Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park (or the end of a journey)

Somehow, I overlooked finishing my posts of photos from last year's summer vacation. Well, here it is... the long-awaited end to the summer journey of 2012 with my father, father-in-law, and husband. We spent our last morning before the long drive home out at Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park. Though this was my third visit to this wonderful park, it was the first time I'd been to this area. It was beautiful and we did a nice 1 mile hike to the Timber Creek Overlook, with 360 degree views at the end.

This concludes a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Zion: A Three Year Tradition
• Final Day in the Grand Canyon
• Little Oases in the Grand Canyon - Day 3
• The Sky In the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2
• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Another beginning

I have begun another blog for one reason only: to make my puzzle photos (and maybe little planets also) available for sale as prints. I'm going to start this process with Fotomoto and see how it goes. I don't think Etsy is the place for this and I really am hoping to have a hassle-free process, which I think will work with this second site. I will include a link to it at the top bar of this blog, but just in case, the link is: photosbykatrinakb.blogspot.com

I will be adding these photos periodically rather than all at once. Many of them will already be familiar (particularly any newer ones).

Enjoy!

Zion: A three-year tradition

Yes, I have been very slow going through all the photos from this year's vacation. How did it get to be late November and I'm still going through pictures from May, I don't know. Anyway, so lets get back to that, shall we?

At the end of our trip, we opted to tack on a small detour to Zion, but first we had to drive there which can be quite pretty:

 Vermillion Cliffs

Glen Canyon Bridge & Dam

Surprisingly, after four days in the Grand Canyon and the hiking intensity, we were amazed at how another 5 mile hike with a 1400+ ft elevation change felt good rather than painful. On our first trip to Zion, Mike and I had to work up to the Angel's Landing hike and last year's trip we tried the Observation Point trail in Zion. Since it was a first trip to Zion for both our dads, we opted for the Angel's Landing hike again. Rather than talk about it, I'll just share some photos and a timelapse from the top:

 Walter's Wiggles

 Looking up to Angel's Landing

 Climbing Chains

Zion Timelapse 20120527 from Katrina Kouba on Vimeo.

Next: Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Final Day in the Grand Canyon
• Little Oases in the Grand Canyon - Day 3
• The Sky In the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2
• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Final Day in the Grand Canyon

I realized recently that there was something I left out of my previous post... Walking the 1.5 miles from Plateau Point to the Indian Gardens campground after sunset it's almost pitch black out as you enter the campground. As you cross the creek, the crickets and frogs create a symphony of music which I stopped to capture on my phone. Perhaps I'll use it as a backdrop for a video in the future.

We could not have asked for a more perfect day hiking out of the Grand Canyon. It must've been in the 70s at Indian Gardens when we started out. The clouds and haze kept the North Rim almost invisible. The wonderful weather made for a good restful night of sleep, so I was ready for the hike. And it was a great hike! The first time we did this hike - six years ago - this was the worst day for me. Fortunately, we didn't have the weather to contend with and I was in much better shape.

By the time we were on the last couple of miles, where almost everyone who comes to the canyon and decides to hike just a bit crowd the trail, we were seeing people in down coats and hats as if it were snowing at the top. When we reached the top, we knew why. The wind was whipping right through us and we found ourselves quickly heading for the car for warmer clothes! Didn't expect that!

One would think we might skip our ice cream tradition, but you can't mess with tradition! So there we sat, shivering and eating ice cream.

Next Up: Zion, Our Three Year Tradition

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Little Oases in the Grand Canyon - Day 3
• The Sky In the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2
• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Little Oases on the Route to the Top - Grand Canyon Day 3

So, it's been a while getting back to organizing and just looking at all my vacation photos, but of course it's so wonderful to look back and marvel at how impressive that place is - not that these photos come anywhere near capturing it. For the last two days in the canyon I opted to hike more comfortably, which meant all photos were taken on my phone so that I didn't have to deal with trying to find a way to carry my DSLR comfortably - there is no way, I've decided.

There are two really wonderful things about coming out of the canyon via the Bright Angel Trail over two days: one, the first day is not nearly as steep, and two, the trail often is alongside the creek which provides little oases as relief from the heat and sun. So at the end of the hike, dropping the bulk of our gear at our campsite, we get to make the extra 1.5 mile hike out to Plateau Point for the sunset.

 The guys crossing the creek

 View of battleship rock (I think) from Bright Angel Trail

 From whence we came - Bright Angel Trail etched into the canyon

(Unfortunately the puzzle images I took at Plateau were mostly blurry and the timelapse also didn't work, so the only puzzle I got was with my phone and the colors were all off so I got rid of the color and now I like it.

Next Up: Coming Out of the Canyon On the Last Day

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• The Sky In the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2
• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Rockin' the Bottom: Phantom Ranch Part 1

sunburst on Battleship rock in "The Box," North Kaibab Trail

The Grand Canyon... what an awesome place! Backpacking it makes you forget all the troubles and worries of the working world, allowing you to dwell in the moment (particularly on your aching legs and sore knees). Fortunately, when you spend a day at the bottom, you get to enjoy a little of it's splendor without the constrains of carrying all your belongings and mentally reminding yourself over and over "you can do it".

