Art in progress... Glacial Recession Part 4

So I've been busy creating lately which is totally awesome!! Since we got back from vacation (don't worry, I'll get back to my pictures and posts of the trip as I alternate between projects) I've gotten back into the studio and have been working full-steam ahead on my "Glacial Recession" piece. So, four months after I did the first three timelapses (see the others here, here and here), I've finally uploaded another one. The first two sections were shot in February and the last ones were done this past week.


I've finally achieved the look I want using salt and the dyes to create texture, and I am even re-designing the bottom part of the piece. Actually, I'm not really sure I can call it a re-design, considering I didn't really have a plan for it in the first place. This past winter, I forced myself to move ahead, working on the sky first, without worrying about the bottom. Sure enough, as my dear friend Mindy says, the piece spoke to me - it finally told me what it is supposed to look like. It's going to require more fabric and more dyes, so I know what I'll be doing.

Here are some of my first pieces of fabric that show the wonderful texture I've been getting with the salt:

 Procion MX Reactive dyes: Cerulean, Lemon Yellow, and Sky Blue

Procion MX Reactive Dyes: Lemon Yellow, Sky Blue, and Cobalt

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