Here’s a nice little timelapse I put together of my drive to Albuquerque, NM. It even manages to record me breaking down a few times (cars apparently run better with oil in them [crazy I know]).
Timelapse to Albuquerque from Joshua Gilbrech on Vimeo.
Good times.
The birthday present vacation!
So Meg and I finally hit the day in which we were supposed to head up to HF. We load up the car with probably everything we could possibly imagine we would need (and then some) and headed north. The drive was pretty meh… hot spots of interest were found in Seligman (an old RT.66 town) and on the road up to the canyon trailhead. We encountered several Burma-Shave ads on the way up and were completely baffled by them (If daisies / Are your / Favorite flower / Keep pushin’ up those / Miles per hour / Burma-Shave). It did provide an interesting aspect to the boring drive at least.
We finally made it up to the top. The gallery below should be in chronological order, the first three pictures show the canyon when we arrived at Dusk and our hopeless attempt at sleeping in the back of a VW golf (don’t try this if you are over 5ft5 it will not work).
The next morning we rose early (I’m avoiding saying woke up because we didn’t really sleep), strapped on our packs and headed out down the canyon. Immediately I’m thinking… damn… this is going to really really suck going back up. Foreshadowing anyone??? We encountered a lovely little rez dog which we lovably named Vic who decided that we needed a local guide on our way down. He ended up following us for the first 3 miles until he spotted another larger group and plodded off with them.
Yeah… so as always… the Grand Canyon is a place of majesty. Every turn you are presented with yet another eye popping visage that took practically forever to make. It really does just beleaguer your mind. I tried to capture all of these as I saw them but there’s only so much that I could manage. (Luckily it’s not like the canyon is going to move anytime soon). The first 6 miles went by like a breeze and soon we were walking along side some of the most crystal clear water that I’ve ever seen. Our pace quickened (due to my Darling Meg’s excitement) then soon slowed as the miles started taking their toll on my hips (god I’m getting old). Soon we were in the little village Supai, which serves as a hub for all the activities down in the falls region. We checked in then quickly made our way to the store for some Ice Cream… OMG it was good.
Anyway… we finished out by heading the remaining 2 miles down to the campground… before getting there we passed by Navajo falls and of course Havasu falls. Breathtaking…. simply breathtaking. It’s still beyond me to know that these amazing places are here in the desert. Like sparkling gems they shine with a glory that I can’t even begin to describe (luckily I have a camera). We marveled for a few minutes and then made our way to set up camp. The rest of the day was spent roaming around camp, heading down to Mooney Falls (holy crap they make that trip interesting… wet, muddy chains and ladders to get down…. just a weee bit nerve racking), and hanging out at Havasu Falls.
The next day was spent swimming, cliff jumping, picture taking and relaxing by the water. Just fantastic!
Our final day approached with great speed. Even more since Meg somehow accidentally set her alarm and hour early. I was so dazed at 4am that I didn’t even note to check my watch (we were supposed to wake up @ 5). By the time I had figured it out we basically had everything packed and put away. So we headed out early by starlight (crazy how many stars you could see!) and by headlamp. We made it back the 2 miles to the village by first light and then the next 2 miles to the canyon before 7am.
Our friend Vic and his new pal Rufus accompanied us the entire way back to the top. (Unfortunately we didn’t want to get close to them at all since Vic found a HUGE fresh cow pie and proceeded to smear his whole body in it. It gave him a wonderful green tinge to his coloring SHUDDER). Anyway… yeah… the trip to the last 1.5 miles took us 5 hours. The last 1.5 miles took us another 1.5 hours. OMG it was horrible… just straight up switchback from hell. I shifted down to zombie deathmarch mode and just put one foot after the next till it finally ended. I’m sooooooo happy I decided to finally buy a pair of hiking poles from REI…. that paid off so well in the end.
So yeah… here are the photos. Hope you enjoy!
