Ellison's Cave has a nearly 600 foot vertical drop in it. We thought this would be awesome, and since it's on this side of the country, bought rope. After actually thinking though, we canceled that and decided with no caving experience to speak of, we ought to try something milder if we want to go caving. So we looked up vertical pit caves.
It turns out that cavers are an elite society who don't like to give out their secrets. This is understandable, if I had a cool underground hideout I wouldn't want people to know about it. But it goes a bit far when in order to enter a cool cave, you need to be a member of a caving society and submit a resume of caves you've been in before, AND creep around during the night because it's hunting season in the area the cave is in. It was too much work. Maybe sometime we'll go drop ourselves down El Capitan Pit on Prince of Wales Island back home in Alaska, it's the deepest pit cave in the U.S. at 598 feet. And just try telling an Alaskan they can't go in there! rofl
Anyway, we took two days off from climbing; one to check out the Natural Bridge, and the other to take Jess to the airport for her flight home (yes, she's bailing on us early this trip.) A bit of sunlight shot through the foliage and gave me this shot on the way up to the Natural Bridge.
Here's Kelsey prancing happily across a footbridge.
Some steps carved into the rock lead you to the top of Natural Bridge.
Pinecones and fall colors from the top of the bridge.
Jess has been wanting to climb trees this whole trip. She finally made it happen, and was quite happy.
Fall colors here are far more vibrant than those at home. We get bright yellows and some orange here and there, but hardly any red!
The trails around Natural Arch are extensive, but the only real attraction we found was the arch itself. The other trails often seemed to dead-end or loop back.
The next day we finished up our climbing and headed out. I got a couple climbing shots, but the better of them were just plain scenery.
I liked this bright red bush clinging to the lime green wall at an anchor on one climb.
We drove on from there to the Obed River in Tennessee. The dogs barked well into halloween night around our camp in the middle of some empty woods, but we woke refreshed the next morning and immediately jumped on an awesome-looking climb. This is a six-image stitch of Kelsey on Heresy, a 5.11c.
Tracy followed up as well.
The lighting was a bit dim under the huge roofs, but I managed to snag a shot of Kelsey on Lounge Lizard, a 5.11b nearby.
From there, we went through a corner of Georgia to Sand Rock, AL, where a weekend crowd, bunches of dogs, a few minor injuries, and a general air of unpleasantness turned us off after a few climbs, and we're headed south again! The beaches of Florida sounded nice to us, so we decided to hit as many states as possible on the way to the beach and back on our route to Mexico. Our plan at the moment is ten states in nine days, and we're well on our way! More pictures will be coming.
Fantastic report. And I've noticed changes in your composition and exposure skills. The photos have been getting better and better!
I have to admit, I was introduced to lightroom at the shootout, and it's like switching from a plastic children's toy set to genuine craftsman tools, compared to the editing methods I was using. Makes things so much more streamlined and easy. But thanks a lot for the compliment! I'm trying hard to improve my climbing photos specifically, since I don't get that opportunity as much at home. It's great to just be shooting so many pictures every day.
This is one hell of a thread !!! Some of your shots are amazing from Zion and Moab !!! I am amazed at the skill level of the climbing..You make it sound like its no big deal..." yeah we climbed to the top of this enourmous rock and stood on the edge to grab a few pictures "...I am reading this going "Damn, these guys are nuts...lol...Skilled but nuts" and I am not afraid of heights !! I love the one of the Cobra head shot...That is a great shot..
The fitness level required to make these climbs must be off the chart..here I am out of shape, 2 feet on the ground thinking I love to shoot landscapes..I can only imagine the unique views at your disposal after a long climb to the top..
Thanks so much Dave! Yeah the climbing is often difficult and strenuous, but having done it so many times and places before does help a lot! Actually every time we do a trip like this, we find ourselves improving considerably. It's great. Thanks again for the compliments, I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying the thread!
We felt like after a few days of climbing we needed a day off, and since we were so close to Florida, we decided to hit the beach. A few hours driving led us to the campground we located online, which was closed, so we slept on the beach. Kelsey and I got up early and shot a few sunrise shots.
This guy modeled for me in a few poses and places.
For those who missed it, the sun rose over the Gulf of Mexico this morning like this:
Morning light spreads over some beach dunes.
It seems the tourist season is over. Not many people were at the beach, and therefore not very much attention was being paid to keeping it in shape.
We made a friend this morning, although he was rather quiet.
Then after letting things warm up a bit, we went for a swim. We're not too experienced with the white sandy type of beach... are we getting this right?
Our main purchase of the day was a spiderman boogie-board, which we did put to good use.
Now as the sun SETS over the gulf of Mexico, we're sitting on a sidewalk browsing the internet. Oops... guess we won't get to share sunsets with everyone this time. Hope this post finds you all having a great day as well!
Then after letting things warm up a bit, we went for a swim. We're not too experienced with the white sandy type of beach... are we getting this right?
Fantastic shot! Keep up the posts as you wander the Lower 48.
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
Then after letting things warm up a bit, we went for a swim. We're not too experienced with the white sandy type of beach... are we getting this right?
One more night at the beach got us this self portrait. I look a bit scruffy, but at least she's gorgeous.
We took off from there, ate lunch in Mississippi, and beelined for the French Quarter of New Orleans. Even after all the hurricanes this was definitely a place we wanted to see. There's a whole lot of derelict buildings, but there's been a lot of recovery too!
We spotted a mule(?) patiently waiting on the street.
There's color everywhere, of course.
We went to Bourbon St. and dipped briefly into the tourism of the French Quarter.
Then it was off to the swamps for some wildlife! We went to the Barataria Preserve and it was totally awesome, for a couple of bums from Alaska who haven't been exposed to THESE sorts of wildlife before.
The scenery is great, it's awesome that a place like this can exist so surrounded by the city.
Some of the spiders here are pretty big. We've got nothing like this in Alaska.
