Tag Archives: National Park

Truly Grand…The Canyon, That Is

June 9, 2021 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Views from Mohave Point Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

It’s a bit of a paradox for me – it’s hard to make a bad picture of the Grand Canyon. But yet, it’s hard to make a really good picture of the Grand Canyon. Not because it is one of the most photographed places on Earth and has been done a bazillion times and a bazillion ways, but because it is so darned BIG!

View from Grand Canyon Village near the El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Desert View Watchtower area of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

View from Mohave Point Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Of course it is impossible to imagine what something like the Grand Canyon will look like in person. I’ve been to Niagara Falls, and it is big. I’ve been to Alaska, and places like Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Denali? Indescribable. But the Grand Canyon? I’ve seen it from the air and didn’t realize what it was, because it is so vast. And down on the ground where you can only see a small part of it, while that part was so big, well. Words fail me although it doesn’t stop me trying. 🙂

Views from Maricopa Point Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Hermits Rest, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

We originally weren’t planning to stop at the Grand Canyon, figuring it would be overrun with people, with no place to park, overlooks and shuttle buses crowded with people. But no. We arranged our schedule to get there on a Monday in early May, which turned out to be a great choice. We got a good place to park, never had to wait for the next shuttle, had very few people at the overlooks, and relatively light crowds in the Grand Canyon Village. We even got a reservation for lunch at the El Tovar Hotel and a table with a canyon view. Sweet!

Desert View Watchtower at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

We only had a day, so we made the most of it. We didn’t try to get there for sunrise or stay until sunset, partly because I knew that early and late in the day, when the canyon is all in shadow, is generally not the best time to photograph it. The middle parts of the day provide good, even lighting, while the hours before and after can provide some dramatic shadows. It’s also important (I think) to have some nice clouds to provide an interesting sky. We sort of lucked out on all those counts.

It was a good day and we were both very glad to have made the effort. There are a lot more parks that we want to see, and once we finish up our 50 states project, getting to those parks is going to be one of our priorities. The list is long! 🙂

As I’ve been doing, for those who are interested or just bored 😉 I’ve added a Grand Canyon gallery to my Adobe Portfolio site.

Travel

Saguaro National Park

June 8, 2021 Tom Dills 6 Comments

I’m back at the computer and trying to finish up my photos from our visit to the southwest. I’ve recently posted new galleries to my Adobe Portfolio site and am continuing to add more as I go. It feels like I’m only halfway, but I think I’m a little further along than that!

We visited Saguaro with our friends Cheryl & Mike, over the course of two days. The park is divided into the West and the East, and we visited the East on a cloudy afternoon, and the West the following day with sunshine and blue-sky. The sunshine and blue sky made all the difference in the world in appearance, quality of images, and not least, the heat! It gets warm in the desert, although not nearly as warm in April as later in the summer!

Red Hills Visitor Center at Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona

The Red Hills Visitor Center in Saguaro East was especially picturesque, with the lattice roof casting dramatic shadows at mid-day. Interestingly, I’ve seen very few photos of this, although I managed to make more than a few of my own! Maybe I just didn’t look in the right place.

Anyway, here is a sampling of my photos from our visit. There are more to be found on my Adobe Portfolio site.

Dead cactus at Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona

Photo Project: 50 States

White Sands National Park

May 19, 2021 Tom Dills 4 Comments

According to my metadata, I only photographed for about 30 minutes on our evening at White Sands. But other than perhaps the evening I spent in The Palouse last fall, it was perhaps the most productive 30 minutes I’ve had with a camera in a long time. The most fun, too!

I “only” took 43 photographs, but have marked 33 of them as “Picks” in Lightroom. That’s a very high percentage for me. 🙂 Of course not all of them will end up on a wall or even on my website, but a few of my favorites definitely will.

White Sands is the kind of place where you can shoot for as long as you have. And unless you really mess something up, you are likely to come back with something you like. Interestingly, as huge as the park is, I only moved a total of about 100 yards (after trudging through the sand and scrub to get to the spot I had found) in that 30 minutes. I shot exclusively with my 55-200 lens, on a tripod, in manual focus mode. All of the scenes I found were that small. For me the tripod is essential in situations like that, because in addition to allowing for critical focus, it is a must for precise composition.

