Horsethief Park

From a hike last September on the west side of Pikes Peak, here are some photos from an area known as Horsethief park, so known because it's where the horse thieves used to hide out. It's one of my favorite areas to hike, but it's about an hour's drive from my house so I only go once or twice a year. Here in the initial steep climb I felt like I was in a Lord of the Rings movie.

This time I went on different paths than usual, down to a stream with some remains of human construction.

I found a small cave that might be used for shelter if you were brave enough...

...and the remains of a nearby campfire.

And finally, a large beaver dam.

I've got more shots from last weekend here, but I'll put those up another time. In the meantime, visit Scenic Sunday for more worldwide scenery. And also PicStory, where this week's theme is "outdoors" which is perfect for this hike!

Watery Horsethief Park

One of my favorite hikes last summer was to Horsethief Park, which is on the western side of Pikes Peak (the opposite side from Colorado Springs). It's named because it's where horse thieves used to hide out in the days of the Old West. On this day, there had been some rain the previous night, making for some lovely reflections.

The trail travels up a valley near a creek, and at one point the land opens up and a beaver dam (on the left side of this photo) creates a pond.

This area is wet enough that moss survives, not a common thing in this part of Colorado.

 If you continue up by the creek, the trail splits in two. A long climb to the right heads up to the wonderful Pancake Rocks, but that's not where I headed this time. Instead I followed the shorter trail to The Falls.

As I continued, I marveled at the wonder of nature around me, including this tree branch.

The views across the valley were terrific.

Finally I reached the waterfall, more of a cascade down a slab of rock.

This is one of my favorite places to hike, and I try to head  up there a couple of times each summer. You may find more hiking photos from around the world at the Scenic Sunday meme.

Palmer Lake Reservoirs (2)

I had a couple of questions on how I get the lightning shots. These most recent three all had similar settings with f-stop between 8 and 11, to get depth of field without getting that annoying, unavoidable softness at very small apertures (larger numbers) that only happens on digital cameras. ISO was set to 100, so as to not let direct lightning wash out the whole picture. Focus was manual, set near infinity (in fact I let the camera focus on a distant light and then changed it to manual without touching the focus ring). The exposure time is a little trickier. I used a tripod and a wireless remote control so I didn't have to touch the camera. I use the "bulb" setting, in which one press of the remote opens the shutter and a second press closes it. Depending on the lightning I will leave it open for more or less time, which takes a little experimentation until it's right - even lightning that's out of the frame provides illumination. The more lightning, the shorter the exposure, and if there's something spectacular, end the shot immediately because it probably provided enough light with that one bolt. These shots varied from 16 to 73 seconds.

I've been able to get out hiking a few times this summer, and this week I'll take a break from Yellowstone to post some photos from one of these hikes. This is one that's close to home, Palmer Lake Reservoirs. I've posted it before (click on the Palmer Lake link below to see those photos) but I tried to get some different perspectives this time.

The trail leads up a canyon to a dam that keeps the water for the first reservoir.

The trail then continues to climb. I liked the shape of this wood.

This weather station is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but I bet it's related to the reservoirs.

Eventually, another dam holds back the water for the second, larger reservoir.

I always love this old, rusted sign.

Near where I turned around there was an impressive grove of aspens. I'll have to get up there in the fall when they change colors.

Local Retention Dam

Near where we live (they are common along the whole front range) is a small dam, with a retention pond behind it that's almost always empty. These are designed to hold back water in the huge thunderstorms that we get in the summer, to prevent flooding downstream.

On the upstream side where the water collects there's usually a pipe sticking out of the ground, so that the water can flow in a controlled manner. Obviously these pictures were taken when it was dry.

I found this log a little downstream of the dam.

Palmer Lake Reservoirs

We've had fog and drizzle for a couple of days, but it finally cleared off this morning. So I went for a hike, this time on the Palmer Lake Reservoirs trail, as shown on the first picture looking back towards town.

As do a lot of these trails, this one climbs into the mountains next to a pretty stream, which is currently flowing with some strength because of all the recent rain and snow.

After a little while the trail runs by the first reservoir.

And it continues to climb to the second, larger reservoir.

There are numerous little streams running into these small lakes.

And it's clear that they don't want people in the water!

As I type up this post it has started raining again, so I'm glad I got out this morning.