Aaron Paul Vogel

It is 1 a.m. PST and I'm sitting on a saddle near Hines Peak, the tallest point anywhere near Ventura. At only around 6500' it is no where near the monumental size of other California peaks such as Mt. Whitney. However, as it is viewable from nearly everywhere around it is a local monument, and an accessable one at that.

I made the trip up here this evening - a half hour 4x4 drive and a 2 mile hike - with a recently renewed friend, and fellow Nature Photography class student, LeAnne Snyder. We're working on taking long exposure night photographs as well as enjoying the amazing scene.

I figured I'd take this moment as Leanne continues to work to post a little update. I'll post tonights photos later tomorrow along with some I took during our class' trip to Big Sur last week.

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I spent a few days with my Nature Photography class in the Big Sur area up north. I was trying to concentrate on a macro photography assignment, but couldn't pass up a number of wide and telephoto shots while I was there. I've added a Flickr album with the best of what I came back with. Click on the image to the right to see the rest of the photos.

I'm waiting for general boarding to be called for the Island Adventure boat which will be taking me to Santa Cruz Island this morning. I'm spending the next four days on the island to start my editorial photo story about recreation at Channel Islands National Park.

Backpacker magazine called it one of the most peaceful places to backpack. Or some superlative like that. They must have gone in the winter sometime as the spring season seems to be infested by boats worth of elementary school children. Of course parks are for everyone's enjoyment, and I would never begrudge children the chance to experience the great outdoors. I'm expecting they'll disappear for good with the boat this afternoon, but they do make for a less than serene morning.

Santa Cruz is the largest of the islands, and I'll be hard pressed to cover the 16-some miles between the Scorpion landing and Prisoners Harbor, where I'll get picked up for the return trip, which is only about a quarter of the overall island; the rest being Nature Conservancy land.

I'll be back with photos on Sunday night. Until then, bon voyage!

The day started with low expectations. More than an hour on a cold, windy boat with a school bus' worth of middle schoolers is not the way to get in the mood for and outdoors experience.. or perhaps its the perfect way. none the less, the island has already enchanted me. I haven't even started my hiking tour of the east part of the island and I'm already planning a trip back.

Things I've learned, reaffirmed or should have learned before but screwed up again none the less:

1. Powdered egg whites don't make scrambled eggs by adding water, they just make an inedible gooey mess.
2. Camping solo sucks. I "learned" this in Moab last year but somehow ignored said learning and now find myself terribly lonely and bored.
3. If you are camping alone radio show podcasts are your best friend. There's a very good reason it's called A Prairie Home Companion, though I'm partial to This American Life and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me....
4. Island Foxes are basically cute, red, skinny racoons, with way more gumption. Last night two trotted their way into camp, one of whom eventually made its way to my picnic table, where I was sitting, and tried to snatch my bag of GORP no more than an arm's length away. Two more showed up tonight, though were not as brazen and eventually gave up trying to sneak up on me and my food. Oh and they smell like urine and skunk combined. You definitely can smell them before you see them.
5. Don't do your hardest day of hiking first. For some dumb reason I did the Del Norte Trail backwards - going from Scorpion Harbor to Prisoners Harber. My schedule: Day 1 - no hiking, Day 2 - 10 miles, Day 3 - small hiking for day trips, light pack, and Day 4 - 4 miles. Now this wasn't so bad except that after day 2 I was ready to sleep all day 3 trying to recover.
6. Bring extra batteries and turn things off when putting them back in the pack. I had a nice shot all set up last night to do an ambient @ dusk only to find I'd left my flash on all day. Oops.
7. 550 Cord is a multi-use godsend. See photo of impromptu shade.
8. Make lists! I'd started to do this for my food, but didn't go all the way to the point of laying out the food and checking it off the list. Result? I forgot to pack certain things. Nothing important was forgotten, but it was still annoying. I didn't even make a list for camera gear, and as a consequence forgot Pocket Wizards, a camera pre-trigger, gels and the pocket wizard to hot shoe plug. Oops, no self-portraits this trip.
9. Camping alone sucks! I already mentioned this, but it's so important that it needs to be on here twice. Without others to camp with not only do you get lonely and bored, but you are relying on other people being on the trail and in places for you to photograph them. Not good! Plus I should have learned this again in Morocco, where I was alone and it sucked.
10. Mid day sucks. If you're on the trail 12pm - 2pm is a great time to have lunch, take your shoes off and catch a cat nap. The light is horrible for photos from pretty much 9am to 4pm anyway (adjust for DST), and no one likes hiking in the blazing sun. If you're not on the trail make sure you have a book to keep you occupied as you hang out around camp. (Lesson 10.5: bring a book).