2007 Subway Trip (Part 2)

When we last left off our hero was taking pictures of Jared trying to get through the canyon without duckwalking. (You thought the hero was going to be Jared, didn't you... well maybe he should get his own blog). Here he is trying to chimney through the slot - the gravel bar is so close, but what's around the bend?

By the way, i'm pretty sure he didn't make it. I think it got fairly deep after that and i threw the rope down to him to climb out.

Ha ha, i switched the captions from the top to the bottom. Are you confused or just annoyed. The ancient inhabitants of this canyon built these canals throughout the canyon to carry water down the middle of the canyon. Cool, eh? Yeah, they didn't.

Wait for me! They're not really that close, i had to zoom in!

This is at or near the top of keyhole falls. "What's that," you ask? Scroll down...

This is actually harder than it looks. Especially since yours truly went first to show everyone else how not to do it. Yeah, i thought it would be a good idea to wrap the rope around my hand a couple of times and then swing out and slide down. Not quite. With the rope wrapped around my hand, once i swung out my immense weight tightened the rope around my hand and i was stuck. Yeah, it was awesome. Let's see if Karen does any better...

Is this good?...

Why is she shaking her hand so vigorously? Cause it burns baby! Yeah, she held on and slid down the rope with her hands. Apparently that didn't feel so great either.


They finally had to get wet. Of course, they spent 30 minutes arranging that log so they could wade across it without getting as wet. It might seem silly to you in your warm dry clothes and chair, but let me tell you, once that cold water passes your upper thigh... oi! It's a whole new unpleasant ball game.

The beginning of the Subway. That log has been there forever!

Hey, where'd they come from?! Can you guess which one is me? Yep, i'm the handsome one. Yeah, that's right, you can't see me, i'm taking the picture. You know what else you can't see - my supposedly waterproof socks. They didn't work.




Another rappel. The first time i hiked this (and maybe the next couple after that too) i actually brought a harness and figure 8 for the rappels. It was easier, maybe i'll do it again. This is also the beginning of the giant potholes. In the summer they look like little hot tubs, but they're not - they're freezing tubs, but it's still fun to sit in them and pretend... for like a half second or so.

This is arguably the prettiest part of the canyon, but it's also the biggest pain because it so crazy slippery. And you're actually taking pictures, so you don't want to put the camera in the dry bag. i hiked down once with a friend who slipped on this section with his 4x5 view camera. Forunately, both he and the camera were okay.



Wanna know what the pain was about these pictures? (Other than this commentary, of course). The reflections in the water can occasionally be distracting, so you put a polarizing filter on. No big deal, right? Nope, you're wrong (it's my blog, remember). To save money (how many horror stories start like that?), i purchased a cokin filter system, so i could use the same filters on all my lenses. This usually works great, but on the wide angle lenses that work so great for these types of photographs the filter will actually show up in the corners of the photograph (called vignetting). So your 17mm wide angle lens you paid so much money for ends up turning into an overpriced 25mm lens. Doh! (Don't tell Jen, but that means i need a slim polarizer - yeah, they're only $150+! No biggie, she won't notice if one shows up on the front of my lens, right?)

Does anyone remember that old movie with the tiny little people that lived in the woods or something. And there's a couple of normal-szied kids, and a plot and stuff? Anyway, i bet that would be a fun water slide for them. Or it might kill them, i'm not sure. They'd probably need some lifeguards, but not those clueless teenaged ones.


The prettiness of the last pictures disguises how much the hike out of the canyon sucks - no, wait. How much you will suck hiking out of the canyon. Or maybe it's fat people like myself carrying 20 lbs. of camera equipment. Remember these pictures so you can compare them to the next trip which i should be posting around Chritmas or something.

2007 Subway Trip (Part 1)

Last November (2007) i hiked the Subway (again) with my Dad, his wife, Karen, and my brother-in-law, Jared. Go figure, i'm getting ready to hike it again in a week and i'm just barely posting these pictures. Hopefully, i'll get this next trip report out in under a year.

The first couple of miles are fairly level with trees and such. Then you drop into a giant slickrock canyon that eventually spits you out here, about half way down to the actual canyon entrance.

This is looking down into the canyon (Left Fork of North Creek) while descending from the rim.

The descent from the canyon rim is actually pretty steep, but not very long. As you can see, Karen even made it. ;)

oooooh, aaaaaah. Look, it's the canyon wall!

It's half a subway! This is the only view i ever got of my hiking companions. Nobody ever waits for the guy with the camera.

Alright, some of these are probably pretty self-explanatory and if you're not tired of my commentary i'm sure you will be soon - who am i kidding, of course you're already tired of it. Well, too bad. I was going to stop, but now that you thought/said that i'm not going too. Look at the cool desert varnish.

This is the first of many, many examples of the lengths some of us would go to to avoid getting wet. I know, we're a bunch of wusses.

This actually reminds me a bit of Little Wild Horse Canyon in Goblin Valley State Park, but it's been a while since i hiked it.




