It was a tough game, Mom, but we lost...

Think of me as General George Custer. I'm standing here with the bodies of my guardian angels all around, and the hostiles are closing in.

There was brief sunshine this morning

However--it was a delusion and a snare. The blue sky began to fill in with white: I quickly drove over to Potash to drive the deep valley before the clouds got there.

What I really wanted was to drive the Manti-La Sal Mountain drive, whose peaks rise 12,000 feet above the desert ten miles South of Moab.
Unfortunately, I met the Rain God up there. I would have killed for sunshine, as you will see:

The birch trees were in full color, as some began dropping their leaves.

Despite the heavy cloud cover, there was color everywhere.

Sun! Sun! My kingdom for a Sun!...

 The forecast is for two days of rain! I may never see this scene with a clear sky!

General Custer, signing off...

Propitiating the rain gods...

So far, the guardian Angels are ahead, 2-0. I'm not bragging, I know better,

Geri Murphy called to tell me it was pouring in Vegas this evening. Please--keep it there; they can have my share.

I was up on top of these immense overlooks this morning:

The views were so wide that it will take a half-dozen pictures stitched together to express it. This is just a small segment from the point known as the Anticline Overlook until I get home and do my panoramas:

Here's another small sample from the point known as the Needles Overlook. In the far distance is The Island in the sky portion of Canyonlands National Park--I shot some satisfying images from those cliffs two years ago.

The Fall foliage is still a riot of color wherever there is water nearby:

Another amazing feature of this entire part of Utah is arches made of sandstone chipped and cracked by freezing and thawing water.Arches National Park is just north of town.

So--when you are near Moab, arches seem to be everywhere!
  This is Wilson's arch:

And on the way back to town, I saw a little side road and followed it to the Hole in the glass:

Forecast for tomorrow is--rain. Sigh...

Day 1 in Moab, Utah...

The weather forecast when I left home was ugly, and when I came up into the mountains of Utah it was into thick clouds. Uh-oh.
Fortunately, by the time I hit the road to leads to the wedge, also known as Utah's Grand Canyon, the Sun came out.
It isn't as big or colorful as the Grand Canyon, but it is huge in its own right. The panoramas and videos I'll process when I get home may do it justice.

 A bonus is the Fall foliage. the yellow in the first picture above isn't shrubs,--far down in those deep valleys there are large aspen trees in gorgeous yellow. With the buttes behind them at sunset as in this second picture, it is gorgeous.

 Below is the Colorado River carving Red Canyon along Route 128; that road runs along the river for 25 fabulously scenic miles:

 Any road you travel has immense, towering red sandstone formations, some topped with castles or towers.

 This is the  Fisher towers as the Sun is going down. I took a lot of shots of free-standing towers here that are magnificently scenic.

All in all, a helluva first day when I was expecting a disaster.

Forecast for tomorrow is rain. Guardian angels, get to work!!

Shooting Championships Day 3--Sometimes Cowboys Cry...

The third day of the USPSA shooting championsips allowed me to watch a solid squad take on a state in which knocking down a steel Pepper Popper started a pair of targets swinging.

By the way, you can watch full-screen by clicking the little symbol below the lower right-hand corner of the video image.

This is still a sport that is much more fun to do than to watch...

Another day at the United States Practical Shooting Association Championships

My family and friends know that I am a 77-year-old who never grew up and still itches to go out and do this kind of shooting.

The first course is a quick little exercise that tests your ability to make a plan and carry it out under pressure.

The second stage we'll watch has a bit longer distances and a couple of steel targets toward the end which can ruin your entire day if you take them too quickly.Note that this shooter definitely slows down to hit those two steel plates.

Finally, here's a little sprint course in which you can go down either side of the barricade. This shooter did it in the way most did. A smooth run.
 See how easy all this is?

Fast-shooting Fun from the USPSA National Championships

Last month the United States Practical Shooting Association Multi-gun national Championships were held here in Las Vegas (See down the page for the earlier post).. This month the various classes of the pistol nationals are being held here. I love it.
Since I avidly shot in competition for nearly 25 years, it is fun to see how the current crop of shooters is performing. I took a quick look at a course as it was being scored:  The only part of the target you should hit is the tan portion. Hitting any white or black part results in penalties!! The legal part of some of those targets looks awfully small!.

Here's a shooter tackling that course. A solid run, not taking many chances. Score maximum points, have a good time, don't incur any penalties.

There was also some fast but well-controlled shooting being done by the ladies. Make no mistake, they are fierce competitors and those who take the top places are superb shooters!!

What you have to do is analyze the course, make a plan on every move you must execute to win it--and then do precisely what you planned without you,  your gun or your ammo malfunctioning.  This particular competition has eighteen separate events (known as stages), and the winners must carry out their plans without errors consistently over four hot, dusty days!

Here, a shooter shows some fast execution!

 That course was intricate and intense, but short. This next  one is a more complex stage that has to be shot on the run, through windows and around corners, following a carefully-planned strategy: Note the shooter running to particular places so as to make the fewest number of starts and stops.

By the way, the ringing cell phone is mine, as some politician's fund-raiser pesters me on the weekend! The shooter has to carry out the course no matter what distractions arise.

Turning a lemon into lemonade...

Sometimes we take a trip where things don't, um, work out as planned. Such was my 37-hour foray from Las Vegas to California's Yosemite National Park--and back.
The weather was glorious, and driving into Yosemite Valley is richly scenic. Above, flowers carpet the floor of the valley, and the walls glisten in the Sun. The El Capitan formation is in the distance on the right.

The Merced River flows through the valley

This spectacular promontory is directly above the road from which the prior two images were taken. And yet, I had to drive 32 miles to gett from that road down there to the overlook up here.

This video is of the major peaks that surround Yosemite Valley. You can't see them from distance, but there are climbers standing atop Half Dome in this video.  More of a hike than I can handle, that!

Here is a still shot of that scene. There are two 500-foot waterfallsjust to the right of dead center in the image, but they are completely dwarfed by the peaks.

Of course, The waterfalls are among the attractions in Yosemite. Some are fed by rivers and flow all year 'round, Other large falls are essentially ice melt that disappears over the Summer. Since I was there in September, the falls were mostly slow, as in Bridal Veil Falls below, or dry.

So, even a short visit in the off season can provide stunning visuals. Yes, there are a lot of people, and I prefer parks with few. However, we photographers do what we can with what is offered. Yosemite offers some heady scenery!