This little guy was sort of skittish. It was hard to catch him standing still.
Then there was this one, in contrast. He hardly moved at all, even when we got inches away.
I sneaked around some for this shot, but it looks like he spotted me.
We agitated this guy a little, but weren't sure if it was safe to bug him further.
We saw a few of these guys. They were a bit smaller than expected, but just as mean looking!
I stitched this 180 degrees from the end of the trail. Kelsey and Richard are up on the bridge.
We shot an egret, but he was more shy than some of these animals, so I'll not bore you with that shot. There's a thousand better ones in the wildlife forum from everyone else. Here's an owl though, as close as my lens could get.
This Bald Cypress evidently survived a lot of logging activity for some reason, and I figured it was worthy of a stitch!
And lastly, some vines crawling up a root.
So now we're in Arkansas, intending to do some climbing here and in Oklahoma before we head to Texas and Mexico. more adventures are on the way!
Wow, it's been a few days and places since I've posted, so I'll have to cull my photos down a bit for this update. If anyone wants the full album, it's at http://coldclimb.smugmug.com to peruse and enjoy!
We climbed at Mt. Magazine in Arkansas, the highest point in the state. Everything was quite peaceful, and we had the whole cliff face to ourselves. The lighting was a bit harsh, but we managed. Here's Kelsey on a 5.10b.
We found this critter hanging out nearby. Not something we see in Alaska, ever.
These guys are pretty big, and very interesting!
We finished off a couple climbs as the sun went down, and then made some more dust down the road!
Our next stop was Robber's Cave, Oklahoma. We rolled in late and tried to find the campground for quite a while before we stumbled upon a nice little lake access with flat ground. Sunrise greeted us with steam lifting off the waters, and some mildly subdued fall colors still hanging from the trees.
We were stoked to have found such a great campsite! Every now and then you get a gem like this. You can ask Kelsey about the other times, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you about the trains.
The rocks at Robber's Cave are pretty cool, just plopped down on some rolling hills, with great features and high quality. One problem though; they're just not very BIG. Some of the higest stuff barely touches 30 feet. We hauled all our gear up to the routes, plopped it on the ground, and went into a frenzy of free soloing. I didn't get a lot of pictures to share, but here's Kelsey on one of the taller routes, a 5.9.
We made another friend here. First one of these I've seen in the wild, it was great fun!
And of course we made sure to introduce him to Smuggy. I think they hit it off well.
You guys would like the movie "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium"
I can't believe how much ground you've all covered! Amazing. And thanks again for sharing.
Heh... that does sound like it would be a good movie! I might have to check it out.
We stopped off for a quick lunch in Waco, TX, where we found the first bridge across the Brazos River. When it was built in 1869 (I think) it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Kind of interesting to walk across and imagine that the first vehicles across this bridge used genuine horsepower.
The water under the bridge is murky and ugly looking, but not void of life. Every couple of minutes you can see a turtle surface, but they don't hang out long if they see you! I snagged this shot with a heavy zoom and crop.
At one point during our shooting I got goosed. A whole group of them walked right up to us blaring out all sorts of honks, and one moved in and tried to bite off my leg. Fortunately his bark was much worse, but I was laughing too much to adjust my camera and shoot. Instead, here's a couple ducks and turtles!
I'm uploading more as I type this, but the internet isn't so fast down here south of the border.
Last post for today, my battery is dying and I'll have to finish uploading another time. Anyway, we headed south to Austin and picked up Kelsey's girlfriend Shasta at the airport there, then kept going to San Antonio and visited the Alamo. After narrowly escaping being thrown in jail for peeking over the walls (evidently a serious offense to Texans?) we got a few pictures.
This one was shot propping the camera against a gate at 2.5 seconds for the shutter. I had to edit heavily, but I like the result.
The restored condition of the Alamo led us to wonder which parts are still original. Perhaps these bullets were fired by Santa Anna's men?
This one is stitched from a whole bunch of images. I guess I could have got the whole thing in one shot from further back, but the result was pretty good like this.
That's it for now! From Texas we crossed the border and headed into the nice comfortable warmth of Mexico, where we're climbing and eating and relaxing a lot. More pics of that are coming, of course, and I hope everyone is enjoying these!
Both your's and Kelsey's threads - lovin' every minute of them and find myself checking them first thing when i wake up
Nice trip guys and thanks for sharing both photos and the little tidbits
Thanks Jason! It's really great to hear from people about our shots and adventuring.
We're back in the states after all-night bussing from Hidalgo. Sorry we weren't able to keep up while we were south of the border, but here's a good idea of what went down. Remember there's more at http://coldclimb.smugmug.com if you want them!
We took busses from Laredo TX to Monterrey, then Hidalgo Mexico. Arriving there, we pitched our tents at Homero's, a local climber camp and hangout, ate great Mexican food for dinner, and wound up crawling out of bed in the morning to this:
Climbing here is awesome! Great temps, decent rock, and miles upon miles upon miles of incredible routes to haul ourselves up. Here's Tracy following me up "Blind Faith", a 5.11.
Can you find Kelsey and Shasta?
Hey, Tracy's having fun!
Giant limestone ridges and cliffs everywhere!
Kelsey and Shasta followed us up Blind Faith for some pictures.
The climbing potential here is simply limitless! This is just a small portion of one wall of the canyon across from us.
One of the more exciting things about going all these places is all the weird bugs. We weren't entirely disappointed in El Potrero Chico. I missed the centipede Shasta saw while climbing, but I got this little colorful guy!
Tracy and I took advantage of being in Mexico to relax and take life slow for a while. We skipped climbing on market day to head to town and check out the area. It was rather disappointing how thoroughly American society has infiltrated the world. We looked around all over, but couldn't find a single place to buy local clothing or blankets and such. All they had was American stuff! We were mildy bummed, but Tracy found some good yarn, and hey, we're still in Mexico!
