the material from last year’s posting, made in January ‘09. However, the photographs are different and they show a different environment.

As always, when heading south, we always enjoy stopping at Monida.

Monida Pass is always a spot that has captured our interest. Located at the junction between Montana and Idaho it is a lofty pass located on the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6,820 feet. The setting is gorgeous, but this is one of the first times we’ve passed through this part of southwestern Montana that we have not had to contend with brutal storms. This year, in fact, there was little snow and the skies were clear.

One time we camped in this small, almost deserted settlement and awoke next morning to a foot of fresh snow and howling wind. The conditions caught the weather man by surprise–and, consequently, us too. We had to stay until conditions moderated

ONCE A STAGE COACH STOP

Years ago I wrote a story about the mailman who worked out of this tiny settlement. The man’s name escapes me but he claimed that his route, which in winter was all covered on snowmobile, was the most remote route in the Lower 48.

Airstream and Pioneer Mountains, adjacent to Monida.

In the late 1800s stagecoaches ferried tourists from the railroad at Monida Pass to Yellowstone Park until Union Pacific built a branch line to the park. Little seems to have changed.

Last year — and this year too — when we detoured off Interstate 15 for a stop at this empty settlement, again the weather pleasant. Though not warm or snow free, at least the wind wasn’t howling. But the houses all seemed deserted and if anyone was living in them, residents certainly didn’t broadcast their presence.

Songwriter Jimmy Buffet wrote a song about one such Montana town, and rather than “Ringling, Ringling, it’s a dying little town…” he could also have written about Monida, for it, too, is pretty darn bleak.

Windswept barn, Mondia Pass

An old barn, back dropped by the Pioneer Mountains, captivated my interest. Unused and unattended the barn has been shaped by wind and snow. (From previous posts, some will recall I enjoy photographing old structures). We parked for a few minutes on the single road that passes thorough the settlement and, then, on to several of the ranch families that live in the area.

We spent about an hour here then moved on, for we want to take advantage of the good weather while it lasts.

Also adjacent to Monida is this old barn, which continues to stand despite hostile environment.

Next big stop will probably be Chaco Canyon, a national historic park. We intend to rendezvous with Sue and Eric Hansen. We’ve known them for years and first met them through OWAA, the Outdoor Writer’s Association of America. They’re always good company and we look forward to seeing them.

————————————————————————–

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

Pileated Woodpeckers, Is It Hector or Hortense?

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

p align=”center”> 

©Bert Gildart: Several years ago, just about this time, Janie and I were in Nova Scotia, gathering material for a story on the tragic expulsion by the English of the French Acadians. The group was immortalized in an epic poem by Longfellow, entitled Evangeline, and that’s recounted at Grand Pre National Park.  My story and posting of this tragedy have been well received, and Janie and I were invited to attend a reunion in Nova Scotia by an Acadian family whose expelled ancestors eventually settled in New Orleans.  We wish we could have joined.

Because of the immense tragedy, Nova Scotia has developed what they call an Acadian Trail, and one night we found ourselves in Annapolis Royal at Fort Anne on the site’s very popular Graveyard Walk. The informative talk was conducted by Alan Melanson, himself a descendant of Acadians. Melanson had the perfect features to be conducting the walk all off set by his garb, which was that of a craggy-faced undertaker. This historian understood I was gathering material for a story about the Acadians and became a cooperative photographic subject.

PERFECT NIGHT

We all carried lanterns and it was an ideal night for a stroll in a graveyard. There was even a moon – and that’s what this posting is really about. The only problem was getting the moon in the right location for composition. Exposure, too, was a problem, so my only solution was to take a separate picture of the moon, go to PhotoShop and import it into the main image.

As you’ll see if you compare my efforts of several years ago with this image, my first efforts weren’t all that good. The moon was too bright and there were no eerie clouds to add drama. What’s more, there’s a real art to combining images – and I don’t think I  came close with my first efforts.

Those thoughts have remained in my subconscious and the other night here in Montana, the clouds engulfed the moon, so I rushed to the porch with my tripod and Nikon D300. I took about a dozen moon/cloud photos and am now using them to create what I consider a better version of the scene in Nova Scotia. Though I’ve been collecting images of moons since that time several years ago – and have experimented with them – this one seems to work best.

PHOTOSHOP TECHNIQUE

Here’s the PhotoShop technique. Because the moon was too large to complement the image of Melanson, I reduced it to a quarter of the size. To get the proper fit, this takes a bit of trail and error.  The moon was still too bright so I darkened it, using brightness/contrast. After that I used the Move Tool and then positioned the moon with clouds where I wanted. Though I’m still not sure that this is the perfect combination, I believe it is much better.

