November 2016

The group making the Big Bend trip this time included Rick, Terry, Bruce, myself, and a new member George. Fall is an interesting time because the lighting is less harsh, there might be some clouds, the sunrises are later and the sunsets are earlier than in April. The landscape and lighting combine to produce photos with lots of brown to golden hues.

A very interesting trip…
• We had the opportunity to try shots of the “supermoon” November 14/15, which were a challenge.
• Some of the group went on a spectacular air tour of the west side of Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. Taking photos from a small plane has its own set of difficulties, but if you click here you can see the results.
• Three of us took a long South Rim hike for sunrise photos. We started at 2:00 am and returned at 11:00 am, 13 miles later with some very nice shots.
• All went on short drive to the Terlingua sinkhole, a big hole in the ground about 100 feet deep.
• I made a couple of bike rides in the State Park, one from the West Contrabando trailhead to the Crawford Smith Ranch and a tour of the western part of the Lajitas Airport trails from the Lajitas trailhead.

There were just a few wildflowers in bloom, but I was able to add five new species to my collection. Click here to view my Big Bend wildflower collection.