2017 Grand Tetons

From Utah I headed north to Gros Ventre campground in Grant Tetons NP, just outside Jackson, WY. It was cold and snowy two days but the solar worked great keeping the trailer battery charged along with other stuff. Didn’t see any moose, but I did spend a bit of time at Schwabacher’s Landing, capturing a beaver, muskrat and some sort of interesting bird.

The snow fell mostly two mornings but once it stopped the roads were clear and dry. I took advantage of that and managed to get a few unique images.

As always it is interesting to photograph one of the old Mormon barns, the sunsets are never the same.

Last day I was there I finally got to see a bear.

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2017 Utah

Monument Valley from the roadside

From NM I headed to a familiar campground, Goosenecks SP, about 25 miles north of Monument Valley.  It is sort of barren, you pick a spot which may or may not have a table, but a one-of-a-kind view is guaranteed if you walk a few steps to the rim of the canyon. I tend to use this place as a base and visit Monument Valley to the south or Valley of the Gods to the north. This trip the weather was pretty overcast and each late afternoon I could watch the storm clouds pass by, sometimes with a rumble of thunder or flash of lightning, but no rain. A drive to view some of Monument Valley from the road was a must but mostly I just relaxed and caught up on stuff.

 

From there I headed north to another familiar place, Horse Thief CG. This is a BLM site, dry camping without

Twisted tree on a cloudy day, Canyonlands NP

even water available located just outside Moab, UT. It is convenient for Canyonlands NP, Arches NP and Moab. Sites are large with plenty of room and often some screening between them. One of the delights of this stop was that I was able to meet up with some friends from various parts of the country and to meet some new folks. The weather started out sunny each day, but with enough breeze so it stayed pleasant, not too hot.

Turret Arch lit by the moon, Arches NP

Arches NP is undergoing some extensive road work, prohibiting access 5 nights of the week and some sections of the park are closed completely. The closures will change as the work locations change. Fortunately I was able to get in on Friday night and the places I wanted to visit were accessible.

There was a full moon during my stay so instead capturing the Milky Way I decided to see how some familiar places looked in the moonlight.

Double Arch in the moonlight, Arches NP

Turned out the moon does a much better job of lighting things up than any artificial light.

 

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2017 Chaco Cultural National Historical Park

Also known as Chaco Canyon this location is a fascinating place. The canyon is home to several large pueblos, each with many kivas. The kivas are round “rooms” that were accessed using ladders down into them. Some were large, capable of holding over 100 people while others were smaller.

I camped there for 2 nights and visited three of the pueblos. Pueblo Bonito is the largest, but some of the others are nearly as large, covering two or more acres. Photographs help but they don’t really capture the feeling of the place. It is estimated that construction lasted about 300 years, starting in 850 AD. The engineering is amazing, I just wish there was more info available, so much is speculation based on the evidence left behind. For example it is known that the Chacoans were active traders. It appears they used Turquoise themselves for decorating various things and traded it extensively. In exchange they got cocoa, macaws, shells, etc.

In Pueblo Bonito it is believed there were close to 600 rooms, but many of them were used for storage, having no ventilation, light, heat, etc. Most of the rooms were very small and the doorways into them an interesting challenge since they tend to have high thresholds and low clearance.

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2017 Desert departure

The last few days of my visit to the great Southwest were spent at Gilbert Ray cg in Tucson Mountain County Park. That is just down the road from the Saguaro NP

Saguaro NP

and AZ Sonoran Desert Museum. I did a couple of the drives in Saguaro NP and visited the ASDM with a friend another day. Must say that Museum is so much more than the typical “museum” it is really made up of several areas featuring desert plants, a couple of aviaries and several settings in which native wildlife live. The Otter, Cougar and Bobcat were visible, some of

Bobcat in the shade

the other critters were not but I’d say all the abodes were about as nice as any I’ve seen in any zoo or wildlife place. One of the highlights of the museum is the raptor shows they do twice daily. While we were there they flew 4 Harris Hawks, the only raptors know to work as a “pack”. Getting good photos was hard because I was facing into the sun.

One evening after a day of intermittent rain there was a glorious sunset. I’d found a place earlier in the day that I thought would provide a good foreground and it did. As the sun was setting it

AZ sunset with rain pouring down west of where I was

was lighting up yet more rain headed towards the campground, so it added something unique to the images. The next morning I got up early with hopes of capturing a good sunrise but the high mountain to the east and lack of clouds made that a non issue. As I stood there in the desert with my camera settings for the sunrise I spotted a coyote trotting by. Naturally I swung the camera to follow it, all the time thinking do I dare try to change the settings? Will it keep moving or stop?  It stopped and I did get a photo ( but I didn’t realize it until later in the day).

Coyote in early morning light

Not the best ever but certainly the best/only one I can claim of a coyote at sunrise.

