Daytrip - Bellgio's Conservatory & Garden

A few weeks ago, I made another of my annual pilgrimages with my friend Jim Herring to Bellagio’s Conservatory and Botanical Garden new years exhibit. The Bellagio Casino starts the 2016 season with a Chinese New Year exhibit titled, "Year of the Monkey”.  Click here for pictures and information about this exhibit ... Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden - Yr of the Monkey.

Daytrip - Cottonwood Valley - 4WD Off-roading

On 01/14/2016 Harvey Smith, my friend Jim Herring and I decided to do some four-wheeling around the Cottonwood Valley area, east of Searchlight. After visiting Oakland Mine and a couple of others, we the decided to drive across Cottonwood Valley to the eastern shore of Lake Mohave. Click here to visit this page and view pictures and description of this trip ... Cottonwood Valley - 01/14/2016 Trip Notes. 

Rorschach Desert Sand Spider

          {Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

(Fig. 01)  Title - Desert Sand Spider

Here is another example of my imagination gone wild. The inspiration for the image in (Fig. 01) came from the photo I took (Fig. 02), that taken while hiking a sandy wash in the northern portion of the Valley of Fire State Park. To create the image I first rotated it to the left. I then imported it into a program called Scrapbook Factory Deluxe, made a mirror image, flipped the second image, and then placed merged the two of together. I then used my Fastone Image Viewer editing program to crop the image, convert it to grayscale, boosted the contrast and enhanced the sharpness. Finally, I used Paintshop Pro X7 to add a frame for the effect. 

Daytrip - Duck Rock Hike - VOF State Park

On New Years Day I made another visit to the Valley of Fire with hiking partners Bob Croke and Ron Ziance, to hike the Duck Rock Trail. This somewhat strenuous, 2.65-mile loop hike was an unmarked, off-trail route that was guided by a park ranger. After assembling at the hike trailhead off of White Domes Road, a group of more than 25 headed out into a remote desert area on the northern boarder of Valley of Fire State Park. We primarily followed a series of washes and a few old roads. Click here for a link to pictures and a description of this hike … Valley of Fire - Trip Notes for 01/01/2016 (Duck Rock Hike). 

Daytrip - Oak Creek & Wilson's Pimple Loop Trail

Christmas week, Blake Smith, Robert Croke and I decided to drive out to Red Rock Canyon to hike the Oak Creek trail to Wilson's Pimple. Even though the early weather was discouraging, cloudy and windy, we still managed to have a good hike. This pleasant 3.5-mile R/T hike crosses Red Rock Valley to the base of Mt. Wilson and back. As this hike runs across the desert valley floor, it transverses a variety of desert habitats including Blackbrush Flats, typical Mojave Desert Scrub, and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland. Click here for pictures and description … Ash Creek - Wilson's Pimple Loop Trail.

Daytrip - Zabriskie Point at Death Valley National Park

This past week, Blake Smith, Robert Croke, Ron Ziance and I decided to drive to Death Valley National Park to hike the Badland Loop trail at Zabriskie Point. Zabriskie Point itself is an elevated overlook of a colorful, undulating landscape of gullies and mud hills at the edge of the Black Mountains, just a few miles east of Death Valley. The Badland Loop trail is a 2.2 mile hike that puts hikers right in the center of some of the most desolate, barren terrain on earth. Click here for pictures and description …Zabriskie Point - Badland Loop Trail.

Duck Rock Hike Petroglyphs - Summary Page

 {Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

This page last updated on 10/11/2017

(Fig. 01)

