Bristlecone Pine Forest – The oldest living trees in the world

Just an one hour drive away from Bishop up in the White Mountains there is one of the most magical forests I have seen so far. The Bristlecone Pine Forest is between 3000m and 3500m above sealevel and contains the oldest living things on this planet. The oldest tree they found here is about 4600 years old. That means that this tree already lived when mankind build the pyramids.

These trees faced a lot in their lives. Wind, cold, snow and ice formed the trees in sometimes realy weird shapes.

So here are some pictures of these magical place!

Death Valley

Six days I wanted to stay in Death Valley waiting for good morning and afternoon light at the Dunes, Badwaters and other places. But I underestimated the heat. So after four days I fled the heat. It wasn’t even possible to sleep at night with a minimal lowtemperature of 34°. Between 9am and 5pm it was not possible to hike or even move. I was never so exhausted in my whole life and I hiked maybe 6 miles total in this three days. Best go there in wintertime.
Nevertheless, Death Valley is one of the most exciting parks I have visited. The landscape is totaly bizarre. Despite the heat you see the influence of water in every corner of the park. A few days before I arrived a major flashflood ran through the park and a ranger told me that the water was more than 50cm on the road. Almost all the sideroads where closed because of the remnants of the flood. Crazy times. I hiked through the Mosaic Canyon, on the Mesquite Sanddunes and of course Badwaters/Devils Golfcourse. Sadly I wasn’t able to capture a picture of the structures in Badwaters. The 2 mile hike to the place where I could find these was too much in the heat.
Enjoy

Red Rocks

Before I went to Joe’s Valley we spend a few days in the Red Rocks bouldering and climbing. Okey, it was once again way to hot but worth the visit. Right now I spend four more days here checking out the different bouldering areas. The potential here is incredible and the rock most of the time realy good. But it is still too hot in early September. You have thousands and thousands of routes and boulders in this more or less small area. But wintertime is the better decision. When it was to hot I hiked through the canyons. It is amazing. So many different colors, shapes and kinds of sandstone. In between you can find native petroglyphs. For photography this is a perfect place. With luck you see turtles, tarantulas, coyotes and gilamonsters. The last one I didn’t see. And the structures in the canyons are just perfect.
Enjoy!

Moe’s Valley bouldering

One week Moe’s Valley and I felt like a dried fruit. It is not the right time to be here I suppose. Way to hot and it is just possible to climb early in the morning and late afternoon. But nevertheless I had a great time there. Sadly there were no other boulderers the whole week. Just some rednecks shooting their automatic guns while I was afraid to get out of the cave where I was bouldering.
There are not so many pictures this time, because there was just me and my timer.

Bryce Canyon National Park

This is the second try to go to Bryce Canyon. Rain welcomed me the first time I got here. My maingoal was to get some nice sunrise shots of the canyon. And yes, the second day was finaly good enough. Getting up realy early, driving to my favorite viewpoint and waiting for the sun to show up. It is one of the best places for sunrises so far. The colors in the canyon change with the rising sun and everythings seems to glow. After the sunrise it was off down to the spires. The hikes there are worth a try. You walk between these spires and around every corner there are new fantastic structures.
In the night there was one of the best clear skys I have ever seen. So many stars and the milky way. But the canyon was way to dark for some good pictures. No moon no light. And my headtorch was not strong enough to illuminate the canyon. So I took some pictures in the forest around the rim and on the campground.

Here are some of the pictures I took. Enjoy

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Before I went to Joe’s Valley I visited Bryce Canyon and Escalante. But because of the realy bad weather I decided to switch the plan and go to Escalante after Joe’s Valley. I thought, that maybe the weather will be better in the end of August. But the weather was still bad. Cloudy and some raindrops all day long. Not so much rain that you get wet, but annoying nevertheless. On my way to Escalante I drove through areas with a lot of aspen … realy nice motives for beautiful pictures. But there it rained much more so I took just some photos out of the car.

When I planned this trip I found some pictures of a place called Moki Hill. It is in the middle of nowhere and is a realy amazing place. The so called Moki Marbles are lying there in their thousands. It is a weird place because it doesn’t make any sense that there is this tiny area where you can find so many Moki Marbles in one place. Here is a small galery with some of the pictures I took there before it started to rain again.

After the Moki Hill I drove to the Visitor Center and got a permit for Camping on the Hole-in-the-Rock-Road. This is where you start your tours to Slotcanyons like Zebraslot, Peek-a-boo or Spooky Canyon. The ranger told me, that the road is dry and it should be no problem to get to the slotcanyons when I start really early. The thunderstorms and flashfloods should arrive late in the afternoon.

