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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/18/2014
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After our Bighorn Sheep Count orientation meeting we headed up to the 4th grove to see how the canyon was doing water wise. The droughts suggested the sheep would have another very dry summer. I am going on 8 months now of L5/S1 sciatic nerve impingement and my left leg is impaired with about 30% loss of strength and numbness but improving each day. With a Mountainsmith Day TLS fanny pack I can get out and do things now, like a single overnight "fannypack" trip. No backpack trips in sight for some time.
I drove out the night before the orientation and slept out on the ground on a bluff at Fonts Point. Camera gear was a 1916 Kodak Junior No. 1 Autographic I picked up on craigslist last week and my Canon S100 point-n-shoot. Wind was just way, way too much...sand blowing all night and my bivy was filled with sand thru the no-see-em mesh.
Foints Point at sundown
Fire Moonrise
Fonts Point Wash and Toro Peak off in the distance. One shot from the 1916 camera and one from the S100
Kodak Jr
S100
Fonts Point long exposure with a full moon. A bit under exposed
I had 2 rolls of 120 film to shoot so I stopped to take some photos of the Sky Art with the old camera. I used some filters and Series VI adapters that got on Ebay from Caroles314, you won't find a better seller on ebay than her.
The 1916 Kodak Jr No. 1 Autographic
Over at the Visitor Center I put a roll of Redscale film in the old camera. With Redscale film you can over expose quite a bit, the film was 400 ISO and I exposed it at 25 ISO.
The VC and Indianhead
Indianhead from the VC
Our trek up into the canyon was uneventful but enjoyable. There were no other hikers past the first grove (in 100+ temps mind you) so we had the whole canyon to ourselves. Plenty of water was flowing for the sheep, birds, bugs and humans.
Some gorgeous scat on the trail
Check out the detail of the red seeds or whatever they are
Coming up to the 1'st grove we can see plenty of water flowing, no huge punchbowls like in years past but enough for wildlife to drink
1'st Grove
More water flowing up near 3rd grove
Indianhead
While we were making camp around 7pm we heard some rocks falling on one of the hillsides and started looking around, after about 15 minutes we spotted the bighorn sheep. There were 9 of them, 3 older rams, 3 ewes and 3 lambs. They were quite happy to frolic around while we watched and as the sun went down they sauntered off past our camp.
As the sun set they made great silhouettes as they climbed the ridge
Lots of wildlife, insects and other living creatures in and near the water. I probably spent an hour photographing stuff in the water while the rest of our gang went hiking around.
The reflections from the Palm Grove on the water surface were really cool
Lots of really cool looking rock surfaces all thru the canyon
A really big "Moss Blanket"
On the way out we found a dead lamb, probably from disease or injury
Palm Canyon was a great overnight trip, recommended for anyone but watch out for high temperatures during the summer.
Here is a video of the sheep frolicking around on a boulder, they did this for 10-15 minutes, chasing each other around like "catch me if you can"
On my way home I still had some film left to burn so here are a few more photos from the old 1916 Kodak folder
View Point going up Montezuma Grade
ABDSP Sign
The now restored Butterfield Stage Shop. It is open for tours, be sure to stop by and check it out.
Total mylar ballons this trip - 2 (no photos but they were fresh ones)
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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anutami Posts: 491
6/18/2014
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What a great trip! What were the night temps? That has to be one of the craziest frog/toad I have ever seen. How is the truck working out for you? I may be headed out over the weekend to experience another season of the desert 
Nolan
edited by anutami on 6/18/2014
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Florian Posts: 129
6/18/2014
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Great pictures. Such variety.
-Florian
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/18/2014
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Nolan (anutami) wrote:
What a great trip! What were the night temps? That has to be one of the craziest frog/toad I have ever seen. How is the truck working out for you? I may be headed out over the weekend to experience another season of the desert Low 100's during the day, probably low 70's at night, I just slept in a nylon bivy and the other guys just used a bed sheet, no need for much more. I could pack really light and small because of that.Truck works great, zips right along on the dirt roads, way faster than my old Dodge. I want to try and start getting back out there.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/18/2014
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Florian wrote:
Great pictures. Such variety.
-Florian Thanks!
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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ziphius Posts: 911
6/18/2014
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That scat looks "ready to eat"! Love the aquatic insect photos. Glad you got out. Your post reminded me that I wanted to alert you to a couple of Radiolab stories that just aired, involving ancient pottery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dvQDNgYmKU
http://www.radiolab.org/story/seed-jar/
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/18/2014
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Jim (ziphius) wrote:
That scat looks "ready to eat"! Love the aquatic insect photos. Glad you got out. Your post reminded me that I wanted to alert you to a couple of Radiolab stories that just aired, involving ancient pottery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dvQDNgYmKU
http://www.radiolab.org/story/seed-jar/
I 'll have a listen tomorrow, love radiolab....I was hoping you would be able to provide some ID'ing of the critters...I think a couple of those frogs/toads have parasites but I am not very knowledgeable on that subject.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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hikerdmb Posts: 423
6/18/2014
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Glad you are able to get out there Daren. Sorry you are still having back troubles. But you are making the best of it. Way to adapt to an ultra ultra light weight pack.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/18/2014
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hikerdmb wrote:
Glad you are able to get out there Daren. Sorry you are still having back troubles. But you are making the best of it. Way to adapt to an ultra ultra light weight pack. Thanks David...yeah, compact and light now..I even got a new, lighter hat, a smaller/lighter snow peak stove/cup/fuel canister combo that weighs nothing and is ultra compact. Now I just need to figure out how to make 8 liters of water small and light... For this trip I carried 5 liters of water and all the essential gear, stove,food,coffee,sleep stuff, big ridgecrest sleep pad, flashlight,canon s100 camera, etc and a 375ml bottle of jack all in that fannypack...works great. For a day trip it will barely hold everything I need for my 4x5 camera...ask Tom...
