MORENA BUTTE HIKE

This past Friday went out for a hike with my hiking friends, Chris, Myrna, Shake, and Mark. We had a lovely cool and partly cloudy day for this hike in Southeastern San Diego County.

A Different Angle of View

 After checking at the Ranger Station about a parking permit, and making a last rest stop, we were on the trail. The hike was in chaparral
with lots of granite boulders around. Lake Morena is a local reservoir which was at only 4% of capacity which highlights the drought conditions here in San Diego.

Lower end of Lake Morena

The hike was not strenuous though there was a steep area with loose rocks and a narrow path that we thought might be an issue on the way down. After about 200 yards of this scrambling the trail leveled out a bit and was easy to follow and climb. There was also some scrambling up and around some of the large bolders that lay along the trail.

Manzanita Bark Threads

Manzanita Limb and Bark

Molded Granite

When we reached the first of three "peaklets" we stopped and enjoyed the panoramic views, and the various sizes and shapes of the boulders strewn about the area.

?Pregnant Gargoyle?

Rocky Butte Top

Gargoyle(?) and Second Peaklet

Here we also enjoyed a trail lunch before starting back down the trail. We turned off the Pacific Crest Trail and joined a dirt old dirt road that eventually link up with the paved Lake Morena Shoreline Road. 

Three Sisters

It was good to be out in the countryside and enjoying a hike with good friends.

ALBUEQUERQUE BALLOON FIESTA 2014

Spent three sessions at the Balloon Fiesta. This is a color photographer's play day with all of the color and angles that can be pictured. Due to the crowds a monopod was the tool to used to get sharper images. It was difficult to keep the numbers down as to what I would share with you.

Here are images from the first morning where it was clear, cold, but not too breezy.

The Dawn Patrol

What is going on here?
I have learned what was going on here. There was a balloon not inflated and the basket was in front of the second balloon. The balloonist just fired off his burners  either to check that they were working or as a photo op for a visitor. The result was
that the flame went high enough and was in front of the red balloon so we got this effect of the balloon being on fire. 

Owned by an Obstetrician :-)

In the afternoon we returned to the Balloon Park for the After Glow and Fire Works. The wind had picked up and they finally shut down the inflations due to it. The balloons were really moving about and it could have been a fire storm.

The second morning was also breezy and the winds were borderline on the ground, and got higher as one would move aloft just 100 feet. Due to safety concerns the morning liftoff and flights were cancelled. I still got some interesting pictures before we headed back to the hotel.

Waiting to fly

A Festival of Color

Looking In

 Once back at the Hotel it was time to finish packing, have a quick breakfast and "hit the road" for the back to San Diego.

PETROGLYPH N. M.

Over the period of two days we visited this small and quite new (1990) National Monument. The monument is located within the city of Albuquerque, and is surrounded in areas by housing developments.

 

I enjoyed two sunrises from the West side of the Monument, and exploring two areas of petroglyphs: 

Boca Negra Canyon:

A Humble Sunrise

One must keep an eye out for...

Morning at Vulcan Vocano:

Vulcan Peak

Another View

Lichen on Basalt

Another View

Piedras Marcadas Canyon:

  

This area is surrounded by a residential area and is a nice respite from city life. regrettably there is quite a bit of evidence that a number of petroglyphs have been lifted from the rock surfaces. In order to see lots of the images one has to climb up and over lots of rocks. When you explore the area you need to be careful not to touch the rock art as that can lead to an deterioration of the art. As you will see, the boulders can be a good size and one need to be careful of where you put your hands and feet.  

Regrettably there has been vandalism at all of the sites in the past. Part of the problem is the question of who has jurisdiction over enforcing any regulations: The City of Albuquerque, the National Park Service, or the State of New Mexico. Hopefully the area will be preserved in its entirety.

There were an abundance of petroglyphs at each canyon and many more in other areas of the park.

PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE - October 23, 2014

Today here in San Diego we were able to view a partial solar eclipse. We had sunny clear weather through the day.

I had purchased two solar filters for my camera lenses for this event. One cannot safely photograph or view a solar eclipse without proper filtration. The day before I experimented with my gear and was pretty well prepared for the eclipse. 

We only experienced about a 40% covering of the sun, but it was still thrilling to see and photograph.

Here is the sun in all its glory with an added bonus of a large sunspot close to the center of the sun as we looked at it.

The following is a series of 11 images taken between 1448 and 1518.

Here is a the sun with the maximum eclipse---

At Maximum Occultation

 

Finally there is a larger version of the eclipse taken at 1618 which was about 40 minutes after the maximum eclipse here in San Diego.