Looking at the Eclipse — October 1865

From Harper’s Weekly

(click on image to view larger version)

Harper’s Weekly - February 11, 1865

With large digital copies of civil war — or other — photographs, it’s sometimes interesting to zoom in on different sections of images to more closely examine what is there.

The next image, cropped from the photo, shows a ghostly image of a man. This, of course, is someone who was moving during the long exposure required for photographs. He pause long enough to appear as an apparation superimposed over the background.

Part of an encampment can be seen on the right in the background, where the shapes of possibly five soldiers can be seen. Two are squatting; one is standing, reading a newspaper, it appears, with another fellow, possibly shirtless, standing next to him. On the left of this cropped image, there appears to be a a fifth soldier bending over at the waist. Parts of at least four tents can be made out as well as stacked arms — with at least five weapons with bayonets. Behind the soldiers on the left, there seems to be a part of the curve of a road.

In the picture below, a telegraph operator sits in the wagon, with a pen or pencil in his hand, writing.

Petersburg, Va. U.S. Military Telegraph battery wagon, Army of the Potomac headquarters

Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865; MEDIUM: 1 negative : glass, wet collodion; CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864 June; photographer: David Knox; Civil War photographs, 1861-1865; compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge, Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1977. No. 0357; LOC digital image

Other sizes of this image are available on my flickr page for it.

Arches National Park — Trail to Delicate Arch

The day we took this hike was a relatively cool autumn day. Snow had fallen the night before on some of the peaks east of our campground. Even so, we ran short of water by the time we got back to the truck, having only taken one bottle of water each. In the summer and hot days in other seasons, it is imperitive that hikers take adequate water. Every year, several people have to be rescued on park trails simply because they didn’t take enough water.

Hiking to the Arch

Delicate Arch is located at the end of a moderately strenuous, 1.5 mile (2.4 km) hiking trail from the parking area at Wolfe Ranch. Taking more than an hour each way, the round trip is slightly more than 3 miles long and the Arch is completely hidden from view on this trail.

The first third of the hike is through rugged, brushy terrain and gains slightly in elevation. The middle third of the hike is along the face of an exposed slickrock outcrop and is strenuous due to the gain in elevation, but offers better views of the geology in the salt valley. Cairns (piles of rocks) have been placed by visitors and park staff to roughly suggest the otherwise unmarked trail to the top, yet visitors tend to wander all over the huge expanse of completely exposed sandstone. The latter third of the trail is the most rugged, as hikers have now nearly reached the “top” of the plateau. The Arch is still invisible, and the trail runs around outcrops, through washes and between stands of twisted brush and trees. The trail may be easier to follow, but meanders as parts become muddy and difficult to walk through. During the 2004 fall season, the trail clearly followed the left (northern) side of the plateau, and brought visitors along a narrow shelf nearly 150 feet above a dry wash.

The arch comes into view suddenly around a corner in the trail and frames the La Sal Mountains to the southeast. The immediate area around the Arch offers views of the southern expanse of the park, and has unguarded cliffs plunging one hundred feet or more. (from Wikipedia)

Slickrock

So-called “slickrock” sandstone, which is a significant portion of the trail, is not slick at all, but has a surface much like sandpaper. The sandpaper texture is notorious for inflicting severe abrasion injuries. The name “slickrock” was given by early settlers of the area because their horses’ metal shoes had difficulty gaining traction on the rock’s sloping surfaces. Slickrock also becomes very slick when wet. (from Wikipedia, edited for use here)

More images of the trail are at my Haw Creek Out ‘n About blog, in a post called The Trail to Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Photo information
September 24, 2007 at 2.00pm CMT
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/9.5
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100

The harsh environment — winter cold, summer heat, year-round wind — produces interesting twisted, stunted and gnarled trees.

Canyonlands National Park

September 23, 2007 at 12.10pm CMT
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 31 mm
ISO Speed: 100

my Canyonlands National Park flickr set

Another Arches National Park composite image stictched from multiple photos

August 24, 2007

Indiana Harbor Belt RR, switch engine in yard near Calumet park stockyards, Calumet City (near Chicago), Ill.

Jan. 1943; photographer: Jack Delano; Library of Congress: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection; Original digital image at Library of Congress

Nebraska — Sky — Trees — Windmill

The sand hills prairie is not normally this luxuriant, especially this time of year. Higher than normal amounts of rainfall resulted in the sand hills being greener and with taller growth.

August 17, 2007 at 3.29pm CDT
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100

see my “out to the ranch” flickr set

Stout’s Point on Petit Jean Mountain
Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas
This part of the park is separated from the rest of the park.
It is on the east end of the mountain and
overlooks the Arkansas River and the river valley.

November 18, 2007 at 10.22am CST
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/9.5
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100

This is the road to my great-aunt’s ranch in the Nebraska sand hills. With better than normal rains in 2007,
the prairie grasses were greener and heavier than I ever remember.

August 17, 2007 at 3.33pm CDT
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/9.5
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100