So what exactly is it like at the bottom of the canyon? Rightly, I can't honestly describe it and my pictures/video don't do it justice. That does not mean I did not try to capture it as you will soon see, it just means that no camera can put you there... in that immense space that strangely feels so small, with towering peaks deceiving your well-tuned depth perception, particularly when you realize you can't even see the rim from which you came.

With what did we fill our day at the bottom? We had breakfast at Phantom Ranch. Then, leaving most of our belongings at our campsite, we did a morning walk about 1.5 miles through "the box" on the North Kaibab Trail. Compared to the day before, it was a flat hike that followed the Bright Angel Creek. It's recommended that you make your way through the box before mid-day as the towering walls of the canyon are like an oven that gradually heats during the day and is stiflingly hot from afternoon through evening. Headed North it was mostly shady and we turned back when it looked like shade would be hard to find up ahead.

 testing my slow shutter on the Bright Angel Creek

 (Once I figure out how, I will add a button to enable buying prints of these puzzle/collage photos via Fotomoto)

2 photos morphed together and made HDR

 having fun with HDR and layering photos, created in Photoshop

Up Next: The Sky in the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

The Grand Canyon, Going Down is Optional

The guys admiring the view at Ooh Aah Point - seriously I didn't pose them 

and I didn't name the location either

Our descent into the Grand Canyon via the South Kaibab Trail was... well... let's just call it rough. Lest this be misconstrued as complaining, I'll start off by saying that it's all totally worth it! Exhibit A:

You can actually see where we took the picture of all of us in this collage - that hump on the second picture from the left is the same hump in the background of the previous picture.

The South Kaibab trail is not for the faint of heart. It's hot. The blistery wind whips up the red dust and brushes it like sandpaper against your skin. Almost no shade and no water add to the delights of the almost constant decline of the path. I took precautions for all of these things: carrying at least 4 liters of water, wearing long pants, long-sleeve shirt, and bandana around the neck to safeguard my face through the dust storms, and training by hiking the 9 story parking garage for weeks before the inevitable. However, the almost constant strain on my knees (I wore braces the whole time) and constantly tightening my boots to prevent my toes slipping into the front of my boots over and over again, coupled with my own problem of not drinking quite enough - the bathrooms are too far apart - made it my least favorite day. The phrase "it's all uphill from here" really fit for me.

 A Century Plant (only blooms once just before it dies) 

I literally had my arms raised all the way as I was standing on a rock to get this picture

 I don't know how tall these things get, but this one was easily 2X my height. Fortunately it was bending over so I could get under it to take this photo.

Fortunately, amazing views the whole route and the exciting prospect of a wonderful stew meal at the bottom got me through. (Last time we did this - six years ago - the hike down wasn't so bad, except for the last mile that Mike and I ran - yes literally ran with a 30-40 lb backpack - to get to the ranch in time for dinner, but the struggle getting out was so much worse for me as a result. Also, it actually rained on us in 2006 and the cloud cover made it more bearable.) At any rate, we did this trail in record time - for us - with my dad always the first to get our butts moving after a break, and an overwhelming urge to get out of the heat, I think it only took us like 5-6 hours!

Not quite a 360 ° panorama (click on the image to enlarge it)

The fact that we made it to the campground in the early afternoon turned out to be a really REALLY good thing. We were too late for the best campsites, but we got there before the second break in the water line washed away a good portion of the trail. Had we arrived later, we would've had to backtrack and come around a different - longer - way. The breaks in the water line did affect us. Those who were staying at the ranch were more inconvenienced in that their promised showers were taken away. As it was, there was only one place to get fresh drinking water and all flush toilets required carrying a bucket full of creek water into the restroom with you and pouring that into the toilet to get it to flush.

 Our first view of the Colorado River - probably a little more than half-way to the bottom!

All meals were still served and fun was still had. After a delicious stew meal where we met new friends and shared tales of journeys had and yet to have, we went to a ranger talk about the geology of grand canyon - Grand Canyon ROCKS! - and then attempted to sleep in our hot tents as the wind pushed the dust through the screens. Those who did get to sleep woke up covered in a thin layer of red sand. I, however, was glad to have a view of the moon and stars as I lay awake wondering if it would ever cool off enough to get to sleep.

Next up: A Day at the Bottom!

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed it, here is my first post:

• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

Petroglyphs and Painted Desert

What might two dads and their eldest (adult) kids do after driving 1000+ miles to Albuquerque, before finishing their drive to Grand Canyon? Hint: playing in the waterpark at their hotel is not the correct answer. Answer: they decided to take a scenic detour at Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque.

Yes! One more stamp in my national parks passport! Supposedly there were like 100 petroglyphs on the Mesa Point Trail in Boca Negra Canyon. I think we probably missed a few. One thing we didn't miss were the views of Albuquerque. On such a beautiful day, it was a great little diversion. It was a short, easy trek up to viewpoints into the canyon on one side and Albuquerque on the other. And, though we didn't have it to ourselves, we only saw a handful of other visitors.