This weekend we trekked up to the heights and greens of the eastern Arizona mountains. Mt Graham is a veritable oasis in the desert. Unfortunately for us we picked a miserably rainy day to plan our Mt. vacation. First came the dreary clouds and thunder, then came the rain… ANDDDD then came the hail. Luckily for us we packed tons of liquid warmth (Booze) and we were well into it by the time the precipitation starting trying to freeze us out. Anyway here’s the pictures from the trip.
La Fuente, a local mexican restaurant, has a yearly competition for aspiring singers. You know the format… cranky Simon Cowell, young singers, big crown of people. Now think of it for Mexicans.
Yes… you get Mariachi Idol.
Let me tell you… it’s everything I hoped for and more!
Here’s some of the shots I took from the night.
Meg and I were looking for some trouble to get in. It’s a wonder all the things that you pass by when you live somewhere. All those things that you’re like… ooh we should go there some time… then never do. Yeah, Colossal Cave is the epitome of that place. We joined up with an 11-12 person group from Davis Mothan AF base. We had a good crew and a pretty awesome tour guide. As we slowly but surely wound through the cave it was completely mystifying how anyone would want to go down into a cave without knowing what they were doing or having a map of the place. There were nooks and crannies, dead ends and sheer drops, and completely no light… EVERYWHERE. The place was really awesome and some day I’d really like to go back for the 3-4 hour tour. Just to have some time with my tripod and various places… that would be pure awesome…. For now you get to see some of my half-assery shots that barely made it through the steady cam and my not steady hand.
Enjoy!
Nothing says ‘Merica like explosions…
well maybe lots of explosions… big expensive explosions… with lots of people watching… yes.
4th of July from Joshua Gilbrech on Vimeo.
So yeah… Shachaf and I went out for some good ol american 4th of july firework photography. On the way home we noticed a pretty decent storm brewing in town. So what do we do… we find a parking deck to go up on and take pictures of it, OF COURSE!!! What a great idea.
So after a few pictures I notice that the storm isn’t moving away from us… it’s moving toward us. This becomes even more apparent after a giant bolt of lightning annihilates something VERY VERY CLOSE to us… I would have a better idea what it was if I hadn’t been instantly reacting by throwing myself to the ground and taking cover. I look up to see Shachaf standing there with a big stupid grin on his face.
TIME TO PACK UP!!
Anyway here are the lightning shots… I’ll post the fireworks later after some PP.
So it’s my final day out here in the land of Dirt and Archaeologists.
Today I actually get to get my hands dirty and pretend to be one of them. I decided that it would be a fun setup to get a time lapse going. As such… I give you my first time lapse creation!
Whole Day Digging from Joshua Gilbrech on Vimeo.
Today was pretty freakin awesome.
So today we got to get a really good tour around the pueblos. Below are some of the photos taken on this day. After touring around the old neighborhood we camped out at the KOA in Grants. You may notice the field baby saying hi from the front of her tent. Good times!
After a several hour plane flight back from Chicago to Tucson it’s time for another Crazy Adventure.
I loaded Elsie up @ 10pm and set my sites on the New Mexico Border. Mule Creek here I come.
Several hours later I’m rolling into camp to be greeted by my lovely Amazon Goddess. 3AM is a great time to be arriving. An even better time to curl up next to a pretty lady and get a few BADLY needed hours of sleep. 6AM comes with WAY too quickly along with that blasted DayStar. Blasted Eye of Helios manages to wake me up and leave me rolling back and forth begging for just a few more moments of blissful rest.
Not to be had… not today. We’re off for a field trip to CHACO!
From Wiki:
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park hosting the densest and most exceptional concentration of pueblos in the American Southwest. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote canyon cut by the Chaco Wash. Containing the most sweeping collection of ancient ruins north of Mexico, the park preserves one of the United States’ most important precolumbian cultural and historic areas.[2]
Suffice it to say this place is AMAZING. Day one is spent mostly driving (with a near death experience for the folks riding the van after an unfortunate high speed blowout). We settle in for the night after a very small amount of exploration and later on a try for some timelapse… both shown below
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