This dinner napkin with notes on it has been in my travel notebook for a long time. As I begin to turn it into an article, I don’t know where it’ll lead, but here goes. It’ll be a surprise to me too!
It begins: It’s still dark; doesn’t matter. Make the coffee enough to fill my 22 oz. mug, get the camera gear into the cab of the nest (my pickup with a slide-in camper on it), and get going. Destination: the top ridge of St. Elena Canyon in Big Bend N.P. (
www.nps.gov/bibe) in the Rio Grande River (see photo spot). Why? The Sun Rise. The dirt road from Terlingua Abajo, where my favorite campsite is located, is passable with great care in the dark. Who knows what rock may’ve rolled down the bank or bunch slid into the road overnight. It’s mostly uphill and windy to Maverick Road, another dirt one, but it’s wider and in better condition. Both are located at the southern bottom of Texas that sticks into Mexico. Once I got photos of a big Grey Hawk in the road. Whatever attracted it to the road was worth more than getting out of the way of my vehicle, so I got great photos of it lit by my headlights.
The stars are still shining brightly as I arrive at St. Elena Trail head parking lot. I get the tripod out and shoot the big dipper since there’s ample time to get to my sunrise spot on the edge of the canyon about 2,000 feet above the Rio G. The stars are so bright here, they light my path. There is no interfering city lights or anything city-like interfering as far as that goes. Quiet, dark and peaceful, like no populated place. Before I do the trail to the canyon edge in the dark, I always visit in daylight. The River floods each year changing the trail access across Terlingua Creek and up the bank and through the thorny Cypress Trees. It changes so often the Park Service can’t keep the trail marked. This time the easiest trail went right to the edge of the bank with the River about 20 feet down. A stumble could mean a chilly bath and ruined camera gear! Cameras don’t swim well. That’s why I check it out in the light to limit my chances of screwing up.
The WPA many years ago built a “staircase” up the Canyon wall; that’s still a steep climb, but I stop and do photos to catch my breath. This morning I’m well ahead of sunrise and I get to do the moon in the predawn light on the Mexican side of St. Elena Canyon. I’m here this year in December, so there’s no blooming cactus to put in the foreground of my photos, but the sun performs predictably. Occasionally there’s a crashing noise of rock falling from above or a big cat fish a jumping, soaring through the air and back into the water. The noise from either is quite startling in the silence.
This morning the presunrise dawn color is full of subtle pinks, lavender, yellows and oranges. I put a prickly pear cactus in the foreground of my photos and then myself. My 1,2,3 rule applies everywhere for landscapes. It includes having foreground, subject and background in each composition. The Canyon walls and river below with the reflecting presunrise light through the clouds are the subject, and the horizon with the ensuing sunrise is the background. Wonderful and pleasing to the eye. The light increases as the sun rises. A moment like this makes all the driving and effort to get here worthwhile, but patience and being here at the right time is necessary. I can sleep when I’m somewhere else! I’m rewarded long before the sun appears, but keep shooting. As the sun pops over the horizon like a big red ball, the soft sweet light is over. This display was all for me. No other people are here.
This is the least visited of all National Parks. That alone qualifies it for my Don’t Miss List. Then there’s the park’s own mountain range, endless desert, 18 miles of river, a deserted mining town, and more to discover. The place is dominated by silence only broken by the echo of the wrens’ call in the canyon and other natural sounds. My kind of place.
Photos tech info: photo from the bank of the Rio G-Tripod, 30 sec exposure @ F8 @ ISO 100 using a Canon Rebel XTi with 22mm lens and no flash; sunrise with prickly pear cactus-Tripod, 30 sec exposure @ F4 @ ISO 100 using a Canon Rebel XTi with 22mm lens and with flash to light foreground; SunRise from the Rim-hand held, 1/80th sec exposure @ F8 @ ISO 400 using a Panasonic DMC fZ8 point & shoot camera with flash for foreground.
