Boxley Valley Report and early signs of fall
Posted by paul | Filed under Arkansas Photography Journal
Last week I was able to get up to the Boxley Valley and do some shooting. I had hoped to catch the fog at Roark Bluff, but on this morning there was no fog. The skies were very overcast and really did not hold that much promise for photography of the Steel Creek area, so I headed back to Ponca and the millpond. On the way, I found a smallpatch of fog, just as the sun was starting to come up over the bluff line and shot these two images. Both feature a large post oak that was near Hwy 74 on the way down to Ponca.
Here is the 2nd image.
Both of these were hand held at around 1/30 of a second and I was glad to see that both came out OK. There was a bit of noise in the darker areas which did surprise me since I was shooting at ISO 125. However the shadows were considerably darker in the raw file, as I was more concerned about blowing out the highlight of the sun in the fog. So far the Canon 5D MKII has been very forgiving in regards to noise as long as the ISO is kept below 2000.
After this series of shots, I headed over to the millpond. Michael Dougherty, of ArkansasNaturePhotography.com had mentioned to me that there was a lot of wildlife activity around this area. He was right!. I spent the next 4 hours working around the millpond. To those that don’t know where I am talking about, the millpond is about 2/3’s of the way to the Hwy 21/43 junction and is the pond that is associated with the “old mill” that is now off limits (I would love to get back there).
The millpond is known for the Trumpeter Swans that are permanent residents, but it also has an amazing number of other animals that frequent it. While I was there, I was able to photography two types of hawk, some blue wing teal (amazing results), several song birds, hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, and a beaver. In the winter eagles can often be found in the snags. One of Michael’s best shots of an eagle was taken here last winter.
I had planned on shooting the Elk, but at this time of day, they were not out. They have been frequenting the replanted fields near the Hwy 21/43 area, fields I know well. So after working the Millpond I headed back to Steel Creek to see if the sun had come out on Roark Bluff. The sun was starting to poke out of the clouds at the millpond so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Steel Creek, the clounds were back and it was starting to rain. I made a quick decision to go ahead and hike to the top of Roark, one of my favorite (and everyone else) spots. The downside to this hike is ticks. This year the seed ticks have been terrible each time I have hiked to the top of Roark bluff. Really terrible, around 100 or so visible on me by the time I got to the summit. The problem IMO is that the horse traffic on the trail along the Buffalo has given the ticks a year round supply of food. Plus the area is so overgrown right now, with plants over my head, as you walk through there and brush up against the plants, the ticks just drop off on you. I dreaded the hike back, knowing I would have as many on me by the time I got back. I am not sure what the solution is, as had sprayed a large amount of deet on my legs, neck, and arms. If you have a dog, I would not take them in this area right now as they will be misreable.
As I got to the summit, the sun started to back light the clouds so, I went ahead and set up. I ended up taking a lot of shots as the light kept changing. Here is a shot from the summit, time of day is around 2:30 pm, taken with a Medium format digital back. Right before the shot, 3 deer were down in the fields, but by the time I got ready to shoot they were gone. Notice in the line of gum trees along the river, there are signs of leaves already starting to turn fall colors.
It actually rained on me again and then the sun broke out. However the haze was really harsh and started to interfere with the scene. The view behind me was much better, however even though it’s of Bee Bluff, the horse parking area and all the roads seem to detract from it. I still have some really old 35mm slides of this area right after the park took it over and you can still see the huge horse barn and fences. One other note, you can continue along the make shift trail on the top of Roark, however it’s not an easy hike and does involve some height exposure. You can access the far end easily by crossing the river right below the camping area and hiking up into a small hollow which is visible in this image, look for the light brown bluff at the end. There is a great waterfall here however when it’s running, the Buffalo River tends to be too high to cross without a canoe. To get to the summit from this end, requires one tricky move, one that 20 years ago I made without thinking, now I would want a rope. But later in the afternoon, it’s a better spot to be as the sun is working with you.
After this I headed back to the Hwy 21/43 junction and found a nice herd of Elk. The bulls have all lost the velvet and are getting ready for the rut. The herd I was able to work, had one large bull, a 7×5, strange rack, and several spikes, and then at least 50 cows and calves. The calves are still nursing and I was able to watch that drama unfold. For the first time, I heard a cow call, it’s more of bark than the bulging sound of the bulls, but one cow in particular kept at this until her calf reappeared from some brush at the edge of the field.
It will be most interesting to see what and when the fall colors fully materialize. A lot of the trees along the river are starting to turn fall colors and I saw some of this also up by the millpond. I was surprised by this since it was the last week in August.
There is never a dull moment in the Boxley valley.
Tags: Autumn, Boxley Valley, Fall
2009 Springtime report on Upper Buffalo River Valley
Posted by paul | Filed under Arkansas Photography Journal
I made my first Springtime trip up to the Boxley Valley and surrounding areas. The drive up was an eyeopener due to the tremendous amount of damage to the trees from the January 2009 ice storm. I had seen some of the damage earlier in the year on Hwy 65 north of Clinton, but the damage to the trees along Hwy 7 near the Rotary Ann Overlook is considerably worse. I was glad to see that loggers were working this area as to not allow so much downed timber stay on the ground and create a fire hazard. I am sure that over time this will all disappear and in fact once the trees get to their full summer leaf out, most of it might be hidden, however all those broken tops will have to either break due to wind or rot and fall to the ground. The roads will be trouble for years to come as these trees continue to fall to the ground and block passage. The morning fog was quite thick and lasted until almost 9:30 am.
Foggy trees on the Buffalo River.
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Tags: Boxley Valley, Broadwater Falls, Buffalo River, Fog, HDR Photography, Redbuds, Spring
Fall 2008 Update
Posted by paul | Filed under Arkansas Photography Journal
Sunset
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Tags: Arkansas, Autumn, Big Bluff, Boxley Valley, Fall, Fayetteville, Horseshoe Canyon, Kyle's Landing, Maple, Oak, Ponca, Roark Bluff, Sam's Throne, Steel Creek, Sycamore, Vendor Valley
Arkansas Elk in Boxley Valley
Posted by paul | Filed under Arkansas Photography Journal, Photography Notes
Over the past weekend, I spent some time up at Ponca AR to photograph the Elk herd. The Elk in Arkansas are considered a great success as the heard now has grown to close to 500 animals. The viewing of the herd has become a big item at Ponca and on the weekends you can expect to get a lot of traffic along Hwy 43 as people stop to look. There were more photographers out looking for the Elk that I expected. Enough that it reminded me of photography in Yellowstone during the fall rut.
The Elk will come down into the main fields near Ponca early in the morning and later in the afternoon. I found that the later afternoon shooting provided the best opportunities for my shooting style. If you are working the fields around Boxley Valley, you are limited to the fence line. This means that most of the visible Elk are between 100 to 200 years out. Even with a 400mm lens, the distance was really too great to take a photo to feature an elk without an extreme amount of cropping. To really bring the animals into view, you would be better suited with at least a 500mm lens, even a 600 or 800mm. There were plenty of people using these huge pieces of glass. Enough that it reminded me of a sporting event.
Tags: Arkansas, Boxley Valley, Elk, Ponca, Yellowstone
