Entering Dallas, Tx on I-30. I'm about to cross Lake Ray Hubbard.
f 7 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:01:30 15:40:10.
Huge windmills, west of Dallas.
f 6.6 @ 1/320, 58 mm, taken 2016:01:31 09:50:04.
Just off the freeway, south of Fort Stockton. A long, straight, 75mph
road.
f 7.3 @ 1/1000, 105 mm, taken 2016:01:31 13:09:59.
A trash can blows across the road.
f 7 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:01:31 13:10:11.
Another view of the road. These shots are all taken out of the front
window of the car, at 70+ MPH, so their framing could be a bit better!
f 6.6 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:01:31 13:18:00.
Undulations.
f 7.3 @ 1/800, 96 mm, taken 2016:01:31 13:37:33.
We don't have roads like this in the east!
f 7.3 @ 1/800, 95 mm, taken 2016:01:31 13:45:40.
Click here for a map of the park so that what follows makes a little more sense. To access the map, under "Park tools", click on "View Park Map"
The ranger assigned me to Camp De Leon, 3.7 miles up a very unimproved
dirt road (Old Ore Road). At speeds over ~10 MPH, the rocks bang omininously
off the bottom of the car. The tent is pitched, and the telescope is ready for
assembly. The large tan box is a "bear safe", and functions as an excellent
storage cabinet.
f 7.3 @ 1/400, 50 mm, taken 2016:01:31 18:56:43.
Here's a panorama of Camp De Leon.
Desert sunset
f 4.3 @ 1/40, 24 mm, taken 2016:01:31 20:53:06.
A longer exposure of the sunset. There are a few stars visible in the high res version.
f 4 @ 1/25, 24 mm, taken 2016:01:31 20:53:21.
A panorama of the dawn the next day.
Next morning, Feb 1, I drove down to the Rio Grande Village to have a
look. Here's a view from a pull off near the village.
f 7.6 @ 1/640, 58 mm, taken 2016:02:01 11:22:48.
Another view from that pull off.
f 7.6 @ 1/400, 24 mm, taken 2016:02:01 11:25:55.
And yet another!
f 7.3 @ 1/320, 40 mm, taken 2016:02:01 13:26:35.
I then drove to the Chisos Basin, and stopped at a pull off for this
photo.
f 7 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:01 13:26:50.
And this one. The wind was really picking up, however, and I thought it
prudent to return to Camp De Leon to make sure my camp was OK.
f 7.3 @ 1/400, 45 mm, taken 2016:02:01 13:27:08.
The wind was really blowing by now. Look at that yellow telescope cover
billow! Interestingly, it seems that much of the desert dust (the ground is
covered with it!) that can easily blow away has done so, so things still
look fairly clear.
f 7.6 @ 1/500, 24 mm, taken 2016:02:01 17:07:31.
Shortly after I arrived at camp, the wind caused one of my tent poles to
snap, and the tent collapsed.
f 8.3 @ 1/800, 47 mm, taken 2016:02:01 17:08:55.
f 6.3 @ 1/500, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:01 17:08:37.
A view of my ruined tent and campsite. Fortunately, I found that I could
empty the back of my car into the bear safe and found my air mattress would fit
into the back of the car. So I had a place to sleep after all.
f 7.3 @ 1/500, 58 mm, taken 2016:02:01 17:11:38.
A panorama of the dust storm.
The sunset during the windstorm.
f 7 @ 1/400, 50 mm, taken 2016:02:01 20:14:35.
A wider angle view of the sunset.
f 6 @ 1/125, 24 mm, taken 2016:02:01 20:21:17.
Sunset with dust. This was taken with a 560mm lens with my Canon T2i, so the equivalent 35mm view would be that of an 896mm lens.
Setting...
Touchdown!
Observing was out of the question, so I went to bed early. After I settled down, a ranger drove up and told me I had to evacuate! A fire had been touched off by the wind, and was headed my way. I hurriedly took the telescope apart, deflated the air mattress, shoved the telescope and camera equipment into the car, everything else in the bear safe (I didn't think the fire would burn that), and headed to a camp site in the Rio Grande Village area, which was thought to be out of the fire's path. The rangers had everything managed very well, and I had to only re-set up my camp to finally get some rest for the night. Next day, the wind had abated a bit, but the village store had no electricity, and the main road out of the park had been blocked. Fortunately, it opened a few hours later.
I had to drive 250 miles round trip, to Ft. Stockton, for supplies,
namely a new tent and a sewing kit so I could fix my observing suit, which
had torn in the frantic struggle to get quickly out of Camp De Leon. Here's
a view of the fire as I drive out of the park.
f 7 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:02 11:27:33.
Another view. Note that we were asked to NOT stop in the fire zone
to take pictures, so these were taken through the car window at speed.
f 6.6 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:02 11:28:32.
In the smoke.
f 7 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:02 11:29:26.
The desert floor was scorched!
f 7 @ 1/500, 65 mm, taken 2016:02:02 11:31:05.
