Saturday

Daytrip - Cathedral Gorge State Park

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On 10/18/2017, on the return of a recent trip to Pioche, Nevada, Harvey Smith and I decided to visit Cathedral Gorge for a second time to capture a few more pictures. I find the unique geology of this park to be fascinating and always worth a stop. A short side road from the highway leads to a picnic area opposite the Cathedral Caves, closer to the edge of the gorge. The brightly-colored cliffs and spires provide the opportunity walk through nearly a dozen caves notched in to the eroding cliffs. Click here for pictures and a description of this recent visit ... Cathedral Gorge State Park - Trip Notes for 10/18/2017.

Friday

Daytrip - Rainbow Spring Road

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On 10/12/2017 Harvey Smith, Bob Croke, Jim Herring and I attempted to reach the Rainbow Springs and the ridges of the Wilson Cliffs east of the spring. Having not been there for fours years, I got confused and mistakenly thought the access road was the first right off Lovell Canyon Road. Wrong. Unfortunately, some mapping services erroneously referred to this road as Rainbow Spring road. However, while hiking around we came across one of the largest agave roasting pits I have ever seen. Click here for a link for pictures and information on this hike ... Rainbow Spring Road (Summary Page).

Monday

Daytrip - Mt Charleston Wilderness Area

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On 09/30/2017 Jim Herring, Connie and I made a daytrip of driving around the 57,442 acre Mt. Charleston Wilderness AreaThe purpose of our trip was to locate and photograph some Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) trees and have a picnic lunch. Due to recent drops in temperatures, we guessed that it was about time for the broad trembling leaves of these white-barked deciduous trees to be turning. As you will see from the pictures in this post, we guessed the right time. If you want to enjoy these fall colors, I would suggest that you make a trip to here within the next several days. Click here to see this post ... Mt. Charleston's Quaking Aspens.

RoadTrip - Grand Canyon Railway

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At the beginning of March in 2009, we took a trip to the South rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. After driving to Williams, Arizona, we took the Grand Canyon Railway that travels 65 miles to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. A recent review of my site revealed to me that I had never taken the time created a page to showcase the pictures of this momentous occasion. The link that follows is the result of a recently posted page to cover this unique journey ... Grand Canyon Railway.

Sunday

B&W Images of Cathedral Gorge

(Fig. 01)
Discussion:  The lack of color in a photograph better accentuates the light and shadows in a picture. It can help keep you focused on the actual composition and texture of the photo. It allows you to focus on shapes, light and shadows, and perspective, and it can make a unique impression upon the viewer that cannot be seen in traditional color. The lack of color allows a viewer to more vividly visualize depth and contrast. No one has to be an expert to realize when looking at a black and white image, that it is something out of the ordinary.

The six black and white landscape pictures here were all taken at the Cathedral Gorge State Park in Panaca Nevada.  I think you have to agree, that the conversion of the original color photos (seen in Fig. 07 below) to black and white allows these pictures to take on the look and feel of a moonscape or alien-like planet landscapes. The fact that the landscapes found here are almost completely devoid of any living plants or vegetation seem to add to the unworldly feel. Click the link at the bottom of this page to visit the page with full color pictures and a detailed description of this park.
                         
(Fig. 02)
(Fig. 03)
(Fig. 04)
(Fig. 05)
(Fig. 06)
(Fig. 07)
Click here to go to the page on ... Cathedral Gorge State Park - Trip Notes

Ugo Rondinone Installation "Seven Magic Mountains" outside Las Vegas

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This page last updated on 11/19/2017
(Fig. 01)
What is it? Seven Magic Mountains is one of the largest land-based art installations in the United States. This large-scale, site-specific public artwork was nearly five years in the making. The installation is comprised of seven individual towering sculptures, mediating between geological formations and abstract compositions. Its seven colossal stone forms defy gravity with their teetering formations (Fig. 01). The shapes, reminiscent of naturally-occurring hoodoos, seem poised between monumentality and collapse. The mammoth contemporary cairns evoke the art of meditative rock balancing, and mark Rondinone's  place in the history of Land Art. I converted the picture in (Fig. 02) to provide a faux "oil painted" look.

(Fig. 02)






At first glance, one might think that these totems might be be made of lightweight polyurethane. But this is far from the truth. Each of the sculptures consists of locally-sourced limestone boulders stacked vertically in groups ranging between three and six boulders (Fig. 03), each weighing an average of 40,000 lbs, with the largest weighing just over 60,000 lbs. Over a period of five years they were carefully cut, shaved and drilled. Heavy steel rods were then inserted through each boulder to hold them together. Each stone boasts a different fluorescent color and each individual totem stands between thirty and thirty-five feet high - it's like a psychedelic Stonehenge.
                           
(Fig. 03)
Where is It?  This sculpture is situated on the far southern end of Las Vegas Boulevard along Interstate 15, approximately a half hour from downtown Las Vegas. Just off the boulevard there is a large gravel graded parking area (Fig. 04). Positioned within the Ivanpah Valley and surrounded by mountains, the piece will be on view for two years that began May 11, 2016. Its been estimated that approximately 16 million vehicles will pass the work over its two-year installation, making it one of the most visible works in the history of Land Art.”
                               
