In yesterday's post, I posted a photo that I took from the top of a rock formation in Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Today's post is from almost the same spot, but instead of looking eastward, I am looking westward toward the Amargosa Mountain Range that serves as a border to Death Valley. If you look at both photos, you get an appreciation of the diversity of the landscape in the park. This spot shows only a small section of the canyon, so you can imagine the vastness of it. Not only is it big, but the views from the tops of the rock formations show a harsh landscape that is extremely diverse.
Up On Top - Death Valley National Park, California
Some the best locations to explore in Death Valley are the many canyons that seem to be just about everywhere. Some are small and narrow, while others are wide enough to have roads. Of all of the canyons that we visited, Twenty Mule Team Canyon was my favorite. Truth be told, it probably was my favorite spot in the park. The canyon was named after the teams of 18 mules and 2 horses that were attached to large wagons that transported 10 short tons of borax from the mines. The trip traversed the Mojave Desert and was 165 miles long. Considering temperatures during the summer can be as hot as 134 degrees, it must have been a very difficult trip.
Twenty Mule Team Canyon is quite large, and viewing it from the ground didn't give me the perspective of the area. Fortunately, the rock formations are climbable if you are in decent shape. So up I went to the top of many of the surrounding formations, some by a trail and others blazing a new trail. When I reached the top to look around, I had a 360-degree view of this section of the canyon. As you can see, the landscape is quite amazing, with small ravines running between the formations. The dirt road is in between the two formations on the left.
Dunes - Death Valley National Park, California
Death Valley is part of the largest desert in North America, namely the Mojave Desert. Of course, when one thinks of the desert, one of the first things they picture are sand dunes. The one thing that surprised me about my visit to the valley was, while there were dunes, the majority of the park (at least the parts that I saw) was more valley floor and mountains. Fortunately, down a few miles from our hotel, the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes were there waiting for us to explore. Arriving at the parking lot for the dunes about an hour before sunrise, we trudged out toward the dunes in the distance with our flashlights and head lamps. Along the way, the clouds began to put on a light show, before the sun peeked above the horizon (we were lucky enough to have clouds most of the week, which is most unusual for Death Valley). I shot a number of photos of the clouds, but my heart was waiting for the sun to light up the landscape and the dunes to the west.
As you can see in this photo, the sun did its job and delivered amazing soft light that exceeded my expectations. My main subject was the big dune in the background, which is the highest point in Mesquite Flats (more on that in future posts). The sun and clouds were kind to me, leaving a soft pink glow in the sky. A great start to an amazing morning.
Layers - Death Valley National Park, California
Last week was my first visit to Death Valley National Park. It has long been on my bucket list, and it being a National Park is always a bonus. The one thing that surprised me was the presence of lots of mountains. There are two mountain ranges that create the valley -- The Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west. Both ranges are quite long in length, measuring 100-110 miles. That makes a mountain-loving visitor like me very happy. Perhaps the most famous viewpoint of the Amargosa Mountains is the view from Zabriskie Point. Every sunrise you can find lots of photographers lined up waiting to see the rising sun gradually lighting up the landscape.
The viewpoint is often photographed from above, which is what I did on both mornings that I visited. The second morning, I decided to hike down lower to get a different perspective of the rock formations. This is where I captured this photo. I really liked this composition as it showed different layers, including the shadowed foreground and the Amargosa Range in the background. The formation that looks like a shark's fin is named Manly Beacon after the man who searched for help to save his fellow prospectors during the Gold Rush of 1849.
Me and the Amazon - Valley of Fire, Nevada
Just back from another awesome Jeff Clow Photo Tour to Death Valley. I have heard people ask why anyone goes there to shoot because it is just desert. When you go there, you will know. Anyway, Jaki Good Miller and I spent a couple of days before Jeff's tour and visited the Valley of Fire in Nevada. I spent a few hours there way back in 2000 before I was seriously into photography. Boy, what a shame I hadn't been back there until this trip. The terrain looks other worldly. Our first morning, we found Elephant Rock (above us in this photo) and decided to take a shadow selfie. It looks like Jaki is towering above me in this shot and I called her an Amazon. She told me that she was called that when she was an All American volleyball player at Marshall University. For those of you who don't know, Jaki was the first female volleyball player inducted into Marshall's Hall of Fame.
