Near Camp

wfeller

Sunday night after class I decided to head up to the hills and camp rather than road-rage with the Las Vegas to L.A. traffic on the freeway. After restocking on a few supplies and shooting some sunset shots, I drove about 20 miles out of town to a site I had seen earlier that day. After considering a few locations on the side of a hill I made me a little campfire in the moonless night. A scrawny coyote seemed to agonize in the brush in the canyon below. He howled a bit, and was joined by another after about an hour. Far off in the distance a third could be heard. I had about enough of this and made sure all my food was wrapped up tight. I let my campfire go to coals and covered it with rocks and crawled into the back of my truck and fell fast asleep. Usually when I'm in the desert and spend the night, I sleep well and dream of being in the desert. It's like not sleeping, but things are a little crazier, and when I get up I feel pretty good. I got up a little before sunrise and made myself some coffee. I got the camera ready before I finished my cup of instant slop and setup near the front of the truck. I packed up and made sure everything was ready to go and began my morning's shooting. Here's the first shot of the day. I'm leaning back against the front of my truck shooting it.



I'm glad I drove up in the dark. I never would have camped next to something like this if I had seen it in the daylight.