Scenic Byway Route 12 – Bryce Canyon NP to Torrey, UT

 Photography, Travel, visual  No Responses »
Jun 142013
 
Scenic Byway Route 12

Scenic Byway Route 12

Scenic Byway Route 12

Scenic Byway Route 12 is a drive through Utah which connects absolutely fantastic scenery. Maps are available both in visitor centers and online that provide a description of opportunities for spectacular lookouts and stop offs.

The pictures in this post are from Scenic Byway Route 12, between Bryce Canyon and Torrey, UT, with exception of taking side road called Hell’s Backbone. This side road is exceptionally rough, and the 2006 Honda Civic wanted to drop an axle a few times. It did not. If there WAS car trouble? Instant death. That road is Über-remote, and no one would survive that ordeal.

Cloud Soup

For pictures and good contrast, the skies and lighting continued to suck during this portion of the trip. Turns out, the entire nation was under some cloud soup, with a side of RANCH, and an extra helping of STANK. This may have been a blessing, since the overcast skies made it possible to pass up some of the overlooks – which would all be beautiful on a sunny day.

Scenic Byway Route 12

Cloud soup on Scenic Byway Route 12, (from www.wunderground.com)

Note that Utah SHOULD be somewhere north of Arizona, and west of Colorado.

Hell’s Backbone – the sidetrip

In addition to this road being remote, and extremely poorly marked (just keep going on whatever road you think is right), the views traveling  northbound were awful. Just trees and rutted roads. Pretty boring, so at least the audiobook to which I was listening (Lullabye, by Chuck Palahniuk) was… ahem… interesting…

However, arriving at the top makes the axle-cracking, gas-guzzling climb seem worth it.

Enjoy the pictures. As always, they are shared freely.

Route 12, leaving BryceRoute 12, leaving Bryce - rocksHo hum, Route 12 more sandstoneRoute 12 eastbound - just east of Tropic, UTRoute 12 eastbound - east of TropicEmerging from trees near the top of Hell's BackboneBridge over Hell's BackboneHell's Backbone-1Hell's Backbone SignHell's Backbone-2East side of Hell's Backbone roadHell's Backbone-3Hell's Backbone-4Hell's Backbone-5Northbound Route 12 nearing Anasazi State Park MuseumNorthbound Route 12 past Anasazi State Park Museum25 miles South of Torrey on Route 1220 miles South of Torrey on Route 1220 miles South of Torrey on Route 124 miles South of Torrey on Route 12

 

Bryce Canyon Hiking

 Photography, Travel, visual  No Responses »
May 192013
 
Bryce Canyon Hiking

Bryce Canyon Hiking – Queen’s Garden loop

Bryce Canyon Hiking

Bryce Canyon hiking is probably best done in the coolest temperatures of the day. It’s pretty warm even in early spring, and definitely dry enough to parch your (anything) in 45 minutes.

The Loops

These pictures are from the Queen’s Garden/Navajo/Peekaboo loop, maps found here, and more information here. These 3 hikes can be daisy-chained together into a nice loop, which took about 4 hours. The most strenuous part is getting into the valley – so the loops aren’t hard once you are on the floor of the hoodoos. The National Park Service literature says this is rated one of the best hiking on the planet. While I can’t find a source on that, this is definitely a memorable walk.

Middle Eastern Environment

While meandering on this Bryce Canyon hiking adventure, I’m reminded of pictures I’ve seen of the sandstone structures in the desert areas of Jordan, Egypt, Libya, etc. The arid climate and soft rock make for amazing structures. Without water, nothing grows. Without roots, the conditions for erosion are excellent. Without the crystalline structure or igneous or metamorphic rock to hold things up, the soft sandstone and other sedimentary features quickly leave some severe structures.

Lighting for sky pictures

Overall, the high clouds made lighting better for sky pictures than shadowy rock pictures. I hope these are still appealing, and represent the visual overload this area of the world provides.

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Bryce Canyon National Park – an overview

 Photography, Travel, visual  No Responses »
May 172013
 
Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon NP – the ‘Inspiration’ lookout

Bryce Canyon National Park:

The drive from Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park on Scenic Byway Route 12 is filled with some great vistas. I’ll post pictures and discuss the drive in the future, but I wanted to quickly share some of my favorite pictures from the park itself, and provide a brief overview of the experience (while fresh in my mind).

Overview:

In general, the park runs essentially North-South. There’s a free shuttle bus that takes passengers ~4miles into the park. I drove the ~18miles to the end of the park, and then worked back towards the entrance. Lookouts were available every 1/4 mile, and were well maintained.

The shuttle run provides access to the most beautiful areas of Bryce Canyon National Park, in my opinion. A visitor who only had time to ride the shuttle would experience quite a bit. In my opinion, the overlooks (map) at Sunrise, Sunset, Inspiration, Bryce Point are truly fantastic, and provide a sample of what the park has to offer.