I snapped a couple hip shots as we wandered around, trying to catch the feel of the place without getting in people's faces.
The locals are incredibly friendly, opening up their homes to us and always happy to give a ride to and from town. The road from Hidalgo to El Potrero Chico where the climbing is isn't TOO long, but it's much better to ride than to walk.
We headed into town again the next day to try to find a bakery. We were a bit disappointed here as well, but the great thing about disappointments in places like this is that when you shoot for one goal, you go through so many other wonderful experiences to get there.
There's always something new to check out, and something different to see.
In the end, it's always well worth it.
We took off the next morning with Kelsey and Shasta to climb "Supernova", a super-beautiful route that just looks like it has to be climbed.
The condition of the walls that haven't been climbed gives you an idea of what the first guys up these walls had to clean off before they found the rock underneath.
Tracy reaches a belay some 600 feet off the deck.
This climb ends 800 feet off the canyon floor, so it's quite a commitment. As we neared the top, we turned around to see an approaching rainstorm looming over the opposing cliffs. We all made it to the top, but didn't hang out long with thunder rolling all around us. If you check the bottom of this shot, Kelsey is just dropping out of sight on rappel. It's a bit dark this version, I may have to brighten it up some...
Here's a glimpse of what it looks like when four climbers meet at the same point in space and time. Sometimes things can get pretty confusing, and it only gets compounded by the fact that there's 500 feet of air underneath you!
Rain falls lightly on the canyon as we continue our descent.
Later that night things cleared up some and I was able to prop my camera on a brick wall and shoot this shot of El Toro under the light of a full moon. El Toro is the prominent peak here, and the cliffs extend to the left to turn around the corner and into El Potrero Chico canyon.
The next morning we weighed climbing a really long route or going to the Friday market in town, and wound up doing neither, heading out with Kelsey and Shasta to climb the Spires. These are two chunks of limestone that stand out side by side at the lower end of the canyon. We passed by some Mexican workers at the lower end of the canyon and paid an old man with a cane the "fee" to get into the area. The legality of said fee is in question, as there is no legal ownership of the area from any of these people, but the locals who live down canyon have banded together and started charging, and rumor has it if you don't pay, they destroy routes.
Tracy and I climbed the harder of two choice routes up the spires, while Kelsey and Shasta climbed the other. Here's Tracy following up the 5.10 second pitch of Aguje Celo Rey.
Here's a bit longer version of the same shot (Tracy's at the bottom climbing), with Kelsey raising the Mexican flag at the top of his spire. The far side of the canyon looms a thousand feet overhead.
Next we swapped routes so we each climbed BOTH towers. From the top of the taller tower, I managed to get this stitch of the far side of the canyon, composed from 44 individual pictures. We've been pushing our new laptops to see just what they can do, and being properly impressed by PS and what we can stitch. You can zoom in pretty good in this.
That night Kelsey and I had a stitching marathon. The girls gave out early and snoozed beside us as we worked and waited and watched status bars flow.
The next day Tracy and I headed to town to wrap up some loose ends before we left Mexico behind, while Shasta and Kelsey headed out to climb one more route. Along the way we had some great local food, although certainly not for the last time before we hit the border. We devoured more great Mexican food at least twice more this night.
Now we're back in the states and finally starting to head home! It's getting chilly, so we expect fewer stops, but so far the plan is New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, and a marathon long haul up the frozen Al-Can to home! If you're on the way and have a couch or floorspace available, give us a shout, we might need some warmth along the way!
Ever since I was a kid, from the first time I heard of it, I always wanted to visit Carlsbad Caverns. Kelsey shared that goal, and it was decided very early in the trip that we'd definitely have to go. We finally managed to make it to New Mexico, unfortunately AFTER we lost Jess who also really wanted to check out the caves, and check another off of life's list of things to do.
The only tripod we've got with us is an old piece of junk I got for free a while back, that requires some "technique" to use properly. We anticipated the need for holding very very still for these shots, so Kelsey and I threw down for a pair of tiny cheap Wal-Mart travel tripods, and off we went.
Here's Tracy moving happily into the darkness at the entrance to the cave.
If you've never been to these caves, and you ever get the chance, don't pass it up! The human effect on the cave is quite obvious - the trails are paved and lights are everywhere - but the experience is still incredible. You'll see more cool rock features than you can photograph! Because of that, I've hardly got any pictures of PEOPLE here, so I hope you enjoy weird rocks!
The cave is lit all over the place, which is both a help and a hinderance. On the one hand, you can see all the features well enough to know what you want to shoot, but on the other hand, the lighting is often not exactly what you'd want. There are even several different types of lights in use, which makes all sorts of rainbows when you get more than one light in frame. I clicked over to AWB and just left most of these colors as the camera wanted them.
We found our cheap tripods placed our cameras mostly right at the level of the trail's mounted railings. Oof. Now we had to get creative to reach over or under the metal bars. Here's Kelsey nabbing a shot.
With some of these features, it's rather hard to believe they're made from solid rock.
I shot my shots with my remote, just judging shutter time by whatever light happened to be on my subject, and focusing using the little distance numbers on my lens. I was happy to find out that the little numbers are pretty accurate.
I really wish I could have nabbed one of these for a souvenir, but that's a major no-no in caves. What if everyone who visited took one? I left empty-handed, but with some awesome pictures!
Here's an example of the varying lighting. Works well for this one, I think.
Eesh... watch where you stand in an earthquake!
How many millions of years does it take to build yourself one of these big boys?
Here's the top of a ninety foot ladder left from explorations in 1914. It's a little easier to get around in here now.
A half barnacled gnome head. Or something.
There evidently used to be a waterline here, as in a few other places in the caves.
The trail we walked took us some 750 feet down and miles into the caverns, where fortunately for the general public they've put in an elevator for the way back up. Here's one last shot of ribbons of rock before we made our way out of the cave and further on down the road!
Thanks for viewing! We've got more adventures from today coming soon!
