Life Lessons

This has been a difficult post for me to put together... and to be honest, at the moment I'm not even sure what I want this post to be... But brooding about what I want to say has gotten me nowhere for 3 days, so perhaps the only thing left to do is write. 

Last week at this time I was laying on slate and gazing up at droplets of molten silver that seemed to want to drip from the night sky. I was so exhausted that I would have sworn I'd never be able to move again. My feet were swollen, there was blisters in between my toes, we had hiked downhill and over streams for 10 miles with 45 lbs on our backs, but Logan and I had made it to Wate's Pond, or at least we thought we had... 

Earlier that day, we had arrived at the trail head of Woodenshoe Canyon and had eagerly set off on our first backpacking trip of the season, my first backpacking trip ever... Woodenshoe canyon was (as seen below) not what I had pictured a desert canyon of Southern Utah to look like, we hiked through stream and wetlands, snow at the top, and pine forests at the bottom... and along the side were a scattered selection of Native American ruins just begging to be explored...

The pond we camped at was floored with shale, or some flat, layered stone, that created an awesome little waterfall above a fabulous pool of clear water... for the most part, it was too dark to make night time pictures that used any landmarks such as trees or mountains, and I was too exhausted to wait long enough for star tracks, but I had enough energy to gaze up at them all... I'm convinced now that there is not actually any empty space in our sky at all, and that you could pick any spot on the sky that there seemed to be nothing in, and if you could travel that way, you'd find that it wasn't empty at all, but filled with more suns than the milky way, they were simply too far away for us to see from Earth.... It is an awe inspiring experience to look up and Know that God created every single one of those stars... every planet in each system, and everything on each of those planets... and then to come back to little old earth and realize that that same God who created all of that, knows me. Alex Mageno, from Springville, Utah... and that as i'd soon find, He not only knew me, but watched out for me and guided me.  

Our next day of hiking brought with it many disappointments, beginning with the realization that we had actually camped 2 miles before Wates Pond, putting us behind schedule and shaking our confidence in our map reading abilities... Leaving Woodenshoe canyon later that day, and entering Dark Canyon we realized why there was warnings about being able to bring enough water for an entire day... there was nothing in that bed, there was no trees to shade us from the blistering heat, nothing but skeletons, rocks, and sand... It also become increasingly clear why "map reading skills required" and "for advanced backpackers" was pasted on every trail guide we came across... there many side canyons, some that were key, some that weren't, some that weren't canyons at all... We hiked trough 4 miles before we got to Dark Canyon, 5 miles along a dusty wash-bed, a half mile up the wrong canyon where we realized we were lost and our map was not good enough to make us found, not in this canyon... and then another 6 miles before the sun set and we crawled into bed, lost, tired, depressed, and hanging on to one last hope that the morning sun would shine light on where we were... Even knowing that we could only be somewhere on this small map, and that there was no way we would run out of water, or starve for many days, I crawled into my sleeping bag feeling more hopeless than I had ever felt in my life... looking back I can't quite understand why it seemed we were in such dire straights and why death seemed to tug at the zipper of the tent, but to a tired mind that had been wrong all day, things seemed pretty hopeless... Some people say its easier to be close to God when things are hard, and easy to forget when things are easy.  I'd say that it is the other way around, with cheerful optimism I had gazed at the stars and reflected about God the night before. Now, when it seemed hopeless and I felt deserted it was hard to pray, but pray I did, that we could know where we were, and have the energy we needed in the morning...  and after a restless nights sleep I did figure it out, and we were right!  Things looked completely different that morning, we started hiking at 7:20, after getting up at 6.  There was only an undertone of last nights doubt as we set off on what we wanted to be our last day of hiking. We ended up being only 1.5 miles from Rig Canyon, our goal for the second day, and when we found that corral and road we could have jumped with joy!

