Into the Needles, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

The Needles, named for spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that stick into the sky like pointing fingers, is an area of profound beauty and geological wonder. This southeast corner of Canyonlands National Park is about 70 miles drive from Moab and therefore less crowded than the Island in the Sky region or nearby Arches National Park.

There are numerous hiking trails to take your deep into the rock formations. We chose a 7.2-mile loop consisting of the Squaw Canyon Trail south with a return via the Big Spring Trail. Some online guides rate this as strenuous, but the elevation change is only about 500 ft, and the trail is easy walking. This loop demonstrates the ecological and geological diversity of the southern part of Canyonlands Park.

There was water in the streambed. This is a pleasant benefit of trekking in April. By mid-summer, I suspect the beds are dry and dusty.

Here water was flowing through the grass.

The desert trees continue to fascinate me. How can they tolerate the months of dry and heat? The bark is so craggy and gnarled, it is a study in texture and shadow.

The thunderheads developed in the early afternoon, but we did not have a storm.

The cliff on the right marks the drainage divide between Squaw and Big Spring Canyons. The trail leads up on the slick rock and through a gap in the ridge. It then drops steeply into Big Spring Canyon. The walk back to the Squaw Canyon trailhead is straightforward and passes some camping sites. All in all, a great way to spend a day.

Photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera with polarizing filter on some exposures to enhance the sky. I processed the RAW files with PhotoNinja software.

Into the Woods: Morgan City, Mississippi

Right after Christmas 2015, my daughter, some friends, and I participated in the Audubon Society's annual Christmas bird count on the Sidon, Mississippi, count circle. I had never been there before and did not know the terrain. South of the nearby town of Morgan City (the town in Mississippi, not the city on the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana) are farm fields and remnant patches of bottomland hardwood forest.

We pulled off into a patch of woods to look for birds. There was a collapsed house there, in itself not too unusual. The former occupant left some vehicles behind. The first was an International Harvester truck. This was one of the Loadster series, which ended production in 1979. International Harvester is now known as Navistar International Corporation.

More interesting was a first generation Ford Bronco (1966-1977). This was Ford's small SUV, intended to compete with the Jeep CJ models and the International Harvester Scout.

This was a fairly rustic, basic utility vehicle, which is still respected by serious off-roaders. Notice this example had automatic transmission. Also look at the three knobs to the right of the steering wheel, of which the rightmost one is pulled out. I assume this was either the choke for the carburetor or to operate a vent damper door. Simple but effective, unlike the über-complex electronic nightmares you see in contemporary cars.

There was not much left to the house. This is the fate of wood structures in a humid environment.

Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera and the 18mm f/2.0 lens. RAW files processed in PhotoNinja software.

Abandoned railroad depot, Lavrion, Greece

In the early 20th century, a narrow-gauge railroad (1-meter gauge?) ran from Kiffisia (a northern suburb of Athens, to Lavrion. At that time, Lavrion was a mining town on the east coast of the Attica Peninsula, a few miles south of Rafina and north of Cape Sunio. According to Wikipedia, the railroad opened in 1885 and was later extended to downtown Athens. Here is an 1888 photograph from Wikipedia Commons (in the common domain):

Today, Lavrion is no longer a mining town. It was rather rough for decades but has rebuilt itself into a popular yachting center with a clean and cheerful downtown.

A few weeks ago, I was driving on the coast road and saw this derelict railroad depot in the distance. Of course, it was too good to pass up.

It was just a simple little shed but had handsome stonework. It is architecturally similar to a railroad station in Markópoulo that I photographed in 2012.

Wow, great red plaster ceiling. Maybe the station master used the building as a disco.

Here is one of the diesel rail busses on a display in the main town. Pity it is deteriorating.

Lavrion was a mining town as long ago as the Classical Era. Athens' wealth was derived from the silver mined here by slaves. These old works are now part of the Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park, operated by the National Technical University of Athens.

Here is a coffee and pastry shop in another one of the railroad buildings in town. It's a nice way to reuse these sturdy old structures.

The 2015 photographs were taken with a Panasonic G3 camera with 12-32mm LUMIX lens, with raw files processed in PhotoNinja software.

Not much left: Chicot Junction, Arkansas

If you cross the Mississippi River on US 82 over the beautiful new bridge at Greenville heading west and turn south on Highway 65, you will soon drive by a group of abandoned houses in the woods. Oops, you just missed Chicot Junction. There is not much left of the town. The Arkansas Gazetteer states, "Chicot Junction is a populated place located in Chicot County at latitude 33.203 and longitude -91.26. The elevation is 128 feet. Chicot Junction appears on the Eudora North U.S. Geological Survey Map. Chicot County is in the Central Time Zone (UTC -6 hours)."

I am glad I drove by in March, before the spring growth season began. Otherwise, I suspect many of these houses would be completely buried in jungle.

These were once decent little homes.

