Monday, June 13, 2011

Middle of NVwhere

Murphy and I disappeared into the depths of Nevada over Memorial Day weekend. The idea was to spend some quality time exploring a couple of wilderness areas, and I'd like to warn you that the next sentence is rather contradictory. I've long implored friends to act on the principle that there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear, but Mutter Natur had other plans for us out in the unpopulated stretches of this great state.

Our continued winter weather pattern was in full effect, and while we had enough gear in the truck to outfit a battalion to safely cross a glacier that was floating down a river during a sandstorm, the incentive to put ourselves deep in the backcountry with no promise of a break in the weather waned past the Empty mark and settled somewhere around Absolute Zero. Which meant that we stayed a little closer to the car and still explored a lot, just not as far down the rabbithole as we would have otherwise. Photos of vaguely-recognizable scenes obscured by driving snow are only cool for a little while.

Our first stop was Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains, where the road had just "opened" to allow access to 8' snowbanks at the top, which we followed with a lap around the north and east sides of the Rubies. We eventually settled somewhere up the Krenka Creek drainage for our first night, where the ever-present storm cloud started gracing us with snow as the afternoon turned to evening.


Murphy contemplates the muted palette


Freshly melted


Cautious


Fashion model


Ruby Valley from high above


Krenka Creek


New growth

After a morning excursion high into the snowfields protecting the Soldier Peak basin from Krenka Creek, we continued down the east side of the Rubies towards Ruby Marsh, during which time it pretty much just snowed, and the normally excellent dirt road turned gloppier by the minute.


Somewhere in Ruby Valley, just below snowline


Indian Paintbrush and sagebrush

The snow/sleet/rain/wind combination was keeping even the most hardened outdoorsmen hunkered down for cover, so we pressed on to the south and took a lunch break in Eureka.


Chilly beast


Sage and storm

Restrategizing over some hot food, we decided to visit a hot springs between Eureka and Austin before heading to the Arc Dome Wilderness in the mountains behind Big Smoky Valley. Unfortunately, the hot springs were overrun with RVs (it was a holiday weekend, after all), so we continued nearly 40 miles south in Big Smoky Valley to the North Twin River Trailhead. That 40 mile drive relocated us out from underneath a Mordor-esque storm cloud, so we were happy to be in calmer climes for the first time in 2 days.

Our plan for the morning was to make an early push as high into Arc Dome as we could, and we got the early start we wanted, leaving camp before 5:30am. Unfortunately, our forward progress was thwarted by frequent stream crossings that were swift and deep. They finally got to the prohibitively unsafe level, so we had no choice but to head back to camp, never leaving the deep canyon that held this tumultuous runoff. A closer look at the topo once we were back at camp revealed that we had nearly another dozen crossings to make before we would have attained our goal. This may be a mission for a little bit later in the season!


North Twin River


Contributing to the runoff one drop at a time


Lichen ramparts


Gypsy moth in the making


Murphy goes waist deep


Hummer at ease

Wet and cold from 8 frigid crossings but still in good spirits, we set course for home through the expansive Big Smoky and then Austin. Some thousand miles after leaving Reno Saturday, we got to see some neat stuff, albeit not at all the type of terrain we expected to be exploring. Some years, April and May are early enough to get into the high country, but there'll still be snow in a lot of prize destinations through July or even later this year!

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Sunday, June 5, 2011

Photo Sale

OK. We'll go no further than to say that there were some scheduling misunderstandings last time 'round, and that my framed photos will be on display at The Hub in June and then another set of larger prints later in the year. I apologize to anyone who made a trip there to see my photos and didn't. Moving on...

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I've got 2 series of photos (10 total) on the wall at The Hub. They're framed and ready to hang on your wall, should you desire such a thing.

I'm pleased to announce that Sunday, June 12, 5:30-8:30pm, will be the official opening party for the show. The Hub's address, if you're not familiar, is 32 Cheney St., Reno. [Should you choose to imbibe, $10 will get you all the Irish Coffees you want. No charge to get in if you're not drinking :) .] I'm even more excited to announce that 100% of the profits from the show are going straight to the Korg 3.0 Movement, aka Grant's recovery fund. If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, please start your reading here: On Fear and Consequences and Progress and Change.

I'm offering a sneak preview of all 10 photos here. Please contact me directly if you're interested in an unframed copy of any of them; I'll ship 'em to you in a sturdy tube. Prices will vary based on size!

Series 1: Dusk and Dawn in the Sierra Nevada


Pre-Dawn in Dusy Basin


Dusy Basin Twilight


Crescent Moon above Dusy Basin


First Light at Jabu


Shadow of Rose

Series 2: Stormy Weather


Oxbow Bend


Tobacco Root Storm


Ben Lomond Saddle


Misty Drainage


Franz Josef Terminus

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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Men at Work

The fine dudes at Tutto Ferro hard at it:



This is one frame out of 5100+ taken at 30-second intervals over the course of 5 days, and it's on its way to becoming a time lapse of the fabrication of sculpture #8, a horse and rider.

It may be quite some time until the whole thing is edited and polished, but I thought a teaser frame was worth posting. There are many jewels of single frames...whether all three guys welding, the crew eating lunch, or the many poses the Barbie doll went through...

Ask me how fun it is to wrestle with 150GB of data from a single shoot!

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Past Detritus