A Little Adventure

I woke up before the sun came up to get some predawn photos. Well, that and the fact that I didn’t sleep very well because it was still too hot. The temperatures did drop significantly after the sun went down, but it was still too warm for my tastes.

Yucca and the dunes just before sunrise.

Dunes and interdunal area shortly after sunrise.

A different view of a yucca and the interdunal area.

A yucca and its shadow in the early morning light.

Once the sun came up, the temperature started to increase pretty quickly. I packed up my gear and returned to my car. The longest official hiking trail in WSNM is the Akali Flats trail. I knew that I didn’t want to hike the entire trail, but I did want to get a feel for the area. It is basically a large dune area with orange and white trail markers. I expected the hike to be pretty monotonous and long. It turned out to be much more eventful than I expected.

I managed to get this type of dune shot that I was hoping to find. I nice curved dune, casting a beautiful shadow. Good stuff…

This little guy was the highlight of my trip to WSNM. The visitor’s center video had mentioned the unique white lizards that can be found in WSNM. I never expected to see one, but I noticed this little guy resting in an old footprint along the trail. Very, very cool lizard.

After my lizard sighting, I was on the lookout for small organisms. This grasshopper caught my eye, and I couldn’t resist a photo. It is good to know that the elements can best even a grasshopper.

This is an example of the Akali Flats trail markers. You just walk along following these trail markers. I hiked a bit of the trail before turning around and returning to my car before it got too warm. I filled up my water and took advantage of the facilities before leaving WSNM as I was heading to the remoteness and heat of the Bisti.

I had a long drive to the Bisti and figured it would be useful to break up the long drive by stopping at a ghost town along the route. My research indicated that the Lake Valley, NM ghost town wasn’t too far out of the way. It was also supposed to also be a reasonably sized and reasonably well maintained town. When I arrived I wasn’t disappointed. It is a BLM controlled area which has been kept up pretty well.

An old house in Lake Valley.

An old house in Lake Valley.

I love the way chairs decay. This pair is quite nice.

This scene caught my eye as I could get both the chair and tricycle in the image. Classic stuff.

I am a bit obsessed with old churches, so I had to add an image of this guy. Not the most photogenic church I have ever seen, but it is nice.

I pulled out of Lake Valley and head out toward the Bisti Wilderness hoping I would be able to arrive in time to get a bit of photography in before sunset. The road construction was maddeningly awful through New Mexico, but I did make it to the Bisti in time to do a bit of exploring and photography before the sun went down. I have wanted to explore the area across the road from the wilderness area. I have heard and did find that it is a nice little area with a number of interesting formations.

I found this stump which kind of surprised me. It almost looked like the tree had been cut down, but that doesn’t seem possible…

The clouds got in the way for most of the good light, but they did move away nicely as the sun went down.

As I looked at the remaining hikes and travel times I decided to try one of the other long day hikes in Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GMNP). I decided to hike to Hunter Peak via Bear Canyon and return down the Tejas trail. This decision meant another early morning start to ensure a mid-morning return which would allow me to get to White Sands National Monument (WSNM) in time to get a backcountry campsite. It was a very windy night which resulted in a restless night for me. I groggily climbed out of my tent a few minutes after 6 a.m. with my headlamp in my hand. I found myself standing face to face with a skunk. We saw each other about the same time, sized up the situation, and went in opposite directions. I was happy that neither of us panicked. Now, very awake I hit the trail. The ranger explained that the Bear Canyon trail is very steep. I decided that I would rather hike up than down the steep trail, so I headed for Bear Canyon. The ranger was correct. The trail was as steep as advertised. In many ways it reminded me of the last section of the Mount Olympus trail in Salt Lake City….steep but worth the effort. I made it to Hunter Peak without incident. The wind on top of Hunter Peak was quite strong. Regardless of the wind I spent a fair bit of time on the peak taking in the beautiful views of Guadalupe Peaks and friends.

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Guadalupe Peak is the tall peak in the middle section of the image. You can also see El Capitan peaking out to the left of Guadalupe Peak. It is a beautiful view.

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I did break out the zoom lens and grab a nice image of El Capitan. The trail you can see in this image is the Guadalupe Peak trail.

After taking in the views, I headed back toward my car down the Tejas trail. I really enjoyed this section of the trail. The slope is very reasonable and the views are very nice although not necessarily photogenic. It was a pleasant way to end my stay at GMNP.

