Neo-Wisdom - a photo on Flickriver

Neo-Wisdom

Comet Neowise finds its way toward the horizon and burns brightly through a tattered veil of clouds, Eldorado Canyon State Park, Colorado.

I went out for a night hike last week to seek the comet with my high-school buddy and we decided to take a route we have hiked in the dark many times before, one auspiciously adjacent to a trail called Rattlesnake Gulch. Neither one of us had our headlamps on since the ambient light from the surroundings seemed sufficient for basic navigation with only a modicum of stumbles. In a particularly narrow part of the trail hemmed in by rock berms on both sides I suddenly found myself twisting off-balance and panicking all at the same time as the extremely angry buzzing of a large rattlesnake erupted no more than 18 inches from my ankles. My friend was in front of me and walked right over it, no doubt deeply offending its sensibilities in the process. I staggered quickly backward in the direction I had come, grabbing the mutt and hastily leashing him lest he do something more foolish than what I had just done. This unplanned maneuver left the snake in between me and my friend. It coiled and rose as tall as it could, and sounded the alarm as loudly as seemed possible. It was probably about 3 feet long and had a big enough girth to suggest that the rodent hunting in these parts is pretty profitable. I recorded some video of it rattling madly at us both, and then scrambled up the berm and gave it a wide berth as we continued on our way. It clearly was behaving very well and simply wanted to be left alone with whatever haste we might make.

After this encounter my adrenaline and fear were... heightened. In addition, we both decided that turning on the headlamps would be a reasonably good idea. Pressing on, we eventually found ourselves ascending a ridge pointing more or less in the direction I suspected the comet might be, but facing a bank of clouds. As the wind pushed a small window open in the clouds near the horizon, I spotted the comet far lower than I expected, as you see here. Within minutes the coma vanished behind the hills and we commenced the 3.5 mile walk back to the trailhead. I was particularly nervous as we retraced our route through the section of trail where we encountered our angry serpentine friend, but it appeared to have decided it liked its environs doofus free and was nowhere to be found.

Technical notes: Combine 1 part comet with 1 part rattlesnake, stumble, swerve, and pray. Then smile as the clouds open ever so briefly.

Here is a link to the rattlesnake video: Serpentine Adrenaline

Taken in: United States / Colorado / Eldorado Springs (show map)

Taken on: July 16, 2020

Tags:

Boulder County

Colorado

Eldorado Canyon State Park

NEOWISE

comet

long exposure

night

night hiking

night sky

nightscape

nocturnal

stars

summer

Eldorado Springs

United States of America « less

Sets appears in: • Colorado • Nocturnal

Groups appears in: • Colorado! • Long Exposure more » • Night Photography • Astronomy • Nature Photography • No-Flash Night Shots • Landscape Exploration • The Nature Conservancy • Nocturnes - Night Photography • Rocky Mountains Landscape & Wildlife Photos • Landscape Beauty ! • Un-enhanced American West • ☯ la quinta essenza ☯ • CIELOS Y NUBES, SKIES AND CLOUDS • Colorado - Arizona - Utah Landscapes • My favourite Photographers • ☆The Power of Now / Die Kraft der Gegenwart ☆ • *Stunning/Kind Of Magic* « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/5.6, 8 sec, 185mm, ISO 6400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Lens:	80.0-400.0 mm f/4.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	8
Focal Length:	185mm
ISO:	6400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Gain Control:	High gain up
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 9.3 (Macintosh)
Show full info

Stats: 5,904 views / 28 comments

go back