Arkansas Outdoors

08/28/12 When Lightening strikes…….A few thoughts to keep your electronics up and running

Posted on August 26, 2012 //

Lightening over Pinnacle Mountain, in western Pulaski County

Just a few words to those out there who have a photo business that is totally dependent on Mac’s or PC’s, in regards to the extreme damage that is possible if lightening happens to strike nearby and you are not prepared.

One of the worst things that can happen is to be struck by lightening, and I would have to say the 2nd worst thing would be to have you house struck. I understand the rules about lightening and most time will give it a wide berth. An example, when I shot this, I was inside my car with my camera on a tripod outside being trigger by a remote release. Lightening around electronics always spells disaster always. I know this, yet I still got burned about 3 weeks ago. I live on a ridge top and thus am a bit more susceptible to a direct hit. I have lived in this house now for over 12 years and in that time, I have never had a direct hit to the house but I have had several close ones. My rules are that whenever a strong storm is approaching everything of value has to be unplugged from the wall. What you say, just go get a power stip with surge protection, or a UPS either of these will save you. Well, I have news, that is far from the truth. Here are a few things I learned.

07/21/12 Richland Creek has Flatlined, a first in 18 years of hiking and boating the best creek in Arkansas

Posted on July 21, 2012 //

USGS graph of Richland Creek for July 16th 2012

Arkansas has many famous spots for outdoor recreation which feature lakes, or streams. For sure one of the best is Richland creek, in the northwest part of Arkansas. With Richland Creek one can find a stream that is the 2nd largest tributary of the Buffalo river which has a huge watershed that cross through several Arkansas counties before emptying into the Buffalo river at Woolum. In the winter and springtime Richland is famous for kayaking both the upper and lower portions of the creek. During the late spring and summer Richland tends to offer a quiet and tranquil location to get away from busier parts of Arkansas. During the autumn, Richland can offer one of the most dramatic displays of fall color in the state since there are several areas along the creek that have trees approaching 50 to 70 years of age. I like to try and hike Richland at least 4 times during the year to catch the creek at it’s different stages each of which can offer amazing photograhic opportunities.

On my weekly checks of Richland Creek’s USGS Hydro-graph I have watched as my favorite creek has slowly dropped down the chart. However today when I checked the creek, I was amazed to see a flat-line 0.00. I have never in 18 years of monitoring Richland seen it this low. The gauge is near the concrete bridge immediately below the campground and I have to assume that the large pool at the bridge is now dry or very close to being dry. Richland’s being this low really puts into perspective just how low the state of Arkansas’s wild stream flow is currently. I also check the Buffalo River and it is now showing 0.25 at the Boxley gauge which is also very low, even for this time of the year.

07/12/12 Rain comes to Arkansas and provides some much needed drought relief

Posted on July 12, 2012 //

Pine needles after the rain

All of the photos in this entry were taken with a Sony Nex-7, and a Sony 18-200mm E mount lens. I used Adobe Lightroom 4.1 for all the raw conversions. This first image was taken in color and converted to B&W by using the conversion process in Lightroom 4.1

I was out in my backyard and kept hearing the ominous sounds of thunder, but every time I looked around the sky, I couldn’t see any thunderheads. Soon the wind picked up and it was clear that a good rain might be headed my way. While walking around the side of the house, I was able to see a break in the trees and saw that all along the Arkansas River, that a large storm was forming and would soon be headed over to my house. The wait was not long and soon we were blessed with about a 30 minute heavy rain that was really needed. As soon as the rain stopped I decided to try and get some pictures since it had been so long that I had been able to work around water in Arkansas.

: Robin after the storm

I wanted to try out my Sony Nex-7 with the Sony 18-200mm F3.2 to F6.3 lens. I had not really used this lens in low light/high iso photography and was curious how well both the camera and lens would perform. Since the Sony Nex-7 has a cropped sensor with a 1.5x factor, the 200mm lens would be the 35mm equivalent of a 300mm lens. I did not use a tripod and mainly used the cameras LCD for all the focus/framing of the various subjects I photographed. The robins were a push at 1600 iso and a F stop of 6.3. I quickly realized that the Sony 18-200 lens was not a low light lens. I ran into immediate focus problems which I had not experienced before. Even though the lens was showing good focus confirmation, it was not really able to lock on to many of the finer subjects I was trying to work with. The shot of the robin came out very well. He was moving around quite a bit and this shot is a crop of about 1/25th of the full sized image. In this case the 18-200 was able to lock in very well, but even with 300mm, it was really not enough to work this robin which was about 25 yards away from me. Still after working up this crop in Lightroom 4.1, I was very happy with the results. The robin had been through the worst of the rain as can be seen by looking at his head.

07/07/12 Relief comes to Arkansas from both heat and drought

Posted on July 7, 2012 //

The high temperatures in Arkansas for the 6th of July set many state records. LIttlle Rock hit 107 degrees and Russellville was at 108. However yesterday, during the afternoon and into the night, Arkansas received the first rain in almost 30 days. The rainfall was sporadic and thus not uniform but still offered greatly needed relief to parched areas of Arkansas. The other added benefit was the addition of cloud cover over most of the state. This also added relief since the sun’s direct effect was blocked.

I have noticed now that many of the parts of Arkansas are showing the effects of the drought. If you hike along any ridge line in the central part of the state or in the northwest, you can see oak trees that have turned brown along with other deciduous trees. These trees most likely will hold their leaves until fall and then drop them. If they drop off now, more than likely the tree will not recover in the spring of 2013. I am also starting to see some pine trees that are also developing brown needles. Pines in Arkansas seem to react different than deciduous trees in that they will turn from green to brown in a few days and then die. The short leaf pine which is native to Arkansas seems to be able to hold a bit better than the imported slash and loblolly pines. The later two varieties are for pulp and paper only.

I have monitored a few very large short leaf pines around Pulaski county and have noticed that they are all developing some brown needles, but have not turned all brown yet. Hopefully this continued cloud cover and lower temperatures will help keep things in Arkansas from getting out of control. The weather forecast for the next week is for lower temperatures and chances of rain for the next few days. The high temperatures are forecasted to be below 100 degrees for at least 5 days.

What does this mean to outdoor activities for Arkansas:

Keep your campfires out for now as any type of spark or cinder could cause a major wildfire.
If you are going to hike, get an early start and try to stay out of the sun. Make sure you carry plenty of water. Odds are you will not find any potable water on your hike.

08/28/12 When Lightening strikes…….A few thoughts to keep your electronics up and running

07/21/12 Richland Creek has Flatlined, a first in 18 years of hiking and boating the best creek in Arkansas

07/12/12 Rain comes to Arkansas and provides some much needed drought relief

07/07/12 Relief comes to Arkansas from both heat and drought

Richland Creek in the fall above the campground

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