Classic Banff - Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta
Here we are at the end of Alberta Week and I am ending it with another iconic shot from Banff, namely Lake Louise. This location is probably the most visited in the Canadian Rockies. Part of the reason is Victoria Glacier at the far end of the lake, as well as some amazing hikes that can be taken from the lake (the Tea House is a favorite of many). If you want to see the lake in relative quiet, visit at sunrise or stay at the impressive Chateau Lake Louise (every bit as pricey as the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff). If you are not there at sunrise, be prepared to share the lake with tons of tourists. It is a favorite stop for every tour bus in the area. It has gotten so bad that I won't visit there at any other time.
I hope you enjoyed my little visit to Alberta this week. I will be off on my last trip of the year to Death Valley today, so I will see you when I get back.
Bow Overlook - Bow River, Banff, Alberta
You don't have to go far from the town of Banff to see classic scenes of the Canadian Rockies. In fact, you don't have to leave town to do so. There was a reason that the town was formed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883 to serve as a stopover on the transcontinental railway on the route to the Pacific Ocean. One of the hotels that was built at that time to house visitors to the town is Banff Springs Hotel, pictured in this photo on the other side of the Bow River. Want to stay there? Better open your wallet, as the daily rate is around $799 Canadian a night. Even with a favorable exchange rate, it is still extremely pricey. For me, staying on the outskirts of the town and visiting all of the stops in town and the park is the way to go. This particular photo was taken from Tunnel Mountain Road, which rises above the Bow River with scenes like this.
Maligne Wonder - Spirit Island, Jasper National Park, Alberta
Earlier this week, I posted a photo of Moraine Lake, which is one of the most iconic locations in the Canadian Rockies. If there is another location that gives Moraine a run for its money, it has to be Spirit Island on Maligne Lake. I am guessing that Moraine Lake is the most visited, as it is pretty close to Calgary and all you need is a car to see it. Spirit Island is a bit more challenging to visit, as a 35-minute boat ride is required to see the island and it is over 4 hours from Edmonton. I am not as convinced that Moraine is the most seen, at least photographically. Why is that? We can thank Eastman Kodak. As part of a marketing effort, Kodak sent out one of their photographers, Peter Gales, to find remote locations that would help promote the sale of their film. His image of Spirit Island became part of Kodak's Colorama display (larger than life photos in Grand Central Terminal). Over the more than 40 years that it hung there, millions upon millions of people viewed the photo.
The classic view of the island (actually only an island when the water is high) is from above on a short trail. This composition from ground level is also wonderful and gives a closer look at it.
Canoe Rental - Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia
Although this is "Alberta Week" on my blog and social media, I just had to post this photo from Yoho National Park. Yes, I know that Yoho is technically in British Columbia, but it is just over the Alberta Province line. The centerpiece of the Yoho is the beautiful Emerald Lake, where the color is the deepest emerald that I have seen in the Canadian Rockies (you can't tell that from this photo so you will have to trust me). One of the classic scenes of the lake are the canoes that can be seen being rowed on the lake. When we first got there, there were only a few canoes on the lake and I spotted this composition of canoes waiting to be rented. In the background on the left is, you guessed it Emerald Peak, and on the right is the fine restaurant, Cilantro on the Lake.
Clearing Weather - Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta
I am woefully behind in reviewing my photos from my trips this year and I am determined to catch up over the winter. I spent some time going through all of my photos for the first time from an epic trip to Alberta this past June. We had outstanding weather and I found quite a few "keepers". I have decided that this week will be "Alberta Week" on my blog and social media.
There is only one location in Alberta that deserves to lead off the week and that is from iconic Moraine Lake. The fact that the lake is located in a valley named "Valley of the Ten Peaks" probably says it all. Surrounding this emerald mountain lake are the towering Canadian Rockies and it is an impressive sight to see. This particular morning, it was snowing reasonably hard (yes it snows in Banff in mid-June) when we got to the parking lot. A few hardy souls climbed up the "rock pile" along the trail, which leads to one of the most photographed scenes in Canada. I chose to wait until the snow stopped before I headed up the trail. I was rewarded with this composition that showed a break in the clouds as proof the weather was clearing.