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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ziphius Posts: 911
6/18/2014
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Well, I want to call your really warty toad a Red-spotted toad, Bufo punctatus, but it looks so unlike every other toad that's supposedly in our area.... best guess. I think the frog is a Pacific tree frog. Your giant water beetle is a member of the Family Belostomidae. I posted a short video of one from Big Spring awhile back. They have a really painful bite and the are fierce hunters of baby turtles, fish, frogs, whatever they can get. Apparently, they have to surface for air ... they also fly at night and can be attracted to lights like other insects. Also a popular food in Thailand (all this from wikipedia, not in my head). 99% sure your damselfly is a Vivid Dancer (from my copy of Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West, which weighs 2.5 lbs and is never carried on backpack trips!).... photographed one at Pena Spring last year. The things with the spikes on their heads are bighorn sheep. 
The SD Nat. Hist. Museum checklists of the animals and plants of the county are always a good starting point:
http://www.sdnhm.org/science/field-guide/
edited by ziphius on 6/18/2014
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/18/2014
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Jim (ziphius) wrote:
Well, I want to call your really warty toad a Red-spotted toad, Bufo punctatus, but it looks so unlike every other toad that's supposedly in our area.... best guess. I think the frog is a Pacific tree frog. Your giant water beetle is a member of the Family Belostomidae. I posted a short video of one from Big Spring awhile back. They have a really painful bite and the are fierce hunters of baby turtles, fish, frogs, whatever they can get. Apparently, they have to surface for air ... they also fly at night and can be attracted to lights like other insects. Also a popular food in Thailand (all this from wikipedia, not in my head). 99% sure your damselfly is a Vivid Dancer (from my copy of Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West, which weighs 2.5 lbs and is never carried on backpack trips!).... photographed one at Pena Spring last year. The things with the spikes on their heads are bighorn sheep.
The SD Nat. Hist. Museum checklists of the animals and plants of the county are always a good starting point:
http://www.sdnhm.org/science/field-guide/ That s a great resource...thanks!! There were tons of those water beetles.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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rockhopper Posts: 668
6/19/2014
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Daren,
Nice TR and great photos as usual. Glad to hear your leg and back is getting stronger. I like to slowly work out my injuries, but not push it. Good luck.
edited by rockhopper on 6/19/2014
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
6/19/2014
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All the macro pics with your S100? Very nice. Like the toad and damselfly pics especially. So what kind of film does your 1916 Kodak use again? Tom
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/19/2014
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tommy750 wrote:
All the macro pics with your S100? Very nice. Like the toad and damselfly pics especially. So what kind of film does your 1916 Kodak use again? Tom The toads were about as big as half my thumb...the really warty one caught a couple flies but my camera was not fast enough to catch it (OK, maybe I wasn't but it is easier to blame the camera). The old Kodak uses 120 roll film, still readily available and is a 6x9cm negative. When I got home I realized that the old Kodak series VI filters for my vintage cameras would fit on my Canon S100 digital camera so I now have a new arsenal to use with the digital compact..!!
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/20/2014
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Randy shared some of his photos with me...
Here we all are for a group photo that I didn't even realize was happening...news to me...
Once again, blissfully unaware someone else was near...too busy taking pictures of fascinating water bugs..
Hummm...I never even knew there were people behind me. Froges were all over
That's my fanny pack setup, complete with bed roll..guess what I am doing...
Crap, I don't have any hair....
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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anutami Posts: 491
6/21/2014
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You look like a kid in a candy store
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/21/2014
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Nolan (anutami) wrote:
You look like a kid in a candy store What can I say....yeah, candy everywhere....love bugs and stuff...
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http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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tommy750 Posts: 1049
6/22/2014
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Typical trip with Daren is sitting around watching him contort to get the shot
 Stan Cam2 by tomteske, on Flickr
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/22/2014
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I am beginning to see a theme of photos of me by others...
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
6/25/2014
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OK I'll play
dsefcik wrote:
I am beginning to see a theme of photos of me by others...
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
6/25/2014
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Hey, what year was that, I finally have to replace those boots...!!
surfponto wrote:
OK I'll play
dsefcik wrote:
I am beginning to see a theme of photos of me by others...
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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