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Pics from my vacation out west in late May!

S

Sukhoi

Elite Member
Just a little late. 😱

A number of people here gave me advice on where to go on my roadtrip, what camera to get (ended up with a Canon A700), and photography information. Thank you to the people that helped me.

A few of the better pics:

1
2
3

I had a great time on the trip. Visiting southeast Utah and that whole area is highly recommended! Especially Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and the Valley of the Gods.

As I mentioned below if anyone wants a 2816x2112 file of any pic just PM me.
 
Your photos are beautiful! I have never been out west, but boy.. your photos make me want to go there! They are fantastic! 🙂
My little brother is in Utah and he says it is picturesque every where you turn.
 
Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Your photos are beautiful! I have never been out west, but boy.. your photos make me want to go there! They are fantastic! 🙂
My little brother is in Utah and he says it is picturesque every where you turn.
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Southern Utah is my favorite place in the whole world. Everyone alive should see Zion National Park.
 
Awesome pictures! Definitely brings back memories for me when I was around that area last spring (solo roadtrip during my spring break). I'd say that you've definitely got an eye for getting the shot 🙂

Ahhhh.... I remember going through Glenwood Canyon, only when I did it it was at night. The people there live a spectacularly... squished lifestyle, all the homes along the canyon wall it seems, very close to the interstate. It's like there's the interstate and the river in the middle, and outwards from there the local "roads" and then the houses lined up against the side of the canyon. And I remember passing that "No Name" sign 😉

When I got to Arches NP it was nighttime, and I remember pulling up into the parking lot at the bottom near the entrance and my m:Qind literally exploded. The walls at night are VERY VERY VERY tall, like you're looking up at a giant dark beast. A HUGE blob of black with a blanket of stars hovering overhead. Driving up it was even more fun. During the daytime I actually saw cyclists going up this road, and I was just so impressed.

Gotten love balanced rock. I've got a picture of it at night. I'll try to share it sometime. It's amazing just how precarious it really is...

Double Arch, Turret Arch, all neat places. I didn't get any good pictures because the lighting was too harsh. I almost died climbing up into one of these arches because I got stuck on the way down and was about to slip and fall a pretty good distance. I managed to lunge horizontally across the rock face and grab a handhold though. Not something I'd like to repeat.

I actually hiked up the Delicate Arch. The hike was probably... 30 minutes? I stayed there until it was nighttime and luckily I had my headlamp so I managed to get back alright, but really I didn't need it much because of the moonlight 🙂

Big rock is a BIG rock 🙂

I wish I woulda gone to Dead Horse but I didn't have time 🙁 It's amazing that there are actually little dirt roads all the way down there on the plateaus. It's SO high...

Mesa Arch. Gotta love it. Best in the morning (and crowded).

Deer Suicide Area?!?! :shocked: 🙁

Driving at night, I would often pass those "Free Range" signs, and since my headlights don't illuminate nearly far enough for the speeds that people travel on those roads, I was scared to death that sometime just out of nowhere I would smash into a HERD of cattle in the dark...

Driving in the dusty curvy areas, all I can say is "RALLY TIME!!!"

:music: Wide open spaces:music: Everyone should see the Great Plains at night, with seemingly infinite space and a sky literally teeming with stars and a moon bright enough to drive by without headlights of any kind. It's otherwordly for people like us in cities or forested areas. Just the blanket of stars... that there is your mathematical proof that we cannot be alone in the universe.

Mesa Verde! I went there in the off season (only one ruin was open) but the driving was spectacular! Curves, hairpins, empty road, OMG. I have never had so much fun driving in my life, carving through the turns as fast as I could, plastered to the sides of my car at all times. Simply bliss, and with the gorgeous scenery to boot. Truly amazing.

Oh I wanna ride on a train so bad!!!

It's amazing just how flat Colorado is, but it's also amazing just how HIGH these flat areas were. I had my GPS at the time and during a lot of these flat areas, most notably around the Great Sand Dunes region, the elevation was 12,000ft + !

 
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Just a little late. 😱

A number of people here gave me advice on where to go on my roadtrip, what camera to get (ended up with a Canon A700), and photography information. Thank you to the people that helped me.

A few of the better pics:

1
2
3

I had a great time on the trip. Visiting southeast Utah and that whole area is highly recommended! Especially Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and the Valley of the Gods.
Click to expand...


The SW 0wnz! By far my favorite part of the US.

Looks like you took the train from Durango to Silverton, did you?
 
that balancing rock is pretty cool.. is that really two seperate rocks or are they connected?
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Nope just one rock. It erroded that way. The trail goes up right to the base of the rock, and it's a big frightening to have that thing perched over your head.
Camera used? Settings?
Click to expand...
Canon A700. Nothing fancy. 🙂 I did use a UV filter and circular polarizer for most of the sunny outdoor shots. Tripod on some of the shots, should have used it for more. This trip was my first time really taking more than shapshots. I definitely learned a lot as I went along. The settings were really random. I tried to take a manual pic or three (usually at f8.0) and an auto-landscape pic of each shot. A lot of the pics I have uploaded are probably auto pics because it took me a while to figure out that 1/60 or 1/80 shutter speed isn't fast enough for non-tripod shooting with the filters on. Those pics generally came out but the auto shots with way faster shutter speeds (and more like f4.0) were a lot more clear. I really should have brought a wide-angle lens along. I didn't have any clue how limiting a 35mm minimum zoom would be. For those of you wondering, yes you can attach filters and lenses to most if not all of the Canon A-series. There is a $20 adapter for the camera.
I have some new desktop wallpapers. Thanks!
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If anybody wants pics at a resolution higher than the 1280x960 I uploaded just PM me and I can host the 2816x2112 originals. Might work well for those with dual 1280x1024 monitors.

fuzzybabybunny, I got to Mesa Verde about 10 PM. Nothing like a 30 minute drive down a totally deserted road that is going up and down and turning all over, while trying to watch out for deer and whatever else is out at night.

