You might know that I enjoy planning these roadtrips almost as much as I do taking them. After all, I can take a nap when I get tired of planning, but the exigencies the trip itself won't always allow one to pull over for an hour or two. In any case, I saw enough images in Google Street View to pick out ahead of time a few different places I wanted to shoot for myself, all the while knowing there would be others as well.
Once through Panther Junction and on the Basin Road I started looking for subjects to shoot (from a safe vantage point). Having started the climb, a glance in the mirror reminded me not to forget to look behind. The shot above is looking back down the road towards the junction and the Park entrance in the distance. The shot below looks up into the Chisos towards Panther Pass (5679'), entrance to the Chisos Basin
The first real traffic I encountered was at the Basin Visitor Center. I found a place to park and saw this rock pile in my windshield. "Oh, that's kind of interesting," and grabbed the camera. I shot it head on and explored my surroundings for a few other possibilities. The picture that makes your day could be anywhere. I became engaged with the views as I wandered around the parking lot and forgot to go to the Visitor Center. When I started forgetting such things, my tee shirt collection started down hill in a hurry.
I drove around the area for awhile - checking out different views - and shot this one. The peak just right of center happened to be the back side (west face) of the previous picture. As it turned out, I was slowly becoming aware that there seemed to be only a few notable geologic formations in the Basin but, if you're lucky, multiple views of each. Variety is where you find it.
Ah! The Window I mentioned in yesterday's post. I initially took exception to the term "window" as applied here. Elsewhere, in Utah or Arizona for example, a window would be a hole usually caused by erosion in a geologic wall. In this case, I suppose it could be considered a window in the sense that from the interior of the Basin, if you turn 360°, the only place you can see out (of the Basin) is through this window. I studied the map when I got home to discover just what it was I was seeing out there. Terlingua (think back: Frank Tolbert and Chili Cook-Off) is out there at about 17 mi. Beyond that, the line of sight crosses the Rio Grande at about 53 mi (a bit south of Redford, TX).
I continued looking for additional points of view that wouldn't require my climbing anything higher than a curb and found this one. The view through the window isn't as good as the previous one because I'm lower. But the detail in the foreground is a bit better (landscapes ought to have foreground, middleground, and background points of interest). Imagine my surprise sorting pictures to find that basically, the only difference between the two shots is the elevation of my station point. Everywhere else I tried, the window itself was blocked or partially blocked from view. I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.
This monolith, Casa Grande (7325') towers over the whole Basin. The view is impressive, but not really spellbinding. I suspect it's because I don't really have a foreground point of interest.
That same bugaboo continues to haunt me: nothing in the basin hides Casa Grande but, when I align interesting foreground and middleground elements with it, I find myself on the same line. This is too much!
I guess I can't escape it - at least while confined by the Basin. Of the three, this is my favorite view of Casa Grande. I should note that finding and aligning the foreground and middleground elements just so is what this is all about. I even used the spear of Sotal to draw your attention to the Big House. You don't compare this view of Casa Grande with a Cape Hatteras sunrise. You appreciate what you've got in front of you and do the best you can with it.
Tomorrow's post will take us south along the west side of the mountains on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to see what we can find.
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