This photo was taken on the way to the Peace Valley School, in the middle of nowhere Colorado. I have been trying to do more black and white — this photo looks pretty cool in black and white in my opinion.
Eagle
Category: travel
Bald Eagle
I shot this image of a Bald Eagle on the way to see the Abandoned Peace Valley School. This image isn’t too bad considering I was shooting with 23mm. Typically when I have my smaller compact X100F camera, I need a longer lens to capture Bald Eagles.
Peace Valley School
The Peace Valley School was built in 1911 by homesteaders and closed in 1946. The school sits abandoned just north of Fort Morgan, CO
Castlewood Canyon State Park Hike
We hiked around Castlewood Canyon State Park this year on my birthday. This is one of my favorite State parks in Colorado. There are nice mountain views, canyons, and a creek. This park has been called the best for accessibility in Colorado, since there is pretty extensive paved trail which goes through a good bit of the park.
The park has two separate entrances, on this day we arrived at the East entrance, and hiked from the farthest parking lot. We started on the Lake Gulch trail, which is a nice mostly declining walk that takes you from the top of the park down to the creek that goes through the entirety of the park. There are some cool views along the way of the Rocky Mountains. At the end of the trail you reach the creek, which as far as I can tell is only passible in the Winter time. I haven’t hiked this area any time other than winter because of my fear of rattlesnakes, which this place has a ton of.
The Lake Gulch trail eventually leads to the creek, which was one of the icier parts of the trip. Tommy and I both fell, and went sliding just short of the water. After crossing, there is an overlook on the other side of the creek, which has a nice view to watch others do the same fall you just did. It seems like every 4/5 people lost their footing in that area. Stacey and Lucy somehow managed to navigate the icy areas without falling all day.
Across the creek, the trail forks and you can choose to go visit the dam, or take the Inner Canyon trail. We opted for the dam trail, to go see the old Castlewood Canyon Dam. I wrote up some history behind the dam here. After the dam trail, we headed back towards the Inner Canyon trail. This trail goes up and down the canyon following the creek. There are a few nice cave-like rocks to explore along the way. This trail also conveniently brings you back to where we had parked. Overall it was great hike, icy at times, muddy at other times, but a very enjoyable way to start the year.
The trail info for what we hiked, from the Castlewood Canyon State Park website:
Inner Canyon and Lake Gulch Trail
- Overall:1.16 miles, moderate
- Lake Gulch trail: 0.80 miles, moderate
- Inner Canyon/Lake Gulch Loop
- Permitted uses: Foot only
- Miles paved: 0
- Miles non-paved: 1.96
- Total distance: 1.96
- Usage: High
- Degree of difficulty: Easy to Moderate
- Elevation: 6400
- ADA accessible: No
- Comments: Takes visitors into the canyon by the creek and back out for nice views
- Pets: Yes-on a leash
The Dam Trail
- Overall: 0.35 mile, moderate
- Permitted uses: Foot only
- Miles paved: 0
- Miles non-paved: 0.35
- Total distance: 0.35
- Usage: Medium
- Degree of difficulty: Moderate
- Elevation: 6400
- ADA accessible: No
- Comments: Takes visitors around the Castlewood Dam ruins.
- Pets: Yes-on a leash
8 States Remaining
In the last two weeks I had the opportunity to visit two more states that were on my list: Montana and Idaho.
There are only the following 8 states remaining:
- Alaska
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
2016 – Year in Review with Photos
I originally had the idea to post my top 10 photos of the year after listening to an Improve Photography podcast about the subject. The purpose is to post your top 10 photos each year, and see how you are progressing, or potentially regressing as a photographer. Instead of a top 10, I will do a top 12 and provide my best photo that was taken in a given month. I may go back and do previous years as well.
This year, due to the arrival of my son, I haven’t had as much time to go out and shoot. Outside of a trip I was able to make over the summer, I haven’t really had any personal time.
January
Egli House is an interesting abandonded building at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. The Arsenal is a wildlife refuge just north of Denver. The best part of the refuge is the free admission. The visitor center is new and worth stopping in. I took this photo on a cold cloudy January morning.
February
This photo is of a volunteer worker welding something at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO. My brother-in-law worked here for a while and was able to give a behind the scenes tour. I really like all the different lines in this photo.
March
Tommy was born at the end of March. I took this photo when he was 12-hours-old. I have tons of other pictures/videos from this time. These are some of the most backed up files I have.
April
My parents flew out to meet Tommy in early April. My dad and I were able to catch a baseball game between the Padres and Rockies on April 10. The game was pretty good for the Rockies. There were back to back home runs for Car Go and Arenado in the first inning. This was also at the time where Trevor Story was hitting home runs at a ridiculous rate. He hit a home run in this game well. This was a rare Rockies game that was worth the price of admission.