Dead Horse SP actually was a godsend the day I did the Arches and Canyonlands pics. I had spent all morning and afternoon hiking at Arches and was disgustingly dirty and tired by the time I headed over toward Canyonlands. Little did I know that Dead Horse has a rather nice visitor center. Through a little mishap I had lost my dinner, so I bought two packs of trail mix there along with a drink, and then thoroughly cleaned off in the bathroom. 😱 Boy did I feel better after that.

I think you're remembering wrong about the elevation at Great Sand Dunes since the Eisenhower Tunnel is just over 11K feet. But that whole area in general is very high up. I was absolutely exhausted after that day of hiking at Arches and Canyonlands. It felt like I was 90.
Looks like you took the train from Durango to Silverton, did you?
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Yep that's it. I actually found it rather boring, but a good deal of that was probably due to me traveling alone. It would be better to sit there and chat with a friend while looking out the windows.
 
I took the Silverton train too. It was nice going up (by myself) talked with some nice people. Took 4+ hours.
Met up with a friend who entered a bike race/ride from Durango to Silverton and then taking the train back. It was cold and for me a bit boring.
 
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Thanks. 🙂 If anybody wants advice on visiting the 4-corners area just send me a PM.
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Cool, I will take you up on that. Next fall, we will be taking a flying trip East all the way to the Atlantic coast, and will be passing through that area.
 
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
fuzzybabybunny, I got to Mesa Verde about 10 PM. Nothing like a 30 minute drive down a totally deserted road that is going up and down and turning all over, while trying to watch out for deer and whatever else is out at night.

Dead Horse SP actually was a godsend the day I did the Arches and Canyonlands pics. I had spent all morning and afternoon hiking at Arches and was disgustingly dirty and tired by the time I headed over toward Canyonlands. Little did I know that Dead Horse has a rather nice visitor center. Through a little mishap I had lost my dinner, so I bought two packs of trail mix there along with a drink, and then thoroughly cleaned off in the bathroom. 😱 Boy did I feel better after that.

I think you're remembering wrong about the elevation at Great Sand Dunes since the Eisenhower Tunnel is just over 11K feet. But that whole area in general is very high up. I was absolutely exhausted after that day of hiking at Arches and Canyonlands. It felt like I was 90.
Did you camp at Mesa Verde then or did you check in at their hotel? Driving there was amazing. There weren't any cattle there when I drove, so I'm assuming at night it's relatively safe. When I went I think I pwned my first and second gear 🙂

How did you lose your dinner?

You're right about the elevation. GSD is about 8000 feet, but that's still amazingly high. Considering how flat the area is, one would think that it's at sea level, but it's actually far higher.

What do you carry on your hikes to get so exhausted? I usually have a daypack backpack with a camelback hydration bladder and my usual ten or so pounds of camera gear and some granola bars or beef jerky. I use very lightweight trailrunners instead of hiking boots.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
fuzzybabybunny, I got to Mesa Verde about 10 PM. Nothing like a 30 minute drive down a totally deserted road that is going up and down and turning all over, while trying to watch out for deer and whatever else is out at night.

Dead Horse SP actually was a godsend the day I did the Arches and Canyonlands pics. I had spent all morning and afternoon hiking at Arches and was disgustingly dirty and tired by the time I headed over toward Canyonlands. Little did I know that Dead Horse has a rather nice visitor center. Through a little mishap I had lost my dinner, so I bought two packs of trail mix there along with a drink, and then thoroughly cleaned off in the bathroom. 😱 Boy did I feel better after that.

I think you're remembering wrong about the elevation at Great Sand Dunes since the Eisenhower Tunnel is just over 11K feet. But that whole area in general is very high up. I was absolutely exhausted after that day of hiking at Arches and Canyonlands. It felt like I was 90.
Click to expand...

Did you camp at Mesa Verde then or did you check in at their hotel? Driving there was amazing. There weren't any cattle there when I drove, so I'm assuming at night it's relatively safe. When I went I think I pwned my first and second gear 🙂

How did you lose your dinner?

You're right about the elevation. GSD is about 8000 feet, but that's still amazingly high. Considering how flat the area is, one would think that it's at sea level, but it's actually far higher.

What do you carry on your hikes to get so exhausted? I usually have a daypack backpack with a camelback hydration bladder and my usual ten or so pounds of camera gear and some granola bars or beef jerky. I use very lightweight trailrunners instead of hiking boots.
Click to expand...

I just stayed at the lodge at Mesa Verde. Actually every night of the trip I wasn't with friend/family I did hotels. I don't camp much, especially when I'm alone.

The dinner thing was just me being idiotic. I had a sub sandwich perched on some gallon jugs in my cooler, all surrounded by ice. So sure enough when the ice melted, which happens in the desert in the summer, everything moved around and my sandwich ended up in the water. 😱🙁

That day I was completely exhausted it was 95F and completely sunny. I hiked Arches almost nonstop from 10 AM to 4 PM, then drove to Canyonlands and hiked there until sunset. At Arches I rather underestimated the amount I would need to drink. I had a 1/2 gal bottle of Gatorade I thought would last all day and I went through it in 3 hours. On that 5.5 mile roundtrip hike to Double O Arch I only brought a quart with me. Boy was that a bad idea! When I got back to the car I chugged part of one of the gallon jugs of water I had in my cooler.
 
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