Another view of the blackened desert. Note how the prickly pear cacti
seem to have survived almost untouched by the flames!
f 6.6 @ 1/400, 65 mm, taken 2016:02:02 11:31:10.
Upon returning from my Ft. Stockton re-supply trip, I stiched up my observing suit and then tried to pitch my new tent. I managed to get the tent up, but the wind was so strong I could not stake it down. So I collapsed it again and put it back in its bag. Another night in the back of the Prius. The next morning, the winds had quieted down, but the moon had risen, effectively blotting out the faint fuzzies I was trying to see.
I again drove down to the Rio Grande Village ranger station, to try to find a better camp site. The ranger was agast that I had ever been sent to Camp De Leon in a Prius! "That's no road for a low slung car like that!" I agreed! It is dicey, and if you meet another vehicle, you can't just drive on the side of a pile of loose rocks.
The day before, I did meet a jeep, and pulled over as far as I dared, and the jeep had no problem scurrying over most of the rocks to get around me - I didn't want to do that again!.
The ranger assigned me to another site, Nine Point Draw. I made one last trip
to Camp De Leon, to get the rest of my stuff from the bear safe, and headed to
the new site. I stopped by a pulloff to get a shot of the impressive Chios
Mountains.
f 7.6 @ 1/500, 47 mm, taken 2016:02:03 13:40:23.
Here's a panorama of them.
The warning sign on the road that leads to Camp De Leon. What it really
needs to say is "High Ground Clearance Recommended".
f 6 @ 1/500, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 13:36:19.
Nine Point Draw is another windswept desert vista. Here's a panorama of it.
Nine Point Draw is in an outcrop of (oil?) shale rocks, and the ground is
littered with their angular shards.
f 8 @ 1/640, 45 mm, taken 2016:02:03 18:25:57.
Just east of my camp site there is a vast, very flat plain whose main
feature is a forest of creosote bushes.
f 7.6 @ 1/500, 45 mm, taken 2016:02:03 18:28:24.
This landslide is an anomalous scar in an otherwise uniformly weathered
cliff.
f 7 @ 1/1000, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:03 18:29:40.
Note the striated lines in the hill I'm approaching. They are shale
outcrops. Can you find my car in this vast landscape?
f 7.6 @ 1/400, 24 mm, taken 2016:02:03 18:30:03.
Evening. Getting ready for what I hope will be a good night's observing.
But it was not to be. Again the wind howled and I retreated to the tent
which shook like a wild thing. The telescope, which I carefully covered,
survived quite nicely. At 3:00AM the next day, however, I did get in a bit
of observing
f 6.6 @ 1/200, 40 mm, taken 2016:02:03 20:07:40.
Desert dawn on the Chisos Mountains.
f 6 @ 1/400, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 10:11:27.
Another view of that dawn.
f 6.3 @ 1/500, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 10:13:12.
Later on that day I finally made it to the Chisos basin and got a shot of
the campground and the scenery that surrounds it.
f 7 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 12:27:34.
Some rock formations in Chisos basin.
f 7.3 @ 1/400, 47 mm, taken 2016:02:04 12:27:42.
The Chisos mountains are the only mountain range completely within the
boundary of a national park. They are thought to have been formed by the Pacific
plate streching the North American plate, and causing faults to occur. This is
one of the larger faults.
f 7.3 @ 1/320, 28 mm, taken 2016:02:04 13:05:05.
I took a walk into the desert east of my camp site. Here is an
interesting cactus I found there.
f 7.3 @ 1/500, 60 mm, taken 2016:02:04
13:06:00.
Getting more up close and personal with a prickyly pear is not such a
good idea!
f 6.6 @ 1/640, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 13:06:11.
Three cacti with leaves like swords. The tips are wicked sharp!
f 7 @ 1/500, 55 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:27:54.
Geting a bit closer to the sword cacti.
f 6.3 @ 1/500, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:28:02.
An animal's front door.
f 6.6 @ 1/500, 84 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:30:26.
Another view of that landslide.
f 7.3 @ 1/1000, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:32:46.
In this vast plain of dried up mud, I did not expect to find a solitary
rock like this one.
f 8 @ 1/500, 24 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:33:44.
A close up of that rock.
f 7 @ 1/1000, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:34:03.
The gap in the Santiago mountains, just east of my camp site.
f 6.6 @ 1/800, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 14:37:48.
Another cactus. They all live in what seems to be the same environment,
but they have such a wild variety of forms!
f 7 @ 1/500, 58 mm, taken
2016:02:04 14:49:58.
The sunset is a bit redder than it was before the dust storm.
f 6.3 @ 1/160, 28 mm, taken 2016:02:04 20:23:43.
The gap at sunset.
f 6 @ 1/400, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 20:23:52.
Hills south east of the campsite.
f 5 @ 1/200, 99 mm, taken 2016:02:04 20:24:04.
The belt of Venus.
f 4 @ 1/100, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 20:40:50.
It's the earth's shadow, rising in the east as the sun sets.
f 4.6 @ 1/160, 105 mm, taken 2016:02:04 20:41:06.