Our visit to Carlsbad was followed by a stop at the White Sands National Monument, where we took a bit of a hike through the sand dunes. I've never been on a dune before, and especially not anything close to these things! The drive into the park takes you down a white sand coated road, which they have to plow because the dunes slowly move and take over the road. The whiteness shines like snow, and I found myself a bit uneasy as we drove. I noticed Kelsey was feeling the same thing, hitting the brakes well before the corners, and driving a bit slower. The stuff looks EXACTLY like driving down a snowy road, and our minds are so conditioned to snowy driving conditions that we had some trouble getting over it.
When we reached the parking lot for our hike, we ate breakfast in the first nice picnic spot we found. Welcome to the white sands!
The landscape here is completely foreign. Everything we saw was awesome to us.
The white gypsum sand also has little bits and pieces of other stuff in it in some places.
Here's Kelsey on a dune.
I shot a bunch of the windblown sand textures. The exposed non-rippled surface is sand that has been slowly solidified under the surface over time. This is where sandstone begins.
Kelsey and I were throwing ourselves off the dunes for pictures, so Tracy joined in too.
Kelsey takes a jump. I stitched and sewed and patched this one together to get a wider angle of the whole dune than I could with my lens.
I didn't get what I was trying to get here, but I did catch Kelsey landing a flip over my head.
Words can't exactly describe it. You really should go for yourself.
We looked for life, but all we saw were a few bugs and a lot of evidence of birds and other little critters wandering around. We wished we could be here at night!
I'm getting behind on my shots, so I'll have to try to catch up. I've got another day of climbing still waiting. Hope you're all still enjoying!
From white sands, we headed west a few miles to the Rough and Ready Hills for some climbing. The area is out in the backcountry away from any major roads, so we didn't see signs of another human the entire time. It was nice and peaceful, and the climbing was excellent.
Kelsey starts out the day following me up a 5.10c.
The desert backdrop is a bit barren, but something different from what we're used to.
This one looks a bit like climbing pics you see in non-climbing related advertising.
Just after tracy started up on a climb, I noticed a snake nearby. She offered to come down so we could catch it, and I quickly said yes. It turned out to be the biggest garter snake I've ever seen, and was quite nice, if not entirely cooperative.
We went off to find Kelsey, who was busy sticking his face into a beehive partway up a route, and shared our discovery with him.
We were thinking maybe Black Diamond could come out with a new look for their ropes.
And lastly, here's some airtime for Kelsey on a 5.11.
We left New Mexico behind and made our way to Arizona, where we headed to Sedona for a few days with Kelsey's Grandparents. We're on our way back home, but there's lots to see and show along the way!
Ahh the town of Sedona, where everything is beautiful and nothing costs less than an arm. We've been here a couple days taking it easy, and headed out to do a climb yesterday. A friend of ours recommended a four-pitch 5.8 called Mars Attacks, and it turned out to be a great climb! But first, we headed out at night to try to find some critters of some sort near Bell Rock.
So we didn't get a whole lot that night. I guess the snakes and scorpions were cold, or something. The next morning we headed to our climb. The first pitch is a non-spectacular slab with some thought-provoking moves. The second pitch is a spectacular traverse on a limestone band, with an overhang underneath providing you with nothing but air when you glance downward. The moves tried hard to blow my mind, which provided for some awesome excitement. Kelsey thought the same thing, following behind me.
The next pitch was just as spectacular, with a stellar crack in the back of a dihedral leading upto the base of another slab. I think Kelsey has pictures of that, I was belaying the whole time. Here's Kelsey partway into the last pitch: some beautiful slab moves way off the deck with red rock towering all around and the green forested valley below.
The typical trademark of slab climbs is the extreme lack of holds. Here's Kelsey smearing against the smooth face, looking for the tiniest features to facilitate upward progress.
Tracy followed us to the top!
The rappel from this route leads you down an unbroken slab for some three hundred feet. The rock is red, the view is massive, and the enjoyment is intense, for a simple rappel.
I always hope pictures like this will help inspire more people to get out and enjoy these places. It's a mixed feeling though: on the one hand I want to keep such awesome places pristine and untouched for myself, but on the other hand, they're so awesome that I HAVE to share them!
One last shot from this climb, a bit of lime green lichen sticking close to the red sandstone.
I can't remember how many times I have said this already but I will say it again. By far is my all time favorite thread and I just want to say it again - - - This is such an awesome thread you have shared with us DGrinners that I really hope you turn it into a full fledge photo journey book. I would be first in line to buy a copyclapbowclapclap
I can't remember how many times I have said this already but I will say it again. By far is my all time favorite thread and I just want to say it again - - - This is such an awesome thread you have shared with us DGrinners that I really hope you turn it into a full fledge photo journey book. I would be first in line to buy a copyclapbowclapclap
Thanks so much! And likewise, I'll say again that it always makes me happy to hear that people are enjoying my photos. I really appreciate the comments you all give! Me and Kelsey are definitely leaning toward making a book of some sort, or maybe our own individual books. We'll see what comes of it!
Before we left Sedona, we headed out with a friend of ours for one more climb. Mike met us at the trailhead and led us back into the hills to a climbing area he and some friends have been developing, which means most of the climbs have seen very few ascents. Tracy and I followed Mike and Kelsey up the Windows Route, and because I was bringing up the rear I didn't have as many opportunities for photos, but I snagged a couple.
Here's Kelsey partway into his lead of the first pitch, showing the enjoyment that we all felt for the whole route.
This route climbs the crack between two massive chunks of sandstone making up a single tower. The first pitch ends in a huge slotted "window" with a nice ledge for plenty of people to group up on. From there, the leader spans the window with one foot on each wall, works their way upward to where the walls come back together, jams one hand into a crack, and lets the feet fly! Here's Kelsey just before kicking loose.
After reaching the ground again, I found this tiny plant growing on an old burnt log. I don't know what it is, but I like it!