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2017 Arabian Horse Show

The weekend with friends in Buckeye included going to the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show both Friday morning then again Saturday evening for some of the Championship classes. This is the largest such show in the country, filling 10 days with nonstop activity in several arenas at the same time. The vendors sell an amazing array of things from tack to clothing for every type of riding, along with so many other items.

Friday morning we watched a bit of one of the reining classes then moved over to see some of the herd work. The herd work involved selecting a cow from the herd and holding it away from the herd. There was a time limit and it seemed like the more cows one could
remove from the herd for even just a few minutes the better the score was. This is not to be  confused with the cutting horse class, which we did not see. I think that is a lot more fast paced and harder action.  We wandered around catching little bits of action in the various rings and taking in the amazing set ups that many of the professional trainers had. No just ordinary stables for them but first class places with life size photos of horses, displays of their many ribbons, etc. I heard the figure $1700/ month for training tossed out and it seems presenting a first class image is all part of making a good impression.

Saturday evening there were championship classes in several divisions. My friend Veronica kindly found a box seat for me to I could be close to ringside. I know that helped me get some super images. Many thanks! First of all we watched a jumping competition that I believe was Amateur to Ride. A 10 year old girl from Idaho got 3rd place.  This was not a championship class.

 

Next up was the finals driving class  then came the Western Pleasure Horse finals. It was interesting to see but I must admit I don’t think I’d find that class a pleasure. Everything was so exaggerated, from the extremely slow paces (nearly loping in place) to the way the horses all had their heads tucked way in, nose was well behind the vertical. Just didn’t seem fun, relaxing or a pleasure. It was a great show of things carried to the extreme for the show ring. There were a couple of English riding classes, too. At least in those the horses heads had more normal positions.

Then came the Liberty Championship class. I’d never see anything like it and will remember it for a long time. Each horse is brought in alone, with just a halter on. The halter is removed and the time (and music) starts. The horse is given 2 minutes to show off, when time is called the handler has 2 minutes to capture the horse. There is usually someone with the handler, the only props they have are little whips with feathers (or something at the end) that they will flick around to get the horse to react, change direction, etc. Some horses spend the whole 2 minutes literally running around, that isn’t as impressive for the judges as the ones who varied their gaits, showed off their stuff a bit more.

Final class was the native costume class and what a class it was! Color, flash, elaborate costumes, handsome horses. I doubt the Arabians in the early days had the means let alone the material to dress in such fashion but it was fun to see what people’s imaginations can come up with. The winner rode a black horse and her whole costume and the tack was all black. Very simple and elegant.

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2017 Winter Range, Cowboy Action

I’ve been visiting a good friend who moved to AZ. Her husband used to be active in Cowboy Action Shooting in NJ. Needless to say AZ sees its share of that. Turns out the national competition is held just north of Phoenix and takes about 10 days do go through all the events. None of us had seen any mounted shooting (except of course in westerns in the movies or on TV) so Saturday morning we headed out to see what we could see. We all shoot at least one type of firearm and none of us could imagine doing mounted shooting. We were well in the minority as far as our mode of dress went. Most everyone there was dressed in period outfits or early western garb.

The mounted shooting was fascinating. You have to admire riders who can  shoot 5 rounds from one pistol then change guns and shoot 5 more rounds all while following a prescribed pattern and being timed. Everyone used the same loads, which were good for about 15′ max. Fastest with a clean round won, penalties for missed balloons. Each rider was supposed to shoot out 10 balloons. The pedestals the balloons were on were a marvel themselves. When a balloon was shot it immediately filled another one with air, no one had to run around replacing balloons. The first pattern was pretty simple forward and back (2 times each direction) with 3 turns, the second pattern was different and followed more of a clover leaf pattern similar to one used in barrel racing. Both patterns required the riders to shoot some shots in each direction (left and right).

After watching the mounted shooting for a while we went over to “Suttlers Row” where there were vendors selling clothing, guns and gear apropos to the sport. There was also a showman demonstrating whips, knives, etc. It was a great way to spend the day and learn more about the many aspects of Cowboy Action shooting.

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2017, Desert Botanical Garden

Located near Phoenix is the Desert Botanical Garden. The friends I was visiting last week have annual passes so we went one day. A one day visit means you are covering a lot of ground at a good clip!  The places is vast with various walks through different areas, displaying many varieties of desert plants including cactus, aloe and agave. Aloe 500 is a genus containing over 500 species of flowering succulent plants. Not sure

Another Agave, this one is over 2′ across

about the number of Agave species but I have a really good, prolific one in my front yard so I was attracted to those. Would love to find a couple of the ones I saw at the botanical garden to have at home.

We spent the day, which included a nice sandwich at the cafe on site then headed back to Buckeye.

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