More Views of the Arches . . . . . . . . . Photo Taken by Sister in Law – Jennie 2

Weekly Photo Challenge: Creepy ( at the National Parks)

This week’s DP photo challenge is Creepy.

There are many creepy and crawly creatures in the National Parks in the South West of the States.

These include some reptiles.

Also, some snakes.

Some of them are quite big and look creepy too.

We dislike snakes as we never know what may happen next.

So, we usually stay away fro these creatures as far as possible.

These pictures were taken by my wife on the trip.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet (Red Earth)

This is literally beneath your feet.

This picture was taken on a trip to the National Parks in the South West of the States.

The place, including some of the deserts are covered with a reddish brown soil which will deposit on your shoes and trousers when you hike.

The feet/ shoe belong to my brother-in-law!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Forces of The Nature (Utah)

The National Parks in the South West of the States are a good source for illustrating the Forces of Nature.

The forces may include: erosion, high differential temperatures, wind, gravity etc.

The process is repeated for millions of years.

We are only seeing a snapshot  of a long and continuing process.

Photo taken by my sister-in-law, Jennie.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Rule of Thirds

This week’s photo challenge is Rule of Thirds.

I learned this rule very early but have basically forgotten about it when taking pictures.

I would like to think this is a rule for the novice so as to get them away taking photos with subject of interest exactly at the center.

Composition is a complicated subject, only by taking photos with the subject of interest at the third points rigidly is not a panacea.

The picture here was taken by my wife while travelling in the South West of USA, visiting many national parks.

On this picture, the tree trunks are taken at almost the third points, leaving a lot of “empty” space to show the background – in observance of the rule proposed by the Challenger.

Unfortunately, this is the only one picture I can find right now fitting this week’s theme!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Depth (at the National Parks)

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Here are three photos taken by my wife in the National Parks of the south west of the States.

To me, they are awesome and illustrate Depth in natural land forms.

Unlike other posts, I would be unable to explain where exactly these photos were taken, how I feel when the photos were taken etc. as I did not go on the trip and did not take the photos.

I have never seen land forms like these and would love to visit there one day.

All three photos show the wonder, width and depth of the creation, the arid and bare landscape, sunset in the first picture, barren and jagged rocks in the second and valley with winding paths down below on the third.

PS All pictures the courtesy of my wife, Linda.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Endurance (in Travelling)

How often do we think that we have to endure in our travels?

Long distance travelling, in particular, requires a lot of endurance.

Even before we reach our destination, to mention a few, we have to endure:

*Queuing for checking in and security checks at the airport.

*Getting through immigration.

*Long hours of flight with cramped seats, not much sleep and unstable cabin temperatures and humidity.

*Getting in and out of airports. 

*Sleepless nights in hotels with unfamiliar conditions / beds.

Even when we actually reach our destination, depending on where we go and how we want to do our travelling, we may need to be persistent.

The following photos were taken by my wife while they were travelling earlier this year in the United Sates. This was part of their 5400 Miles Travel in the USA – an earlier series which I have published and which will be continued when I have the time / mood to go back to it.

The first photo shows my sister-in-law Jennie and husband Hans, walking laboriously in the desert of Arizona.

The second photo shows them walking in the South Western part of the States, among a strange landscape.

Some people like to endure, Hans always like to choose the most difficult route in the National Parks.

So, I suppose part of the endurance was self inflicted!

5400 Miles in the USA (Hiking)

I asked my wife how she got around in the National Parks of the Southwest.
Everyday, if they were not driving from NP to NP, they would be walking / hiking within the parks.
Typically, they would walk 4 or even 5 hours a day.

Sometimes, they walked back to some scenic spots to see how they look during sunset.
Here is a picture which shows huge rock jutting above you, you walk underneath it as if it is a canopy. The path is narrow and winding; on the edge of the path is a slope which descend quite steeply.

My wife remarked that it would have been better if she have brought along two walking sticks ( instead of only one). here is a picture showing tourist resorting to two sticks.

Sometimes, visitors use both hands and knees for climbing up steep slopes. Maybe, in those situation, even walking sticks cannot help.

There are of course areas which are to steep. In some cases, ladders are provided for visitors to climb up. There are also areas where the paths are too narrow and dangerous, in such cases, chains on the slope side may be provided.

Of course, in some NPs, mules are available.

Here are a couple of photos, showing the mules.

One of these  is an amazing picture taken from above, which show many mules with an almost red earth color as background.

The intention of this post is to prepare some of the readers what to expect in the NPs of the Southwest.

Of course, some visitors do not seem to require anything to assist in their hiking.

My last photo show a lone visitor wandering among the strangely shaped rocks.