We also veered off the highway a bit at Petrified Forest National Park. But since we spent all our "free time" at Petroglyph NM, we opted not to drive the 26 miles out of our way to see the "forest". We did take a little stroll at the Painted Desert, where it was just as windy as I remember it from last time.

This is the first in a series of posts on my 2012 travels. Up next: Hiking the Grand Canyon

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

To be in the Studio or on the computer?

Originally I began blogging last year as a way to get myself to continually look for inspiration and I created it as a place to put that inspiration for my own self-reference. Furthermore, often when I come across things that I find inspiring I can't wait to share them with people. Voila: blog. Lately this blog has also taken on another purpose: it's a place for me to share the personal creative work I've been doing. It also happens to be inspirational to me, so I see it as a WIN-WIN.

Though I have been working on personal projects, they've mostly been digital, which means my studio time has diminished to almost nothing. This makes me sad. The other day I was shopping at the fabric store, getting some muslin to begin dyeing new curtains... again (my first attempt with the snow dyes was less than fantastic and my second attempt was less than spectacular as well), and I found the perfect fabric for a skirt I've been wanting to make. I decided not to let myself get the fabric because I already have at least half a dozen garment projects at home waiting for my attention. I told myself if I made one of those then I could go out and buy the fabric. So on a Friday afternoon, I stopped by the library to get some audio books on my way home, and spent the weekend sewing a shirt together.

I listened to one of these books twice, and have since listened to it again. It's right up there with the Elizabeth Gilbert TED talk that I go back to often, which I have previously blogged about. The book is called Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod. You can download the earlier version of his book for free and keep up with him on his blog.

Anyway, what I want to talk about here is the connection I made to one of the things Hugh MacLeod talks/writes about: Putting the hours in. This is where he mentions not being worried that someone might rip-off his idea of drawing on business cards because he does it for his own satisfaction and he's done so many of them that no-one could really overtake him in the sheer numbers produced AND it would be less satisfying for them because of whatever crazy reasoning they put behind it. I am relating to this in my process of creating puzzle photos as well as my more recent little planet creations (though sometimes I think of them as marbles because that's what they look like to me: a moment of time and space trapped in a glass sphere). Was I the first to come up with either of these ideas? No. And I probably won't be the last. My process has become my own and with each one I do, that process changes just a little bit. I create them for my own satisfaction.

I've been doing these puzzle photos for six years now, so I have quite a collection of them, and I'm always trying to figure out how to make them better. Sometimes I just don't get why one didn't work. Typically I can't really tell when I'm taking the photos how the final composition will look, so I've taken to increasing the number of photos and angles I take, which means that I end up producing even more of these final puzzles.

Well I've finally put all my puzzles and little planets from 2011 in one place: in my behance portfolio and I'm working on including all the puzzles I created from 2005-2010.

Bryce Canyon, NP, Utah

After taking the Observation Point trail too quickly on our way back to camp the day before, hiking in Bryce Canyon was a challenge. But here's the thing: typically I like to hike up first and down on the way back, but when you're hiking into a canyon it just doesn't work that way. Yet, after such a hike, it was painful hiking into the Bryce amphitheater (it's not really a canyon), and coming out was much much easier!

We've finally learned our lesson about paying for more than one day at a campsite, and though we'd planned to spend two nights in Bryce, we paid only for one in case we changed our minds - which we did. Anyway, after we found the spot we wanted at the sunset campground, we walked up to catch the bus out to Bryce Point.

 Bryce Point, Elevation 8300 ft

The plan was to take the Peek-a-Boo trail to the Navajo trail and come out through wall street at the sunset point parking lot. The Peek-a-Boo trail took us down into the amphitheater, through arches and switchbacks.

As we descended, there were numerous panoramic moments.

Once we were at the bottom, most views were hindered by trees and "dead" hoodoos. However, wall street (two really tall fins that haven't yet eroded into arches or hoodoos) was pretty cool.

We were lucky I guess. Last year we hiked the Navajo to the Queen's Garden loop, and since the wall street side of Navajo was closed, we went down the thors hammer side. This year, the opposite was true: thors hammer was closed so we got to do the wall street side. Amazingly, I made it up the 20+ switchbacks out of wall street with only one short stop in the middle. I guess I was pacing myself and had gained some muscle endurance on all our other hikes this trip.

The next morning we got up early to see the sunrise from sunrise point. 

Though we should've been prepared, we didn't expect it to be as cold as it was. One hour of waiting and watching, then we packed up our campsite and drove to see the south end of the park before heading to Colorado.

Here marks the end of our national parks tour for this trip. We loved the beautiful sights we got to enjoy and I've really had fun making all the collaged photos and little planets. The last days of our trip were spent driving and a two-day stopover in Boulder, CO. There, we relaxed, went to a movie, and I spent some time in the Butterfly Pavilion, which was awesome! So, stay tuned...

Photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

This is a series on our 2011 trip. Here are the previous posts:

• Hiking to Observation Point, Zion NP
• Zion NP
• Grand Teton NP
• Sunrise at Yellowstone NP
• Day 4 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 3 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 2 in Yellowstone NP
• Day 1 in Yellowstone NP
• Devils Tower and Little Planets
• Hiking in the Black Hills AKA Custer State Park