Destination: Duck Rock Hike in Valley of Fire Distance from Point of Origin: 57 miles. Estimated (One Way) Travel Time: 1 hr and 10 minutes. Directions: From the Stratosphere, turn right onto Las Vegas Blvd south. Go a little over a mile and turn right onto W. Sahara Ave. Go 1.2 miles and reverse direction by making a U-turn to head back east on W. Sahara Ave. Go .5 miles and turn left to merge onto 1-15 via the ramp on the left toward Salt Lake City. Travel about 35 miles and take Exit 75 toward Valley of Fire/Lake Mead. Turn right onto NV-169/Valley of Fire Road/Valley of Fire Hwy. There is a Piaute Indian Reservation Tobacco Shop and small casino at that exit that makes a great pit stop. Drive east on Route 169 for approximately 15 miles. This takes you to the west entrance of the Valley of Fire. From the west entrance of Valley of Fire, drive 3.7 miles along the main park road. Turn left when you see signs for the Visitor’s Center, Mouse’s Tank, Rainbow Vista, and White Domes. Pass the Visitor’s Center (on your right), stay left and go 5 miles to the unmarked Duck Rock trailhead on the right, about a mile before reaching the White Domes parking lot. Area Description: This entire area is a remote section in the north most portion of Valley of Fire State Park that is not accessible by way of marked or developed trails. It is crossed by numerous washes and a few old abandoned dirt roads. There are many impressive red sandstone formations scattered throughout the entire area. Special Attraction or Points of Interest: Following the trail shown in (Fig. 02) you come to a sandstone area with a dozen petroglyph elements. About another three quarters of a mile past this spot you come to a sandstone formation that looks like a 'duck'. Primary Activity: Hiking and Photography Secondary Activities: None. Elevation: Elevation at the trailhead is about 1,950 feet. Through the length of the hike it courses up and down roughly 150 feet as you climb into and out of various washes. Best Time To Visit: Fall, Winter and Spring. Hike Description: The Duck Rock Loop is an unmarked, off-trail route, which primarily follows washes and old roads. This somewhat strenuous, 2.65-mile loop provides the unique opportunity to see a remote area of Valley of Fire State Park that is not accessible by way of marked or developed trails. The route will pass by a petroglyph gallery, “Duck Rock” and other numerous impressive red sandstone formations. Difficulty: Easy hiking in the sandy wash areas with some moderate to difficult scrambling up and down the sides of the washes. Facilities: None Estimated Round-trip Time: To complete the round-trip hike is less than 2 hours.

(Fig. 02)

01/18/2016 Trip Notes: On this visit Robert Croke, Ron Ziance, Blake Smith and myself headed out to the Valley of Fire state park for another hike of the Duck Rock Trail. This time we reversed the direction of the hike. We headed out on the old two track dirt road toward duck rock. Click here for pictures and description of this hike ... Trip Notes for 01/18/2016 (Duck Rock Trail).

(Fig. 03)

01/01/2016 Trip Notes: On the early 40-degree morning of new year's day, Robert Croke, Ron Ziance, and myself headed out to the Valley of Fire state park for a guided hike of the Duck Rock Trail (Fig. 02). After assembling (Fig. 03) at the hike trailhead off of White Domes Road, a group of more than 25 headed out into a remote desert area (Fig. 01) on the northern boarder of Valley of Fire State Park. Primarily following a series of washes (Fig. 04) and a few old roads, this somewhat strenuous, 2.65-mile loop hike, is an unmarked, off-trail route. After hiking along the upper edge of a deeply carved wash (Figs. 04 & 05), we eventually had to scramble down a rather deep decent (Fig. 06) into the wash, where it intersected yet another cross wash (see map in Fig. 02). At this point there were a couple of deep water catches (Fig. 07). The group then climbed up out of the wash and and across the desert, headed north to some high, red Aztec sandstone formations (Fig. 09). (Con't below)
                         

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05)

(Fig. 06)

(Fig. 07)

(Fig. 08)

(Fig. 09)

Trip notes continued: After reaching the area containing the large sandstone formations, we found a large wall full of petroglyphs. Our guide, Chris Johnson, seen in (Fig. 10), provided information on the history of the area and some of the ancient habitats that may have created the petroglyphs found in Valley of Fire as they passed through this area hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Open to interpretation, the closeups seen in the collage (Fig. 11), show that some of these could be representations showing bighorn sheep, possible maps showing some of the washes of the area, a symbol that could be "duck rock", and more. As we rounded these large outcrops we followed an old road (Fig. 12) that headed east out across the landscape toward Duck Rock (refer to Fig. 2). Along the way we passed a strange formation that I thought looked like some kind of Egyptian head-like sculpture (Fig. 13). Continuing to hike in a southeasterly direction, refer to map in (Fig. 02), we eventually came to the sandstone formation known as 'Duck Rock' (Fig. 14). From the pictures in the collage, you can see that all we could see was the top of its head while walking the wash on its approach. Once we actually reached it, it loomed much larger than we had anticipated. You can see that we then had to climb up a very rocky hill to reach the top of its back, and then down the other side to continue hiking. Hiking back up out of the wash I passed some cryptobiotic soil. Even though we found many examples of this everywhere we walked around this area, these examples, more than 2-inches high, were some of the biggest I've ever encountered (Fig. 15). For more about this subject go to ... Cryptobiotic Soil. From here we mostly followed an old dirt road back to the trailhead and a view of the White Domes (Fig. 16). After the hike we drove to the White Domes parking and picnic area for lunch. The pictures seen in the collage (Fig. 17) were taken while we were having lunch.