The biggest issue in a park like White Sands is finding places that haven’t been covered with footprints and sled tracks. In fact, there is one setup where I had only taken one frame before a head popped over the horizon, and some dude came sledding down the pristine slope I had been set up to shoot. Luck of the draw.

When we returned the following morning, we found that we didn’t get the benefit of the wind that often “erases” the footprints and that results in pristine conditions. But in a few places I was able to make use of the softened textures in the sand – still remains of footprints but worn down just a bit – superimposed against a crisp blue sky. It was different from the evening before, but very nice.

White Sands is one of those places where you can get something interesting however long you are there. Whether for an hour or two, a day or two, or a week or two. Like The Badlands or The Palouse, it is a place I would love to revisit with more time. But what I came home with is good until I have a chance to do that.

Photo Project: 50 States

Fort Davis National Historic Site

May 18, 2021 Tom Dills 5 Comments

Another one of our off the beaten path places to visit was Fort Davis, Texas. We spent a couple of hours there on our way to a tour of McDonald Observatory, which is about 30 minutes “up the hill.”

Fort Davis is one of the best surviving examples of an Indian Wars’ frontier military post in the Southwest. From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and on the Chihuahua Trail.

Many of the buildings have been restored to close to their original condition, and for others only the foundations remain. We’ve enjoyed visiting these different forts, understanding the role they played in American history and in the expansion and settlement of the west.

Photo Project: 50 States

Big Bend National Park

May 16, 2021 Tom Dills 4 Comments

When people ask us what the highlight of our recent trip was, it is easy to respond that it was the Grand Canyon. But Big Bend National Park was probably the most unexpected. It is a beautiful park with rugged mountains, deep valleys and a wide variety of plant and animal life.

Other than the scenery, we were not prepared for how dry it was there. It’s a desert climate, and we knew that. And while it was not hot – upper 80s to low 90s during our day there – the dew point was in the teens, and you could practically feel the moisture being sucked out of our bodies. We had plenty of food and water with us, and we never strayed too far from the car. But by the end of the day we were thirsty and exhausted. It just wore us out!

Views from the Sotol Vista Overlook at Big Bend National Park in Texas

Views along the trail to Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff at Big Bend National Park in Texas

The Rio Grande River runs along the southern border of the park, and it was interesting to look across and realize that it was another country – Mexico – on the other side. Signs warned against crossing the border illegally, but that didn’t stop people from wading across to the other side for a photo. The Rio Grande, after all, isn’t all that Grande. At least for most of the year!

The Rio Grande River near Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park in Texas

Big Bend is an example of a park where you really need multiple days to truly experience it. And to do that ideally means staying in the park, either by camping or staying in one of the many privately operated lodges in and near the park. We stayed in Alpine, TX which is about 1.5 hours away. That was not a big deal since we only visited one day. But if you wanted to see more, or photograph sunrise or sunset, it would be worthwhile to be closer. On a return trip we may decide to do just that. Although we probably wouldn’t consider camping. That just isn’t our thing. 😉

Views of Goat Mountain at Big Bend National Park in Texas

Photo Project: 50 States

The LBJ Ranch – Johnson City, Texas

May 15, 2021 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park near Johnson City, Texas

Probably because I started to become “world aware” in the mid to late 60s I had always associated Texas with Lyndon Johnson and The Alamo. I remember hearing references to the “Texas White House” on the news and it conjured up images of a place far away and quite foreign from western Pennsylvania.

We didn’t get to The Alamo this trip, but we did visit the LBJ Ranch, which is a National Historical Park, operated by the National Park Service. None of the buildings were open, and we got there pretty late in the day, but we did have a chance to drive the loop road, stop at the house and view some of the exhibits, including a former aircraft nicknamed “Air Force One Half” because of its small size. It was used to shuttle Johnson and company between the LBJ Ranch airport and Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.

“Air Force One Half” Lockheed Jetstar VC-140 used as a shuttle to the LBJ Ranch airport from Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park near Johnson City, Texas

Runway at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park near Johnson City, Texas

Visiting the ranch gave us a little taste of US history, and made real something I had only heard about and had seen only on television.

