A Little Adventure

For Halloween, Milo decided to be Curious George. As a consequence, we were all Curious George characters.

On Halloween, we went to a Halloween party with some other kids in our neighborhood. We colored pages, decorated cookies, and listened to a Halloween story. Milo really liked the story. The story involved them saying “stirring the brew” and “pee yew!” quite a few times. These pictures are reenactments from Milo of the story.

Here is Holly dressed up very cute in her Gnocchi costume. She made the cutest little kitty there ever was.

Scott was the man with the yellow hat, Monica was Professor Wiseman, Holly was Gnocchi and Milo was Curious George.

The best part of Halloween was the fact that Milo dressed up in his costume for days after while he watched Curious George. He was acting it out. I think he really enjoyed his costume. He is a creative little kid!

Today was the money day of the trip. The main motivation for the trip was to the visit Zebra Slot Canyon. There isn’t an official trail or parking lot. It appears that everyone parks just after the third cattle guard on Hole in the Rock Road and follows one of the well worn paths toward the canyons. We started out shortly after sunrise. It was a bit chilly initially. Once we got moving, it was quite pleasant. After about an hour, we arrived at the mouth of Zebra Slot canyon. We knew that there was going to be water in the canyon, so we changed out of our shoes and donned sandals. Sure enough, we quickly found our first section of water.

The first section of water in Zebra.

Monica wading through the waist high water in Zebra slot.

We hit another section of water and shortly arrived at the good stuff. Right before the good stuff there is a small section or two where the canyon bottom narrows and presents a small obstacle. I stemmed around the obstacle, but Monica decided to stay back and wait as she didn’t feel comfortable with the stemming. The good section is quite short but very spectacular. At the end of the narrows section there is a short dryfall that looks climbable for a different and potentially better image. I will have to give it a whirl on my next trip.

The beautifully striated narrows looking up the canyon.

Looking down the canyon.

A zoomed out view looking down the canyon.

A nice, low angle view looking back down the canyon.

This is probably my favorite image. It is a low angle, tightly zoomed image of the canyon that omits the lighter back wall of the canyon.

One of the beautiful features of Zebra slot canyon is the moqui marbles embedded in the canyon walls. They are quite beautiful.

I liked this pair of moquis as the sediment was clearly flowing around the moquis when they were initially deposited. Interesting…

Another shot of the canyon looking up canyon. I really liked the green moss on the walls.

A slightly different view looking up the canyon.

A final shot looking down the canyon…beautiful.

When I returned Monica was still waiting for me. Man, she is patient…

On the way back I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a self-portrait. I was actually surprised how warm the water was, so I didn’t mind playing around in it for a bit.

Based on the success of walking along the top of Spooky we decided to try that strategy at Zebra as well. We hiked along the rim and around the top of the canyon. We had a very enjoyable time hiking around the top. There were a crazy number of moquis in the area. I am obsessed with moquis, so I took an inordinate number of photos. The vista was also quite spectacular…and we even found a few wildflowers.

Iron coated moquis…

Yellow and black moquis…

A beautifully broken blackish moqui…

Yellow moqui…

Brown and yellow moquis…

The beautiful vista from the top of Zebra.

A nice, yellow wildflower we passed on the way out. There were a number of these guys around.

Tunnel slot is also in the area, so we figured it would be worth the effort to check it out. We left Zebra and trudged down the wash to the entrance of the Tunnel slot wash. We knew that there would be water in Tunnel slot as well. It is a rather short slot (less than 100 feet), but it is still quite striking. By this time we were both dry. Monica elected to watch as I trudged through the water and took photos from both ends. The water in Tunnel was colder than Zebra but still about waist high and very worth it.

The entrance to tunnel slot.

Tunnel slot from the back end.

Tunnel slot from the back end.

An HDR image of tunnel slot from the back end.

As we trudged through the wash we enjoyed walking over the cracked mud and crushing it under our feet. We felt a bit like little kids playing in the dirt…

Dry, cracked mud perfect for crushing!

A bit thicker and not quite ready…

Last week, Milo had the opportunity to paint a pumpkin from Grandpa Little’s garden. He was so excited to do it. The minute he got home, we started.

This is Milo posing before we got started painting.

Milo told me while he was painting, that he was such a good artist. This picture shows that. He liked mixing colors and was excited when he realized he had some pink going on. Although I didn’t take a picture of him painting pink.

Milo painting his pumpkin.

After a bit of painting, he declared that he was done. He seemed to really enjoy himself. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished pumpkin.

I realized the other day, that I hadn’t checked the one camera to see what pictures we had. We have some great ones of Milo and Holly together and then of Milo just being silly. I hope you like them.

Milo & Holly just hanging out. It seems that Holly isn’t too happy to be there…

Holly enjoys being involved in story time. They will usually lay on the bed like this for stories. I think everyone enjoys it.

Milo’s silly smile.

Milo sticking his tongue out.

I realized that I had this old post about the soccer season. The season has come and gone, but I wanted to share a couple of things about it.