From the top of the climb, Kelsey spotted what looked like an old rock wall underneath an overhanging portion of a nearby cliff. We investigated after coming down and found several old indian dwellings built of rock and mud where the rains wouldn't reach, complete with smoke stains on the rock overhangs.
The cracks between rocks were cemented with plain old mud. Today it's still soft and crumbles to the touch. We did our very best not to do any more damage to the walls.
We made it back to our cars after dark and left Sedona behind for some more adventuring come morning!
We camped in a gravel pit, and morning greeted us on the road to the London Bridge. Every child knows at least a little about the London Bridge, so we decided we should check it out for ourselves. It was about as unimpressive as we figured, but it's another one of those things that is cool to have seen!
It actually seemed pretty solid. I think we can dispel the rumors that the London Bridge is falling down.
The town clearly thinks a lot of the bridge, and evidence of that is shown in the crystal clear waters underneath.
We left the bridge behind (after driving across it of course) and made our way to Joshua Tree National Park. A bit of shopping got us a climbing guide, and we hit the rocks! Here's Kelsey on Sail Away 5.8, an area classic we're told.
It was a great climb, but the book talks it up like it's made of gold. We're not sure if it's all THAT good.
Last night we woke with rain beating the tent, and water running all around and under us. Fortunately we managed to keep dry, and exited the tent in the morning to see heavy fog. Not to be dismayed at all, we ate breakfast and went shooting. I was stoked with the results.
The desert colors come out bold in the wet conditions. Who knew this place had so much green!
Although even with all the color, I found shooting to be extremely difficult. Fog is an atmosphere I have never worked with before. I played around quite a bit both while shooting and in post, and I think I'm happy with some of my results, but I can tell I've still got a lot to learn! Here's one of a dozen or so jackrabbits that didn't like us getting close.
The cacti are just plain awesome.
We wandered around in the desert looking specifically for Joshua Trees, but everything was fair game!
At one point I scrambled to the top of a rock, where I could hear Kelsey walking around, but couldn't spot him. Eventually he came close enough, so I nabbed a shot of him. It shows you a bit what it was like trying to find our way around the desert in these conditions.
This picture really wants a butterfly.
Joshua trees are some of the strangest plants I know of. I love seeing them, in all their randomness. This is the first time I've walked around trying to shoot them.
Kelsey of course was hard at work as well.
Tracy tells me this is Teddy Bear Cholla. It does almost look downright cuddly!
It's still raining all through this afternoon, so we're taking the opportunity to get some internet. Thanks for checking out the pics, hope you're all still enjoying them!
Comments
Ellison's Cave has a nearly 600 foot vertical drop in it. We thought this would be awesome, and since it's on this side of the country, bought rope. After actually thinking though, we canceled that and decided with no caving experience to speak of, we ought to try something milder if we want to go caving.
It turns out that cavers are an elite society who don't like to give out their secrets. This is understandable, if I had a cool underground hideout I wouldn't want people to know about it. But it goes a bit far when in order to enter a cool cave, you need to be a member of a caving society and submit a resume of caves you've been in before, AND creep around during the night because it's hunting season in the area the cave is in. It was too much work. Maybe sometime we'll go drop ourselves down El Capitan Pit on Prince of Wales Island back home in Alaska, it's the deepest pit cave in the U.S. at 598 feet. And just try telling an Alaskan they can't go in there!
Anyway, we took two days off from climbing; one to check out the Natural Bridge, and the other to take Jess to the airport for her flight home (yes, she's bailing on us early this trip.) A bit of sunlight shot through the foliage and gave me this shot on the way up to the Natural Bridge.
Here's Kelsey prancing happily across a footbridge.
Some steps carved into the rock lead you to the top of Natural Bridge.
Pinecones and fall colors from the top of the bridge.
Jess has been wanting to climb trees this whole trip. She finally made it happen, and was quite happy.
Fall colors here are far more vibrant than those at home. We get bright yellows and some orange here and there, but hardly any red!
The trails around Natural Arch are extensive, but the only real attraction we found was the arch itself. The other trails often seemed to dead-end or loop back.
www.morffed.com
There were four of them, but they were clever and didn't want to be around us much, so they made their escape quickly.
Here's a neat floating leaf hidden between the roots of a large tree, with a few others, slightly more sodden, resting on the creek bottom.
Kelsey's focus was to find salamanders, since he's never seen one in the wild. This he accomplished, twice!
We also unearthed a crawdad:
And this giant mean looking beast. This thing would span a dollar bill, with a little bit extra!
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I liked this bright red bush clinging to the lime green wall at an anchor on one climb.
We drove on from there to the Obed River in Tennessee. The dogs barked well into halloween night around our camp in the middle of some empty woods, but we woke refreshed the next morning and immediately jumped on an awesome-looking climb. This is a six-image stitch of Kelsey on Heresy, a 5.11c.
Tracy followed up as well.
The lighting was a bit dim under the huge roofs, but I managed to snag a shot of Kelsey on Lounge Lizard, a 5.11b nearby.
From there, we went through a corner of Georgia to Sand Rock, AL, where a weekend crowd, bunches of dogs, a few minor injuries, and a general air of unpleasantness turned us off after a few climbs, and we're headed south again! The beaches of Florida sounded nice to us, so we decided to hit as many states as possible on the way to the beach and back on our route to Mexico. Our plan at the moment is ten states in nine days, and we're well on our way!
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I have to admit, I was introduced to lightroom at the shootout, and it's like switching from a plastic children's toy set to genuine craftsman tools, compared to the editing methods I was using.
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The fitness level required to make these climbs must be off the chart..here I am out of shape, 2 feet on the ground thinking I love to shoot landscapes..I can only imagine the unique views at your disposal after a long climb to the top..
Wow, great stuff !! Makes me want to hit the gym.
Thanks for sharing..
