That O Trail and a Ghost Town

April 16th, 2016

Still recovering from the long previous 4 days, Max and I slept in a bit at the sacrifice of what we later learned to be good weather. By the time we were up and moving, a storm had rolled it, snowing in the upper canyon. Near white out conditions existed beyond 1 mile of visibility, with rain slowly soaking us as we found our rainproof gear was no longer such.

The dreary weather made me not want to hike, but instead Max was smiling from ear to ear, as he loved the rain and was sticking this out with his shorts on while I danced on the edge of shivering wearing pants. We walked along the road towards the park entrance, wind blowing in our face and trying to steal our hats, the only real head cover each of us had. Thanks to quick hands we saved our own hats and trapped them on our short haired head with jacket hoods. It looked like we were prepared for a blizzard.

The bus ride served as a great way to warm up and dry off, though every time the doors opened we were reminded that it was still just above freezing outside. Exiting at our stop we checked the trail map to make sure it was the right one, Observation Point, and started on our way.

Cruising up the initial switchbacks we took frequent breaks, for both breath and photos. The trail winds back and forth, slowly inching up the 1000+ ft walls that perpetually loom over the canyon, both protecting and intimidating. We cut back over a small ridge into a small satellite canyon before coming to the backside of the initial ridge. Again the switchbacks take hold as we again being to scale the canyon.

Soon the rock begins to change, the once blood red rock of the lower canyon turns yellow, golden. The switchbacks become longer and soon we are back into the main canyon, hundreds of feet higher. We look down upon Angels Landing, the iconic centerpiece of the Big Bend area. Gazing up we can see the “summit,” Observation point. Our path still long, it is now merely a long traverse, our ascent now over. Upon making it to the top of the canyon walls though, we were greeted by a vicious wind, a stark reminder that it was still winter.

Finally, after about two and a half hours, we make it to the summit. Nearly slipping more than once in the muddy trails leading up to it, only our shoes dawned the blood red color once again present at the top. Quick to snap photos, we were only greeted with a 5 minute window of visibility before the snow rolled back in, and a haze descended on the valley. A quick snack before the winds froze our fingers, and we set back off for the trail head.

The decent always easier than the ascent, we make haste, rarely taking stops for photos this time. The closer to the trail head we get, the more people that seem to accrue. Finally at the bottom, the rain was once again back, and we waited under the small shelter for the shuttle back to the house. We greet Abby as we walk in, and recounting the trail, Max and I have the worst time remembering the name of the trail. Outlook? Overlook? Over watch? We can’t remember every time it comes up throughout the night, and the comments never relent with each time, always in jest.

With the bad weather mostly residing in the canyon, we ventured out after sundown to try our hand at some astrophotography in the nearby ghost town. Car loaded up, we went off to…somewhere…down a long dirt road. Before long we reached what we thought was a ghost town, but really turned out to be the ghost town cemetery. Yeah, totally not freaked out about dyeing here.

The half-moon illuminates the landscape, but leaves the night sky just dark enough to make out the stars. The cemetery makes for a great ambiance and we have fun slowly turning our cameras from the sky to the ground. We experiment with posing in the photos and light painting, laughing at all the fun out takes we have, like learning to spell backwards is hard.

Content, we head off to the actual ghost town and again divulge into taking more photos of the eerily illuminated landscape. A combination of long exposures, the moonlit landscape, and strategically placed headlamp lights makes for tons of fun. Max and I are quick to have Abby be our impromptu model, and she gladly obliges. Soon we realize the night is late, and Abby has to be responsible (work) early in the morning.

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The next day we awoke, again late, but this time with the added bonus of being sore as well from the previous days hike, and the imminent thought of going through the night time photos. A well needed rest day, I begin the arduous process of going through the countless photos so far while Max does some much needed bike repairs.

But like all great ideas, I get sucked into the photo editing, and Max’s bike takes much longer than he anticipated. We accept that it was time to relax for a day and reset so as not to burn ourselves out from too much fun.

Abby returned home from work and was eager to go on a small hike in the park, Emerald pools. With the previous days rain and snow, the pools would be a bit higher than usual. We packed up fast and headed off for the trail.

Easy and flat, it was a nice scenic route, laden with plenty of other tourists. Max and I again ran around getting photos and messing around. We were all smiles, joking as we walked around, but slowly feeling the fatigue of the previous days set back in.

Returning home, it was again good to relax, as we had early days ahead of us for the coming week.