I wish that I had taken more photographs that last day, as it was probably my favorite of the 3 days... but I know that is easier said from my armchair than it was with 40 lbs on my back and still miles of hiking left to do...  Since I don't have any pictures I guess I'll have to describe it... Peavine Canyon, the last of the three canyons on our hike, had its trail-head back up where we had parked making it the last leg of our hike. (not counting the miserable three miles of dirt road between the two trail-heads...)   We started up Peavine after lunch, full of hope that we would actually make it out of here alive, in just 8 short miles... Walking into Peavine Canyon was like walking into Middle Earth. The forest was thick and dense, and the pines seemed to be so old that they whispered to one another, just waking up after a long winter. On the north slopes that the trail lead us through there was knee deep snow, and the rest of the trail criss-crossed the river a countless number of times.  During one these crossings we were bearing down on the ford as two incredible Coyotes were wandering down river.  We met up with each other less than 20 ft apart.   To see such powerful creatures in the wild, so close to us, was an amazing experience.  So was reaching the top of the canyon and once again dropping our packs in desperation with still four miles to go... only to find that we had miscalculated and only had one mile left to the trail-head!  finally a miscalculation that worked in our favor! Although in hindsight, if i would have known it was only a five miles canyon I would have stopped and taken more pictures...  We made it in the end, almost 50 miles, in a little bit less than 2.5 days, which is an amazing feat in and of itself. But more amazing that being able to say "I did that!" is being able to share the lessons I learned out there. Such as how things are never really as bleak as they seem in the moment and a rash decision in times like that might be your last decision. I gained new perspectives on what really matters in life, Eileen and my family are the ones I wanted to see the most, while I haven't even opened the facebook games I was so fond of before I left. 

Fire, Caves, and Silhouettes

Every boys favorite thing about camping is the fire... because every boy likes to play in the fire, poking it, melting things in it... taking pictures of it... or maybe thats just me... :)  and every boy scout can tell you of numerous stories involving various sizes of flames that had various effects on their skin and hair... :)   but i had never tried photographing fire with a tripod, it actually worked pretty well, I like the soft playful-yet-fierce look of the flames... 

Speaking of tripods... I'm really glad I have a handy little one that I can take anywhere, because it pays off when you stumble on little tunnels like this...   not that I don't like the blurred look, because I do, its mysterious and I like that... but the tunnel looks much better with a tripod. I wish I wasn't so worried about getting sand in my lenses, because I would have loved to play with long exposure in the cave, with the dust flying through... but I'm thinking I'll actually get lots of practice with that in coming weeks! :) 

The adventurer in me seems to have waken up with a vengeance, so I've decided to take up backpacking! :) just for fun... my first trip is a 40 miler planned for Tue, Wed, Thur, next week!: )  I'm way excited, hopefully I can come back with some excellent pictures! :)

And last but certainly not the least of my random lets-post-the-rest-of-goblin spree, this excellent silhouette of Eileen and I. :)  

Night Photography From Goblin (and its my 100th Post!!!)

I have always loved the solitude that the night offers the world. In the summer, I can sit in the backyard and listen to the bubble of our waterfall, or stay up late and night and look at the stars... I can go running at night, or I can stay up late at night by the fire in the middle of winter... no matter where I am or what I am doing though, there is something in the air at night that makes me want to be alone and try to unravel the mysteries around me. This is a fitting subject and mood for my 100th post.  The solitude of night offers something different to everyone, but to me, it offers a clear mind and a clearer path. There is so much less in the way at night, no noise, no light, no people, no things... just me and my mind...  Photography does this for me to, it allows me to focus on a subject and as I compose a shot, I consciously think about the entirety of the viewfinder, is there a twig in the way here, do I like this tree, do I like this angle?  Once I can focus on what really matters, because what is outside of the view finder doesn't really matter, but sometimes it takes a camera to remind me to focus on what is in the viewfinder because in the end, the world is what it is and all we can change is our perspective.  

These photographs resemble that line of thinking, that we can only choose what and how we see, the world is not going to change for us. The photo above is an excellent example of choosing what we see, and how night can make things clearer. By blacking out everything but the cloud and the sky, I show what actually matters in the photograph, the star in the upper right.

