Sheep Hole Dry Lake: The Hike Back

 So yes, I made it safely back to the car (in the dark, using a headlamp to avoid walking into a cactus, or worse). Last week I shared photos from my hike to the Sheep Hole Dry Lake, and how I badly underestimated the distance (and thus the hiking time), which is why the return hike (shared here) was mostly in the dark.

A friend told me the mountain above is called Duct Peak. My car is about 3.5 miles away, toward the left side of the mountain. I have about 15 minutes of daylight left, so a good chunk of my return hike will be in the dark. No worries, it's a straight shot. I'll check my GPS from time to time for navigation (since I won't be able to see any landmarks in the dark). As my granddaughter would say: "Papa, you've got this!!"

 

Interesting ring around the sun.

 

And now for our word of the day (there will be a quiz later): PARHELION - A partial rainbow, often white in color, but sometimes quite colorful, looking like a detached piece of a rainbow (sometimes called a "sun dog"). Hopefully we all learned something new today!

 

Backlighting on these fuzzy creosote blooms caught my eye.

OK, it's really time to quit messing around taking pictures and start the long hike back to the car...

 

When your shadow gets this long, you know your daylight is limited!

 

"Mountain of gold": As the sun set and threw me into the shadows, this distant mountain was bathed in golden sunlight. It was an incredible sight!

 

In the opposite direction: Sunlight hitting Duct Peak.

 

Just a few minutes later, my "mountain of gold" is no longer gold, but the sky is still gorgeous. I know what you're thinking: I should stop taking photos and focus on my hike back to the car, right? But this time of day (just before and just after sunset) is my favorite for photography. To get these photos, it requires that you hike back to your car in the dark. When I hike with friends, it drives them crazy!

 

6:22PM: Dark out, but the camera can pick up light.

 

Last photo of the day (6:23PM): ISO 1000 (camera can see details that I can't see).

 

Now it's time for the quiz (do I hear groans??): What's the fancy word for a partial rainbow?? Don't worry, I can't remember either. It's called a parhelion (pleural: parhelia). Seems like a good word for a bunch of skywatchers to be familiar with😉.

 

Thanks for dropping by!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.