360° panoramas – Page 2 – Richard Rathe's Reflections

Picket Wire Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite

On my trip west this year I made sure I had time to visit this unique area. The Dinosaur Tracks are located within and along side the Purgatoire River with the Comanche National Grassland. [Gallery]

The area is located 35 miles south of La Junta, CO off the lightly maintained County Road 25 (upper left in the map above). The last few miles are on a primitive forest service road that ends at the Withers Canyon Trailhead and Campground (four sites with fire grates and a pit toilet).

The first portion of the 5.2 mile trail goes down a steep “stairway” to the canyon floor. I had to walk my bike most of the way but it’s not far. After that it flattens out into an easy path through grassland and cottonwood trees along the Purgatoire River.

There are a few ups and downs where the river crowds the canyon side.

About half-way to the tracks I came upon the Dolores Mission from the 1870s to 1890s.

The small cemetery includes several well preserved headstones (mostly of children).

After another easy 1.5 mile cycle I was at the tracksite proper. There is a parking area for off-road vehicles and a pit toilet. There are several interpretive signs.

Someone obviously had a sense of humor…

The tracks are on both banks and in the river bed itself. The water was low so I was able to access most of the site however dirt, sand, mud, and debris covered a portion.

Two Parallel Sauropod (Herbivore) Trackways

To give a sense of how complex the site is I’ve borrowed part of this illustration from an excellent write-up I found online. [A Dash with the Dinosaurs Field Trip Guidebook (October 2000) compiled by Matthew Morgan for the Colorado Geologcial Survey]

There are more of my track photos in the gallery.

I was alone for the entire day but I did encounter a few critters along the way.

My cycle back was idyllic! Speeding along with the warm sun at my back and a cool breeze on my face.

Did I mention the “stairway” back up to the trailhead?

I hadn’t expected there to be designated campsites at the trailhead, but I decided to stay instead of driving back to civilization in the dark. It was a nice, quiet and beautiful night!

Mountain Bike Trip to The Maze 2019

It would be hard to top our 4WD/bike trip to the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park last year, but entering the isolated subunit called The Maze was a strong contender! [Gallery]

This was not a loop trail, but a very challenging, out-and-back trek to the edge of the Colorado River Canyon. We spent most of the first day just getting to the trailhead on the extreme western edge of the park and establishing our first camp at Happy Canyon. I pitched my hammock between a juniper and a pinyon pine and was rocked to sleep by the wind all night.

The riding got serious the next day going down the face of the Orange Cliffs on the Flint Trail.

It was very steep and difficult even for the vehicles. I did a lot of walking. Things only got worse the rest of the day with loose rocks, sand and drop-offs. We met a county employee with a huge 6WD Grader who was actually maintaining the road (“every seven years whether it needs it our not”). When we told him where we were headed he laughed and said “We haven’t been back there in thirty years!”

The area around Teapot Rock was especially challenging, requiring spotters and backing up around impossible corners. Late in the day we finally made it to the Land of Standing Rocks, a windswept plain punctuated by fantastic rock formations receding into the distance. It was magical!

We camped about an hour before dusk at Chimney Rock. It was cold and windy but we made the best of it with G&Ts and hot food prepared in a Dutch Oven by Glen.

The next day we went for a long, meandering hike following the canyon rim.

We saw many strange and beautiful things including odd box-work erosion patterns in the stone. They looked like apartment complexes for tiny people!

On our return to camp we relaxed with a caprese salad, beer, & G&Ts before a multi-course dinner. Hard to beat! That night it got down in the 20s but fortunately the wind died down.

The next day we headed down the relatively easy road to The Doll House. Along the way we met at pair of hikers who had crossed the Colorado River from Spanish Bottom in Inflatable Kayaks (!) that they had in their packs! They planned to hike upriver and paddle back to their car on the other side. Amazing!

The Doll House is an area of huge striped rock towers with little doll-like figurines on top. The formation is an extension of The Needles region immediately across the river.

We camped at site #3 on the opposite side with spectacular views!

I found a perfect place to hang my hammock between a boulder and an old juniper tree. Room with a View indeed!

Moon Rising Over Colorado River Canyon & The Needles

Richard & Bill in the Valley of the Dolls

On the fifth day, alas, we had to turn homeward. I had a great time cycling several miles with Jeff as we retraced our route. We did not climb back up the Flint Trail however, exiting near the tiny town of Hite on the extreme upper end of Lake Powell. It was a spectacular trip!

Treatise on Panopainting

Panopainting (verb, noun) – Panoramic photographs captured in real-time with unpredictable, non-deterministic distortions due to movement of the camera (and sometimes the subject). The aesthetic value of these images depends on the camera’s “stitching” algorithm and the physical “brush stroke” performed by the photographer. A degree of “glitching” is expected and often leads to cubist or impressionistic effects. Each exposure is unique due to inevitable variation in subject and technique. [Gallery]

History

Panoramic works of art have been around since early man painted herds of animals on cave walls.

Lascaux Cave – Great Hall of the Bulls [source:pinterest]

Leonardo da Vinci painted his iconic Last Supper in a panoramic format that appeared to be an extension of the room.

Leonardo da Vinci – The Last Supper [source:wikipedia]

Large-scale painted panoramas (aka cycloramas) of major historic events were popular at the time of the Civil War.

Paul Philippoteaux – Gettysburg Cyclorama [source:fandom]

The earliest photographic multi-image panoramas date from around the same time.

1851 San Francisco by Martin Behrmanx [source:medium]

The same technique found its way into modern photo albums…

Panographic film cameras were developed and ultimately became inexpensive and disposable.

With the digital age came specialized software that could stitch images together into a seamless whole.

Today panoramic photography is as easy as panning your phone!

Happy Discovery

For the first few years I took panoramas in the conventional way—sweeping the phone in a horizontal arc.

Then one day I faced a novel situation. I wanted to take a panoramic photo of colorful cloth on display in a cramped market. There was only six feet between booths. Using an arc would yield very distorted and unpleasing results, so I improvised. I kept the phone steady and walked parallel to the booth.

The resulting image was flat and undistorted (except the woman who moved as I passed).

I refer to these images as “roll outs” because they remind me of the flattened images of pottery, etc. seen in journals. Link

Mythological Vase, Maya, Late Classic [source:mmoa]

The creative potential of this technique became clear one day when I had some time to experiment on the beach.

The interaction of the moving camera with the surf and my feet created interesting distortions and time lapse sequences. And thus panopainting was born!