I returned to my campsite, cleaned up, and headed out toward WSNM. WSNM is near the US/Mexico border. As a result, I had to pass through a border control station. I was stopped, questioned, and even asked for my license and registration. I was a bit confused as to why I was questioned so much more than the vehicles in front of me. Then I looked around at my car and realized…

I guess you might wonder what I was doing with a car loaded up like this…

I pulled up at the WSNM Visitor’s Center and arranged for a backcountry campsite in WSNM for the night. The fact that there are about 10 backcountry campsites in the monument seems to be a little known fact. I am pretty sure that I was the only backcountry guest the one night I spent in the monument. After arranging my campsite, I went outside and realized that the temperature was too high to do much hiking. I returned to the visitor’s center and watched an informative video about the formation of the dunes and flora and fauna in WSNM. I finally couldn’t find any further distractions, so I headed out into the heat of the dune area. The white sand is very beautiful. However, I really, really love the way the road is plowed. It looked just like the roads do after the snow is plowed in the winter. Ironic considering the temperatures…

Road plowed free of sand dunes.

I ate a late lunch and headed out to the Big Dune Nature Trail. It was a nice, short, educational trail. I didn’t take any photos along the trail, but I would recommend hiking the trail as a good introduction to WSNM.

A nice sand tower. these are formed when a plant grows in the sand and the dune moves on. The roots of the plant keep the sand from eroding away. This one isn’t super tall, but I did see a few that are quite tall.

I wanted to get out into the dunes area and figured I would explore the area around my campsite. I had chosen a site reasonably close to the parking area. That meant I only had to hike about a mile to my campsite. I found numerous photographic opportunities along the way.

A classic view from WSNM…yucca plants!

Yucca plants survive in the dunes area by growing taller and taller to keep themselves above the sand. Apparently this yucca lost the race against the dune.

I found this nice family of yucca plants near my campsite. As you can see, the Daddy yucca plant had grown above the dunes and then the dunes moved on. I guess he might feel a bit naked now…

A yucca pod that had been blown far away from home.

A yucca plant at sunset.

A final photo of me chillin’ at my campsite. After walking around for the last chunk of the day at WSNM, I was feeling pretty drained. I spent a bit of time just relaxing and watching the sun go down.

One of the main reasons I wanted to spend some time at Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GMNP) was to hike to the highest point in the state of Texas, Guadalupe Peak. I wanted to get up and hit the trail early to avoid the crowds and heat. Things worked out quite well as I was up and hiking by 6 a.m. I made good time to the top of the peak and snapped the requisite photo with the peak marker.

The smile is a bit cheeseball, but the photo proves I was there…

Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas, but it isn’t necessarily the most photogenic peak around. The much lower El Capitan is the photogenic mountain in the area. The views of El Capitan from Guadalupe Peak aren’t the classics view, but they are still very photogenic.

El Capitan and the cloud bank. The cloud bank was amazing. It was large, thick, and covered the plains below the mountains as far as I could see in one direction. It suddenly stopped as you can see in the photo. It didn’t slowly dissipate. It just stopped.

A close-up of El Capitan from behind.

The view from the top of Guadalupe Peak.

There were some nice wildflowers near the top of the peak.

I spent a bit of time taking photos and taking in the view from the top by myself…well, I did have a large number of ladybug friends. I have never seen so many ladybugs in my entire life. I am not sure why they congregated on the top of the peak, but they were there. I did see a number of people on my return trip. My round trip time was just over 4 hours. I was moving quickly, but it is possible to do this hike if you only have a half day and are willing to hike fast. The beginning of the trail is steep, but once you obtain the first ridge the slope levels out to something more reasonable.

With the remainder of my day, I decided to return to Carlsbad Caverns. I stopped at Carlsbad Caverns on my way to Austin but was disappointed by the crowds present on Memorial Day weekend. When I arrived at Carlsbad Caverns this Saturday, I was again concerned about the crowds as they looked rather large. However, when I entered the caverns it became obvious that the crowds were much, much smaller. My visit was much more pleasant. I was able to take my time to enjoy and photograph the interesting features of the cave.

A beautiful collection of soda straws.

I think my favorite feature of the cave is a large and beautifully lit stalactite. I think it is called ‘The Chandelier,’ but I am not entirely sure. Regardless I am going to use that name as I find it appropriate. As you might expect I took a number of photos from a number of different angles. You can see the formation from may places in the cave, so I took advantage of the many views

The Chandelier and friends.

