Tag Archives: narrow

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People

Desert Canyon Hiking

May 7, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hiking down a narrow desert slot canyon

We (Patty and I) spent some good time in Death Valley earlier this spring, hiking and photographing in many interesting places in Death Valley. This trip brought some, uh, “special” weather on almost every day: huge dust storms, strong winds, rain, you name it. On a couple of days we escaped into narrow desert canyons, where the steep walls cut off most of the wind and produce the stillness and quiet that are so special in these places.

The hike into this canyon began along the upper edge of one of the giant alluvial fans that spread out into the valley from the lower ends of almost all canyons at the base of the desert mountain ranges. We hiked across to a wash, dropped in, and headed up into the canyon, replacing the expansive views of the giant valley with the constrained and intimate views of the interior of the canyon. In a few spots this canyon became quite narrow — never close to a squeeze, but narrow enough that we could not see beyond the next bend.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Narrow Canyon, Hiker

April 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A hiker passes through a narrow section of a desert canyon.

Almost anywhere you are in desert country, canyons can be attractive places on days that might not be so enjoyable out in the open. They are often protected from wind — and in Death Valley, at least on this trip, that also meant protected from dust storms. Their light is frequently appealing during midday hours where many other locations are experiencing harsh flat light — in canyons the midday light can reflect down among the canyon walls and look beautiful at almost any time of day. They can also be cooler, with high walls that protect from the hottest sun.

Between morning and evening photography we decided we would take a hike up this canyon — not the most popular in the park but not the least visited either, so we shared the experience with some other hikers. The approach to this canyon took us across the lower face of an arid mountain range, then dropped into a wash and started to ascend, with tall canyon walls quickly ascending both sides of the canyon. In places this canyon is impressively narrow, and everywhere it is very deep. While it has some of the water-formed features that are common to all such canyons, these Death Valley canyons have a rugged and rough-hewn character that is quite different from that of the popular Utah canyons.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Austria

Lamp, Narrow Street

May 31, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A lamp, old buildings, and a narrow street, Salzburg, Austria

With this photograph I’m back to that theme of the lamps on the walls of Salzburg, Austria. As I mentioned in an earlier post, once I noticed them I began to see them everywhere, always attached to the exterior walls of buildings and always with the same lamp shape, the same curving stem, and the same two bars to brace it.

This one is actually in part of the Salzburg castle, if I recall correctly. It was getting to be late in the afternoon and the angle of the sun was becoming lower, creating more shadows with their blue-toned light. In the photograph one wall is still lit but the sun, and the foreground wall picks up a bit of the reflected glow of sunlight on a wall behind my camera position. Given that the place was busy with tourists, I had to be patient and wait for a moment when the scene was clear.

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

Narrow Street, Heidelberg

May 28, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People stroll past a restaurant along a narrow street of Altstadt-Heidelberg

Here is another photograph from our 2013 visit to Heidelberg, Germany. (And London, and Bavaria, and Salzburg. Can we go back, now?) We stayed within walking distance of the altstadt section of Heidelberg, the old town area along the Neckar River and near the castle, and we walked over by way of the Philosophen Weg many times, hiking up and over a small hill between where we stayed and this popular area.

Being in the old town, it is no surprise that the streets are very narrow here. In most of this section of the town there are no cars, and people walk everywhere — except for the many folks on bicycles — and restaurants spill out onto the streets.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell or others where indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: narrow

Desert Canyon Hiking

Narrow Canyon, Hiker

Lamp, Narrow Street

Narrow Street, Heidelberg

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.