Travel

Woolly Mammoth, Batman!

May 14, 2021 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Waco Mammoth National Monument in Waco, Texas

In 1978 a couple of Waco, Texas locals were searching for arrowheads and came across a large bone. They took the bone to a scientist at Baylor University, who identified it as a mammoth bone. A Baylor undergraduate started an archeological exploration of the site in 1979, uncovering 5 mammoths over a 2.5 year period. In the following years, another 16 mammoths were discovered.

The area is managed by the National Park Service in cooperation with the City of Waco and Baylor University, and became a National Monument in 2015 under President Obama.

The site is much smaller and much less dramatic than Dinosaur National Monument in Utah that we visited last fall, but interesting nevertheless in that it is one of only a few places where prehistoric remains in situ can be easily viewed by the public. A building erected over the site provides viewing access while providing access to students and scientists for further study of the area.

The place was also practically deserted on the day of our visit, making it even more attractive to us! 😉

Photo Project: 50 States

A Historic Meeting Place

December 15, 2020 Tom Dills 4 Comments

Demonstration runs of locomotives Jupiter and Number 119 at Golden Spike National Historical Park near Corinne, Utah

Another one of those historical place I learned about when I was a child was the story of The Transcontinental Railroad and The Golden Spike. The meeting of the railroad lines from the east coast and the west coast met at Promontory, UT on May 10, 1869.

As is often the case with history, the actual events leading up to and surrounding the eventual joining of the eastern and western routes is a lot more dramatic than we learned in grade school. Although the two railroads had agreed to meet somewhere in the western US, it literally took an act of Congress to actually get the tracks to meet. Instead, the two companies laid miles of track in opposite directions through the area, sometimes within sight of each other! Wikipedia has a pretty good summary and pretty much agrees with what we were told when we visited.

At the visitor center, replicas of the two original trains make demonstration runs. These runs often occur daily but the schedule varies seasonally. We planned our visit to coincide with the runs, since seeing the trains in operation was one of the highlights of being there. The trains don’t actually run at the same time, as the same engineer and fireman operate both trains. At the end of the second run, the trains are parked nose-to-nose in front the observation area, making for a scene that is reminiscent of the original, albeit with people wearing much more modern clothes today!

Auto tour on the Transcontinental Railroad National Back Country Byway at Golden Spike National Historical Park near Corinne, Utah

The Subie earns her next car wash. Auto tour on the Transcontinental Railroad National Back Country Byway at Golden Spike National Historical Park near Corinne, Utah

In addition to the trains, there is an auto tour route that traces a portion of the original railroad bed. The tracks are long gone, but there are places where the road travels through cuts made in the terrain to accommodate the tracks. In some areas it is easy to see both sets of parallel rail beds within sight of each other. Especially noteworthy is an area where 10 miles of track were laid in one day, in response to an unofficial challenge between the two crews to see who could reach the meeting place first.

Promontory is practically in the middle of nowhere in Utah, which makes it really out there! It was worth the time and effort, however. And it gave us a great way to document our visit to the state of Utah for our quest toward all 50 states!

For anyone wishing to see more photos, I have created a photo gallery on my Adobe Portfolio website.

Photo Project: 50 States

Otherworldly: Craters of the Moon National Monument

December 10, 2020 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve near Arco, Idaho

I wasn’t sure what to expect from our visit to Craters of the Moon National Monument in southern Idaho, but I could never have imagined what we saw there. The landscape is covered with fields of lava, from smooth lava domes to fields covered with huge chunks of lava rocks. We didn’t venture too far from the road, but there was plenty to see from just the overlooks.

From Wikipedia:

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along US 20 (concurrent with US 93 and US 26), between the small towns of Arco and Carey, at an average elevation of 5,900 feet (1,800 m) above sea level. The protected area’s features are volcanic and represent one of the best-preserved flood basalt areas in the continental United States.

