Years ago when searching for a viewpoint from an old photo where I wanted to do rail photography I managed to locate the exact cliffside overlook and discovered a somewhat hidden gem of trail network in the process.

Though there is an official dirt road in the canyon below and a few desire paths offshooting from it the hills above remained relatively unmapped not showing up in the otherwise void of an area.

With the understatement of the local forecast for the afternoon/evening I packed my beloved eTrex 20x in the camera bag along with my trusty Nikon D700 planning to take in some of the views while there in between tracing runs expecting no more than some cloudiness and a light sprinkling.

I had originally planned to do some averaging as well to mark down 3 of my favorite spots on the cliff to photograph the scenery below but just as I reached the overlook the light rain that had accompanied me on most of my journey up started to thicken and become slanted. Just as I positioned myself on the side of the ledge for my first point reading spot the wind had picked up considerably to near constant 70kph gusts. The eTrex wobbled fiercely atop the perching rock and I had to scrap my plans of more photos just to hold it still for fear it may fall to it’s death below as my other hand clinged to the rockface hoping to avoid a similar fate.

After 5 minutes to allow a good average I quickly hit save and climbed back up to grab my gear bag and make my way back down the path for the second tracing run in the opposite direction to help iron out anomalies when mapping from the trace. As I set off the steadily increasing rainfall now started to turn to almost sideways hail from every direction as the many rockfaces perturbed the wind. Though hectic as it may seem the eTrex managed to maintain it’s nice 8 foot accuracy throughout most of the trip and likewise I was similarly high spirits.

In an almost serene state of mind while walking the trails my attention drew to the contrast between the dramatic weather and environment and the life which springs forth from otherwise dead plains because of it. Many cacti once shriveled from the dry winter were now stuffed with water, their beautiful flowers blooming brightly pink which would soon bear fruit. The normally tan plains dead with brush now teeming with fluorescent wildflowers of all colors in every direction. In that moment I remembered who I was when escaping here 11 years ago, hurt and tired of the chaos and sterility of the urban design seeking to hide from the world and in the process discovering a new one all to myself.

It’s these things the fuel my passion for exploring and desire to document what’s around me, the eTrex always at my side as a faithful companion for so long now. The amount of memories and many long adventure it holds being priceless to me.