Hike - David Mathre Photography

Autumn Nature in New Jersey. Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Convergence. Yesterday I was thinking, weather permitting that I should go the nearby Sourland Mountain Preserve to see if I could photograph any late season Monarch butterflies. For the last several years I have seen the last group of Monarch butterflies before they fly south to Mexico the last week of September (+/- 2 weeks). Also yesterday, I was noticing some issues with access to my photo blog (speed to load, and searching results). I woke up very early, and access to the photo blog appeared be working. While checking Google+ I saw a reminder from Scott Kelby about his 2011 Worldwide Photo Walk’s this weekend. When I checked online, I saw that one of the Worldwide Photo Walks (led by Frank Veronsky) would be at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. I signed up (it was 4 AM, and raining). When I woke up again at 8 AM it had stopped raining but still cloudy. I got to there early to scout out if there were any thistle blooms left. Unfortunately, all of the thistles were brown and there were only a few yellow wildflowers. The trails were also very muddy from all of the rain we have been having for the last 2 months. I actually went home at this point to switch to a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4 lens since I knew it would be relatively dark on the trails. I got back in time to meet up with the Worldwide Photo Walk group at the Sourland Mountain Preserve parking lot and started up on the trails a little after 10 AM. The following images are of some of the woodland forest trails in the Preserve. By the end of the Photo Walk, I only saw one Monarch butterfly, and it didn’t stay still long enough for me to get an image.

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 450, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 450, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 280, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 280, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 320, 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 800, 50 mm, f/8, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s cameraand 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 800, 50 mm, f/8, 1/40 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Worldwide Photo Walk 2011. Autumn in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sourland Mountain Preserve Trail. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)

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Gone to See Central America and the Panama Canal. Semester at Sea Spring 2011 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop II with Michael Mariant. Day 6: Guatemala.

We arrived at San Francisco de Sales, a small hamlet in Pacaya Volcano National Park. As soon as we got off the bus we were mobbed by children selling (or renting) wood walking sticks. The price started at $1 US per stick, and quickly dropped to 2/$1. Before starting the hike we had lunch (chicken or beef with rice and vegetables). We were also given the option to ride a horse for $10 US. I decided to take this option since I had a good experience riding horses earlier this year in Patagonia. Unlike the ride in Patagonia, each horse had guide lead the horse up the trail. My guide was Antonio, and the horse I rode was named “Champion”. Much of the trail was in the clouds. Each time the group stopped to rest, the horse guides without riders yelled “taxi taxi”. Rob soon decided that he needed a taxi. At one point it started to rain, and I got to wear an authentic poncho. Near the end of the trail, we got off the horses and did the remainder of the trail on foot. We went past some hot vents — warm enough for some of the folks to roast marshmallows. There was another large tunnel that the more adventurous entered. When we got back to San Francisco de Sales, the kids that had earlier sold the walking stick looked to get them back. There was a real pecking order, with the larger boys retrieving more of the sticks. Some of the passengers did take the walking sticks back to the ship. There was a concern that the kids guiding the horses and selling the walking sticks should have been in school.
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