Niquette Bay

This was the last field trip of the semester. I had to miss it because I had to go to Boston to visit family, but I got to come to Niquette Bay Park with a friend later in the week. We didn't know much about the area, so we decided just to explore on our own, following whatever path we wanted. My friend that came with me was also really into photography, and he made for a great side kick, carrying my jacket when I needed to climb or crawl to get a good shot, or offering an outside perspective on a good idea for an angle.

The wild flowers were just starting to bloom when we got there, and they were super pretty. It was almost cute, how little and dainty they were. We also came upon some sort of flock of butterflies, which was weird. There were tons of them! We watched two battle it out in the air, and I frantically tried to capture some shots of it. For some reason, the butterflies loved to dive-bomb my head, coming flying into my face, or camera. Though I tried very hard to take some pictures of it, I was more terrified than anything, so I usually spooked before they got close enough. One butterfly was wounded, he had a hole in his left wing, so he sat on a high branch watching the action. He was one of the few I was able to take a picture of.

I would like to go back to this place again and visit the water front more. We came to a small rock beach but I know there is a longer beach somewhere. With no map, we weren't able to find it. It was a great day though, spent with a great friend.

Huntington Gorge

Huntington Gorge is dark and mysterious. Though I know there are calmer places where one can swim, we came to the harshest part of the gorge. Washed smashed and crashed through the rocks, down waterfalls into treacherous caverns. Over 40 people have died in this gorge, willingly or unwillingly, in the past two decades alone. It was eerie to be there, knowing so many lives had been taken by this strong, glorious, gorge. Beautiful, yet deadly.

The rock formations were quite interesting, creating great lines for my camera to capture. We had a lot of fun climbing around and exploring, though after a long week of class I spent most of my time basking in the sun wand watching the water. I want to go back to Huntington Gorge and explore more in depth!

Mt. Philo

Mount Philo was an interesting trip. We hiked up the road instead of the path, but I have since taken the wooded trail and it is equally as beautiful. It is a relatively short hike, but the mountain itself is rather high, meaning there are short bursts of incredibly steep terrain. By the time we got to the top I was sweating pretty bad, seeing as I;m possibly the most out-of-shape person I've ever met. I had originally put on a jacket and sweatshirt at the bottom, shivering under the harsh cold, but by the time I was at the top I was down to just my flannel shirt, casting my arms out to feel the full rush of the mountain top wind. Soon enough I had cooled down and returned to my normal layers of clothing.

The view from the top was beautiful. Though it was still early spring, and green was a rare color to be seen, the view of the lake and the mountains made up for it. We could see for over 100 miles into the distance, and could pick out almost all of the mountains on the map at the top. The wind got absurd at one point, nearly blowing us off the top of the mountain, so we made our way back down to safety. It was one of the days I was especially glad I had taken this class, because not only was the hike some good exercise, but I got to see a part of Vermont I had never seen before.

Rock Point

Rock Point was the first day we actually had warm weather. Everyone was in a great mood, letting the sun soak into our skin and enjoying the warm breeze. It was also one of the first days we had lots of sunlight. Lake Champlain is truly a beautiful sight, especially when the early spring sun radiates from its blue-green surface. I spent most of my class-time rolling around on the rock beach trying to get good angles of the sunlight reflecting off the water and the wet rocks. Rock Point also had a stunning view of the mountains from across the lake, as well as the islands. It reminded me that I had a friend who owned one of the islands on Lake Champlain, and they would always canoe out there in the middle of the night to party. I enjoyed this day so much I sent half of these pictures to my parents, glorifying the investment of my Nikon to them!

River Marsh

Our trip to the River Marsh was shorter for me. I rode in with a girl who had to leave early, but I left all of my stuff in her car without thinking. When she had to leave, I was ok with it, because honestly I was freezing and I had a paper to do myself. The day was nice though, we started it out by seeing evidence of wildlife in the woods, an ACME rocket to be exact. Must be coyotes around.

The rest of the day was like any hike in the woods. We came upon a "picture box", at least I think that's what they are called. Hikers carry a book with a stamp, and at each new place they travel, they stamp their book with the stamp from the box, and use their own stamp to make a mark in the book left in the box. It's a pretty cool concept if you ask me. We then got to take some pictures of the ice melting on the marsh, and I thought I got a few good shots of the water reflecting the sky. Unfortunately I had to leave early, but we made sure to stop at the end of the point to get some shots of the lake. I of course, was distracted by the birds flying around our heads, and spent most of this time with my camera lens in the sky, frantically snapping pictures into the sun, hoping to capture the birds in at least one frame.

Williams Woods

As I became more and more comfortable with my Nikon, I started to play around with my own eye for photographs as well. I wouldn't say I felt 100% sure about what I was doing with my camera, but I was starting to recognize lines and frames more out of natural pieces of the landscape. I was learning more about how to focus on particular objects in the photo, and how to find the shot I wanted. 

Williams Woods was one of the warmer days we had had all semester, but it had still been bitterly cold for most of the week in Burlington. As we came to the clearing of the large farm field on the edge of the wooded property, I felt such relief. This class was an opportunity during the week to get outside and not succumb to cabin fever, and this field was my first sight of open expanse I had seen in three months. I may have been a bit dramatic, but I kept taking gasping breaths of the fresh air as we stood on the outer boundary of the field. It felt so good to be confronted with such a vast open space when I was so used to stuffy classrooms and my small apartment in town. I'm not entirely sure why I did it, but I flipped my camera upside down to see what it might look like had I edited it on my computer later. The way the trees grew on the other side of the field made the horizon look warped, and to this day that photo makes me dizzy.

Alas, I managed to lose my sunglasses this day. I wore them in hopes of encountering sun, but as the day wore on, they migrated to the top of my head, tucked behind my ears. It started to rain at one point, so I hung them from a side pocket of my jacket, and that was the last I ever saw of them. RIP Sunglasses.