Went for a hike today on the Black Ridge Trail of the Colorado National Monument.  It was a warm, sunny day and absolutely perfect for a hike. I went with Carol, with whom I’ve hiked several times, and met through Twitter. In fact, this trail was her suggestion. She hikes all over and is introducing me to lots of new places to hike. I’ll do this one again.

I was really disappointed in the quality of the pictures I took, so it’s very clear that I have a lot more work to do with that camera. The largest problem seems to be an inability to see the LCD to take a well-composed picture. I’ve tried the hat thing to shade the screen, and that doesn’t really seem to help at all. I do believe the the pictures are somewhat more focused since I started using manual focus rather than auto. But, I’m still not happy with what I’m seeing. Tomorrow I think I’ll work with the camera again.

All that being said, I also took a few pictures with the iPhone. I’m never real happy with those, but today they seemed to be the better photos from this outing. I took this picture of a dead tree. I like the dead and winter trees better than I like summer trees in full green. Somehow, the way those gnarly branches reach out and upward, really make the trees look alive.

There’s a tree below my house that I love. It’s a big, old, gnarly cottonwood that I’ve watched for the last couple of weeks as its leaves changed colors. In the morning sun it looks as though it’s lit from within. Each arm of the tree ends in a large clump of yellow leaves that seem to glow in the sunlight. Unfortunately it’s surrounded by houses and power lines and other junk. That makes a usable picture a little difficult, but I have taken a couple over the years. I’ll get those posted.