In the Shadows - Red Cliffs Lodge, River Road, Moab, Utah
Sometimes the light, shadow and clouds take over and you get side tracked. After Jeff Clow's Moab Tour back in March was over, Jaki Good Miller and I headed out to Grand Junction to visit Colorado National Monument before our flights home the next morning. I have visited this great park quite a number of times and it has been a favorite of mine. Jaki had never been there and I wanted to show her some terrific landscapes. All that went out the window as we got onto River Road. I don't know how many times we stopped, but it was quite a few. We spent a lot of time at this spot near the Red Cliffs Lodge and we were rewarded with some great scenes. We did make it to Colorado National Monument, but the light was gone. We will just have to revisit there on our next trip to Moab.
Colorful - Kruger National Park, South Africa
Happy Thanksgiving
Here in the US, we are celebrating one of our most family-oriented holidays, Thanksgiving. The tradition is for families to sit around the table and feast their eyes on a big turkey. The bigger, the better. I've seen turkeys on sale that weigh almost 30 pounds. Turkeys are not the prettiest birds in the world and I don't have a good photo of one, so I thought I would post a photo of a bird that is quite the opposite.
This bird is an African Pygmy Kingfisher that I captured on my recent trip to South Africa. While turkeys are basically white and brown, this bird is one of the most colorful ones that I have ever seen in person. From a size perspective, the kingfisher is usually only 5 inches in length. This bird is just too pretty to eat and you would need an awful lot of them to feed a family on Thanksgiving.
Before Sunrise - Palouse, Washington
Many of the photos that you might see of sunrises in the Palouse are taken from the vantage point of Steptoe Butte. There you can look down on the rolling landscape from a height of around 3,600 feet. There are, however, many places that are just as pretty without shooting from a great height. When Jeff Clow and I were scouting the Palouse this past August, we headed to the town of Palouse (the Palouse often refers to an extremely big area in eastern Washington and western Idaho) and stopped on this road when we saw the great light and clouds that were welcoming the new day to us. The farmland in the foreground had recently been harvested and you can make out the tracks where the farm machinery had been only days before.
Water Hole - Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
With the two year drought in Sabe Sands and Kruger National Park, the existence of water holes is a key for the survival of the wildlife there. Some of the water holes have dried up and forced many of its wildlife "residents" to seek other water holes. Of course, those water holes are already "owned" by others and the only way to survive is in battle. We saw an example of that when a hippo, in search of a new water hole, presumably did battle with another hippo only to lose. That is not surprising, as the hippo probably had to walk a long distance in the heat, weakening him as it prepared to fight.
The water holes represent survival to many. We were lucky to spot a herd of elephants one late evening that our guide said was heading to a local water hole. Sure enough, that is where they were headed. As they got close, they began to start running to their oasis. We were lucky enough to watch (and photograph) them drink and cool themselves off. A short respite for the herd in the wild.
Wet - Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta
Most photographers do not like to shoot in rainy weather. Keeping your camera gear dry is important even if your camera is weather resistant. Another challenge is keeping the front of your lens dry so that water drops do not mar any of the photos you take. Typically, most photographers wait out the rain and hope that you don't have to wait for a half day or more before that happens. If you are lucky enough to have the rain stop, you are often rewarded with scenes like this where there is a sheen on the landscape. We were pretty lucky on this road shot somewhere on the Icefields Parkway to have a great sheen leading to the mountains in the distance. It was interesting trying to get this shot, as the traffic was pretty regular and we would all run out to the middle of the road to get a shot. It probably was quite comical for any non-photographers to witness us.