Cheers
Dave
http://www.daveclee.com
Nikon D3 and a bunch of nikkor gear
that has added up over the years :wink
We felt like after a few days of climbing we needed a day off, and since we were so close to Florida, we decided to hit the beach. A few hours driving led us to the campground we located online, which was closed, so we slept on the beach. Kelsey and I got up early and shot a few sunrise shots.
This guy modeled for me in a few poses and places.
For those who missed it, the sun rose over the Gulf of Mexico this morning like this:
Morning light spreads over some beach dunes.
It seems the tourist season is over. Not many people were at the beach, and therefore not very much attention was being paid to keeping it in shape.
We made a friend this morning, although he was rather quiet.
Then after letting things warm up a bit, we went for a swim. We're not too experienced with the white sandy type of beach... are we getting this right?
Our main purchase of the day was a spiderman boogie-board, which we did put to good use.
Now as the sun SETS over the gulf of Mexico, we're sitting on a sidewalk browsing the internet. Oops... guess we won't get to share sunsets with everyone this time. Hope this post finds you all having a great day as well!
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Fantastic shot! Keep up the posts as you wander the Lower 48.
-Fleetwood Mac
that is TOO funny!
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
No idea why but I love this one - just the soft muted colours - it's really peaceful - like the entrance to some luxury unknown hideaway
Cheers, Jase
Jase // www.stonesque.com
One more night at the beach got us this self portrait. I look a bit scruffy, but at least she's gorgeous.
We took off from there, ate lunch in Mississippi, and beelined for the French Quarter of New Orleans. Even after all the hurricanes this was definitely a place we wanted to see. There's a whole lot of derelict buildings, but there's been a lot of recovery too!
We spotted a mule(?) patiently waiting on the street.
There's color everywhere, of course.
We went to Bourbon St. and dipped briefly into the tourism of the French Quarter.
Then it was off to the swamps for some wildlife! We went to the Barataria Preserve and it was totally awesome, for a couple of bums from Alaska who haven't been exposed to THESE sorts of wildlife before.
The scenery is great, it's awesome that a place like this can exist so surrounded by the city.
Some of the spiders here are pretty big. We've got nothing like this in Alaska.
This little guy was sort of skittish. It was hard to catch him standing still.
Then there was this one, in contrast. He hardly moved at all, even when we got inches away.
I sneaked around some for this shot, but it looks like he spotted me.
We agitated this guy a little, but weren't sure if it was safe to bug him further.
We saw a few of these guys. They were a bit smaller than expected, but just as mean looking!
I stitched this 180 degrees from the end of the trail. Kelsey and Richard are up on the bridge.
We shot an egret, but he was more shy than some of these animals, so I'll not bore you with that shot. There's a thousand better ones in the wildlife forum from everyone else.
This Bald Cypress evidently survived a lot of logging activity for some reason, and I figured it was worthy of a stitch!
And lastly, some vines crawling up a root.
So now we're in Arkansas, intending to do some climbing here and in Oklahoma before we head to Texas and Mexico. more adventures are on the way!
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We climbed at Mt. Magazine in Arkansas, the highest point in the state. Everything was quite peaceful, and we had the whole cliff face to ourselves. The lighting was a bit harsh, but we managed. Here's Kelsey on a 5.10b.
We found this critter hanging out nearby. Not something we see in Alaska, ever.
These guys are pretty big, and very interesting!
We finished off a couple climbs as the sun went down, and then made some more dust down the road!
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We were stoked to have found such a great campsite! Every now and then you get a gem like this. You can ask Kelsey about the other times, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you about the trains.
The rocks at Robber's Cave are pretty cool, just plopped down on some rolling hills, with great features and high quality. One problem though; they're just not very BIG. Some of the higest stuff barely touches 30 feet. We hauled all our gear up to the routes, plopped it on the ground, and went into a frenzy of free soloing.
We made another friend here. First one of these I've seen in the wild, it was great fun!
And of course we made sure to introduce him to Smuggy. I think they hit it off well.
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I can't believe how much ground you've all covered! Amazing. And thanks again for sharing.
Heh... that does sound like it would be a good movie! I might have to check it out.
We stopped off for a quick lunch in Waco, TX, where we found the first bridge across the Brazos River. When it was built in 1869 (I think) it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Kind of interesting to walk across and imagine that the first vehicles across this bridge used genuine horsepower.
The water under the bridge is murky and ugly looking, but not void of life. Every couple of minutes you can see a turtle surface, but they don't hang out long if they see you! I snagged this shot with a heavy zoom and crop.
At one point during our shooting I got goosed. A whole group of them walked right up to us blaring out all sorts of honks, and one moved in and tried to bite off my leg. Fortunately his bark was much worse, but I was laughing too much to adjust my camera and shoot.
I'm uploading more as I type this, but the internet isn't so fast down here south of the border.
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This one was shot propping the camera against a gate at 2.5 seconds for the shutter. I had to edit heavily, but I like the result.
The restored condition of the Alamo led us to wonder which parts are still original. Perhaps these bullets were fired by Santa Anna's men?
This one is stitched from a whole bunch of images. I guess I could have got the whole thing in one shot from further back, but the result was pretty good like this.
That's it for now! From Texas we crossed the border and headed into the nice comfortable warmth of Mexico, where we're climbing and eating and relaxing a lot. More pics of that are coming, of course, and I hope everyone is enjoying these!
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Both your's and Kelsey's threads - lovin' every minute of them and find myself checking them first thing when i wake up
Nice trip guys and thanks for sharing both photos and the little tidbits
Jase // www.stonesque.com
Thanks Jason! It's really great to hear from people about our shots and adventuring.
We're back in the states after all-night bussing from Hidalgo. Sorry we weren't able to keep up while we were south of the border, but here's a good idea of what went down. Remember there's more at http://coldclimb.smugmug.com if you want them!