The View From the Top

A must see of any Goblin Valley trip is the view from the top of the valley walls, its a goo dhike to get there, but so worth it!  There is nothing but rolling hills and desert landscape for as far as the eye can see... its amazing really, and the sun dancing through the clouds and touching the earth... it was a sight to see... Sadly, bloggers picture size doesn't do it justice, but give the panorama a click and it should open up bigger... 

My Favorite Time of Day... Thinking Time...

I do my very best to catch a sunrise everywhere I go. :) Something is in the air at that time of day, when most everything is still asleep, there is such promise of a new day...  I live for that feeling of, whats the word?  Hope I guess...  You never know what the day will hold, but at least you have that day to look forward to. :) I only managed to beat the sun up once while I was camping, and I only had a few minutes before it burned through the clouds and was over...  Times like sunrises are thinking times, and there is nothing like thinking about life and everything it entails as you start a fire in a brisk, silent nature...

These three photos represent the way I think at special times like that. I start by seeing the small details, the beautiful sunrise in the distance, but there is that tree in the way. Still a good picture, still a good thought...  But as I think, I move on and start to see where that tree really fits in, and how to use it best.  Better picture, better thoughts... By the time I have a fire glowing and I look back at what I've been thinking about, I realize that my thoughts have come a long way and I catch a glimpse of the bigger picture and how everything works together. Best picture, best thoughts...

Plant Life of the Desert...

There is lots of fun pictures of my friends and I having adventures on facebook. In my photography class I took last semester (that feels so good to say...)  we talked a lot about how our culture has to take pictures of everything they do or else in a way they didn't actually do it.  How many times have you had a great story to go tell roommates or family and they're like, "Cool, lets see the pictures" and you didn't have any?  Its kind of a let down to them, as if it lessens the reality of your adventure... I'm not sure I like that, I do like pictures because they help me remember all the fun things I've done, but for the most part I thing I stand with Andre Kurtesz (a famous photographer) who said "my favorite pictures are the ones I never took. Some things are either too beautiful or too special to take pictures of and some things are just better left remembered.  A little off topic, but its my blog so... whatever... :)  point being, my blog about goblin valley will mostly be the pretty pictures I took because thats the kind of photography I like to do best... :) 

This particular post will be about the plants I saw... its cool that so much life can be found in the desert where it seems like nothing should be able to grow, but some how there is actually a lot of trees, and they grow in the most unlikely places. Of course there is cactus, and paintbrush... theres actually a lot to photograph. 

These last two pictures epitomize my view of life in the desert. I'm always a fan of silhouettes I kind of want to keep all of my pictures like the one above in a folder and turn it into a project of some kind.... but my view of the desert, the circle of life is much shorter here. I was the last person to photograph this tree, later that night we tor it apart for firewood... kind of ironic that I destroyed one of my favorite subjects, but that is what life in the desert is about to me, you live, you die, you are used again some other way...  

Valley of the Goblins!!

Goblin Valley is a place I have always, always loved... when I was little my brother and my dad and I would go with our neighbors the Cutlers once a year and camp in the middle of nowhere on the road to Little Wild Horse canyon.  I have lots of memories of both places. I remember when my brother and I would always try and try to reach the top of the valley walls... unfortunately we were both so short that the only way we could even start up the walls was with the help of my dad, and the fact that I was scared of heights didn't help either. :) This is a picture of us in the valley, playing lava monster... its the closest I could find to a picture of the valley believe it or not, but you get the gist...  inside there is thousands of little sand formations that you can play on all you want, the whole place is really just a playground for adults where college students, old-hikers, and little kids can all run around until they can't run any more...  

Courtesy of Eileen, this is me on my dinosaur I found... :) 

Under that overhang you can see a part of the actual valley, most of it is ground level and you can pretty much get anywhere you can see, when you start scaling the walls things get a little more tricky... 