Cheetahs on Prowl - De Wildt Cheetah Center, Brits, South Africa
One of the animals that we weren't able to see in the wild on our safari in South Africa were cheetahs. Fortunately, we had taken a side trip from Johannesburg to the De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Trust before our safari started. The facility is a captive cheetah breeding center that was started by Ann van Dyk in 1971 on her parents chicken farm. Other animals are also bred there, including wild dogs, brown hyenas, suni, duiker, cape vultures and riverine rabbits. On the tour through the center, we were able to photograph the cheetahs that live there. These two cheetahs were on the prowl waiting to be fed.
Cheetahs and leopards are often confused. Cheetahs have black oval spots, while leopards have more complex spotting that are shaped more like roses both square and round in shape. Cheetahs also have black lines that run from the corner of their eyes down the sides of their nose to their mouth while leopards do not. Leopards are also noticeably bulkier looking than cheetahs. Cheetahs can run up to 75mph over short distances allowing them to catch their prey, while leopards use more surprise attacks. Regardless, both are extremely majestic and are amazing to observe and photograph.
Wildebeest - Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa
Most nature followers have heard of or seen (at least on film) one of the most amazing migrations of wildlife in the world - that of the wildebeest in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is often referred to as one of the "Seven New Wonders of the World", where over two million animals travel about 500 miles on their annual trek looking for grass and water when the Serengeti dries out.
While we were not in Tanzania, we were able to spot quite a number of wildebeest on our safari in South Africa, although not nearly anything close to two million (maybe 100 for the trip). Wildebeest are actually gnus and are strange looking animals. Many of our guides made jokes about how they were made with leftover parts of other animals. While I don't remember all of the parts that supposedly make up a wildebeest, here is what I remember: it's head is from a ox, it's mane is from a horse and it's horns are from a buffalo. In any case, this is one we spotted one evening in Pilanesberg National Park.
Water Hole Drama - Kruger National Park, South Africa
Water holes are the key to survivor in the wild. We had heard that there were lions there, so off we went to check it out. Once we got there, we found the lions off in the distance, sleeping. That isn't a surprise, as lions sleep 18-20 hours a day. After watching to see if they were going anywhere for a while, we repositioned ourselves to another part of the water hole.
There were all kind of animals there and it was interesting to see how cautious they were knowing that the lions were not that far away. Any noise made them skittish. I particularly like that some of the wildlife were reflected in the water as they drank. As we were shooting, we noticed a little drama between this crocodile and a heron. As you can see near the bottom of the photo, the crocodile was looking like it wanted to pounce on the heron for a meal. He would inch up very, very slowly every 15 minutes or so. We waited for quite a while, but it was not likely to happen. We were sure that the heron would easily escape, so we headed out looking for new wildlife sightings.
Nose Horn - Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa
I know that the title of this post seems strange, but it actually is the English translation of rhinoceros. The rhino is one of Africa's "Big Five", so named by big game hunters to reference the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. Weighing in at over 2,000 pounds, I can't imagine hunting these animals on foot or by any other means for that matter. Just spotting this rhino that walked by the back of our truck was frightening enough, especially when he turned toward us to see what we were doing. There have been instances where they have charged safari trucks and cars using their horn as a weapon.
It is somewhat ironic that the rhino's horns make them a target for poachers who will cut off their horns and sell them on the black market. The horns are worth more than $60,000 a pound, making them more valuable than gold, diamonds and cocaine. The demand for the horns is due to the belief that they are an aphrodisiac as well as a medicine. The biggest demand for the horns are from Vietnam and most of the horns poached in South Africa are destined for there. In fact, on one of our days in Kruger National Park, there was a poaching reported and all vehicles leaving the park was searched.
Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill - Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa
Okay, if Tuesday's post of the Lilac Breasted Roller didn't shock Jeff Clow, I thought that posting another bird photo in the same week would get his attention. I can just picture him acting like Red Foxx in Sanford and Son looking up to the heavens, holding his hand over his heart and saying "This is the big one...".
If this Hornbill looks familiar, you probably have seen its cousin, Zazu in the movie the Lion King. In the movie, Zazu was actually a Red-Billed Hornbill. These birds are relatively common on South Africa and feed on small insects, spiders, seeds and fruit. They also have been known to eat small animals. When courting a female, they will often feed them for month before mating. They tend to be monogamous.