(Fig. 04)


Who is The Artist? Ugo Rondinone, born 1964 in Brunnen, Switzerland, lives and works in New York and has long embraced a fluid range of forms and media. By allowing himself such formal and thematic freedom, Rondinone creates the conditions for an expansive emotional range. His work has become recognized for its ability to channel both psychological expressiveness and profound insight in the human condition and the relationship between human being and nature. Referring concurrently to the natural world, romanticism and existentialism, his works encapsulate a “mental trinity” that has underpinned his art for more than twenty years.

Bonus: On our way to visit this installation, we went via the towns of Goodsprings and Sandy Valley. Out behind Goodsprings we spotted small herd of nine wild horses way off in the distance (center of Fig. 05 - Click to enlarge). Using the 720mm zoom lens on my camera, I was able to better capture some nice pictures of these beautiful horses (Figs. 06 & 07).
                           
(Fig. 05)
(Fig. 06)
(Fig. 07)

Cathedral Gorge State Park - Trip Notes for 10/18/2017

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This page last updated on 10/18/2017

                    



(Ref. A)
Park Description: Cathedral Gorge State Park is a public recreation and nature preserve area featuring a gorge eroded through soft bentonite clay near Panaca, Nevada.  In 1935 it was established as one of the four original Nevada state parks. The park sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet above sea level, and is typically arid with semi-hot summers, and very cold winters. The state park covers more than 1,600 acres along U.S. Route 93. Refer to (Ref. A - the boundary map on the right).  A majority of Meadow Valley was covered by a freshwater lake nearly 1 million years ago during the Pliocene Era. The richly colored canyons of Cathedral Gorge (seen in Fig. 01 above) are remnants of this ancient lake-bed. Over centuries, the lake began to gradually drain. Erosion began working away at the exposed portions of sediment and gravel that once composed the lake bottom. Rainwater and melting snow carved rivulets in the soft siltstone and clay shale, splitting tiny cracks and fissures into larger and larger gullies, caves and canyons.
          
(Ref. B)



              


10/18/2017 Trip Notes: On the return of a recent trip to Pioche, Nevada, Harvey Smith and I decided to visit Cathedral Gorge for a second time to capture a few more pictures. I find the unique geology of this park to be fascinating and always worth a stop. A short side road from the highway leads to a picnic area opposite the Cathedral Caves, closer to the edge of the gorge (refer to Ref. B). Brightly-colored cliffs and spires rise quite steeply ahead (Fig. 02). I think the spires and hoodoos in this picture almost resemble the 'pipes' of a large pipe organ. As we walked around this area, we hiked into several of its many 'caves' with many narrow crevices at the outer edge of the cliffs. The walkways of these caves are often only 2 or 3 feet wide but extend inwards for up to 100 yards. There are usually many side-winding side-branches. The walls tower high overhead and the effect is very much like being underground. The further in you walk the steeper the walls become (Figs. 04 thru 06). Figure 02 above shows the entrance to one of the largest caves we entered. Most passages end abruptly, a characteristic feature of the rock, in a circular shaft with daylight visible far above (Fig. 03). These mini canyons are formed when rainwater runs off the nearby land and is channeled down the shaft, causing the 'caves' to gradually erode further back into the cliffs. The 'caves' run anywhere from 25 to 75 feet deep into the cliff side. Looking up, there are openings at the top of these caves whose walls stretch as much as 100 feet high (Fig. 03). By the time you reach the end of a cave, the temperature is 15-degrees cooler than the outside temps. By the end of our exploring, I ended up with a treasure trove of interesting pictures. (notes con't below)
                           




Trip Notes Continued: As I were editing these pictures, I got to thinking how some of them might look in black and white versa color. I think some of them bring out the textures of the soft bentonite clay more in black and white (Figs. 07 thru 09). View thhis page to see more of these pictures converted to black and white ... B&W Images of Cathedral Gorge. As you can see in Figures 08 and 09, some of these shots almost have the look and feel of a moonscape. Figures 10 and 11 are two shots taken at the Cathedral Caves site (refer to Ref. B).

Though we did not walk the short 1-mile Miller Point trail (see Fig. B) which links with an alternative northern entrance road to the park at Miller Point (Ref. B), we did drive to there. Even though several parts of the cliffs of the 'caves' have particularly fine formations, those at the north end are even more unusual. The overlook at Miller Point (Fig. 12) provides fine views southwards over the valley. From the point there are a series of steel chairs and a trail that leads to a cliff edge (Fig. 13) that overlooks a stunning view filled with hundreds of hoodoos and spires (Fig. 14). Here the main streamway branches and several forks wind through deep, narrow ravines, very much like slot canyons except that the softness of the rock often results in the flood waters eroding several passageways on different levels, forming short caves, abrupt elevation changes and strange surface textures. If you look closely at this area (Fig. 15), the grouping of hoodoos and spired cliffs almost appear like a grouping of mosques, pagodas or temples. Totally void of the typically sage-brush-rich Nevada desert vegetation, this unique and diverse landscape makes you feel like you are looking at another world. The views are just amazing. There is so many trails here that I have yet to hike, I would like to go back here again.                  
                           















Return to the summary page ... Cathedral Gorge State Park (Summary Page).

RoadTrip - Grand Canyon - South Rim

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At the beginning of March in 2009, we took a trip to the South rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. First we drove to Williams, Arizona, we upon we boarded the Grand Canyon Railway for the 65 mile trip to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. A recent review of my site revealed to me that I had never taken the time create a page to provide a description and pictures the park. The link that follows is the result of a recently posted page to cover this unique journey ... Grand Canyon National Park - South Rim.