I’ve used Photoshop to improve images before and here’s a link to another, this one of a bald eagle.

Some may say that photography should remain a documentary art, but I’m reminded of  Ansel Adams who said “it is the print,” implying he’d do whatever he wanted to create the feeling he wished to convey. To this end, he dodged and burned, added filters to create his incredible black and white images, which, is, of course, an abstract form of expression by virtue of its very nature.

I like experimenting when something stirs me and think it takes the art of photography to another level.

And now, although I am a day late, I want to give thanks to all the men in the military now serving our country.  Here’s a posting I made last year on Veterans’ Day about Memorial Day, but the message that the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has been great is similar. It also provides a armchair tour of some of our Capitol Parks — and takes you to the grave of one of my relatives.

_________________________________________________

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Bewitched By Shenandoah’s Late Autumn Season

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

"Sometimes," said Eliot Porter, "you can tell a large story with a tiny subject."

©Bert Gildart: Often good photography requires the paring down of an immense landscape to something that has fewer elements, and that’s what I often try and do when I enter a place as beautiful as Glacier National Park’s Many Glacier Valley.

Contrary to what many say as part joke, you just can’t point your camera in any direction and shoot – even in a place as lovely as this mountainous valley. Instead you have to select and isolate, and do so critically. The famous photographer, Eliot Porter expressed my theme particularly well: “Sometimes,” said Porter, “you can tell a large story with a tiny subject.”

With those thoughts in mind, there’s an old snag about a mile or so from the Many Glacier Campground that I always stop to examine. It’s been there for a long time and provides cavity nesting birds with a home, and is another special component of a wild Glacier National Park.

On our trip of about 10 days ago, I again stopped as we entered, and found the old snag interesting — much potential, but in ways difficult to anticipate. However, those ways revealed themselves over the course of two days, for the lighting changed dramatically and did so in ways that can only be described as magnificent.

TIMING CRITICAL

The above scene is an early morning one, made just as the sun was rising. Timing was critical – for five minutes later the glow on the peaks behind the snag diminished. And then, a snow squall followed.

The second image was made again in the early morning (the next morning, in fact), but following a storm containing a mixture of rain and snow. The rainbow was associated with the storm and became one of the most magnificent I’d ever seen. I felt privileged to be there at that precise moment and recalled a quote from Ansel Adams:

“Sometimes,” he said, “I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.”

That’s exactly the way I felt last week, for the setting lasted but a few moments, but before the rainbow’s time on this primordial stage concluded, it expanded into a complete arc. But the arc also embraced man-made structures so lost some of its wilderness drama. As a result, I didn’t feel as though it measured up to what either Porter or Adams might have sought.

In both cases, the foreground consisted of the same old snag, but in the case of the rainbow, I chose a different location for this image so as provide a better arrangement for the two elements. (”A good photograph,” said Adams, “is knowing where to stand.”)

Ansel Adams believed that he often got to places "just when God is ready to have somebody click the shutter."

Together, I think the images make a nice statement and show the benefits of returning to the same setting time after time – in this case to an old snag – dead now for many years. You’ll find the gnarled trunk with its up thrust arms in the Many Glacier Valley of Glacier National Park, and I’m always surprised to see what “a huge story this tiny subject can often tell.”

_________________________________________________

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Valley Forge

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: Happy Halloween!

But who you may wonder is inside the trunk? Well, it could be one of my fishing buddies who consistently out fish me–and I concluded, well, enough is enough.

But whoever it is, we just wanted you to know that we are also thinking of YOU.

So make sure you stop by our house tonight. After all the excitement of Trick or Treating, we have just the PRESCRIPTION to assure that you will sleep and sleep and sleep…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN--Include us in your Trick or Treat route. We have just the handout to put you at rest

EAST COAST GOES ALL OUT

Though Halloween stirs the imagination of everyone, no where it seems does it manifest itself as it does in the East, and that includes places such as Nova Scotia, where we took in a very popular GRAVEYARD WALK. Everywhere we’ve traveled throughout the East in autumn, pumpkins, skeletons, and spider webs decorated front porches. Farms, in fact, are devoted to the production of oversize pumpkins, such as the one Griffin Polga is attempting to heft in one of the images shown below.

CLICK ON EACH IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION AND FOR A COMPLETE CAPTION

In Sturbridge, Massachusetts, Old Strubridge Village produces huge pumpkins as well it decorates the front lawn of civic buildings, while residents follow suit.