The Chandelier from near the Giants.

The Chandelier.

There are some very large and beautiful stalagmites in the cave. One particular group is called ‘The Giants.’ The lighting and spaces to setup a tripod in the area make photographing these guys a bit frustrating. I finally succumbed to the HDR craze and took the images necessary to create an HDR image of this area. I think it worked out well.

An HDR image of ‘The Giants.’

A beautifully colored set of soda straws.

A close-up image of a feature called, ‘Rock of Ages.’

I finished the self-guided tour and waited a few minutes until it was time for the King’s Palace tour. I thought it might be fun to take a tour, so I purchased an available ticket for the final King’s Palace tour of the day. The tour was nice, but I didn’t take any photos. I probably could have taken a few, but I didn’t want to deal with managing the time pressure of staying with the group while trying to compose and take the long exposures required in the cave. I enjoyed the history and information about the cave provided during the tour. The highlights of the tour for me were the 7 foot soda straw, the Queen’s draperies, and the still growing formations that were pointed out along the tour. The highlight of the tour was a rare bat sighting. The bat was confused and/or injured, but we did get a quick look at the bat as we walked by. I didn’t realize how small bats are. Very cool stuff.

I headed back to GMNP in time for sunset. I took a few images of the mountains again, but I found the most interesting images in the opposite direction of the mountains. The beautifully colored sky against the silhouetted hills and trees were the highlight of the sunset.

I know that some of you have been expecting this post for some time. I have finally managed to finish processing all of the photos from my trip home from Texas. Hopefully, I will get the text written and posted over the next few days…maybe a post per day or something.

Anyway, on with the story. My final day of work came up more quickly than I expected. My final week I adjusted my schedule, so that I could have my 40 hours completed by Friday morning. I left work around 10 a.m. and hit the road heading toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GMNP). The drive was more interesting than expected due to the fact that I was driving through the remains of a tropical storm. There was some crazy rain…

However, when I arrived at GMNP the weather was simply beautiful. Beautiful clouds in the sky and a lower temperature are just what the photographer ordered. I dropped by the visitor’s center and obtained some great advice and trail information from the GMNP rangers. After selecting my campsite, I had enough time to go on a short hike. I decided to do the Smith Springs hike. It was a nice hike and introduction to the desert flora.

A beautiful agave plant.

It was a pleasant surprise to see a few wildflowers along the trail.

This is Smith Springs. There is a really beautiful green area around the springs. There are some other springs farther along the trail, but I wanted to be back at my campsite by sunset to get some photos of the mountains near the campground.

I took on my long lens to create this abstract shot of the mountainside. I am not sure why, but I found these mountains to be very beautiful.

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This is a better image of the view from my campsite. I was not complaining about the view. It was fun to hang out at my campsite and watch the sun go down.

The clouds were a bit thicker than the ideal, but it did add a nice effect for some images.

A nice silhouette of my favorite peak.

Holly was ready to start eating vegetables. My parents had plenty of green beans from their garden, so my mother suggested we turn some beans into baby food. We gave it a whirl and it has been a resounding success. We have created baby food from green beans, peaches, and squash so far. I have to admit that it tastes better than the baby food we buy in the store. It isn’t too hard to make either.

The first step is to prepare the fruit/vegetables for blending. In the case of beans, they are prepared for steaming by washing them and snipping off the top.

Beans ready to steam.

The beans were steamed according to the directions for our steamer.

Steamed beans.

The second and final step is to blend up the fruit/vegetable. This is the fun part

Starting the process…

still working on it…

Finally, well blended…

When the food is finally blended smoothly enough I put it in a storage container and put it in the fridge or freezer for storage.

Yummy, yummy! It actually doesn’t taste bad…

I have been doing a bit of canning this harvest season. Playing around a bit with some fruit butters and apple sauce as well as making baby food. It has been very enjoyable. I figured that I would post a few photos of the process as well as the recipe. This may lead to a similar treatment for some of my other recipes.

Mmm, peach butter starts with fresh peaches. I picked up these peaches at my local Farmer’s Market. I have used Early Alberta peaches for my canning and love them, but I was too late for Early Albertas this batch. I picked up these Angelas and am very pleased. They are a bit more tart than the Early Albertas. Good stuff. For this recipe I used about 1/4 of a bushel of peaches.

