Yes, to the plaintive tunes of the hit song by Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders, I am back. I have not posted to this blog for such a long, long time. I just got out of rhythm and a large part had to do with the lack of energy and motivation. I just ran out of both.
This past Thursday, March 9th, I "played hooky" and called in sick. I then went to the Rancho Cucamonga Creek Trail in Upland, CA. You get there by taking the 210 freeway from the 15 going north, then turn west and get off at Campus Street (exit 56). You then follow until you get to a street called 24th, in a wealthy suburban residential neighborhood, park your car and walk in.
It has been a long time since I was there, but I had been telling myself that I had to return. We have had a series of storms this year and the snow pack on the mountains (the San Gabriels) was something I wanted to photograph while it lasted. Also, I needed to get out of the rhythm of going to the botanic gardens. I am so fed up with going to those, from the Arboretum to Descanso to the South Coast to San Diego. I think I am all tapped out when it goes to trying to find inspiration out there, and all the photos I have taken in 2022 just seemed devoid of any creativity.
There were hardly any people at the creek trail. It was just as well, there would be no crowds during the week, although while I was there I did run into a few people walking their dogs. I would say high to the middle-aged or elderly ladies and skirt clear of the dogs. I did the whole track, from starting out first at the southern end where they have a gravel pit (where they mine rocks) to the northern end where, if you keep walking and walking, you finally see the creek in all its majestic glory now that it is being fed by water from the mountains.
I took several cameras, among them my Fuji GW690ii and my Minolta Autocord. The latter has been very neglected, and I need to use it more often. Nothing gives me such pin-sharp photos as the Autocord, that Rokkor lens is incredible. What I want, though, is big negatives. The Fuji helps, it provides 6x9 negatives, but I get tired of walking around with that anchor, plus, because I can see a patch of fungus on the lens, I suspect it is washing out a patch of each negative I take. The same patch shows up in the same spot for each negative. I don't know how to take it apart, so there is no possibility for me of opening up the lens and washing the fungus off. I had heard that ultraviolet light might do it, but I am not really up to exploring my options.
You really have to walk to reach the creek. I was going around and, I admit, it wasn't a cardiovascular walk. I was stopping too often to compose photos. But I did walk, and after a point, the clear dirt trail gives way to a rocky path that is somewhat hard on the soles of my feet. I hate having to climb over rocks, and it makes any progress slow going. Plus, I am so very afraid of slipping and falling again the way I did about three weeks ago at the Weir Canyon trail when I went to see California wildflowers. If I fall out there at Rancho Cucamonga, there were no people in the rocky path section. I could fall face first (as I did at Weir Canyon) and get knocked out, and it might take a long, long time for someone to find me. They might actually think I was a homeless man and just leave me to suffer there. So, I had to be very careful.
The views were amazing, although as you get closer to the mountains, they recede behind the foothills which now loom up in front of you. Thus, I didn't get the full benefit of the perspective I wanted, to see snow-clad mountains like "The Pass at Caradrass". You know the one, from the Felloship of the Ring, where the troupe try to pass because they are trying to avoid traversing the Mines of Moria.
I was there for two and a half hours. What a walk! It was very long, and I felt very tired at the end. I managed to trudge my way back in the end, but I was happy. I took video too, I will share some of it. The soothing sound of running water in a creek is like therapy.
Well, I will continue and post a few more entries after this one. Time to catch up. Maybe I will keep it up, but I am exhausted at work again. I am teaching four classes, thankfully, after I had one cancelled. I am having to go in four days a week, though. That is exhausting.
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