(Fig. 10)

(Fig. 11)

(Fig. 12)

(Fig. 13)

(Fig. 14)

(Fig. 15)

(Fig. 16)

(Fig. 17)

Return to [Valley of Fire State Park - Summary Page]

Trip Notes for 01/18/2016 (Duck Rock Trail)

{Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

(Fig. 01)

01/18/2016 Trip Notes: On this visit Robert Croke, Ron Ziance, Blake Smith and myself headed out to the Valley of Fire state park for another hike of the Duck Rock Trail. This time we reversed the direction of the hike. We headed out to Duck Rock on the old two track dirt road on the right in the map (Fig. 01). Here is the view looking due north when we reached the end of the dirt road (Fig. 02). After turning east and then again heading north, I captured the following pictures of Duck Rock as we approached it from the south (Figs. 03 & 04). After climbing around the "duck", we headed up the wash on the path toward the petroglyph site. As we hiked the wash we found some patches of green moss (Fig. 05) and several rocks covered with lichen (Fig. 07) that we had not observed on the previous hike. Because there were several pictures of the petroglyph panel on the previous page, I didn't had any more here. As we approached the "water tank", refer to (Fig. 02), in the wash our the return (Fig. 06), it was evident that there had been some heavy rains the week before. There was at least two more feet of water in the main tank as evidenced by the pictures in the comparison (Fig. 08). The smaller tank down wash from the main tank was surrounded by some very interesting patterns (Fig. 09) in the sand that had been created by the flow of the water during the rain. After converting it into a black & white picture (Fig. 10), it almost appears like molded cement. We were quite surprised by how many different things we noticed and different views we had missed on our first hike. All-in-all it was another great hike.

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05)

(Fig. 06)

(Fig. 07)

(Fig. 08)

(Fig. 09)

(Fig. 10)

Click here to return to the Duck Rock Hike in Valley of Fire State Park page

Desert Trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum)

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: I found lots of these plants on a hike on the approach to the Bowl of Fire off Lake Mead's Northshore Drive, northeast of Las Vegas.

Description: Desert Trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum) a.k.a. Umbrella Plant, Bladder Stem, Indian Pipe Weed, or Guinagua. Its swollen stem makes this an unusual and easily remembered plant. The very tiny yellow flowers are often not even noticed except in years of unusually favorable rainfall when thousands of these tiny flowers give a yellow glow to the desert. It can grow up to about 3 feet tall. Its flowers are yellow with green or red midribs, 1/8 inch, densely hirsute with coarse curved hairs; perianth lobes monomorphic, narrowly ovoid to ovate. Stamens exserted, 1/16 - 1/8 inch; filaments sparsely pubescent to glabrous. Achenes lenticular to trigonous, light brown to brown, 1/8 - 3/16 inch, glabrous. It blooms between  March - June, and sometimes In September - October. Leaves basal; leaf-blades oblong-ovate to oblong or rounded to reniform, 1/2 - 3 inches × 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches, short-hirsute on both surfaces, sometimes less so to glabrous adaxially; margins occasionally undulate; petioles 1/4 - 2 1/2 inches, hirsute. Flowering stems erect, to 4 feet, often inflate , occasionally hirsute basally. Inflorescences cymose, open, 1/8 inch, occasionally with inflate branches; bracts 3, scalelike, 1/32 inch. Peduncles filiform to capillary, erect, straight, 1/32 - 1/16 inch. Involucres turbinate, 1/64 inch wide; teeth five, 1/64 inch. it grows in desert environs, where it occupies open, gravelly, rocky areas and roadsides, up to elevations of 6,600 feet.

