 | | Author: | Art (ID: 1009) | | Posted: | 2009-04-27 03:26 GMT+00:00 | | Mileage: | 4.01 km | |
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 | Tags: | Photography, Hiking, Landscape, desert, hike, photographs |
| Views: 1206 |
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It was windy and dusty in the valley, so I went east of town to a trail I've wanted to map with my i-gotU travel logger for a while. The trail was in a low resolution area of Google Earth (but was made high resolution a week ago; Yeah!), so I was not able to geotag pictures I had taken there before. Even with the high resolution, the trail is not used enough to be able to see much of it in Google Earth.
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This is at the start of the trail, looking back towards where I park.
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The agaves are putting up flower stalks. There aren't any flowers yet, though.
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This is a very rocky, rugged area.
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High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI) make it possible to get pictures of many scenes I could not have photographed before. For example, without HDRI the sky would be over exposed and the rock on the right would be very under exposed.
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As you can see, the trail is not very wide or well worn. This part of the trail is not visible in Google Earth.
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I took a lot of pictures facing this direction so that I wouldn't be shooting into the sun. Notice the bright red ocotillo flowers.
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The mountains way back there on the horizon are the Superstitions.
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I would like to hike in the mountains back there, but a steep-sided canyon blocks the way.
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Non-HDRI.
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HDRI.
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Zoomed in on the Superstition Mountains.
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Zoomed in more. The cliff at the end of the Massacre Grounds trail can be seen in this picture.
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Fish hook pincushion cactus flower.
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The trail climbs 544 feet, with small ups and downs along the way. I like the altitude vs. distance graph provided by trip composer. It's interesting how the trip out and the trip back produce a mirror image. There are some differences due to GPS errors that show up, too. GPS altitude resolution is not real good, so those errors are expected.
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Four Peaks Mountain is visible from this area. It looks different than I'm used to from this angle.
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Up ahead is the Salt River, and the canyon through which it flows. Actually, it might be considered to be part of Canyon Lake here.
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More of the Canyon is visible as you get closer.
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I think the canyon is very pretty.
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The tip of an agave flower stalk.
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Ocotillo flowers.
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The prickly pear cacti are also in bloom.
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Agaves and prickly pears.
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The river / lake is visible from the edge of the canyon.
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Boats in the water, far below.
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Employees of SRP that maintain the Apache Lake dam live down there.
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Saguaros grow wherever they can.
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It's time to head back to the truck.
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Non-HDRI
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HDRI
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The trail on the way back.
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This antelope squirrel (on top of the rock) was keeping watch for predators.
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The landscape looks more interesting as the sun gets lower in the sky.
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This rock looks like two bears kissing to me.
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This is a side canyon that is visible from near the parking area.
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