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Normally when I post a photo I take time to describe it, or something that struck me worthy of mention when I took it. This time, I've decided to try something a bit different . Since getting into night photography, especially mountain scenes I’m often asked about what it’s like to hike up in the dark and cold. A recent trip to Mayflower Gulch and the Boston Mine was a perfect opportunity to try share this experience.
This post will be the first of three consecutive installments describing a recent nighttime hike to the Boston Mine. My goal is describe for you what one of these adventures is like, but since the write up got a bit long I broke it up into three parts.
Part one:
I had the pleasure of joining Brad McGinley, Mike Berenson, Darren White and Cooper the Wonder Dog last weekend on a trek up Mayflower Gulch to the Boston Mine tram. The tram sits approximately 12,400’ above sea level about 1400’ about tree line and most importantly at the time about 2000’ above the parking area. A well planned trip by Mike had us leaving the parking area at 10:30 PM Friday night and arriving at the top around 30 minutes into the next day. I’d done this hike twice before in the winter and the hiking conditions can range from easy to brutal. Fortunately, the photography gods were (mostly) with us this evening as we were met with hard packed snow. Weather-wise conditions were about as you would expect for being above tree line at 1:00 AM in April. Cold, gusty winds and clouds whipping by overhead at blazing speed.
If you’ve never been to this location it’s basically a long meadow surrounded by 13,000 foot mountains on 3 sides, which do a pretty good job of blocking most of the wind from the valley floor. From the parking area you hike the first 2 miles under tree cover on a jeep road which always seems to be an easy hike as far as snow pack goes. Everyone is forced to use this portion of the trail, so it’s always packed snow and sheltered from the wind by the pine trees. This ends at tree line and dumps you out at several miner cabin ruins which are photogenic in and of themselves, but our quest was further on this night. The hike to the top from this point is a well-defined trail in summer and nonexistent in winter. In the past we’ve been: faced with cutting our own trail through deep powder which proved to be too much, and 1” of ice crust over soft snow which nearly proved too much (about 3 – 10 steps and then post hole – even with snow shoes). But on this night the snow was nice and packed. Snowshoes were helpful, but not necessary.
Another phenomenon once leaving the protection of the trees was the wind was free to have its way with us. We had layers and hiking up is always the warmest part of the trip. We’d have to cross the standing around up there when the time came, but at this point no issue with us, but I got nervous for Cooper. I had discussed with Brad (who has far more dog hiking experience than I) beforehand and had asked him if he had a dog jacket from his hiking days with his dog Annie. That didn’t pan out, but we took an extra jacket and put it on Cooper, zipping it over his body and tying the arms in front of his legs. This worked pretty well and he seemed grateful for the protection. I’ll point out that Cooper is a Labra-Doodle and normally has long fur (hair?) which was cut about a month ago so he was less protected than normal.
Our pace to the top was casual, but we had plenty of time. Our main goal for the night was to catch the Milky Way above the mountains, which would begin about 2 AM. It’s only a mile to the tram from the cabins, but man it’s a long mile. Many breath catching breaks were taken along the way. I think both Cooper and Brad wished for less stopping and more walking, but they were outnumbered.
The lighting on this night was somewhat peculiar, and was the cause of strange sensations. There was no moon on this night, but there was a glow to the area which allowed enough light to see. In fact, Brad kept his light off once we were out of tree line. I’m sure this was due to the fact that everything was covered in white except the steepest of the surrounding mountains and what little light there was bouncing off all sides. Plus, there was a decent amount of light pollution reflecting off the cloud when they were overhead. All of this contributed to this weird phenomenon that made it seem like we were approaching our target, though unable to reach it. For example, there’s a distinct edge or seam where the (relatively) flat meadow turns to steep mountainside which we could see this plain as day. It looked to be only a couple hundred feet away, but no matter how far we walked it remained unreachable. I’m not sure why that was, but we all felt it and discussed it several times…..