 I found one mobile home that was occupied.

All the permanent cottages seemed to be deserted, but not in particularly bad condition. Very odd. What was the former business here that has dried up? 

I would like an old Chevrolet like this (but not this particular one).

Keep driving south and you pass through Eudora. It has more activity, but came across this abandoned store. It looked like the owners closed the doors one day and never came back. I feel sorry for places like this. It is the story of rural America in the early 21st century - small towns are simply closing up.

Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera, mostly with the 27mm f/2.8 Fuji lens. I processed the files with DxO filmpack 3 or PhotoNinja to simulate black and white film. In the Tri-X mode in DxO, I used the yellow filter, reduced the grain, and increased contrast a bit.

Burmese Days 5: Historic British Houses in Rangoon

Rangoon must have once been an amazingly wealthy city, as evidenced by some of the remaining mansions of industrialists and government officials.  At 291 Shwedagon Pagoda Road, there are a couple of old mansions semi-hidden behind walls. My taxi driver was perplexed that I was interested in old houses, but he knew exactly where to take me for some good examples.

This amazing old mansion was once quite a showplace. Look at the Victorian trim (still existent, thanks to the durability of teak), gables, and overhanging soffits. It was designed to cope with a climate that dumped major rain during the summer monsoon and exposed its occupants to stifling heat.

Carriages or Rolls Royces once brought visitors through the breezeway.

The interior must have once been gorgeous. Look at how the same Corinthian column motif from the breezeway was repeated next to the stairwell.

Next door is another old mansion, this one with wide awnings and almost an alpine look. Assuming it was empty, I was about to barge inside and wander around when I saw some recent-vintage cars in the side driveway. Oops, it is occupied. Discretion took over and I headed back to the abandoned house next door.

From the van, we were stopped in traffic for a few minutes right outside another mansion at 105 Kabaaye Pagoda Road. Notice that the gatehouse was modern construction with a rather wild checked pattern.

Recent apartments are rather uninspired architecture and are typically poorly-maintained. The mildew eventually creeps over every surface, and, from what I could tell, the building owners seldom pressure-wash or bleach. The bottles in the lower right are for drinking water.

For another historic Rangoon house, please see my earlier article on the Lin Chin Tsong Mansion.

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 camera with Olympus 9-18mm lens or a FujiFilm X-E1 camera. RAW files converted with PhotoNinja software.

Decay in Pontiac, Michigan

Pontiac is one of many industrial cities in Michigan that has seen more prosperous days and is struggling to revive itself. It is not nearly as dilapidated as Detroit or Flint, but it has poverty, abandoned houses, crime, and other social ills that plague cities with diminishing tax bases and flight of wealthier residents to other communities. I only had a short time to explore and want to share some photographs.

This is the view looking west from the 4th floor of the Masonic Temple on Lafayette Street. Not too cheerful.

This is the First Baptist Church at the junction of Oakland and Lafayette Streets. The building is no longer used as a church, and I am not sure what the sign "Edifice 34" means.

The church reflects a modified Art Deco aesthetic, with brickwork leading the eye upwards. The building was built to last and appears to be sound.

Interesting doors with a porthole motif. Some sort of transom has been removed. You can see the outline of a Salvation Army logo on the black metal.

Salvation Army and possibly the Red Cross have used the facility, but I could not tell if there is current activity. It was locked on a Tuesday morning.

Unfortunately, there are homeless people.

I headed out of town on North Perry Street. It was a mixture of nice little cottages and units marked for demolition. These traditional apartments looked clean from a distance.

Consumers Power on Featherstone Road was demolishing their office building. It was a fairly modern unit, so I am not sure what this is all about.

Finally, we get to the condemned and infamous Silverdome at 1200 Featherstone Road. Built in 1975, it was home to the National Football League's Detroit Lions. The city of Pontiac built the 80,000-seat Silverdome for $55.7 million but it sold at auction in November 2009 for $583,000. They never followed through in the 1970s with other tourist attractions or local revitalization. The dome was refurbished and some events were held there in 2010, but the roof collapsed in a snowstorm December 2012. My friend and I tried to get into the site, but it was secured. I am sure local urban spelunkers know how to get access. Anyway, it is a mess and a company is auctioning all the contents, including seats and urinals. Just what I want in my souvenir collection.

If you pay attention to the media, you would think Michigan is a total and utter mess, with every town imploding like Detroit or Flint. But the reality is much different. Michigan is full of nice towns with friendly and energetic people. My friend lives in Brighton, and I was surprised how clean and neat it was, with an old-fashioned downtown featuring good restaurants and specialty shops. I could not resist photographing this Coney Joes shack.

Even more surprising, on summer evenings, the teenagers dance! It was a clean-cut crowd, and they called me "Sir," and were having a good time. If I were a few decades younger, I could have showed them how to cha-cha.

Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera, with RAW files processed in PhotoNinja, or with a Nexus 4 telephone.