Pages Uploaded in February 2016

February 2016 Posts (by Category & Title):

Plants & Trees - Chanticleer Pear (Pyrus calleryana)
Death Valley - Death Valley National Park Flora
Palms & Trees - Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum (Prunus cerisifera)
Nevada Mines - Iron Gold Mine - Goodsprings/Yellow Pine Mining District
UPDATED - Valley of Fire State Park - Summary Page
Valley of Fire - Top of The World Hike (VOF) - Trip Notes for 02/13/2016
UPDATED - Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs
Las Vegas Places of Interest - Floyd Lamb Park - Trip Notes for 02/09/2016
Laughlin/Petroglyphs - Hiko Spring (Lower) Hike - Trip Notes for 02/02/2016
UPDATED - Hiko Spring (Upper) Hike

Pages Uploaded in January 2016

January 2016 Posts (by Category & Title):
Red Rock Canyon - Red Rock Canyon Campground Area Hikes
Bellagio Botanical Gardens - Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden - Yr of the Monkey
Valley of Fire - Trip Notes for 01/18/2016 (Duck Rock Trail)
Sloan Canyon - Sloan Canyon Petroglyph Gallery - SUMMARY Page
Sloan Canyon - Previous Visits to Sloan Canyon Petroglyph Site
Sloan Canyon - Petroglyphs at Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area
Sloan Canyon - Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area
Eldorado Valley - Cottonwood Valley - 01/14/16 Trip Notes - 4WD Off-riding

Catclaw Acacia (Acacia greggii)

(Fig. 01)

Description: Catclaw Acacia (Acacia greggii) (Fig. 01) is a perennial, deciduous shrub/tree can grow up to 23 feet, so usually less. Its natural habitat is desert and upland areas. Its pale yellow or cream flowers are densely clustered on cylindrical flower spikes. The flowers are sweetly and intensely fragrant with a wonderful floral honey-like scent. Plants in full bloom can be smelled from 10 feet (3 m) or more away. It's flowers are known to attract butterflies and numerous other insects, especially bees. The flowers are followed by up to 6 inch long, flat, curled, green seedpods that dry to a dark brown color. The leaves are green, alternate, and bipinnately compound with oval leaflets (Fig. 02). The branches have wickedly sharp, curved, cat claw-like thorns that can easily scratch skin and snag clothing. Close encounters with this plant can leave you looking like you were in a cat fight. It flowers in spring, summer and fall. 
                                

(Fig. 02)

Pages Uploaded in December of 2016

December 2016 Posts (by Category & Title:
NEW - Manuscript - Rock Art of the Nevada Great Basin
NEW - BOOK - Nevada Rock Art - Petroglyph Sites In & Around Clark County
NEW - BOOK: DIAL - Daytripping In & Around LasVvegas
NEW - Neon Museum - Neon Museum North Gallery
NEW - Bellagio Conscervatory - Bellagio' Botanical Garden - 2016 Winter Holiday Exhibit

Pages Uploaded in November of 2016

November 2016 Posts (by Category & Title:
NEW - Calico Basin - Kraft Mountain Loop Trail

2016 - Year in Review

Again let me start my saying thank you to all who have taken the time over this past several year for showing your appreciation of my efforts to share my hikes, either by offering your personal praise or by providing email thanks. Currently I have over ??? persons on a regular email list for postings. Total to date there have been over ?????? page views of this site. It also pleases me to know that many of you are sharing your hiking experiences with family members and friends. Knowing this gives me a feeling that my efforts are worthwhile. My sincere thanks to all!

At the end of each year, I review all of the year's posts, selecting what I feel are the better pictures worth sharing again. For display purposes, I then group them into 11 basic categories: 01-Desert Landscapes, 02-Desert Foliage, 03-Desert Wildlife, 04-Rock Art, 05-Nevada Mines, 06-Trees & Wood Textures, 07-Desert Fossils Remamins, 08-Rocks & Formations, 09-Desert Water, 10-Mountain Landscapes, 11-People & Faces.

So this page will load faster, I have chosen to display a picture collage for each category. To view additional pictures for each category, click on the link below the featured picture collage. On the new page I have provided a link that will take you to the specific daytrip/hiking post showing where the picture was taken. As a result, this year-end summary is a compilation of more than ??? photos that will take you on a virtual tour of more than ??? of the hikes I have taken in 2016. I hope you enjoy.

01-Desert Landscapes: I often stand in awe of the many diverse landscapes and geological formations that can be found throughout the state of Nevada. It seems that every area I visit has its own unique characteristics that make it special. Trying to capture the essence of an area in a landscape photo can often be quite challenging, however, when successful, also quite rewarding. The pictures in this category have been gathered from locations ranging from Utah to California's Death Valley.
                           

Click here to view 13 Desert Landscape pictures and hikes ... 
01-Desert Landscapes.