Stay tuned for part two coming shortly:
Vista notturna del rione Venezia dal Ponte di Santa Trinita (Livorno).
Ringrazio Stefano per la pazienza...
Please don't use my images on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. All rights reserved - copyright © Antonio Giordano
I knew I could do a better job processing these files. The Fuji takes great night time photos - as revealed by the .jpegs - but Lightroom still has a difficulty with Fuji files. So it was worth re-processing...
Yes the trees block the light trails, but couldnt be helped. I took the photo from a bed and breakfast window!
Going to Bed
I check the locks on the front door
and the side door,
make sure the windows are closed
and the heat dialled down.
I switch off the computer,
turn off the living room lights.
I let in the cats.
Reverently, I unplug the Christmas tree,
leaving Christ and the little animals
in the dark.
The last thing I do
is step out to the back yard
for a quick look at the Milky Way.
The stars are halogen-blue.
The constellations, whose names
I have long since forgotten,
look down anonymously,
and the whole galaxy
is cartwheeling in silence through the night.
Everything seems to be ok.
(by George Bilgere)
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Every night for a hundred years the angel of dreams came to the town & splashed the walls with bright colors that stayed until the first light of day. (storypeople)
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I have been 'hanging on' to that one for absolutely ages. I also have zillions of photos I truly would like to share with you. But when I know I might just have the time to upload but NOT the time to comment on YOUR WORK; I won't upload either.... That's the reason you see nothing of me, hear little these times and might have to do without me for a while longer.
This year has been the best for us personally for quite a long time; and it was certainly the best since we came to France. It has actually gotten really good by the 21st of February. Whatever life threw at us after that date made us just sigh, grin, laugh, and then we took new strength, and just went on with whatever was to be done.
I also still am without my future new computer, and although I am glad to be able to us Hero Husband's very old and tired laptop which came with its English passport to Switzerland and then to France, it's still a very old machine and I cannot use any of my free photo processings either because they would devour too much of the little and precious capacities of said computer. I therefore learn to think small once more; not a bad thing really - because I will appreciate all the more my new and shiny and HUGELY efficient tower.... once I'll have it!!)
It's a typical day for the Monday Blues, a miserable, grey, wet and depressing November Day with pigeons stealing the bird seeds I put out for the birds (not the scum), neighbours cats trailing their fat bellies bellinguerly in front of my study window (probably hoping for me to get up and rap at the window so that they can laugh at me before suddenly waking up and chasing a bird that broke through the pigeon barrier....), at the radio station France Musique only sad and melancholic music (better put up my newly acquired Hiromi CD (merci Hat Man... for the tip)!!! Aaah, that's better - now a third espresso (I just read that the Swiss drink more 'Italian style' espresso than the Italians.... and frankly, I am not surprised!), a shard of a jealously controlled Swiss chocolate - and the world is beautiful once more!! - Easy peasy, no?
Joyeux anniversaire à Brigitte M., a dear, dear Swiss friend and to René H. who will be called as he is not connected to the web!!!
To both and all of you friends: ... One of all those stars at this star-laden night is there just for you! Good Day, Good Night
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BNSF Superior-Duluth transfer makes a high speed run for Grassy Point draw bridge.
I lied about the high speed part. I could have traded recipes with the engineer as he passed by.
M3-20210707_205135-0031_v01
It's so strange to walk through the streets of Annecy at night. Lights play with shadows in a scene of fairy tale. I will return one day, or rather one night, but never more at Halloween... This picture was taken a couple of hours after I bought my new Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, hand held. Next time, I'll come with my tripod ! Annecy, France
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I work in that office tower with a slanted roofline. It's called TD Terrace and 160 Front Street West. It was taken on Lunar New Year 2025-01-29, the first day in the Year of the Snake. The square digital display of the building is showing a golden snake with a red background.
Hey! The Wikipedia post of the building uses one of my photos (someone not me posted it there).