But then there’s the Connelly family in New Jersey along Shades of Death Road and they take Halloween to dazzling heights. For many years they’ve been hosting an annual Halloween party, and each year the celebration just gets better and better.

HAND CREEP ACROSS THE FLOOR

Two years ago their entire double garage was walled off in black paper. Suspended from the ceiling were complete skeletons-or structures that appeared to be skeletons. On the floor a battery-operated hand crept across the cement, while in one particularly dark corner hung yet another skeleton, and when you passed, it began to speak.

CLICK ON EACH IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION AND FOR A COMPLETE CAPTION

Over 70 people attended, presumably to help the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year find a living body that they might possess. Originally, that was a big part of the reason for celebrating Halloween in such a bizarre way.

So how will we celebrate it here in Montana? Stop by, we’d be ever so happy to show you. We have just the right PRESCRIPTION to put you at rest.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

__________________________________________

THIS TIME THREE YEARS AGO:

*Learning From the Acadians and Their Tragic Deportation

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS:

©Bert Gildart: “They’re coming after me,” hollered Janie, referring to two calf moose now trotting up a game trail adjacent to Fisher Cap Lake in Glacier National Park’s Many Glacier Valley.

Mountains, rivers and ponds of the Many Glacier Valley provide haven for wildlife.

That was last week, so obviously Janie survived, but not without a few moments of consternation.  But at this time of the year you always expect something — the reason why we generally always find ourselves towing our our Airstream travel trailer to the park’s east side in October. There’s a sense of adventure and beauty is everywhere. Typically, snow caps the mountains engulfing the valley and this year was no different. And, as usual we rediscovered what a wildlife haven this area can be.

During our three-day stay we encountered a grizzly bear, saw sheep and goats – and were now seeing a family of moose, albeit much, much too close. That was not something we had hoped for, for mother moose can be very protective of their young. That thought kept Janie on edge, and she later told me she expected the old cow to charge out of the bush. Meanwhile, it looked like these two young calves — probably weighing about 250 each — wanted to adopt her.

One of the two calf moose that preferred Janie's company more than that of its mother.

Earlier in the day, we’d made the mile hike from the campground to Fisher Cap, and immediately had seen a family of moose on the lake’s far side.

Our companions included three Idaho-based photographers, and we were all anxious to capitalize on the opportunity.

AND THE FAMILY MOVED CLOSER – AND THEN CLOSER

All of us had long lenses, but nevertheless wanted to be a little closer so we hiked a small trail that took us to the upper end of the lake. The family saw us, but continued moving in our direction, so we settled in and waited.

Over the next half hour the family moved closer and then closer, feeding as they approached. Back dropping us was Grinnell Point, a huge monolith covered with a fresh dusting of snow, and the incredibly sky, which was a dark blue but blocked up here and there by threatening clouds of snow.

Oblivious to our presence, the three moose continued feeding (Also see Moose feeding techniques), inserting their heads through a layer of mush ice and into the water, where they’d feed off the bottom of the lake. When they lifted their heads, often they’d hold huge chunks of vegetation in their mouths. Heads were wet, and streams of water cascaded down their long noses in parallel rivulets. Sometimes slivers of ice clung to their ears.

PERHAPS WE SHOULD MOVE

We continued with our photography of the family’s feeding routine, until the cow, quite inexplicably, decided she wanted to move further along the lake’s shore toward us — but wanted to use our trail. Prudently, we elected to move, and soon joined Janie who was waiting along the shoreline, but further down the lake.

Though there were now five of us, the cow moose continued to advance. We moved up the hill and quickly the cow trotted by, but not so the two young calves, who for some reason proceeded directly toward Janie… their new mother?

None of us could figure out why the calves felt such an attraction for Janie, but Todd, who was closest, jumped in front of the pair and waved his arms. That sent them back toward the lake shore and as they went, we could hear them calling for their biological mother.

For the most part, this family of moose at Fisher Cap Lake grazed on, oblivious to our presence.

Fifteen minutes later we returned to the shore of Fisher Cap and saw that the group had reunited. Though the family was still close, we put our cameras up and sat there and simply watched, concluding that simply watching can sometimes be quite rewarding, particularly in a place as beautiful as Glacier’s Many Glacier Valley — and where affections seem misdirected.

_____________________________________________________

THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

*Reflections –  West Point

ADS FROM GOOGLE AND AMAZON AUGMENT OUR TRAVELS