May
In May, we attended a family wedding in Redstone, CO. This whole area is my favorite in the state. It is our go-to place for vacationing in the mountains. This was also our first family vacation. The photo shows coke ovens, which are alongside the major road that goes from Carbondale to McClure Pass. These ovens were used in the production of coke fuel from the coal in the area.
June
This was taken during a trip to the east coast at the end of June. I have always wanted to take the tour of Monticello. These gardens were the inspiration for my own “Jefferson Garden” at home. There will be more on that in later blog posts.
July
This was one of two hikes I was able to do with limited time in Shenandoah. There were lots of pictures to choose from in July. Hopefully the others make it on this site.
August
Arrowhead is easily the nicest course I have ever played. I was able to play this course at a decent price as part of a work golf tournament. I didn’t want to play this hole long, so my tee shot ended up short of the green. In the past, this area was full of brush/rattlesnake habitat. Recently, they decided to open up that area and make it into lower cut rough.
September
In September, we took a trip up to the mountains to ride the Georgetown Loop Railroad.
October
This was Tommy’s halloween costume.
November
This shot is of an unusual hot air balloon over Chatfield State park in Littleton, CO
December
This is one of the photos I took of Tommy for the purpose of Christmas cards.
In 2016, I didn’t have the best photos, but had some of the best memories. I hope that I’ll get some personal time to do some more landscape/nature photography in 2017. There will definitely be lots of pictures of Tommy as he grows up. Also, in 2017, I will be getting in to Aerial Photography/Videography. More on that in later posts. Happy New Year!
While writing this, I found a few photos that were just outside the month boundary. If it was within a couple of days, I was ok placing them in the wrong month.
Only 10 States Left to Visit
States Left to Visit:
- Alaska
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Montana
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
Since the last time I have updated this, I have traveled to Oklahoma and West Virginia.
The trip to Oklahoma was a long one. I drove straight from Littleton to the border of Oklahoma. This was a very boring drive. There is not much other than tumbleweeds, bad smells, and trucks on the route. My original goal was to travel to the state line and return. My secondary goal was to visit the town of Boise City, OK. This town is notably the only town in the continental united states that was bombed in World War II. After four hours on the road to get to the border, I didn’t have the energy to add the extra hour to see the bombing memorial. Of all the states I have been to, the trip to Oklahoma has been the shortest.
I got to spend some time in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. This easternmost town of West Virginia has a lot of history to take in; from Thomas Jefferson to the Civil War to the interesting proprietor of the Towne’s Inn.
The hike up to Jefferson’s rock is short, but seemed longer since I had decided to skip the shuttle bus to get to town, I didn’t take water, and it was July. So I walked from the visitor’s center just outside of town directly to Jefferson’s rock. This was worth the trip.
“The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disruptions and avulsions from their beds by the most powerful agents in nature, corroborate the impression.
“But the distant finishing which nature has given the picture is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the former. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountains being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in that plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around to pass through the breach and participate in the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way, too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Patowmac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, the terrible precipice hanging in fragments over you, and within about 20 miles reach Frederictown and the fine country around that. This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”
–Thomas Jefferson in Notes on the State of Virginia
At roughly the midpoint of the Appalachian Trail, the town combines views and history.
Like most historic places I visited on this trip over the summer, I could have spent a lot more time here.
Connecticut Trip
I took a recent trip to Connecticut. The main purpose was to visit with family and friends for the holidays, but I also ended up doing some exploring around New England. Most landscapes in New England are a lot more impressive during the Summer and Fall seasons. There still are a few interesting locations to see during the winter. Here are some photos from the trip.
I’m still trying to work out the overall theme of this site. I think the majority of content will be related to photography. I may also add a few posts at random that are off topic, but are things that interest me.
With 2015 coming to a close, I have had some interest in starting a 365 project in the new year. I know I won’t have the discipline to last more than a week or two, so I may aim slightly lower, or to at least have the goal of shooting at least once a week. I have a large backlog of topics I’d like to post about here, just need to find some time. In between, I might post links to recent images and provide some back story on the location and the thought process to how the image was created.
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch
The List of States I Haven’t Been To (Updated)
States I have yet to visit:
Alaska
Hawaii
Idaho
Louisiana
Maine
Michigan
Montana
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
West Virginia
Wisconsin
The List of States I Haven’t Been To
States I have yet to visit:
Alaska
California
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Louisiana
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Montana
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
West Virginia
Wisconsin