Why are we rapelling off of a bush? To avoid getting wet, duh. Who wouldn't rather risk a 50 foot fall then get wet?




This is kind of funny. The rest of us scrambled up on the ridge in the top left-hand corner to avoid this particular series of pools, but Jared though he could jump to one of the shallow spots. Think he made it?

So graceful...

Doh! At least he did it first so i knew not to try it. I think i tried to tell him it got even deeper further down.

The "duckwalk" looks easier than it is, especially if you're a genius like me and don't take your pack off. The ceiling is really low, and the floor is mossy, wet and slippery - oh, and i didn't want to get my hands dirty. I have to take pictures with those hands!

Jared thinks he's in the clear now - check the next post to see if he was or not...

Out with the Old...

You might think that the tile of this posting has something to do with the arrival of the New Year, but you wouldn't be completely correct. It's more like, "man, I've had these pictures forever, i should really get them posted." Also, I'd like to note that normally i would have posted some cute pictures of my nephews next, but my sister was mean to me, so you get these instead. Aren't they so pretty?

Photography in the Moab area is kind of a catch-22 for me. While these places (Canyonlands, Arches, Dead Horse Point) are all pretty all the time, they're at their most photogenic at sunrise or sunset. But in the summer, when it's pleasant weather, sunrise is just too early! Especially when you factor in about an hour's drive and some hiking to get to the destination, plus you want to be there about an hour before sunrise!

Of course, you could always go in winter. Sunrise and sunset are at much more reasonable hours and it's rarely crowded. But of course you'll also be freezing! This isn't always true though. I've been to Arches in late Winter and it was surprisingly pleasant. So i guess Winter is the best season. Plus if you get lucky you can have snow in your picture, which is a really nice contrast with the red rock. I guess that means i need to start getting used to riding Slickrock in the winter. Oh, and in case you're wondering, these first three pictures are Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park in the Island in the Sky district at sunrise. It's a very short hike (under 1 mile round trip i think) and i think less than an hour's drive from Moab.

This is another one of my favorite places; Dead Horse Point State Park at sunrise, although it's just as pretty at sunset too. I've been there countless times, and i never tire of the view. As a matter-of-fact, for the longest time i always wanted to get down to that road you can see below because i thought the view would be better. It's not; it's much better from the top. This is actually (kinda) on the way to Island in the Sky. Also under an hour's drive from Moab.

Also Dead Horse Point... I'm all motivated to get another winter trip in to Moab now! And actually, this trip in particular was pretty sweet because i was actually working! i tried and tried to talk my youngest sister into shooting her bridals in the Moab area, but she didn't want to. But she must have mentioned it to her future sister-in-law, Misty, because when she found out i was willing to go down there she hired me to shoot her wedding, bridals, and engagements. Since i had never shot any real portraits down there, i went down a couple of days early to scout out some good locations. She put me up in a hotel and even covered my other expenses! She was great! And as if that wasn't enough, she referred one of her friends to me later for another wedding package (this time at Lake Powell)! I know, i know, i should probably post those pictures too. They are on my website though at www.alanjphoto.com.

Back to Island in the Sky. This is now the Green River Overlook at sunset. Since i really only had a couple of days to scout things out i was running and driving all over the place to get to these destinations at either sunrise or sunset. The first evening i drove in i was running a little late but i wanted to do Delicate Arch first. I got to the parking lot and booked it up the trail. I still got there too late, but it was cloudy and overcast anyway, so it didn't matter (thus no pictures). But i still scouted the area out for the bridals (you should have seen us hiking up there with a tux and wedding dress!). I think i actually got here early enough that i sat around and read a book for an hour.

I'm actually impressed that these pictures turned out at all since it was so cloudy and overcast that whole week. But it ended up working out pretty well with the portraits. i guess part of the problem with getting to these places and taking cool pictures also lies in family. i don't like leaving my family to go on "vacation," but i never take any good sunrise or sunset pictures when I'm with them. Number one, nobody wants to hang around and be bored while i take pictures for two or three hours at sunrise and sunset. Plus, when I'm cuddling with my sweet wife, it's too hard to get up at sunrise. In effect, another catch-22: i can't take pictures if i take the fam, but i don't want to go at all if i have to leave them. Doh!

American Fork Canyon

We went down to American Fork Canyon over the past weekend with some good friends of ours, the Olsons. I hoped the colors would still be pretty and there was a little waterfall i had seen while dirt biking with Joe and Dacia that i wanted to explore. Plus, Jen wanted some fall family pictures. When Sara and Aaron arrived at our place i decided it would be a good idea to put together a quick BBQ lunch. So we brought our little portable grill and some burgers. Too bad we forgot the matches! But after driving around for a few minutes at the canyon we found a kind soul who was willing to part with some matches and a part of his striker cut from the box. i wasn't disappointed either; the colors were still rather spectacular and the waterfall was pretty neat too.