Tuesday, April 05
I think I've finally come up with a signaling method, in the rare cases where its needed, to let other campers know an unseen site is occupied.
I mentioned before my present campsite is atop a small hill, you can't see it from the westbound portion of the VOTG road. From the eastbound portion, no problem, you can see the VRRV easily.
In order to prevent some camper dragging some long trailer up the hill's small trail and only then finding out the site is occupied, it is hoped by me that their sighting the antenna mast clues them that someone is up there already. I know, most people are clueless but what can you do.
It's just a lightweight strap, taped to the Yagi Antenna housing, with a strip of Reflectix insulation on the end. The wind causes the shiny bit to spin, so movement and momentary reflection of sunlight catches one's eye. I could actually see a shiny spark-like reflection from quite the distance.
Later on in the morning, I decided to go revisit Mexican Hat Rock, going the long way using the VOTG road to get to US Highway 163 and from there south towards Mexican Hat.
Along the way, some more VOTG rock formations:
I'd taken pictures from the below spot before, but this time I finally saw why they'd named the second rock formation from the left: Rudolf and Santa Claus!
Do you see Santa Claus and Rudolf in front of him?
Doesn't the above look like a rooster?
Instead, I think its Franklin Butte.
Battleship Rock
The east side of this rock formation, the top portion
kind of looks like a train with cars following....
Setting Sun and Rooster Butte (according to Peakfinder app)
The Seven Sailors again....
Less than a mile from the Seven Sailors, is the exit to US 163. I took it south for a few miles until the exit for Mexican Hat Rock. I noticed some folks camping nearby too, hmmm.
I rode around a bit, climbed a hill I probably shouldn't have (it was quite steep and Yagi's front wheel started to come up at the top!). Still, it was a good spot for pictures:
There's only so much of Mexican Hat Rock that one can capture I believe, so I left to check out the Mexican Hat Rock Inn in the nearby "town" of Mexican Hat. It's so small, the US Post Office is apparently located in the convenience store at the single gas station!
I was able to find someone at the inn and for a couple of bucks he printed out for me a picture of the receipt for the Sony HX80. I'll be needing it soon as it's starting to act up again and will need to be sent for repairs. Sigh.
I returned to the campsite via the way to Moki Dugway, it was about 13 miles from Mexican Hat to the campsite. In total, the whole loop was 37 miles or so. Very windy conditions as you could tell from the video above.
Another windy day, and cooler than yesterday.
I hope it's calmer tomorrow!
After a bit of cleaning within the VRRV, rode out on Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol to take pictures at the Goosenecks State Park, just a few miles down the road from the campsite.
The fee for one day use is $2 for motorcycles, $5 for cars. So, cheap.
The park is named after the Gooseneck shaped curves carved into the rocks by the San Juan River over the course of at least 300 million years. You may have also seen these in one of John Ford's several Western themed movies, usually featuring John Wayne.
pixel 4a pano
I must say, I'm really impressed by the ease and quality of the panorama pictures produced by the Google Pixel 4a camera!
Yep, you can camp with your RV right about at the canyon's edge! It's a bit rough and rocky terrain, but so long as you go slow, it's OK. Oh, and it's only $10/night for dry camping. No hookups are available.
Leaving the park, I continued south towards Mexican Hat, through the small town, and turned near Halchita towards Alhambra Rock. It was OK I guess, but it's also visible from the highway, so if you're wanting of it, just do it from the highway. The trail I took was quite rough in spots, and the view wasn't that much different!
I returned to camp and spent the rest of the afternoon out of the wind, just relaxing in the VRRV.
As the sun neared the mesas, I rode Yagi, my TW200 the 12 miles back to the Goosenecks State Park to see what kind of Golden Hour colorations were to be had. I was too late mostly. I should have gotten there by 6:30 PM, oh well.
Still, the nearby rock formation called Bears Ears aka Alhambra Rock was nicely illuminated:
Though I had missed the golden hour's light, what remained allowed the pano feature of the Pixel 4a camera to do its thing....a little post-processing work and voila:
4 comments:
Beautiful photos! Especially the panoramic shots. I’m amazed at how well the phone cameras do what used to be a very tedious process.
Thanks RichardM! Today's camera forms are truly amazing.
You have the instinct to sniff put the best view and angle for the best photos. Am enjoying your work, thank you.
Thanks CCjon, that means a lot to me.
Post a Comment