We took busses from Laredo TX to Monterrey, then Hidalgo Mexico. Arriving there, we pitched our tents at Homero's, a local climber camp and hangout, ate great Mexican food for dinner, and wound up crawling out of bed in the morning to this:
Climbing here is awesome! Great temps, decent rock, and miles upon miles upon miles of incredible routes to haul ourselves up. Here's Tracy following me up "Blind Faith", a 5.11.
Can you find Kelsey and Shasta?
Hey, Tracy's having fun!
Giant limestone ridges and cliffs everywhere!
Kelsey and Shasta followed us up Blind Faith for some pictures.
The climbing potential here is simply limitless! This is just a small portion of one wall of the canyon across from us.
One of the more exciting things about going all these places is all the weird bugs. We weren't entirely disappointed in El Potrero Chico. I missed the centipede Shasta saw while climbing, but I got this little colorful guy!
Shasta seems to always be having fun.
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I snapped a couple hip shots as we wandered around, trying to catch the feel of the place without getting in people's faces.
The locals are incredibly friendly, opening up their homes to us and always happy to give a ride to and from town. The road from Hidalgo to El Potrero Chico where the climbing is isn't TOO long, but it's much better to ride than to walk.
We headed into town again the next day to try to find a bakery. We were a bit disappointed here as well, but the great thing about disappointments in places like this is that when you shoot for one goal, you go through so many other wonderful experiences to get there.
There's always something new to check out, and something different to see.
In the end, it's always well worth it.
We took off the next morning with Kelsey and Shasta to climb "Supernova", a super-beautiful route that just looks like it has to be climbed.
The condition of the walls that haven't been climbed gives you an idea of what the first guys up these walls had to clean off before they found the rock underneath.
Tracy reaches a belay some 600 feet off the deck.
This climb ends 800 feet off the canyon floor, so it's quite a commitment. As we neared the top, we turned around to see an approaching rainstorm looming over the opposing cliffs. We all made it to the top, but didn't hang out long with thunder rolling all around us. If you check the bottom of this shot, Kelsey is just dropping out of sight on rappel. It's a bit dark this version, I may have to brighten it up some...
Here's a glimpse of what it looks like when four climbers meet at the same point in space and time.
Rain falls lightly on the canyon as we continue our descent.
Later that night things cleared up some and I was able to prop my camera on a brick wall and shoot this shot of El Toro under the light of a full moon. El Toro is the prominent peak here, and the cliffs extend to the left to turn around the corner and into El Potrero Chico canyon.
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Tracy and I climbed the harder of two choice routes up the spires, while Kelsey and Shasta climbed the other. Here's Tracy following up the 5.10 second pitch of Aguje Celo Rey.
Here's a bit longer version of the same shot (Tracy's at the bottom climbing), with Kelsey raising the Mexican flag at the top of his spire. The far side of the canyon looms a thousand feet overhead.
Next we swapped routes so we each climbed BOTH towers. From the top of the taller tower, I managed to get this stitch of the far side of the canyon, composed from 44 individual pictures. We've been pushing our new laptops to see just what they can do, and being properly impressed by PS and what we can stitch.
That night Kelsey and I had a stitching marathon. The girls gave out early and snoozed beside us as we worked and waited and watched status bars flow.
The next day Tracy and I headed to town to wrap up some loose ends before we left Mexico behind, while Shasta and Kelsey headed out to climb one more route. Along the way we had some great local food, although certainly not for the last time before we hit the border. We devoured more great Mexican food at least twice more this night.
Now we're back in the states and finally starting to head home! It's getting chilly, so we expect fewer stops, but so far the plan is New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, and a marathon long haul up the frozen Al-Can to home! If you're on the way and have a couch or floorspace available, give us a shout, we might need some warmth along the way!
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The only tripod we've got with us is an old piece of junk I got for free a while back, that requires some "technique" to use properly. We anticipated the need for holding very very still for these shots, so Kelsey and I threw down for a pair of tiny cheap Wal-Mart travel tripods, and off we went.
Here's Tracy moving happily into the darkness at the entrance to the cave.
If you've never been to these caves, and you ever get the chance, don't pass it up! The human effect on the cave is quite obvious - the trails are paved and lights are everywhere - but the experience is still incredible. You'll see more cool rock features than you can photograph! Because of that, I've hardly got any pictures of PEOPLE here, so I hope you enjoy weird rocks!
The cave is lit all over the place, which is both a help and a hinderance. On the one hand, you can see all the features well enough to know what you want to shoot, but on the other hand, the lighting is often not exactly what you'd want. There are even several different types of lights in use, which makes all sorts of rainbows when you get more than one light in frame.
We found our cheap tripods placed our cameras mostly right at the level of the trail's mounted railings. Oof. Now we had to get creative to reach over or under the metal bars.
With some of these features, it's rather hard to believe they're made from solid rock.
I shot my shots with my remote, just judging shutter time by whatever light happened to be on my subject, and focusing using the little distance numbers on my lens. I was happy to find out that the little numbers are pretty accurate.
I really wish I could have nabbed one of these for a souvenir, but that's a major no-no in caves. What if everyone who visited took one? I left empty-handed, but with some awesome pictures!
Here's an example of the varying lighting. Works well for this one, I think.
Eesh... watch where you stand in an earthquake!
How many millions of years does it take to build yourself one of these big boys?
Here's the top of a ninety foot ladder left from explorations in 1914. It's a little easier to get around in here now.
A half barnacled gnome head. Or something.
There evidently used to be a waterline here, as in a few other places in the caves.
The trail we walked took us some 750 feet down and miles into the caverns, where fortunately for the general public they've put in an elevator for the way back up.
Thanks for viewing! We've got more adventures from today coming soon!
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Lehman Caves in the afternoon. What a cool place Great Basin is.
When we reached the parking lot for our hike, we ate breakfast in the first nice picnic spot we found. Welcome to the white sands!
The landscape here is completely foreign. Everything we saw was awesome to us.
