Vasquez Rocks Park Hike

Every single time I've driven up to Mammoth and back I've always noticed the interesting jagged rock formations just north of the 14 freeway. And every single time I wish I had time to stop and go explore.

The Vasquez Rocks landscape

Last week my friend Aaron invited me to go hike around Vasquez Rocks Park on Saturday March 24th 2013. I looked it up out of interest and; oh lo and behold it happens to be the park I've always wanted to go visit. I actually didn't even know it was a park until I got the invitation. Of course I agreed to go explore. Finally! Not that I really needed an excuse or a friend but you know how it goes, it always helps to have someone push you a little.

Vasquez Rocks Park, 40 miles north of Los Angeles, was named after one of the most notorious California bandit who would hide there around 1873-74 to escape law enforcement, Tiburcio Vásquez (El Bandido). I mean... just check out those rocks, can you spot Aaron climbing around?

Where is Aaron?

Anyhow; this area which was formed by action of the San Andreas Fault is a great playground for hiking and bouldering around.

Aaron enjoying the views of the Vasquez Rocks Park

It also makes a great subject for landscape photography. Being a seasoned landscape photographer, I of course ended up out there in the middle of a sunny day... arguably the worst time to take landscape shots. And yes that's my excuse.

Aaron bouldering in the poor light I use as an excuse

So I focused on the fun hiking and bouldering part doing my best not to end up in a 127 hours situation (don't click, that's the nasty part of the movie! Oh... you already clicked and you couldn't stop watching... sorry...). Naturally after seeing that great movie we had to avoid canyons, so we just decided to hike up the crack you see going diagonally up in this picture. At least you don't end up stuck with your hand under a boulder.

Our clear way up

You work your way up that cliff wondering if you should've turned back earlier when you still could but get rewarded with a pretty great view (to all of our moms, we were never really in danger... sure).

Yep, we came from down there!

The top gave us great opportunity for fun pictures actually.

Ok, maybe a little bit of danger here but I needed a picture of myself right?

The rest of the hike was just about working our way through this kind of terrain. It was really fun but nothing like our opening act.

The Vasquez Rocks terrain

Walking all the way around the park isn't that challenging, especially if you stay on the trails. The loop is probably less than 4 miles but the views are really cool. You sometimes end up in caves just like this one.

Caveman posing

The area even allows you to do some serious rock climbing.

Heel hook

In the end it was a great little hike in a beautiful and quite relaxing landscape (if you make sure you go before kids show up and ignore the 14 freeway in the back).

Ahhhh, beautiful view of the human impact

I'll definitely be going back there seeking the sunrise or sunset light to void my poor light excuse for not posting better pictures. And then, later in the day when the light gets poor again, I'll go risk my life on the side of those cliffs hiking and jumping around! Who's in?

Oh! And I didn't want to end on some self-gratifying pictures so here are a few good ones of Aaron.

Aaron on the top of the world... sort of

Aaron on a better top of the world

Aaron the Peruvian model

Tahoe XI

Well, after showing you guys a whole bunch of random video, here's one of my own (finally).
I just came back from a 3 day trip to South Lake Tahoe where we partied and snowboard... hard!
Here is why I usually come back sore from such trips:

This is Earth and we should respect it

Here is an awe inspiring video about the feeling astronauts have when they turn around in Space and look back at our little planet. The images in this 20 minute video are just as amazing and profound as the comments made by those philosophers, theorists and astronauts.
Our Earth is fragile, it's our home and our species is disrespecting it. It protects us and anything alive from of outer space; yet we are damaging that paper-thin layer that separates us from death.
Take the time to watch this video, even if it's in the background and you are just listening to it. It'll well be worth 20 minutes of your life.
Once you've done that, go to the Kickstarter page of the Continuum film and consider funding their project.

It's never about the camera.

One of the important concepts to understand with photography is that the gear will never significantly improve your pictures. Yes it might facilitate you getting the look you want but a compelling image can be achieved with anything and comes from one's vision. I mean, people make full photo books with pictures taken with an iPhone. Chase Jarvis' book The Best Camera Is The One That's With You is a perfect example.
Now here's another extreme, how about making a camera out of cardboard? Well, that's actually quite feasible, a medium format pinhole camera at that! It might not have the convenience of an iPhone, it doesn't fit in your pocket but it's pretty darn cheap, and original.
Here's a Kickstarter project for such a camera:

Wood, 15,000 Volts, what could go wrong?

I kinda want to do this thing. Run a huge amount of electricity through wood and see what happens? Heck yes.