6 days in the desert

hitek79

Explorer
I've been working on this project for the last 7 months, and like all of these types of things, it took much longer than expected. I was supposed to have a long winter off, but that didn't happen either. Anyway, finally by the start of Feb, I had the rig done, and a break from work, and off I went.

After a shake down over night run to Death Valley, I went back to all the places I was hoping to shoot this winter, and made some adjustments to what my priorities were and came up with a basic game plan centered around the area between Kanab, UT and Page, AZ.

******adding a short video here********


Death Valley
i-G6Z6SV6-XL.jpg


I headed out from Las Vegas at 4 in the morning headed to Kanab, UT in hopes of getting a permit to hit up The Wave in the Vermillion Cliffs area. Jan and Feb are supposed to be the slowest months, but I showed up and 42 people were in the drawing for 10 spots. No luck. It wasn't the end of the world, but this is someone I really want to photograph, so I guess I'll come back next Jan and see if my luck is any better. I decided to just move on to my next stop, which was White Pocket further in to the Vermillion Cliffs.

i-VQtjmmd-XL.jpg


The road in is very long (36 miles one way), and very rough, especially for my rig with it's 19.5 truck tires. They are not forgiving. With a few breaks it took me the better part of 5 hours to get to my destination.

The last 8 miles of the drive is the slowest. It's narrow, and the sand is pretty deep. It was the first test of my new U-Joint 4wd set up. I hopped out, locked the hubs, put it in 4wd and motored right a long. Score!

i-DDWD9CP-XL.jpg


Along the drive as you can see in the picture above, the clouds were perfect. Thin, high clouds are a photographers dream. They always light up at sunset. I was hoping they would hang around for the next few hours.

When I pulled in to the parking area, I was the only vehicle there, and it would stay that way for the next 24 hours. Score again!

i-c5TkPT6-XL.jpg


It's a short walk to the White Pocket area from the parking area, so I headed out to explore. This area is amazing. The entire desert southwest is my favorite place I've been, but White Pocket is on a totally different level.

IMG_3841-XL.jpg


Take notice, the clouds are still hanging around. I'm starting to get pretty excited. At this point I'm running around the entire area trying to figure out exactly where I want to set up, and how I can optimize my time as the colors shift from east to west.

I came away with a lot of shots I'm really happy with.

IMG_3908-XL.jpg


IMG_2434-XL.jpg


Untitled_Panorama1-X2.jpg


So that was a total success! I was starving at this point, so it was time to head back to the bus and cook up something.

i-Spr7xTG-XL.jpg


On top of being able to camp as close to my shooting location as possible, camping in the middle of nowhere gives me a chance to play around with some astro photography. Eventually I'd like to get a tracker to do longer exposures. This is what I got for now.

IMG_3913-XL.jpg


The next morning I woke up warm and refreshed. My heated mattress pad was an excellent investment! Conditions were looking to be ideal again. Considering the journey to get to this location, I was really pleased that I hit such prime conditions as I doubt I'll make it back any time soon.

IMG_3972-XL.jpg


IMG_3996-XL.jpg


Untitled_Panorama1-2-X2.jpg


After I finished shooting sunrise, and still had no company out there, I decided to grab my drone and fly it around a bit and get some aerial footage.

i-7ptCJ48-XL.png


At this point it's time to head out. I literally make it 300 feet up the road, and I'm stuck. The sand is noticeable drier today. I put the bus in 4 low, and luckily I start moving again, but the going is VERY slow. It takes me over 2 hours to go 8 miles to the main road. I was hoping to make it to another sunset destination by 5pm, so I'm starting to watch the clock and wondering if that's going to happen. Once I get back to the main dirt road, I pick up the pace, but it's rattling the bus pretty good. I finally make it back to the highway and head on to the next spot. I make it to my turn off, and the road is gated, and locked. This is no good. I get on my phone and find another road. I start heading up that way and make it about a mile, and hit another road block. Now I'm pretty bummed because this is a spot I've been looking to hit for a long time, and I don't really have another game plan. I decide to drive in to Page because I'm starving and hit up Fiesta Mexicana. They have a number of locations all over the southwest. The food is awesome.

When I hop out of the bus though, I notice what could be a major issue. Trying to make up time on the dirt road out of Vermillion Cliffs wasn't such a good idea. I'm missing a lug on my left rear wheel. It had literally snapped off. 2 of the other lugs are loose as well. I get my jack out and yank the wheels which is not easy. Those things weigh a ton. The threads on all the other lugs on the spacer look good.

i-DwsBbHb-XL.jpg


As I'm sitting at dinner, I get a text from my wife that we have some paperwork that has to be signed and mailed out the next day for the house we're building. Another wrench in the plan. Kind of how my whole winter has gone at this point. I decide to head back towards Vegas and stop by Zion for the night and grab some quick pictures there. I head out of Page and the clouds are still really great. I'm looking for some place to pull over, but I know of a good area if I can make it to before the sunset peaks. I make it there in time, grab my gear and jog out into the desert a bit.

IMG_4102-XL.jpg


IMG_4103-XL.jpg


Now I'm feeling better about the situation as I came away with something I was pretty happy with. On to Zion. I get to the park around 8pm and campgrounds are already full. I should have just stopped east of the park and found someplace to camp out there. I drove through Springdale and on to Rockville. I headed up a road that looked like it would have some spots and luckily after a couple of miles up the hill I found a great spot for the night. I woke up late the next morning just as the sun was beginning to come up. I decided it was a good time to grab a good shot of the bus.

i-pvBpT6j-XL.jpg


i-nDT3hKF-XL.jpg


I headed in to the park and shot some more video and grabbed a couple more shots then around 11 I started making my way back to Vegas.

IMG_2549-XL.jpg


I'll post part 2 in a couple of days, thanks for reading!
 
Last edited:

chet6.7

Explorer
Those are some nice pictures.
Please tell me more about the heated mattress pad.Is it the kind truckers use,brand,cost,power draw? Thanks.
 

WagoneerSX4

Adventurer
Those shots are incredible. I've personally never been to a desert location so those pictures look like they could be from mars for all I know. Complete opposite of the terrain I'm used to.
 

nocensorbo

Observer
if im in vegas, ever or close, im going to bug the **** out of you to try and teach me some photo tricks. lol
 

Imnosaint

Adventurer
Great post, stunning photos. We passed you along the way in Zion on our way back from Vermillion. You're not hard to miss.
 

ert01

Adventurer
I was looking at that Amazon link about the heated pad but I didn't see any specs about current draw. How many watts is it?
 

hitek79

Explorer
Thanks everyone.

ert01, I can't remember where I found it, but I believe I had it figured that one side(it has two sides/two remotes) would draw 0.8 amps. It's been awhile since I looked in to it, but I'm 99% sure that's the number I came away with.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,533
Messages
2,875,605
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top