Milo was pretty excited about Leo the Lion. In one of the games, Milo met Leo and received an autographed picture from him. He was pretty excited about it. Milo kept asking about when the games were and seemed to really enjoy going to them. He even knew when to cheer. It was awesome.

Milo asked me one day if I was sending an e-mail message to the lion. When I said that I didn’t know his e-mail address. He asked me if he could call the lion. I told him that I didn’t have his phone number either. It is quite hilarious some of the things he’d say about him.

Holly went to all the games as well. She liked them a lot. She would either take a little rest or watch intently to what was happening. We had a great time. The team didn’t do so well, but we enjoyed the atmosphere.

We left early with the intention of getting in a couple of slot canyons after a morning of driving. It was actually a very nice drive. We drove to Escalante along SB 12 and through the mountains around Boulder. It is a beautiful drive made more striking by the changing leaves. We were a bit past the peak color, but it was still very beautiful. We headed to the parking lot for the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch which is the trailhead for Peek-a-boo, Spooky, and Brimstone slot canyons. Our intended destination was Spooky slot. It is a narrow slot with some really great light and often a light beam or two.

We arrived at Spooky Gulch without incident and prepared our gear to be carried through the canyon as we knew we wouldn’t be able to wear our backpacks for most of the canyon…it is just too narrow to wear your pack. The canyon was just as beautiful as I remember it. I was a bit disappointed at the harshness of the light. It was nice that light was filtering into the canyon, but it was a bit too much. I did get a few nice images including a few of a beams we saw. We tried tossing sand to help make the beam more distinct. It kind of worked, but it seems we needed to toss A LOT more sand to make the beam perfectly distinct. Oh well, it was fun.

An HDR image of a typical image from Spooky Gulch.

A light beam in Spooky Gulch.

A light beam in Spooky Gulch.

A beautifully lit curve in Spooky Gulch.

We then hit the section of the canyon with a few obstacles. There is a small upclimb followed by a rockfall that needs to be negotiated by climbing around and up some small boulders. We made it through the obstacles without too much problem. I helped Monica with a bit of the climbing, but it wasn’t too difficult.

As the canyon begins to open up there is a cute, little arch.

Monica and Scott under the arch in Spooky Gulch.

Instead of walking back down the canyon and doing the obstacles in reverse order with our backpacks we climbed out the the top of the canyon and walked back down the top of the canyon. It was a MUCH easier route back and took us all of what seemed like 5 minutes. I wanted to get a few more shots in the canyon with some less harsh light, so we ditched our packs near the entrance and entered the canyon unencumbered. It was much nicer to go through the canyon without a pack. I think I will do the same thing if I go to Spooky Gulch again. I was disappointed with how the light had changed. It wasn’t as harsh. In fact, it was just generally too dark. I guess the good light in Spooky Gulch doesn’t last too long. It was a good lesson for me to learn. I did grab a few more photos regardless.

Monica in the Spooky Gulch narrows.

Monica waiting for me to come back down the short up climb section.

Writing on the wall in Spooky Gulch. Some folks are just morons.

We had a great time in Spooky Gulch. It is pretty funny to listen to other folks in the canyon say things like, “How much farther is it?” or “Oh boy, I am not going up that!” when they see the short up climb section. We tried to be quiet and were treated to a number of interesting conversations. It was also pretty funny to watch people enter the canyon and return disappointed when they were too large to fit through the first section of narrows. I guess it shouldn’t have been so funny, but it was.

I thought about going to check out Brimstone, but Monica wanted to take it easy and call it a day. On the way out I climbed up into Peek-a-boo to check on the lighting of the double arch in Peek-a-boo. The light was awful (the arch is lit much better in the morning) and Peek-a-boo had a bit of mud and water in it, so I turned around and climbed back down. Overall, not a bad day.

I hadn’t seen another soul since the afternoon of the previous day. It was a bit refreshing to be out on my own and alone for the first few days, but the lack of company was starting to get to me. I was also starting to miss my family a bit. Based on those feelings I decided to cut my trip short by one day and make this my last morning in the Bisti. I had scouted an area for some sunrise shots, so I was up before the sun again hiking across the empty expanse of the Bisti. I passed through the Bisti Gateway before dawn and took a quick photo.

The Bisti Gateway before dawn.

The area I selected for my morning photo shoot is an area referred to by some as the Henry Moore section of the Bisti. I has a lot of small to medium sized stones scattered about in some interesting formations. Turns out it isn’t the most fantastic morning location (maybe late afternoon would be better…not sure), but it was nice.

Early a.m. light on the rocks.

A close-up of my favorite pair of rocks in the area. There were a number of obstacles between these rocks and the lowest light creating some annoying shadows.

Tall stone and friends.

My favorite rocks a bit later in the morning.

Looking down the Henry Moore valley.

A different angle on my favorite pair of rocks with their hoodoo friend.

I left the Henry Moore area with the idea I would return to my car and get an early start home. As I left the pull of one more look at the nearby petrified forest overcame my desire to get home early. I grabbed another shot of the Bisti Gateway to contrast with my earlier shot and headed off toward the petrified forest.