---

02-Desert Foliage: Though it is not always easy, and not always successful, I always make an effort on each of my hikes to find some, whether it be in the form of rock formations, trees, cactus, plants or flowers to “spruce up” the photo essays that I create and post for each hike/location. In the harsh environment of the dry and arid Nevada desert, especially after a prolonged drought, it is a wonder one can even find anything growing at all, let alone things that offer such a variety of beautiful color. This being the twelfth year of a prolonged drought, I found that it was getting much harder to find many of the plants and wildflowers that I was able to capture in past years, including many cacti. This year I encountered many drought tolerant cacti that were even showing the last signs of holding on. However, when found, these flowering plants are a thing to behold. Hopefully, we will get a season of some much needed rain soon and bring the desert back to what is once was.
                         

Click here to view ?? Desert Foliage pictures and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/02-2016-desert-foliage.html

---

03-Desert Wildlife: Over the course of the year, my hikes take me anywhere from the low desert and its alluvial plains to high mountain ridges and plateaus. Each of these areas provides its own unique opportunities to spot wildlife indigenous to the area. The problem is trying to capture some of them. First, there is the fact that because most of my hikes are with a group, there is often more noise than I would like. Next there is the matter of having the camera ready when an opportunity presents itself. Finally there is the subject itself. Many of these animals and insects are quite skittish when it comes to humans, and quite speedy. Over the course of the year I've spotted many forms of wildlife, such as foxes, coyotes, long-eared jackrabbits, numerous birds, etc., that are just “gone” before I even get the chance to focus on them. Then there are the typical problems of not having enough lighting, too slow of a lens, lack of a tripod, etc. all which often lead to poor photo quality. Even when I am lucky enough to get off a shot, it is often too blurry or out of focus. So, when I do get pictures, such as the those in this section, I consider myself quite lucky.
                           

Click here to view ?? Desert Wildlife pictures and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2016/07/3-16-desert-wildlife.html

---

04-Desert Rock Art: Many of the sights that I have visited are actually noted for providing the opportunity to view desert rock art, in the form of petroglyphs and pictographs, that have been left behind by native inhabitant's hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Quite often many of these ancient etchings have been worn or deteriorated due to the natural weathering and aging processes, and sometimes even defaced by persons who have no idea of their historical significance. Though most of the ancient etchings appear cryptic and quite confusing; there are also many times when they offer recognizable figures that appear to be trying to tell a story. I find them all quite fascinating. In addition to finding new sites each year, the revisiting of previous sites almost always produce new pictures of symbols that may have be missed on a previous. Because I usually have so many pictures for each of these visited sites, I have chosen only a few selected pictures to be representative for each of the sites I visited this year.
                   

Click here to view ?? Desert Rock Art pictures and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/04-2016-desert-rock-art.html

---

05-Nevada’s Mines: Still today, the state of Nevada is the largest producer of gold in the country. At times over the last 150 years, it was also the largest producer of lead, zinc and silver, leaving literally hundreds of deserted and abandoned mine shafts and audits scattered all over its many mountain ranges. As many of these locations require 4WD access, I have explored most of them with my friend, Harvey Smith. Though we often find what appear to be the small diggings by individual prospectors, many of the locations we have visited were actual mining towns or processing sites that supported upwards of 2,000 people in their heyday. Over the years, many of these mines/sites produced hundreds of million of dollars worth of gold and silver. Some times these mines are fenced or “barred”, preventing entry due to unsafe conditions. For the ones that are open, and knowing the potential dangers, we always try to limit exploration to within only a few feet of their entrances. Exploring these sites and trying to understand the living conditions and hardships of the prospectors and miners that created them, can be an interesting journey into the past.
                               

Click here to view ?? pictures of Nevada Mines and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/05-2016-desert-mines.html

---

06-Trees and Wood Textures: For some reason I just love capturing the shapes, textures and patterns found in trees, bark, roots, stumps and wood. Not only do their unique textures and patterns offer interesting and visually pleasing subjects, they cause one to relieve their history by letting your mind travel back in time to their origin, which in the case of some bristlecone pines, can be more than 3,000 years old.

Click here to view ?? Trees and Wood Texture pictures and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/06-2016-trees-and-wood-textures.html

---

07-Desert Fossil Remains: Though the name of the group I hike with is called “the rock-hounds”, my main interest is taking landscape photographs, though it doesn't preclude me from having an interest in the geology of surrounding rock formations and from collecting an occasional rock or two. I especially get excited when I come across rocks that contain evidence of seabed fossils. It amazes that I am able to come across fossils out here in the desert, sometime at elevations that are locations as high as 10,000 feet or more. It seems that each year I seem find several rocks containing fossil specimens of shells and other evidence of the ancient seabed that once covered this entire area.
                         

