Happy New Year 2009

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Happy New Year
and wishing you health and happiness

Click on the photo for a larger view


Arizona Desert © 2006 Martha Mullens

Troy and Martha

For other SWF posts,
see the SkyWatch site here.



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Bridges Between

the North and South Rim
of the Grand Canyon

Navajo Bridge

Photo by Martha

(Click on the Photos for full page views)

Boats as seen from the Bridge

Photo by Troy

Completed in 1964, Glen Canyon Dam bridge is 1,560 ft (475.5 m)long and about 583 feet (178 m) above the Colorado River. Before it and the downstream Navajo Bridge (pictured here) were built, it was a 192-mile (309 km) drive to the other side of the canyon.

Troy and Martha

Be sure to leave a comment. Have you been there?
Have you been to the North or South Rim of the Grand Canyon?

Note: There had just been a slight shower, which had brought out the red in the rocks and soil. Good luck for me. Timing is everything. The only post processing was to adjust levels and a slight increase in saturation to compensate for the overcast sky.

A project by RuneE
Click here to participate.

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Alaska Sunday XVI

Trip Log - Part I

May 20 - May 31

This is the first month's log of our trip which Bilbo Baggins would have titled,
"There and Back Again - The Beginning".

Quite a few people have asked me in e-mails about our route, known as 'The Drive from Texas to Alaska and Back'. There is not much commentary included in this log, just sequential locations, dates, and mileages when available. The Alaska Trip Log will be divided into four months (parts) and posted on the next four consecutive Sundays. Past and future posts of Alaska Sunday (apart from the trip log) will have more detailed information and more photos of each specific area.

UPDATE: The log will contain 2 weeks per post. I didn't realize how time consuming it would be to look at trip records, mileages, and sorting photographs for each post. Not to mention deciding which photographs to post.

So here is a condensed version of the trip, with a few photos out of the 18,000 that we kept. A few of the photographs have been published, but are re-posted here to give a flavor and progress of the trip, and to see the landscape change.

Be sure to click on the photographs for full screen views.

5/20 Ft. Worth,TX to Santa Rosa, NM 498 mi
5/21 Santa Rosa, NM to Flagstaff, AZ 495 mi

Painted Desert - Arizona
Enriched colors due to
Perfect angle of near horizontal light and a rain shower

5/22 From our Campground in Flagstaff to Grand Canyon and back to Flagstaff, stopping at Marble Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs along the way. 445 miles

Marble Canyon - Colorado River
from the bridge over the river at Lees Ferry
Those small yellow dots on the river are the large tour rafts

Vermillion Cliffs (a Stitched Panorama)
Note Hwy 89A (bottom right) for perspective & scale

Grand Canyon in the Rain
North Rim

5/23 Flagstaff, AZ to Bakersfield, CA 480 mi

Mojave Desert
Looking Toward Death Valley

5/24 Bakersfield, CA to Oakhurst, CA 200 mi

5/25 Yosemite (Adventure in the Sierra Nevada High Country) 124 mi

Half Dome - Yosemite
Glacier Point Road
Perhaps Ansel Adams stood on this very spot
and made a Black & White Photograph

5/26 Oakhurst, CA to Redding, CA 332 mi

5/27 Redding, CA to Trinidad/Arcata to Klamath, CA 190 mi of serious winding road

The Pacific at Trinidad/Arcata
Hazy Day
Time to turn North on Hwy. 101

5/28 thru 5/31 Coastal Redwoods, Fern Canyon, Pacific Overlooks, and Area 460 mi

The Pacific at the Klamath River
A Perfect Day

Fern Canyon
A Magical Place of Five-fingered Ferns
(Enlarge and scroll up and down)

Please comment and tell us which photograph you like best and why.

3224 miles logged during the 12 days of May
Next Sunday's Trip Log will be for the Month of June....
Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska
A lot of ground to cover and sights to see in the next 30 days.

Photographs by Troy and Martha

Vermillion Cliffs and Victim

V.

Victim of Time and Ravages by the Elements
(Click on the photographs for best viewing)
by Martha

You know how Martha likes B/W. I think she did a good job on the B/W,
considering it was heavy overcast with rain and not much contrast.

