PaulRojas
Headstrong
From a short weekend trip I took a couple of weeks ago to Utah with D Breezy and John Double U.
I took a 3-hour nap early that Friday night, then hit the road at around 11pm. Arrived in Las Vegas at around 3:30am, got gas and a hotdog at a 7-Eleven, then picked up David at his place at around 3:50am.
After an uneventful sunrise at Valley of Fire (we didn't even bother pulling our cameras out), we were off to Utah to drop off a tripod at John's place.
I'd never met John, but I'd heard a lot of good things about him from David, so it was great to finally meet him, and an even bigger privilege to see his work. His prints seriously blew my mind... his work was just really unique and a breath of fresh air! David and I even joked that we should just sell all our camera equipment and give up!
John eventually decided to join us on our little trip and it was off to a remote plateau in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area.
There weren't any trails up to the top of this plateau, so we hiked around the base of it for awhile, until we found a route that looked safe to scramble up. It was a few hundred feet to the top, and a really steep climb, but it didn't really bother me as much as the thought of having to descend the same way in the dark. When we got to the top, John piled some cairn stones to mark our exit.
The skies didn't really agree with us till after the sun had set, so we ended up shooting till well after dusk. By the time we packed up, the sky was pitch black and we could barely recognize the landscape. Even with headlamps on, we were soon wandering around, unable to find where our cairn stones were. It was one of those "Oh, sh*t" moments, but I don't think any of us was seriously concerned. We searched for alternate routes down, but every lead we took ended with us staring down hundred-foot drops. With the temperature dropping to almost freezing, sticking around till morning wasn't an option. We would've searched for those cairn stones all night, but luckily we didn't have to. Shortly after retracing our steps back to where we were shooting, we were able to spot the cairn stones just a short distance away.
The climb down was pretty sketchy, but not as bad as I had imagined. Aside from having to butt-slide down the steepest sections, it was manageable. I was just happy knowing I was getting off the cliff!
After hiking back to the truck, we had a quick dinner at the closest town, and head to Bryce to shoot sunrise (in -6 degree temperature!)
Headstrong
From a short weekend trip I took a couple of weeks ago to Utah with D Breezy and John Double U.
I took a 3-hour nap early that Friday night, then hit the road at around 11pm. Arrived in Las Vegas at around 3:30am, got gas and a hotdog at a 7-Eleven, then picked up David at his place at around 3:50am.
After an uneventful sunrise at Valley of Fire (we didn't even bother pulling our cameras out), we were off to Utah to drop off a tripod at John's place.
I'd never met John, but I'd heard a lot of good things about him from David, so it was great to finally meet him, and an even bigger privilege to see his work. His prints seriously blew my mind... his work was just really unique and a breath of fresh air! David and I even joked that we should just sell all our camera equipment and give up!
John eventually decided to join us on our little trip and it was off to a remote plateau in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument area.
There weren't any trails up to the top of this plateau, so we hiked around the base of it for awhile, until we found a route that looked safe to scramble up. It was a few hundred feet to the top, and a really steep climb, but it didn't really bother me as much as the thought of having to descend the same way in the dark. When we got to the top, John piled some cairn stones to mark our exit.
The skies didn't really agree with us till after the sun had set, so we ended up shooting till well after dusk. By the time we packed up, the sky was pitch black and we could barely recognize the landscape. Even with headlamps on, we were soon wandering around, unable to find where our cairn stones were. It was one of those "Oh, sh*t" moments, but I don't think any of us was seriously concerned. We searched for alternate routes down, but every lead we took ended with us staring down hundred-foot drops. With the temperature dropping to almost freezing, sticking around till morning wasn't an option. We would've searched for those cairn stones all night, but luckily we didn't have to. Shortly after retracing our steps back to where we were shooting, we were able to spot the cairn stones just a short distance away.
The climb down was pretty sketchy, but not as bad as I had imagined. Aside from having to butt-slide down the steepest sections, it was manageable. I was just happy knowing I was getting off the cliff!
After hiking back to the truck, we had a quick dinner at the closest town, and head to Bryce to shoot sunrise (in -6 degree temperature!)