The white gypsum sand also has little bits and pieces of other stuff in it in some places.
Here's Kelsey on a dune.
I shot a bunch of the windblown sand textures. The exposed non-rippled surface is sand that has been slowly solidified under the surface over time. This is where sandstone begins.
Kelsey and I were throwing ourselves off the dunes for pictures, so Tracy joined in too.
Kelsey takes a jump. I stitched and sewed and patched this one together to get a wider angle of the whole dune than I could with my lens.
I didn't get what I was trying to get here, but I did catch Kelsey landing a flip over my head.
Words can't exactly describe it. You really should go for yourself.
We looked for life, but all we saw were a few bugs and a lot of evidence of birds and other little critters wandering around. We wished we could be here at night!
I'm getting behind on my shots, so I'll have to try to catch up. I've got another day of climbing still waiting. Hope you're all still enjoying!
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Kelsey starts out the day following me up a 5.10c.
The desert backdrop is a bit barren, but something different from what we're used to.
This one looks a bit like climbing pics you see in non-climbing related advertising.
Just after tracy started up on a climb, I noticed a snake nearby. She offered to come down so we could catch it, and I quickly said yes.
We went off to find Kelsey, who was busy sticking his face into a beehive partway up a route, and shared our discovery with him.
We were thinking maybe Black Diamond could come out with a new look for their ropes.
And lastly, here's some airtime for Kelsey on a 5.11.
We left New Mexico behind and made our way to Arizona, where we headed to Sedona for a few days with Kelsey's Grandparents. We're on our way back home, but there's lots to see and show along the way!
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So we didn't get a whole lot that night. I guess the snakes and scorpions were cold, or something. The next morning we headed to our climb. The first pitch is a non-spectacular slab with some thought-provoking moves. The second pitch is a spectacular traverse on a limestone band, with an overhang underneath providing you with nothing but air when you glance downward. The moves tried hard to blow my mind, which provided for some awesome excitement.
The next pitch was just as spectacular, with a stellar crack in the back of a dihedral leading upto the base of another slab. I think Kelsey has pictures of that, I was belaying the whole time. Here's Kelsey partway into the last pitch: some beautiful slab moves way off the deck with red rock towering all around and the green forested valley below.
The typical trademark of slab climbs is the extreme lack of holds.
Tracy followed us to the top!
The rappel from this route leads you down an unbroken slab for some three hundred feet. The rock is red, the view is massive, and the enjoyment is intense, for a simple rappel.
I always hope pictures like this will help inspire more people to get out and enjoy these places. It's a mixed feeling though: on the one hand I want to keep such awesome places pristine and untouched for myself, but on the other hand, they're so awesome that I HAVE to share them!
One last shot from this climb, a bit of lime green lichen sticking close to the red sandstone.
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My Photo Blog -->http://dthorpphoto.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much! And likewise, I'll say again that it always makes me happy to hear that people are enjoying my photos. I really appreciate the comments you all give! Me and Kelsey are definitely leaning toward making a book of some sort, or maybe our own individual books. We'll see what comes of it!
Thanks again!
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Here's Kelsey partway into his lead of the first pitch, showing the enjoyment that we all felt for the whole route.
This route climbs the crack between two massive chunks of sandstone making up a single tower. The first pitch ends in a huge slotted "window" with a nice ledge for plenty of people to group up on. From there, the leader spans the window with one foot on each wall, works their way upward to where the walls come back together, jams one hand into a crack, and lets the feet fly! Here's Kelsey just before kicking loose.
After reaching the ground again, I found this tiny plant growing on an old burnt log. I don't know what it is, but I like it!
From the top of the climb, Kelsey spotted what looked like an old rock wall underneath an overhanging portion of a nearby cliff. We investigated after coming down and found several old indian dwellings built of rock and mud where the rains wouldn't reach, complete with smoke stains on the rock overhangs.
The cracks between rocks were cemented with plain old mud. Today it's still soft and crumbles to the touch. We did our very best not to do any more damage to the walls.
We made it back to our cars after dark and left Sedona behind for some more adventuring come morning!
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It actually seemed pretty solid. I think we can dispel the rumors that the London Bridge is falling down.
The town clearly thinks a lot of the bridge, and evidence of that is shown in the crystal clear waters underneath.
We left the bridge behind (after driving across it of course) and made our way to Joshua Tree National Park. A bit of shopping got us a climbing guide, and we hit the rocks! Here's Kelsey on Sail Away 5.8, an area classic we're told.
It was a great climb, but the book talks it up like it's made of gold. We're not sure if it's all THAT good.
Last night we woke with rain beating the tent, and water running all around and under us. Fortunately we managed to keep dry, and exited the tent in the morning to see heavy fog. Not to be dismayed at all, we ate breakfast and went shooting. I was stoked with the results.
The desert colors come out bold in the wet conditions. Who knew this place had so much green!
Although even with all the color, I found shooting to be extremely difficult. Fog is an atmosphere I have never worked with before. I played around quite a bit both while shooting and in post, and I think I'm happy with some of my results, but I can tell I've still got a lot to learn! Here's one of a dozen or so jackrabbits that didn't like us getting close.
The cacti are just plain awesome.
We wandered around in the desert looking specifically for Joshua Trees, but everything was fair game!
At one point I scrambled to the top of a rock, where I could hear Kelsey walking around, but couldn't spot him. Eventually he came close enough, so I nabbed a shot of him. It shows you a bit what it was like trying to find our way around the desert in these conditions.
This picture really wants a butterfly.
Joshua trees are some of the strangest plants I know of. I love seeing them, in all their randomness. This is the first time I've walked around trying to shoot them.
Kelsey of course was hard at work as well.
Tracy tells me this is Teddy Bear Cholla. It does almost look downright cuddly!
It's still raining all through this afternoon, so we're taking the opportunity to get some internet. Thanks for checking out the pics, hope you're all still enjoying them!
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