It was photographed at
Newberry National Volcanic Monument
Deschutes National Forest
Oregon

In November of 1990, Newberry National Volcanic Monument was created within the boundaries of Deschutes National Forest. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service, this monument provides a unique opportunity to view the Lava Lands of central Oregon.

Newberry National Volcanic National Monument includes 50,000+ acres of lakes, lava flows, and spectacular geologic features in central Oregon. The highest point within the Monument is the summit Paulina Peak (7,985 ft.), showcasing views of the Oregon Cascades and across the High Desert. The summit area of Newberry Volcano holds two sparkling alpine lakes full of trout and salmon.

Vermillion Cliffs
by Troy

The above photo is a composite of two photographs to produce the panorama. Notice Highway 89A in the bottom right hand corner for perspective and scale. This route by the cliffs is the only east route of get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The Vermilion Cliffs are the second "step" up in the five-step Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau. Reddish or vermilion-colored cliffs are found along U.S. Highway 89 and U.S. Highway 89A near Kanab, Utah (and near Navajo Bridge in Arizona).

We stopped at Navajo Bridge to photograph the rafts on their way down the river. We were also looking for the California condor. They had been seen in this region. We didn’t see one here but we did see and photograph one on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a small dot on the photo, but we did get a look with our binoculars.

The Cliffs extend from a location near Page, Arizona and west for a considerable distance, in both Arizona and Utah. 112,500 acres (455 km²) of the region were designated as the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness in 1984, and an even greater area was proclaimed Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in 2000. Famous locations in the cliff area include Lee's Ferry, Glen Canyon (a national recreational area), The Wave, Coyote Buttes, and others.

The cliffs sat astride an important route from Utah to Arizona used by settlers during the 19th Century. The area was thoroughly explored by the Mormon pioneer and missionary Jacob Hamblin who started a ranch at the base of the cliffs in House Rock Valley. Modern U.S. Highway 89A basically follows the old wagon route past the cliffs through House Rock Valley and up the Kaibab Plateau to Jacob Lake.

The Vermilion Cliffs are made up of deposited silt and desert dunes, cemented by infiltrated carbonates and intensely colored by red iron oxide and other minerals, particularly bluish manganese. In the spring, after a good winter rain, the valley between Highway 89 and the Vermilion Cliffs will be covered with a carpet of desert mallow and other spring flowers.

To play, visit ABC Wednesday, mrsnesbitt's place. Click here.

Troy and Martha

Painted Desert

Sub-title: 'Alaska Sunday' - a Travel Adventure

Sorry for the delay in posting Alaska Sunday. I just joined the Friday Sky Watch and with the excitement of that, it completely slipped my mind. Trying to visit all 100+ members and looking at their blog sites and photos was overwhelming. And then visiting all of my favorites…. Whew.

On our circuitous route from Texas to Alaska (our second day of the trip), we stopped by the Painted Desert looking for the once-in-a-lifetime photo op. We got more than we bargained for. We arrived there in the late afternoon just at closing time. It had just recently showered, and the ground was still barely damp. The colors were saturated, vibrant and almost alive. The low angle of the sun behind my back also contributed to the strong colors.

It was serendipity…. right time, right place, the sun was just breaking through the clouds, right angle of reflected light, increased saturation due to rain, and color was everywhere. Notice in the background that the colors appear normal for the desert. With the picture magnified, you can see the various shades of reds, pinks, yellows, ocher, oranges, and white.

The only Photoshopping was a slight adjustment in levels. No further saturation was needed.

We had been to Painted Desert before and had gotten the usual touristy photos. (Nothing even close to this).

So, there is no exciting adventure today, just a photograph (or two) for your enjoyment.

Painted Desert (Using a Nikon for a Brush)

Be sure to click on the Photograph for the full effect

Photo by Troy

Sunset that Day

Photo by Martha

Needless to say, we arrived at out trailer park late that day. It was a Good Day.

'Alaska Sunday' is a collection of photographic remembrances of our driving trip from Texas to Alaska.
18,000 miles, 16 weeks, 16 western states including Alaska and four Canadian Provinces.
No chronological order, just anything of interest that got in front of our cameras.

Troy and Martha