The Monument was established on May 2, 1924. In November 2000, a presidential proclamation by President Clinton greatly expanded the Monument area. The 410,000-acre National Park Service portions of the expanded Monument were designated as Craters of the Moon National Preserve in August 2002. It spreads across Blaine, Butte, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Power counties. The area is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The Monument and Preserve encompass three major lava fields and about 400 square miles of sagebrush steppe grasslands to cover a total area of 1,117 square miles. The Monument alone covers 343,000 acres. All three lava fields lie along the Great Rift of Idaho, with some of the best examples of open rift cracks in the world, including the deepest known on Earth at 800 feet. There are excellent examples of almost every variety of basaltic lava, as well as tree molds (cavities left by lava-incinerated trees), lava tubes (a type of cave), and many other volcanic features.

We had a crystal-clear blue sky on the day of our visit, with very little of the haze and smoke that we encountered in Oregon. It made for some challenging photography, although the blue sky is an interested contrast to the dark and mostly colorless lava.

There were several places where there was little or no vegetation, and other places where the ground was covered with various plants growing up from holes and cracks in the lava that had captured more fertile soil over time. Many of the trees are dead, starved of moisture from the overall arid conditions and the inability of the porous lava to hold water. A number of fields were covered in what appeared to be small white flowers, which are in fact small clusters of a form of lichen that grows there.

One point of interest is that when I went out to the NPS website for the park, the Current Conditions indicates that the loop road is currently “closed due to snow and ice!” We actually saw some ice in the bottom of some of the lava holes, but up on the surface it was very warm.

I’d heartily recommend Craters of the Moon to anyone looking for an interesting diversion from the usual. It isn’t far from Yellowstone and other western parks, and while it was pretty busy on the day of our visit, we encountered very few people up close.

As I’ve been doing, I have added a photo gallery on my Adobe Portfolio website with more photos for anyone who is interested.

Photo Project: 50 States

Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana

October 12, 2020 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site near Deer Lodge, Montana

I got waylaid in my processing with a few projects around the house, but I’m back in the photo processing groove again and re-living our visit to Montana. 🙂

On our drive from Billings to Missoula we stopped by Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, near the town of Deer Lodge. That’s not as remote as it sounds, as Deer Lodge lies within sight of I-90, not too far from Helena.

Grant-Kohrs Ranch has an interesting history, dating to the 1860s when the open-range cattle industry had its heyday. Many of the herds were built through trade with westward-bound emigrants, who gladly swapped two or more trail-worn cows for a single well-fed one.

Ranger talks about living and cooking on the range

From the NPS website:

“By 1885, cattle raising was the biggest industry on the High Plains, and foreign investors and eastern speculators rushed to get in on the bonanza. As ranches multiplied and the northern herds grew, there came a predictable consequence: overgrazing. This and the fierce winter of 1886-87 caused enormous losses, estimated at one-third to one-half of all the cattle on the northern plains. Many cattlemen never recovered.

If the snows of ’86-87 foreshadowed the end of open range ranching, the homesteaders, with their barbed wire and fenced-in 160 acre claims, finished it off.

The open-range cattle industry lasted only three decades. Few of its pioneering men and women made their fortunes or are remembered today. But from their beginnings has evolved the more scientific ranching of today, with its own risks and uncertainties. That is the legacy of the Grants and the Kohrs, whose pioneer ranch, complete with original furnishings, is a reminder of an important chapter in the history of the West.”

Blacksmith shop with a sample of t he G-K brand

Walking around the ranch, I felt like I was experiencing the plains of Montana much like the early settlers saw it. Miles and miles of open range, perforated now by barbed-wire fences but the long range views remain.

This was another one of those places we visited where we were able to steer well clear of crowds. The few people we saw there seemed to have been mostly attracted by the proximity to the interstate and the availability of restrooms. 😉 For us it was another piece of western history to add to our knowledge of this country.

Tom Dills Photography Blog

Tag Archives: National Park

Truly Grand…The Canyon, That Is

Saguaro National Park

White Sands National Park

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Big Bend National Park

The LBJ Ranch – Johnson City, Texas

Woolly Mammoth, Batman!

A Historic Meeting Place

Otherworldly: Craters of the Moon National Monument

Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana

Photographs and stuff!