There is also plenty of hidden caves that you just stumble upon. :) luckily I had my gorilla-pod handy, because the cave was must darker than the picture would lead you to believe...  The whole valley is full of surprises and every time you go you find new things! Its a wonderful place... 
So... that pretty much sums up the goblin valley trip... haha, just kidding, as if that would ever work!  We had So Much Fun!  There really isn't anyway I could write it all. Suffice it to say that I will always be thankful I have friends I can go camping with, it helps to know that I have friends who can have so much fun and still be really safe with.   

Rainy... :)

If there's one thing about camping that my friends are good at... its picking really *great* days to go camping... :)  Luckily there is a million other things about camping that they are good at, so the rain thing doesn't really matter...  I'm terribly excited though, because tomorrow we're going to Goblin Valley!  I love that place, my dad and brother and I would go every year when I was little... and then we didn't go for like forever, and my friends and I went back last year, and it was great! :)  So I'm looking forward to the trip!    I'm not sure what these pictures have to do with my camping story, except that the poor birds are enjoying a great view of a rainstorm....  But I'm getting back in the habit of posting everyday so I had to do something. :)  Oh, and by the way!  I'm DONE!  School is over! and it was a wonderful first year of college, but I am really relieved to have it over with. :)  now the only thing I have to worry about is grades... :) I already know i have an A- in microbiology, and to be honest, I'm not too worried about the rest, with any luck they won't even cross my mind while I'm away in the Goblins.... :) look back Sunday for more pictures! :)

Spring Flowers! :)

Today, I am celebrating a beautiful 90% on my microbiology final!  and best of all? there is only one more test, and those two essays and then it will all be over for 2 years! I took these pictures yesterday whilst procrastinating my studying, and then I played around with them in Photoshop.  I'm curious though, who likes the photos that I softened the focus on? (numbers 1 & 5) and who likes the black and white ones?  

Number one has the softening on it and I really like it, but i'm crazy so who knows?  I mostly like this picture because its edges are bursting with color... 

I'm fascinated by silhouettes... I'm not sure why, because I hate modern art which is all about breaking things down to their form, but thats what I like about silhouettes, they're just form and contrast and shapes... they just look cool, I have to wonder why I don't like modern art though... 

This one I mostly like the angle of... its just fun to look up at, and see the sky, I also love the blur my 50mm gives things... 

Again with the shapes... I think they tell a lot about something, if its a square or hard shape its probably a hard object, if it flows and has no edges it looks soft... 

I wish I knew the names of flowers but I really don't... roses, lavender and tulips are about all I know... these have the softening done on them... 

This is one of my favorites because the white and yellow flower is framed by all this pink, and theres this cool green background... 

Last but certainly not least is my very favorite from this trip. :) Can anybody see why?  
If you saw the heart before you read about it you get 20 extra points! :)   I actually didn't see this until I was playing with the colors and I was moving from extra color to black and white, and it was this heart, pulsing.... it was pretty neat, so I cropped out the rest of the picture and regretted not having this on Valentines day... :)  It reminds of all the many things I love... and spring is definitely one of them. :)

Very Delayed Easter Photos...

So... Also on my long lost memory card (I'm thrilled that I found some pictures to play with by the way...)  are some old Easter photos! 

See.... I told ya'll I'd start posting again soon.... 

Reasons to Smile! :)

So... Halfway through finals!  The problem is that my brain checked out of school on like... Monday...  And whats worse? My family leaves and goes to California... Super sad I know, but I had to stay for tests,  most of all I've been bored though. On the bright side (haha, you might see the irony here in a minute... :)  I was going through a memory card to make room for a long awaited photo-trip coming up when I saw a bunch of random pictures of smiley faces... My Reasons to Smile project!   So, here are some pictures of smiley faces!  some are better than others and most will probably be replaced as I find betters ones, but it made me smile for a minute... Enjoy!
PS: If anyone has a smiley-face they see all the time, I'd love to hear about it so I can add it to my collection! :)