Trail Riding with a Camera

I decided to try something new this year. Instead of just hiking around with a camera, I am also trying mountain biking around with a camera. This allows me to get a different level of exercise and maybe cover more ground in some cases. And many of the state parks have biking trails that I wanted to check out. So, I fixed up and re-adjusted my 30 year old mountain bike and have hit a few trails.

On Saturday I checked out Pedernales Falls State Park. There are a lot of horse/bicycle trails out there and I had only hiked out there a few times. I packed my backpack with a camera and a single zoom lens, plus an air pump and spare inner tubes. I threw my bike in the back of the truck and headed down to the park. It was good that I had made online registration for a day pass because they were turning away people at the gate who didn’t have a pass.

I hit the Wolf Mountain trail which had once been a park road. It wasn’t very difficult pedaling in most places, but it also wasn’t very scenic. I then took the Jones Spring trail which was a bit more challenging but I didn’t really see anything to stop and photograph. I was riding in the middle of the afternoon with clear blue skies which I never find all that inspiring. After 8 miles of this, I pedaled down to Trammell Crossing at the Pedernales River as there are some bald cypress there that I have often found interesting.

As I had figured, the cypress had lost all of their foliage a couple of months ago, but this allowed me to notice how they all sort of lean the same direction. Not sure if this is caused by occasional flooding or wind or what. They do lean in the direction that the river flows. The above image was a hand pano and I didn’t lock exposure or white balance when I took it so I spent a lot of time in editing trying to make it looks sort of right.

I focused in on some cypress roots along the opposite side of the river. The water was so calm that I thought the reflection looked nice. The below image is a pano from 5 images. I didn’t have white balance issues with these images as the entire scene is shaded. I did try to make the water look less green.

I biked back up to my truck and headed home without issue, but the next day my rear bike tire was completely flat so I picked up a slow leak for my troubles. I guess I got about four trail rides out of that inner tube, but least I didn’t fall.

It is hard to find a lot of photographic inspiration this time of year with mostly blue skies and dead looking vegetation. I guess some dead looking cypress is the best I could do on this outing. Thanks for the read.

38 thoughts on “Trail Riding with a Camera”

  1. I’m not sure if it’s the best-looking photo from an aesthetic point of view, but I think the first photo, of the leaning cypress trees is the most interesting. We have a windy stretch of desert in our area, where all the plants lean in the direction of the prevailing wind, so I suspect that might be the cause the leaning cypress trees.

    I imagine after you saw what happened to your bike tire, you felt a little deflated.

    Liked by 4 people

  2. Those wind-blown trees are a familiar sight around here. But I like the cypress roots. The combination of white and fading reflections has a very ghostly feel. Tree roots seem to make a pretty good subject for interesting forms.

    Not into having to re-seat a tubeless tire ten-miles from the bottom of an easy downhill back to the truck. If you’re not a weight-weenie riding a carbon fiber race bike… I use Tannus Armours on my old, 26″ mountain bike.

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  4. I missed seeing this yesterday, and I guess you missed seeing mine tonight.
    I’m glad I found it for I liked the unique photos you got. The last one is the one that grabbed me the most, though I am not sure why. Just something mysterious about it.

    I rode a stationary bike today. I didn’t have to worry about a flat. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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