The Bisti Gateway later in the morning.

The broken petrified log in mid-morning light.

I titled this image, “Hoodoo City”, although I think it is a bit too small for everyone to get a sense of the grandeur of the city. It is a great little section of hoodoos.

The large, petrified log from a different angle.

End view of the large, petrified log.

With that image I put an end to my trip. It was very enjoyable. I saw a lot of beautiful country and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I also came to understand that the beauty of the landscape is enhanced when you have someone around to share the excitement and beauty. Soloing has its advantages and disadvantages…

I woke up this morning again before sunrise all by myself in the Bisti Wilderness. There was another group of two guys around that I met the night before, but I didn’t see them all day until we had both returned to the parking lot. I had marked a spot of interest on my GPS during my last visit to the Bisti. I quickly headed in that direction with the hope of arriving before the sun came. I made it just in the nick of time. On my way there I also passed through the area that Laurent Martres describes as moon-like. I tend to agree. It is fascinating area.

Moon?

Near that area was my intended destination, a pair of striking hoodoos. Martres calls one of them a pedestal and that seems appropriate. As a result, I will refer to them as the pedestals. I watched the sun come up and light them up. It was a bit frustrating to wait for the sun to light them up appropriately. It did however give me a chance to photograph them from many different angles.

Here is a nice image of the pair of pedestals as the sun is moving down them.

An alternate and striking view of one of the pedestals.

I enjoy this image because of the simple yet eye catching foreground. I think it works well with the background.

I took a picture of myself and the pedestal to help give an element of size to the formation.

The rock here in the front of the pedestal reminded me of a cashew.

I spent a bit of time watching the sun come up in this area. When I felt like I had exhausted most of the camera angles and low light I continued onward. I wanted to do a bit of exploring and orient myself with the area a bit more. I feel like I succeeded somewhat in that area. I am certainly more comfortable with the layout of the features.

What looks like a buried dinosaur spine of some sort.

Hoodoo plates.

In my wanderings I discovered what I call the petrified forest. It is a section of the Bisti wilderness with an abundance of petrified logs. Some of them are quite large. Even though the light was harsh I took a number of images for documentary purposes.

A pair of petrified stumps.

Hello log!

Log on a pedestal. I was shocked to come around the corner and find this log head high.

A gigantic log.

A petrified log in many pieces.

A shorter section of a log.

An artistic close-up of the end of a petrified stump.

A petrified log that is still mostly buried.

After exploring the petrified forest area it was getting warm and approaching noon. I decided that it was time to head back to the car and relax a bit before my evening explorations. As I approached the parking lot I bumped into three representatives from a senior group exploring the area in preparation for a group outing. They seemed a bit unprepared as they didn’t really know where they were going or what they were hoping to find. One of them had a GPS, but she didn’t know how to use it well enough for me to give her any waypoints. I gave them a basic description on how to get to some of the good stuff and went back to my car. I had promised Monica that I would check in with her each day. I couldn’t manage to get service in the Bisti, so I drove about half way back to Farmington before I could get service and make my call. When I was returning to the Bisti, I noticed that the van from the senior group passed me. Sure enough when I returned to the Bisti parking lot the three senior group scouts had left. I guess that I am glad they realized that an outing to the Bisti for their senior group wasn’t the best idea. I have only been to the Bisti twice, but I am constantly shocked at the number of people who show up in the parking lot with no idea what they will find or where to find it. The Bisti is an amazing place, but it is a wilderness area without trails. It makes your visit much more pleasurable and interesting when you arrive with at least a bit of preparation in the form of a marked up map or GPS waypoints…

I hung out in my car and read for a little bit until it cooled down and the light became a bit less harsh. On my way out to the nursery I figured I would grab a documentary photo or two of some of the landmarks I use in the Bisti.

These are the black buttes which mark where I exit the main wash and head toward the Bisti arch, Bisti gateway, the nursery, etc.

The Bisti arch.

This formation is called the Bisti gateway. It is between the Bisti arch and the nursery.

My goal was to spend the rest of the evening photographing the nursery. The sunset was cloud free and watching the light change on the nursery was an amazing experience. I have probably posted too many photos of this area, but it is an area I really love.

The bug.

The nursery.

Larger version
I had purchased a panoramic head for my tripod and was very excited to see how well it worked, so I took a number of panoramic images in the nursery. I am very pleased with the results. Here is an example of a nice panoramic of the nursery.

Larger version
Another pano of the nursery.

Larger version
And the final pano of the nursery…highlighting the bugs guarding the eggs.

Nursery as the light starts to get low.

The bugs guarding one end of the nursery.

Nursery as the light gets low.

The nursery.

More of the nursery.

Nursery

The nursery with the moon (yeah, the white dot in the sky is the moon…)

The nursery.

More nursery…

Even more nursery as the sun goes down.

Nursery…

The rose.

The rose and friends.

Final light…beautiful stuff.