Click here to view 08 pictures of Desert Fossil Remains and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/07-2016-desert-fossil-remains.html

---

08-Desert Geologic Formations: The desert features a wide variety of rocky outcrops and bedrock that provide a puzzle maze of unique rock formations, colors and shapes that can be amazing. The desert or semi-desert regions have unique geologic features not found in more humid environments. These features are most often caused by wind and water erosion in the stark desert environment. Laypeople as myself refer informally to outcroppings of rock or interesting geological features as geological formations, even though this is not technically correct. Arches are arch-shaped landforms produced by weathering and differential erosion. Natural bridges are a naturally created arch formations resembling a bridge. Most occur in massive, horizontally bedded sandstone or limestone. Geologically, a formation is a natural body of earth, such as an outcrop or deposit with distinctive and characteristic properties. I am always looking for rock formations, created by the natural erosion, that represent recognizable shapes. I am constantly amazed at the many unique geological rock formations that I come across during my hikes. The palette of colors that the desert geology provides can be stunning.

Click here to view ?? pictures of Desert Geologic Formations and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/08-2016-desert-geologic-formations.html

---

09-Desert Water: As I’m sure many of you are aware, we are entering our 12th year of a long-term drought, making it harder and harder to find evidence of water in the lower desert and plateau areas. This has also had a devastating effect on animal and plant life. The Las Vegas area only receives an average of 4.19 inches per year, which is 89% less than the average nationwide, and 54% less than the average in Nevada. Even though the late summer/early fall monsoons can bring up to nearly three inches of rain, because everything is so hard and dry, it quickly runs off, having very little long term effect. To give you a better idea of how severe this drought has been, the water level at Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the country, is the lowest it’s ever been. It is now only about 37 percent full, down 155.29 feet below full pool, and the water level is expected to keep dropping over the next month or so. One of my hiking partners jokes about the fact that, if there is water to be found on a hike, I can find it. Though some of the places we visit are known for their “natural springs”, there seems to be less and less water visible each time we visit. Many of the washes we hike that used to provide signs of water almost year-round are now dry most of the year, only showing signs of water in the early spring months or the day after a heavy rainfall.
                               

Click here to view 08 Desert Water pictures and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/09-2016-desert-water.html

---

10-Mountain Views & Landscapes: Most people don’t realize that Nevada is the most mountainous state in the U.S., with over 150 (named) individual mountain ranges. Over 30 of Nevada's mountain peaks exceed 11,000 ft., with the highest point (Boundary Peak), reaching 13,140 ft. The Great Basin - a series of depressions, flats, dry lakes, marshy salt pans and sinks, all scattered between ribbons of mountain ranges - stretches across much of the state. Low mountain desert areas (formerly prehistoric lakes) are situated northeast of Carson City. The Mojave Desert spills across the California border into southern Nevada, where conditions here are dry, hot and windy, especially in summer. The desert floor areas surrounding the Las Vegas valley are bordered by dozens of volcanic, granite, and Aztec sandstone, copper-colored mountains and ranges, highlighted by Red Rock Canyon's bluffs, cliffs and petrified sandstone boulders. These many mountains and canyons provide some of the best hiking and rock climbing areas in the entire United States. For visitors that have not experienced the Red Rock National Conservation Area and the Mount Charleston Wilderness Areas, they don't know what they are missing.
                            

Click here to view ?? Mountain Views and Landscape pictures and hikes ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/10-2016-mountain-landscapes-and.html

---

11-People and Faces: Over the past few years I have concentrated on taking nature photos of plants and animals as well as landscapes. After reading an article on portrait photography, I decided to make a conscious effort to capture more pictures that included people to see if they might somehow make some of my pictures more interesting. Because I most often hike with the same people, or alone, my opportunities are still somewhat limited. Here are a few that I managed to capture that have encouraged me to continue trying.
                        

Click here to view 12 pictures of some people I have hiked with this year ... 
http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/11-2016-people-faces.html

---

12-Black & White and Other Effects: Sometimes while making picture adjustments during the post editing processes that I employ, it appears to me that an image might look better if it were converted to a Black and White image. I find that this effect can often add more mood and feeling into an image. Sometime I get the urge to make manipulations that create and entirely different artistic vision. Because I didn't had this category to my review of 2015 pictures; this grouping contains conversions of pictures taken during both 2015 an 2016.

http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/2001/02/12-black-white-and-other-effects.html