So I drove down and got to a campside near the trailhead of Peek-a-boo and Spooky which I wanted to do the next day. I started realy early and while I was in the Peek-a-boo it started to rain … so I got out as fast as I could, went back and on my way up a flashflood arrived in the Dry Gulch. This is the main wash, where a lot of slotcanyons end. Maybe the ranger was to optimistic. That were my 10 minutes in a slotcanyon.

I decided to drive back the road to get near Zebraslot for the next day. I remebered the flashflood I have seen an hour before … when I stood before a big pod of mud where a road should have been. No way back. It didn’t stop raining and it was impossible to cross the road. In the end it took me two days before I got back to paved road, thanks to a few jeeps which cleared most of the mud early in the morning. A big part of the dirtroad was so wet that I was just slipping and sliding and trying not to drive the car off the road.

The weather looked fine this morning so I tried to get to the Zebraslot. It is an beautiful hike to the entrance and that alone is worth the hike. But it rained so much over the last days that it was impossible to get into the canyon. A river was flowing out and it would have been way to dangerous. So I hiked back and took just some pictures of the area around just before it started to rain again. The colors of the rock are amazing. Yellow to red to grey to brown to sometimes green and blue. And the rockstructure is just perfect. So I decided screw the colours and make some b & w shots.

Enjoy!

Hip to be square – Capitol Reef National Park

And here is another round of squares. This time the Capitol Reef National Park. When you have visited Zion, Bryce, Arches or Canyonlands NP, then this park is maybe a bit boring. Nevertheless it is a nice place for hiking. And I am sure you will find just amazing landscape in the backcountry. Oh ….one is not exactly square …

Enjoy

Joe’s Valley – Video – The Wind Below V7

I am a bit behind. There are four more posts coming the next one or two weeks from the places I have already visited. Stay tuned for the Capitol Reef NP, Grandstaircase Escalante NM, Bryce Caynon NP and Moe’s Valley
So here is a small video I put together while I was bouldering in Joes Valley. The boulder is called The Wind Below and is one of the realy high ones. Congratulations Eric for this nice ascent!!

Joe’s Valley bouldering

Two weeks I stayed here in Joe’s Valley, Utah. Famous for its excellent sandstone bouldering this area is as big as Magic Wood but more dispersed. It reminds me a bit of bouldering in Frankenjura. Here some boulders and there some boulders. Just New Joe’s is a bigger area with all the boulders in one place. But nevertheless it is worth a visit. The rock quality is good and some of the classics are just amazing.

There were not so many people around I could take pictures of, because it is just not the season. So my timer for the camera had to take some pictures of me too. And there will be a small shortvideo of one of the big Highballs there. Stay tuned.

Enjoy!

 

Zion National Park

This is a park worth to visit. The impressive canyon slowly carved out in millions of years by the Virgin River has one of the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world. Wild slotcanyons on its side, turkeys and deer running around and a nice contrast between red rock and the green of plants.

What I liked is, that you are not allowed to drive in the main canyon with your own car. Shuttlebuses are leaving every few minutes from the visitor center and you an reach every corner of the canyon.

We were there for three days and the weather was not perfect but okey for some hiking. The danger of flashfloods was sinking everyday and we got a permit for The Subway. The first day was discovering the Hidden Canyon and on our second day we walked The Narrows. It is funny In the beginning you walk with a lot of other people, but after a short while there are less and less people. The thing is you will get wet. It’s not called The Narrows for nothing. You walk 70 to 80% of the way in the river. Your shoes will get soaked and somtimes the water is up to your bellybutton. I had to be really careful with may camera, even it was in a waterproof bag. There is also a picture of a photoworkshop … that is what it looked like most of the pictures I took there. You have to hold your Tripod while the water is pressing against you and your camera. Because of the flashfloods the week days before the water was really dirty and it was not perfect for photography.

The next day we hiked to The Subway. Sadly there where seven flashfloods the previous days, the ranger warned us, so not good for photography. But nevertheless it was totally worth it. And I want to go back there one day in autumn, when there is less and clear water and the leaves are colorfull. The hike is a long one and you have to cross the river more than one time but in the end it is amazing.

Zion National Park is a perfect place for hiking and photography. There is so much structure and scenic views to find. And when you are there go to the galleries of the local photographers. Their work is more than amazing!!

See yourself … here are the pictures. As always, click to enlarge.