Considerations:

  • Date to visit: 16 May was fairly busy, but I got a camp site with no reservation. Plenty of tour buses, but these could be avoided. The daytime temps were pretty hot already. No snow was leftover from winter.
  • Time of day to visit: I enjoyed the lighting after 12pm best. The morning shadows seemed to provide less contrast than the afternoon/evening shadows.
  • Provisions and access: I was impressed that the prices at the surrounding providers seemed reasonable. Don’t go looking for cheaper gas or food to save a buck by price comparison – it’s about equivalent. Verizon has minimal coverage, and there’s Wi-Fi available in some places.
  • Shuttles: The shuttle is HEAVILY advertised just outside the park at Ruby’s Inn, as ‘park here for your free shuttle through the park!’. However, the shuttle is free everywhere – no need to leave a car at Ruby’s.

Here’s some of my favorite ‘visually appealing’ pictures of Bryce Canyon National Park – with more ‘trip descriptive’ pictures to follow. I’m definitely going back – this place is fantastic, and there are some great hikes (which I’ll post about). Have you ever been to Bryce? Any must-see activitities? Please share a comment!

 

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Zion National Park

 Photography, Travel, visual  No Responses »
May 152013
 
Zion 15

Near the top of Angel’s Landing trail

At this time, Zion National Park is one of my favorite places on Earth. Purchased my annual National Parks pass on my way into Zion. At $80, this is probably the best value possible in the US – as it offers unlimited access to any national park.

 

I took the free shuttle around the valley of the park after arriving. This is a great experience, because the narration provided gives a great background on the park, and the ability to just watch the cliffs, instead of the road.

 

The Wi-Fi tether on my phone has made sharing these pictures a possibility, but the real challenge has been finding enough power for all these items. Pioneer Cafe near Zion was an OK place to stop in, have a cup of yogurt, and charge up all my gear for an hour.

 

Thanks, Mike and Elaine!

Thanks, Mike and Elaine!

A disadvantage of limited planning, is that you sometimes need to face the fact that you don’t have a place to sleep, and the campground is full. However, an advantage of limited planning, is that people give freely when they have enough to share, and people are inherently fascinating and entertaining. Big thanks to Mike and Elaine from Spokane, WA – who let me split their site with them – and were truly great folks. My efforts of getting a bottle of ‘thank you’ wine were thwarted by Utah’s rather ‘unique‘ alcohol regulations, so I hope they enjoy the variety pack of Uinta beer I dropped off at their pop-up camper this morning.

 

These are some pictures from the hike. Please contactme if you’d like a full resolution copy.  As with all my pictures, these are shared freely for any use. A link to me is appreciated, but not necessary.

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Immersion at Mellow Fellow

 Audiobooks, Photography, visual  1 Response »
May 142013
 
Immersion at Mellow Fellow

MJ and the Mellow Fellow Crew

Yesterday was the book launch of Immersion at Mellow Fellow Pub in Kings Beach, CA. Ryan and Kasey Eller are well known for their generosity and community support, and they opened their arms and their pub in support of local author of Immersion, MJ Prest. The event  was complete with a live read of Chapter 1 of the book, and Mermaid’s Tale Ale on tap.

 

Many people came out in support, and thanks to MJ, Ryan, and Kasey, all in attendance had a great time and were able to experience some backstory on the book and author. The audiobook has launched, and is available for listening on Amazon here!

Best wishes to MJ, Ryan, and Kasey!

A few more pictures from the event:

Mellow Fellow 4Mellow Fellow 1Mellow Fellow 7Mellow Fellow 3Mellow Fellow 11Mellow Fellow 1Mellow Fellow 10Mellow Fellow 6Mellow Fellow 5Mellow Fellow 8

Watching clouds and thoughts

 Mindfulness, Photography, Thoughts  No Responses »
May 102013
 

Watching clouds and thoughts while sitting on an alpine beach on Lake Tahoe is a pleasant experience. It’s overwhelmingly beautiful, more than a person can fully absorb, and changing by the second.

This is why is fascinating to me that, while sitting in the environment seen below, my mind still runs around like there’s nothing at all to which to pay attention. Sample thoughts:

  • “Could I/Should I move the chair/put on a sweatshirt/get sunglasses to be more comfortable?”
  • “I wonder what other people are doing right now? Should I message anyone to join me?”
  • “Ohh – that’s awesome! I want to take a picture of that!”
  • “What will it be like to not have this view someday?”
  • “Is anyone else here watching these clouds? Wait

Over and over, I keep trying to sit in peace, and enjoy the smells and sights. Thankfully, I don’t FEEL like I’m struggling with those crazy thoughts – it’s just a gentle observation

‘oh – I’m getting a distracted… back to enjoying the clouds, that’s enough for now. Just clouds and thoughts can come later.’

It was a great evening on that beach. Watching both clouds and thoughts – each pretty amazing in their own way. Cheers to anyone who gets a chance to observe either one this weekend. -Phil

 

clouds and thoughts 2clouds and thoughts 5clouds and thoughts 1clouds and thoughts 3

 

Tahoe Truckee Snow Precipitation

 Thoughts  No Responses »
May 072013
 

Tahoe Truckee snow precipitation totals have felt like they have been very, very low over the last 2 winters. I tried to quantify it with some data, and it turns out the Tahoe-Truckee area has been in a pretty long-standing winter drought.

