January 1, 2014
We had to get out of our respective houses this day! Neither Byron nor I are big college football
fans so we threw out the prospective date of January 1 for a hiking/photo and
or fishing day. We did both, Byron
fishing with his new fly fishing rod and I did the photography.
New Mexico received a fair amount of snow early in December
but since then it has been dry and fairly warm so we did not expect to see much
in the way of ice or snow. All the way
up from Albuquerque on I-25 the ground was dry and brown. We didn’t see snow with any regularity until
we got within the last 15 miles of Cowles, NM.
As expected, it was quiet in the wilderness; we saw two
other cars along the river on the way up.
By the time we were leaving we saw a total of about a dozen cars in the
wilderness area.
After dressing for the cold, mainly adding more layers, we
walked down the main road about a mile to a spot where we could easily access
the river. Byron, with waders, got right
into the river. I followed along on the
bank of the river where possible, the ice looked thick but I wasn’t interested
in seeing if it was thick enough for me.
The snow here varies from none to up to my knees, about 18”. I know because I found a few of those spots.
Byron also had challenges.
The new fly rod was different than he usually uses so he has to approach
how he casts differently. The wind
blowing in his face didn’t help either. He
saw several trout coming up for a look at the flies but none of them were
interested in trying it out. No luck
with the fish today.
Overall it was a great way to start the New Year.
It was cold again this AM, 31 degrees when we arrived at the
Pecos River near Cowles, NM. (31 isn’t
really cold but when one jumps out of a nice warm car to 30 some degrees and wind
it’s cold) Link: http://www.pecosnewmexico.com/attractions/santa-fe-national-forest-pecos-wilderness-area
New Mexico received a fair amount of snow early in December
but since then it has been dry and fairly warm so we did not expect to see much
in the way of ice or snow. All the way
up from Albuquerque on I-25 the ground was dry and brown. We didn’t see snow with any regularity until
we got within the last 15 miles of Cowles, NM.As expected, it was quiet in the wilderness; we saw two
other cars along the river on the way up.
By the time we were leaving we saw a total of about a dozen cars in the
wilderness area.After dressing for the cold, mainly adding more layers, we
walked down the main road about a mile to a spot where we could easily access
the river. Byron, with waders, got right
into the river. I followed along on the
bank of the river where possible, the ice looked thick but I wasn’t interested
in seeing if it was thick enough for me.
The snow here varies from none to up to my knees, about 18”. I know because I found a few of those spots.
Today photography was a challenge. Full sunlight means lots of contrast. It’s hard for our eyes to see everything when
it goes from bright sunlit snow to dark shadows under the trees; it’s even
harder for a camera to do it.
Fortunately I have Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to work on images to pull
out those details all in the same image.
Byron also had challenges.
The new fly rod was different than he usually uses so he has to approach
how he casts differently. The wind
blowing in his face didn’t help either. He
saw several trout coming up for a look at the flies but none of them were
interested in trying it out. No luck
with the fish today.
After shooting overall scenes of the river I decided on the
close views again where I had a bit of control over the lighting issues.
Overall it was a great way to start the New Year.
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
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