Mmm, fresh peaches.

The first step is to remove the skins from the peaches. The easiest way to do this is to blanch them for about 30 seconds. To do this get a largish pot of boiling water and toss in a few peaches. Wait for 30 seconds and remove them from the pot of boiling water into a sink of cold water. I then remove the skin (which is very easy to do when the peach is ripe and the peach has been blanched), half the peach, remove the pit, and cut the peach into medium sized chunks into my slow cooker. When the slow cooker is mostly full (not too full or the slow cooker will overflow and create an annoying mess…don’t ask how I know this fact), I turn it on high for about an hour.

Peaches in the pot!

After an hour or so, I turn the temperature of the slow cooker down to low and stir the peaches to make sure they don’t stick to the sides or anything. Wait for another 3-4 hours when the juice should start manifesting itself and give the peaches another stir.

Peaches releasing their juice…yummy.

I then wait about 3-4 more hours and blend the peaches with my hand mixer to create a very smooth peach butter.

Blending the peaches.

The blended butter.

At this point the butter can really be done at any time. The longer it cooks the less watery it will be. My preference is to remove the lid and let it go for another 4-6 hours depending on my mood. Once I decide that the peach butter is done I add a few spices. It depends on the variety of peaches and personal taste, but I add the spices slowly because you can’t remove spices you have already added. To this batch I added about 2/3 cup of sugar, 2 t of cinnamon, and 1/2 t of cloves.

Finished in the pot.

Once it tastes just right, I start filling up pint jars with the hot butter. The literature seems to indicate that you should leave about 1/4 inch of headroom (space between the top of the bottle and the butter). Clean up the mess on the bottle and cap it.

Peach butter in the bottle.

Peaches are acidic enough to process with a hot bath canner. Yes, pint bottles don’t exactly fit very well in the rack, but that is how it goes. My mother said that she hasn’t ever found a rack that works well for pints. If someone knows where I could get one I would appreciate knowing. Anyway, I fill the pot with enough water that the bottles will be covered by an inch or two water when they are submerged. I wait until the water is 180 degrees F (simmering with steam) and add the bottles. If I need to add more water, I add some boiling water at this point. I wait until the water boils and then start the timer for 20 minutes (this time varies with altitude, so you should check out a canning guide to verify the proper time).

Bottles in the pot.

When the time is up I remove the bottles from the pot and wait for them to seal. All done! This recipe yielded 6 pints for me. We are very excited to use the peach butter. So far we have put it on our bagels in the morning, sandwiches for lunch, breakfast crepes, and I am sure we will find a number of other uses. Good stuff!

Peach Butter
1/4 bushel of fresh peaches
2/3 c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves

Remove the skins from the peaches, cut them into medium sized chunks, and put them in the slow cooker. Turn on the slow cooker to high for 1 hour. Stir the peaches and decrease the slow cooker heat to low. Let cook for 3-4 hours on low. Stir the peaches again. Let cook for another 3-4 hours. Blend the peaches using a hand blender. Let the peach butter cook until it is the desired consistency (potentially another 4-6 hours). Add the sugar and spices. Process the butter according to your preference (bottle, freeze, etc.).

We recently attended one of those fun family reunion things. Milo had a fun time going down the slide with his cousin Madelyn. He is learning how to play the big brother role pretty well.

All kinds of fun on the slide…

Madelyn wondering what is going on with that crazy guy behind the camera.

Milo convinced us to take a quick trip to the zoo. We took the standard route through the zoo finishing with a relaxing ride on the train. On our way out Milo noticed the large stone world ball near the entrance/exit. He pushed it around for a bit until he realized that other kids were playing with the ball and became scared.

Pushing the world! The reflection is quite nice. I also LOVE the boots!

We purchased a little wooden table and a pair of chairs for Milo last summer at the Ikea near San Francisco. We put the table together last Christmas and finally managed to get the table stained this fall. The main sticking point was that we wanted to put something more durable on the top of the table. We were originally expecting to use some Formica but couldn’t find a suitable piece. We eventually found an epoxy to put on the top. Milo was very excited to help with the painting. He was not so excited about his painting shirt… The table turned out very nice and Milo likes it. I guess we should call it a success if we only had a better place to put it in the house.

The boys painting…

Milo and Dad painting

Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, and Milo painting.

Painter Milo.