In 2011-2012, the area had a total of 2.32 inches of precipitation between October and May. This year, in 2012-13 the total was 5.74 inches. That’s over 91% less than average for 2011-12, and 78% less than average for the past year. (Source: Weather Underground, weather station at the Tahoe Truckee Airport (KTRK).

Month (precip in inches) 2012-13 2011-12 Avg month
October 0.31 0.85 1.63
November 1.72 0.34 4.00
December 2.24 0.00 4.36
January 0.11 0.00 5.77
Februrary 0.03 0.20 4.73
March 0.49 0.33 3.96
April 0.09 0.48 1.72
May 0.75 0.12 0.89
Grand Total 5.74 2.32 27.06

Maybe next year will be a bounce back year? Hoping all my Tahoe Truckee friends get really dumped on in 2013-14! If not, perhaps people can come visit me if the Denver area ski resorts keep getting dumped on!  (April was a record year in CO with 47 inches)

Recent Tahoe Truckee Snow Precipitation

Hikes in March through the Tahoe basin should not look like this…

Western National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands) Road Trip

 Travel  2 Responses »
May 042013
 

Travel through Western National Parks in the United States from NV to CO will include some of the most beautiful places in the world. Getting set up for this road trip includes trying to dot my way through many of these sites. My little Olympus digital camera may wear out taking many pictures.

Some of the western national parks I’ll visit will include:

Great Basin National Park (NP), Cathedral Gorge State Park (SP), Valley of Fire SP, Zion NP, Bryce NP, Canyonlands NP, Capital Reef NP. Soon, the Colorado portion will be planned out too.

Here’s the map, which will be updated as time goes on.


View Trip to CO from NV in a larger map

Hopefully pictures like this will be the norm:

Western National Parks

 

Stimulus and Response – Mindfulness and Psychology

 Mindfulness  No Responses »
May 022013
 

Tonight, I listened to a talk at IMC by Daniel Bowling, titled “What Gets Us in Conflict“. (<— that is a lot of links in one sentence)

This talk stilled some strong emotions for two reasons.

  1. Daniel is in round 6 of 12 sessions of chemotherapy. I’m happy that he is still giving generously of his time to teach others.
  2. He related a story of a young man attending a retreat where Daniel was also teaching at that time. The young man was suffering in a powerful way, and was behaving in an extremely bizarre behavior. Those around him were frightened for their safety, and the health of the young man. Rather than reacting from fear or an attempt to control the situation, Daniel sat patiently, and discovered a way to extend his heart to the young man. It was extremely unorthodox, and took courage. My interpretation is that this extension of love, not judgment, caused barriers between the two men to dissolve away. As a result, the young man shared the severe scenario which had overwhelmed him, and both men were emotionally enriched by the rather raw exchange. The culmination of the story, the young man willingly reached out to Daniel for help.

My most meaningful take-away from Daniel’s talk was not the story. It was the theme of which I’ve been aware frequently arises in the lectures by the IMC speakers. The theme of “something happens to us, we perceive it, and if we are wise and centered, a conscious choice can be made. This conscious decision can be made with the benefit of our experiences, creativity, and knowledge – not from reaction or habits.”

This is exactly the point from the work of Viktor Frankl, author of “Man’s Search for Meaning“, and founder of a counseling philosophy called “logotherapy“. I don’t like the name of either the book, or the philosophy, but I love the thought. It was introduced to me after reading one of my favorite books (with another title that is far more clinical than the warmth of the content), “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, by Stephen Covey. 

Frankl discusses the concept, and reality of the following statement:

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

I understand this to mean that a stimulus (growling dog) prompts a response (fight – attack the dog, flight - run away).

However, if I am wise, perhaps I consider other options (kindness – I have a granola bar in my pocket, non-violence – I’ll throw a stick, awareness – perhaps I have threatened the dog/it may be growling at something behind me).

Replace “growling dog” with “confrontational neighbor”, or “aggressive customer”, and a similar broad suite of options apply.

In conclusion, I’m happy to see that two philosophies that I consider wise are overlapping. Frankl presents a colorful and practical case for the importance and benefit of this separation between what happens to us, and our decision to choose an action. Mindfulness outlines a method for gaining enough patience and wisdom to widen that separation through meditation and awareness.

If you have any similar thoughts, reactions, or considerations – please leave a comment.

Best wishes,

Phil

Teaching with Youtube videos

 Education  No Responses »
Apr 292013
 

I’ve had an interesting discussion with Dan Meyer some time ago about using  simple technology to enrich classroom explorations. His attempts with illustrating math concepts are much more nuanced and elegant than my attempts with science. I’m not disheartened though, as I think he’s one of those rare and talented educators that will change the way learning happens in the classroom.

Here’s my effort to use a collection of footage from the International Space Station, to tie together science concepts. It’s a bit rough, and hard to follow, but it was an early exploration into Youtube and the annotation tools available at the time.

Full activity found here: http://www.edufy.org/content/show/663

Video shown here:

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