Proper Preparation

It dawned on me this week while I was checking the weather and looking for that special one day hike I normally do at KVR or one of our County Parks, that there would be a full moon setting during the sun rise on Friday.

With that, we were supposed to get our first frost advisory and temperatures in the low 30's.

It dawned on me. 
What an excellent opportunity to get back up to Black Hawk Rock and see the valley below with more fog in it and of course the moon setting over the hills to the west and the sun rising in the east!

The cold temperatures would guarantee valley fog and since the forecast said there would be no wind, it would be tolerable on top of the bluff. A full moon would brighten the forest trails so the hike wouldn't be in total darkness.

So what I planned on was taking the regular camera and the infrared camera with the IRChrome lens. With the morning light and fog, the light spectrum could be really interesting.

I'm such a dork. I sometimes do plan ahead. I woke up in the middle of the night and debated with myself over which camera bag to take. The sling one? The backpack one? Did I need warmer gloves? Would I need gloves?
How about a stocking cap?
Or my fuzzy winter cap?
Long johns or tights?
Coveralls? No, too heavy.
Did I have Bill's phone number in case I needed help? [Yes, my friend Bill knew I was going and offered help in case of something like a flat tire.] 
I'd let my neighbors know the plan also.
All bases covered.

Plan plan plan. Our boss used to tell us Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

I walked out the door with a cup of coffee in a thermal cup and my gear. The drive was awful. I hit dense fog. I figured I would as the way to Black Hawk Rock was along the Kickapoo River. Any drastic change in the air temperature above the river produced valley fog.

And the fog was thick.

I climbed the trail and walked out on to the bluff. I'd never seen such dense valley fog from that height before.

The clouds and fog were dense to the east, and to the west the moon shone brightly.

The shot below is looking over the edge of the rock. I climbed out of that fog from the valley below.

There is a significant drop here and I rarely go stand at the very edge. I stay well back.

This photo below was the only glance of the sunrise that I got before the clouds and fog covered it.

One of the things I really like about the newer Olympus camera I got last year is the ability to take shots in low light without a tripod. I can do nearly a full second exposure hand held. And this was not the 'best' or pro camera. It is an extremely simple camera to use.

And then in moments, the bluff across the valley disappeared. The fog crept up over the rock at my feet.

I gathered my things and headed down the trail.

The fog was rather neat and lent a mystical look to the forest. 

It was so hard to capture in a proper photo, but I gave it a good try with my fast lens, the 1.8 Oly version of the nifty 50mm.

This is where the prep came in. I know that the IRChrome filter picks up the color variation in the leaves and generally picks up fog exceptionally well.

This first IR shot is in approximately the same spot I used the regular camera for.

Note the pine tree, it is the same one in the photo above and below.

And as I got down to the valley floor, there were places where the fog had lifted up.

My parking spot.

I felt good on the drive home.

Everything went well and I felt like I'd planned well.

I still have a lot to learn in how to deal with the light bouncing off from the fog, the moon, and the sunlight coming from another direction.

But it felt good.

Next full moon?

October 31st.

Hmmm.

Until then I'm going back to looking at cool things on the forest floor and the fall colors while they last.

I have a new trail to explore this week at Duck Egg. I'm hoping Charlie and I can do it Monday.

Right now my hikes will be solo.

As you may or may not have read, our state is now an Epicenter for Covid. This is my way of dealing with it and it's Isolation.