Palo duro Canyon

Gallery: LandscapePosted May 1, 201290 views5 comments

Shot taken last August in Palo duro Canyon where President Bush was riding with Wounded Warriors last week. Nicknamed the "Little Grand Canyon" is home to the famous rock cropping Lighthouse.

Temperatures were around 125 degrees on canyon floor this day and the little Lesser Earless Lizard sits on a old log in foreground looking out to the landscape.

Sony a700 with 16-80 Zeiss f3.5 zoom, cpl filter and tripod.
ISO 400, f22 @125/sec.
Lightroom 4 and PS5 development.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on May 2, 2012 at 9:59 PM

Ha! I would have never even noticed the lizard had you not pointed him out. It may not be the most epic sky, magical forest, waterfall, exploding pixie dust shot on the NPN, but that lizard makes it great in my opinion. He seems to be debating whether or not the Lighthouse is worth conquering. Even the little guys have their mountains to climb.

Thanks for sharing this Rick, sweet shot.

Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on May 4, 2012 at 10:34 AM

Very cool!

but not for you I guess, Rick. I'm with Nicolaus and his thoughts with the lizzard. Your large version is especially nice!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on May 4, 2012 at 8:33 PM

Rick:
Ya, the lizard makes this special. The color in the image is quite rich for this mid-day shot. I have never ventured into arid desert like environment until recently and there is actually quite a lot of interesting stuff in desert for photography.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on May 5, 2012 at 10:44 AM

Rick, I'm coming to this one a little late after a busy week. I agree with the other comments that the Collared Lizard makes this one special especially considering his pose and the way he looks off toward the background rock formation. I hope you were able to get some shots of just the lizard because this one seems to be especially colorful. Palo Duro is starting to rebound from last year's drought. There is evidence that it is coming back to life since we have had better rain this year, but it will take a few good wet years for it to rebound to where it was in 2009.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on May 5, 2012 at 11:07 AM

Brian,

Requested lizard. More on this trip. I went in alone and with too much equipment in back pack, tripod etc. I suffered severe cramps and dehydration and the Rangers came in towards end of day in cart and found me and brought me out.
It all worked out but this is no place for old men.

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments