DESERT LAYERS

We found an old road and decided to explore the area for sunset.   The sun was setting and the clouds started to change color, indicating we had a precious few minutes to shoot the sunset.  We scrambled out of our car, grabbed our gear and made a mad dash to a bank of bentonite hills a distance away from the car. Luck seemed to be on our side as the clouds glowed orange above a colorful, layered landscape.

CONSUMING FOG

We woke up with different plans.  We wanted to shoot something new, something that hasn’t been photographed often.  Sleepy eyed, we pulled ourselves out of bed and started our drive.  As photographers, we are always concerned with what the sky is doing.  Clouds on the horizon aren’t ideal as they block the best light in the morning.  We were trying to make out details in the dark sky and we noticed a low cloud that seemed to be hanging right on the horizon. Just our luck.  But we were wrong.  Seconds later, we became engulfed in a sea of fog.

We looked at each other and grinned.  We immediately knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime event.  Fog in the desert is a fairly rare thing and we just happened to be there. Our luck had turned! We knew we had to change our plans.  We were going to shoot something we’ve shot a few times before.  But this time, we would have the most amazing conditions possible.

A large butte loomed above the low fog that was hugging the ground.  It was calling to us to take its photo, but we knew we had to stop at the overlook first and couldn’t be distracted. Maybe the fog would be too thick to see anything, or not there at all and then we would have to shoot the butte.  We had to know.  Suddenly, we were there.

And it was jaw dropping.

The fog was magnificent!  It was thin enough that you could still make out details in the badlands far below us.  We thought fog would be amazing in and of itself, but the desert took it to the next level that morning with a thick layer of frost.  It gave the landscape a completely different feel.  It was almost unrecognizable.

The sun crept over the horizon and soon, its light touched the fog.  It was like the golden touch of King Midas.  Wherever the light reached, it turned to gold.

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Several minutes later, the light became harsh and the fog started to lift so we decided to move on and go back to the butte.  The butte was now a fog sandwich.  Fog on the top and fog on the bottom, with visible, delicious ridges sandwiched between them.

 

We eventually headed down a road, photographing areas still enveloped by the fog.  The road was muddy and was becoming more so as the frost thawed.  Soon, we found ourselves in a sandy wash.  And soon we found ourselves stuck. Really, really stuck.

 

The front right tire had sunk into a small area of quicksand.  We couldn’t back out and driving forward would only mean we would only get more stuck.  Water and sand buried our tire.  The more we dug, the more water filled the hole. We tried moving forward a just little bit and then gunning it in reverse to get out.  None of the tires would turn.  It seemed hopeless.  Here we were, in the middle of nowhere, miles away from any help or cell phone service.  We had passed some people a few miles back that were camping, but they were sure to be gone by the time we walked back to the campsite.

 

We had to try to get unstuck, or our whole day would be gone trying to get a tow truck down in the wash.  We dug into the slurry and tried to move mud/sand out from under the tire.  Luckily, we had MaxTrax with us to help gain some traction on the front tires.  We then filled the hole up with rocks, placed rocks behind the back tires to help gain more traction.

Now was the moment.  If this didn’t work, we would have to start walking and find someone to pull us out.  Fingers crossed, Dustin threw the Xterra into reverse and it lurched out of the hole.  Talk about instant relief!  We couldn’t believe we managed to get unstuck in about 30 minutes.  We decided to not continue down that road, turned around and got out of there as fast as we could.

End of Part I